Chapter 6 - The Council's Ultimatum
By noon the following day, the grand ballroom of the Crawford Estate had been converted into an emergency tribunal chamber. The heavy velvet curtains were drawn back, revealing a gray, rain-drenched sky over Seattle. At the far end of the room, on a raised dais, sat the seven High Elders of the Lycan Coalition, dressed in ceremonial black garments.
Whispers rippled through the gathered pack leaders as Helga was escorted into the hall by Hudson. Gone was her oversized sweatshirt and bare feet; she now wore an elegant emerald-green silk gown provided by the estate, her dark hair swept up in an intricate braid. Though her knees shook beneath the long skirt, she kept her chin high.
At the center of the room stood Alaric, commanding the room in a sharp black suit that accentuated his broad shoulders and towering height. Beside him, in heavy iron chains, stood Lady Selene, her head bowed in disgrace. Across the aisle, her father, Alpha Gregory of Portland, glared with pure, venomous hatred.
""This is madness, Crawford!"" Gregory bellowed, his voice echoing off the vaulted ceilings. ""You break a sacred betrothal treaty that took five years to negotiate, all for a nameless human stray who wandered into your bed? Our laws dictate that an Alpha King must take a mate of pure wolf blood to maintain the strength of the lineage!""
Elder Vance, the oldest of the tribunal with hair as white as frost, struck his wooden staff against the marble floor. ""Silence! The law must be weighed impartially. Alaric Crawford, do you claim this human female under the sacred Rite of the Moon?""
Alaric stepped forward, his presence silencing the entire chamber in an instant. ""I do not merely claim her. The bond has already sparked. She answered my private frequency, an echo carried through the ley lines of our ancestors. To deny her would be to defy the very instincts that placed my bloodline on this throne.""
""An accident!"" Gregory sneered, pointing an accusing finger at Helga. ""She is a nobody! A parasite who probably schemed her way into his communications! What proof do we have that she is not a spy sent by human hunters?""
""You want proof?"" a sudden, cold voice rang out from the entrance doors.
Every head in the room turned.
Flanked by two estate guards, Lincoln entered the room. But he was no longer the arrogant, slick executive Helga remembered. His suit was wrinkled, his hair disheveled, and his eyes bloodshot with frantic terror. Behind him stood two federal agents in dark suits holding leather briefcases.
Helga gasped softly. ""Lincoln?""
""Bring the human forward,"" Alaric commanded without looking back.
Lincoln was pushed into the center of the hall, trembling so hard his teeth clicked. ""I... I brought the files, Mr. Crawford! Just like you asked! Please don't destroy the firm!""
Alaric turned his piercing gaze upon Alpha Gregory. ""Before you accuse my mate of scheming, perhaps you should explain why the Portland Pack transferred four million dollars into this man's offshore accounts last month to monitor commercial real estate boundaries in Seattle.""
Gasps erupted among the Elders. Elder Vance leaned forward, his eyes narrowing in fury. ""Gregory, is this true? Have you been colluding with human corporations to encroach on Seattle pack territory?""
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""He paid me to spy on her!"" Lincoln blurted out desperately, pointing a trembling hand at Helga. ""Jessica and I were hired six months ago by Alpha Gregory's associates to get close to Helga because her family owned the old timberlands in the Cascade Mountains! We were supposed to get her signature on a deed transfer! The cheating... the fight last night... it was staged to distract her so she would leave her apartment unattended!""
Helga felt the ground drop out from beneath her feet. The betrayal she thought was purely personal had been a calculated, corporate assassination funded by the very wolves standing in this room. Lincoln had never loved her; he had been an operative sent to steal her ancestral home.
