Read Online Reflected (Silver Series) by Rhiannon Held - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Rhiannon Held
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children before.”
Portland choked something back, and Silver was grateful for the excuse to stall before giving her response. She knew Portland had lost a cub to an early-term shift, but she hadn’t thought of it in quite those terms until Craig voiced them. These things happened, but they happened to some women more than others, and only the Lady knew all the causes and factors. “I will have to think about this.”
Silver hated the words even as she said them, but she couldn’t think properly with both of them staring at her, and Craig was right: it wasn’t just about being a female alpha, it was about being a female alpha who had already lost one cub. Portland smelled frustrated but didn’t protest.
“And consult with your mate?” Craig dropped his head in acknowledgment without waiting for an answer, as if his question was only a formality. If anything, that made it worse.
Silver shoved to her feet, the violence of the movement cutting off Portland’s reaction. A small part of Silver whispered urgently that she was supposed to keep her temper because she was Roanoke, but the rest was all icy clarity for her next words. “Think very carefully. Are you telling your alpha that she cannot make a decision on her own?”
Silver took one step, another, and touched Craig’s chin to make him meet her eyes. She didn’t bother to measure her dominance against his, as one might normally. She overpowered it, smashed him flat as he gasped. She’d told him she’d consider his petition, and yet he still felt the need to bully her. She walked with Death in the place of her wild self, and he dared to say she could not make a decision on her own?
Craig twisted his head away from her, panting. “I can make this big, Roanoke. I’m not the only high-ranked Were in the sub-packs who feels this way. Not by a long shot. Children are too precious to endanger them for posturing about status.” His voice was a frightened whine, but his words stopped Silver short anyway.
She stepped back. She could believe that he’d get support. Lady, she didn’t want to, but she could. Were had few children and they all felt the longing, if not as strongly as she often did, denied the chance for her own. And what a convenient excuse for the packs that disliked being united under Roanoke to agitate for their independence. The Western packs had been united for only three years, and even the original Roanoke sub-packs had their share of troublemakers, always bucking for more power.
Thinking about defending against all that made Silver realize she knew her answer to the petition, even without time to think further. You couldn’t let fear for yourself, or fear for your cubs, keep you from living your life. At some point, you had to leave it in the Lady’s hands. But having made the decision, now she couldn’t voice it. She couldn’t match dominance with everyone across the entirety of their territory, one by one. And if she lost one sub-pack, others were likely to follow. Better she and Dare work together, Dare using his skill with words on them, persuading and ordering where necessary.
“So don’t posture,” she told Craig. “Mention this to no one and I’ll consider your petition. Yes, and discuss it with Dare.” She cut him off as he drew breath for a further objection.
That didn’t stop Portland, however. She stood and crossed her arms, anger rolling off her in waves. “Roanoke, how can you—”
“Roanoke?” Tom’s voice was loud, to be heard over their argument, but his wild self had its tail tucked far between its legs. “One of the patrols found an unknown Were. He was at the—”
He said a word Silver knew she should know, but at the moment, that was about as much use as looking up at the tiny dot of a bird against the clouds and knowing it could be eaten. Both hypotheticals, when they were impossibly far out of reach.
“The place where people arrive from far away,” Death said. “Another visitor for you.
Portland choked something back, and Silver was grateful for the excuse to stall before giving her response. She knew Portland had lost a cub to an early-term shift, but she hadn’t thought of it in quite those terms until Craig voiced them. These things happened, but they happened to some women more than others, and only the Lady knew all the causes and factors. “I will have to think about this.”
Silver hated the words even as she said them, but she couldn’t think properly with both of them staring at her, and Craig was right: it wasn’t just about being a female alpha, it was about being a female alpha who had already lost one cub. Portland smelled frustrated but didn’t protest.
“And consult with your mate?” Craig dropped his head in acknowledgment without waiting for an answer, as if his question was only a formality. If anything, that made it worse.
Silver shoved to her feet, the violence of the movement cutting off Portland’s reaction. A small part of Silver whispered urgently that she was supposed to keep her temper because she was Roanoke, but the rest was all icy clarity for her next words. “Think very carefully. Are you telling your alpha that she cannot make a decision on her own?”
Silver took one step, another, and touched Craig’s chin to make him meet her eyes. She didn’t bother to measure her dominance against his, as one might normally. She overpowered it, smashed him flat as he gasped. She’d told him she’d consider his petition, and yet he still felt the need to bully her. She walked with Death in the place of her wild self, and he dared to say she could not make a decision on her own?
Craig twisted his head away from her, panting. “I can make this big, Roanoke. I’m not the only high-ranked Were in the sub-packs who feels this way. Not by a long shot. Children are too precious to endanger them for posturing about status.” His voice was a frightened whine, but his words stopped Silver short anyway.
She stepped back. She could believe that he’d get support. Lady, she didn’t want to, but she could. Were had few children and they all felt the longing, if not as strongly as she often did, denied the chance for her own. And what a convenient excuse for the packs that disliked being united under Roanoke to agitate for their independence. The Western packs had been united for only three years, and even the original Roanoke sub-packs had their share of troublemakers, always bucking for more power.
Thinking about defending against all that made Silver realize she knew her answer to the petition, even without time to think further. You couldn’t let fear for yourself, or fear for your cubs, keep you from living your life. At some point, you had to leave it in the Lady’s hands. But having made the decision, now she couldn’t voice it. She couldn’t match dominance with everyone across the entirety of their territory, one by one. And if she lost one sub-pack, others were likely to follow. Better she and Dare work together, Dare using his skill with words on them, persuading and ordering where necessary.
“So don’t posture,” she told Craig. “Mention this to no one and I’ll consider your petition. Yes, and discuss it with Dare.” She cut him off as he drew breath for a further objection.
That didn’t stop Portland, however. She stood and crossed her arms, anger rolling off her in waves. “Roanoke, how can you—”
“Roanoke?” Tom’s voice was loud, to be heard over their argument, but his wild self had its tail tucked far between its legs. “One of the patrols found an unknown Were. He was at the—”
He said a word Silver knew she should know, but at the moment, that was about as much use as looking up at the tiny dot of a bird against the clouds and knowing it could be eaten. Both hypotheticals, when they were impossibly far out of reach.
“The place where people arrive from far away,” Death said. “Another visitor for you.
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