45: THEY WERE OUT OF OPTION

THEY WERE OUT OF OPTION

"Did the alpha know about this? The curse can be cured…" Iris muttered to herself, as she held the book close to her chest, thinking of how to tell him about this.

Serafim came to this continent fifteen years ago, for the royal wedding of the king and the queen. At that time, King Aeon and Queen Della were only the crown prince and the crown princess.

Their succession to the throne had left bad blood within the royal family, but fortunately, Cane's mother was left out of it, because she stayed away from the capital and followed her mate back to the Howling Wolf pack.

She didn't give any indication that she wanted to be crowned as the heir. That was why she was the only living sibling that King Aeon had, but it was no longer the case now, since Alpha Gerald killed her along with her husband.

Iris learned about all of this from her teacher when she was ten years old and she remembered how proud he was when he explained to a ten years old little girl the gory scene that was the death of Cane's parents. He told her in detail, despite Iris having tears in her eyes, not wanting to know about that. He made sure she read his lips and knew what he was talking about.

Iris wanted to read more, but then she would have spent a lot of time in this library and she needed to get some sleep before she went to work in the mines the next day.

But then, she realized that she was attracting unwanted attention by finding these magic stones easily, so she wouldn't find any stones tomorrow, which meant, there would be no warm meal for her.

She was not sure whether she had to hide this fact or not.

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"The queen said that the king is planning to put one of his people in charge of the Blue Moon pack and he has gotten the five alphas to approve the same," Aderan reported this information to his alpha.

Today would be the last day of their meeting and the king would announce his decision about the fate of the Blue Moon pack, as he was against the idea of merging the two packs together, since it would make Cane the alpha of two packs. The other five alphas supported the king's decision.

"What should we do?" Aderan asked in a concerned voice. They would be damned to let those wicked people from the Blue Moon pack that had been involved in torturing them to be free and taste their freedom again.

Most of the people in the Howling Wolf pack demanded Cane to kill them all if things had come to that. Why would the king meddle in their business when he turned a blind eye while they were enslaved for a decade?

The king didn't have any right to get involved.

Cane shared the same sentiment. His uncle shouldn't have bothered to come all the way to the Blue Moon pack, he should have sat quietly on his throne.

"What about the messengers?" Cane turned his head to talk to Will, who was walking on his left side.

"They were supposed to arrive this noon, five of them had returned, but two messengers were still on their way here," Will reported the situation and Cane only nodded.

They didn't slow down their steps toward the strategy room, where they held the meeting. The five alphas had been waiting for him. The king would arrive last.

Once Cane stepped into the room, he saw the alphas were sitting on their respective seats, while their betas and gammas stood a step behind their alphas.

The tension was so thick, as they awaited the final decision that would seal the fate of the Blue Moon pack. They would fight tooth and nail for this pack to not be merged with Howling Wolf pack, because aside from all the benefits that Cane would get, he would monopolize the mines all by himself if that happened.

Jace and Ethan immediately approached Cane and stood behind him when he sat down on his seat. The room was so quiet, it was so different from the day of the introduction a week ago.

[Ask Will to find Iris and bring her here on my order.] Cane mind linked the beta.

Gerald had done something to Cane in his slavery days, which severed the mind link between the members of the Howling Wolf pack.

He forced them all to drink poison, which cut the ties between one another, to weaken their unity, but only recently Cane managed to mend the severed bonds, but it was only with his beta and gamma, and they couldn't use it if they were more than three steps away from each other.

Jace immediately walked toward the door and talked to Will about what the alpha had ordered him to do.

"Why should we get that girl?" Will frowned so hard. He thought this matter had nothing to do with her.

"Just do what you are told," Jace said and then patted his back. "Go."

Will didn't have any other choice and left the premises to go to the mines, where Iris would be at this hour.

Not long after that, the king arrived and the final discussion about the fate of the Blue Moon pack would be decided now.

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Not too far from Iris, Will was standing with his arms folded in front of his chest, staring at her with a stoic expression. People tended to look at her this way if they were not directing a hostile gaze at her, thus she was used to this.

"You need to come with me," Will said, once Iris looked at him. "Now." He added when Iris didn't move.

"Where to?" Iris asked, she stood up and dusted her dirty dress off the debris.

"This is the alpha's order," Will replied.

That was enough reason for Iris to stop asking about anything. If this was the alpha's order, then she couldn't afford to make him wait for long. She was afraid that he would show his temper.

Iris finally went with Will and as usual, she had to half run to keep up with his long legs, as he walked so fast. She almost felt like there was something chasing them.

But, this was his normal gait, most of the shifters walked like this and if anyone had to be blamed, it was Iris, for having short legs.

===========================

"Me, as the judge of this ordeal, will make the decision based on the majority of votes and all the alphas have agreed to this." King Aeon started his speech. "Based on the majority of votes, we agreed not to merge the two packs together and I will restore Mason's status as the alpha of the pack."

Ethan and Jace were seething when they heard that, they were visibly upset with that declaration, but Cane looked so calm as ever.

"Mason can't be the alpha of the pack," Cane said calmly, as he leaned his back against his seat and stared at the king. He didn't taunt him by calling him 'my uncle' again, because it was not wise to aggravate him in this situation.

No matter what, he was still the king.

"He still has a lot to learn about leadership, yes, but he is the alpha's son. The title will be passed down to him." The king looked at Cane smugly, knowing that he couldn't retaliate and this was a basic rule for shifters like them. They didn't really have a say in it.

However, Cane shook his head and then told Jace to do something. The beta walked out of the room and returned with Aderan, who dragged Mason into the room, to join this meeting.

Cane was aware that there would be a slight possibility that he would win this case, therefore, he had a backup plan or two at his disposal.

"Outrageous! Why did you bring him to this meeting?!" Alpha Gill stood up and glared at Cane to see a naked Mason being dragged into the center of their attention. He was gagged, unable to speak, with both of his hands tied behind his back while chains limited his leg movements.

"Calm down!" The king was furious. He pounded his fist on the table. He glared at alpha Gill until he yielded and sat down again, after that he shifted his displeasure toward Cane. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I brought him here just in case all of you have forgotten that he is not qualified to be an alpha." Cane stood up and walked toward Mason. His eyes flared with anger, but Cane didn't care, he received that anger gladly, since he was having the upper hand this time. He could have him killed if he wanted to.

"Restore his status and he will get his people to help him maintain the pack!" Alpha James from Bloody Wolf pack shouted. "He was a prisoner, yes, but the king has restored his status, you should treat him with respect!"

"No. The decision has not been made yet." Cane then kicked Mason, so he would roll over and show his private part. "I think all of you forgot about this tiny little fact."

All of them glared at Mason, who was so exposed for them to see, but none of them talked, thus Cane broke the silence.

"He has been castrated. There is no way for him to produce an heir." Cane looked at all of them one by one, as the realization dawned on them and they started to understand where this was going.

For the alpha, even though you were a first born, if you couldn't produce an heir, then it would be the end of your reign.

"That's your fault to have him castrated!"

"He can adopt and raise an heir to be his own!"

Yet, no matter what excuses that they threw at Cane, they knew they were baseless and the king couldn't disagree with Cane.

That was the importance of an heir.

"You should be punished for castrating the heir to the alpha title!" Alpha Gian from Silver River pack, was outraged.

"Punish me?" Cane tilted his head and directed his hatred toward the alpha, who immediately clamped his mouth shut. "He is a war prisoner. There is a rule that the conqueror can do whatever to their war prisoners and even now, he is still a war prisoner, until the king says otherwise."

But then, for the king to say otherwise was not easy, because there was another rule that he had to consider.

And moreover, that was the same excuse that those alphas and the king used a decade ago when Cane asked for help when he and his people were enslaved and were treated no different from dirt.0

Even though Cane didn't say it out loud, they knew that they couldn't dispute this, since it would project them in a bad light for their previous actions.

"He can't produce a child, he can't be an option anymore." Cane had erased that option straightaway.

"You can just remind us of this, you don't need to present him naked like that." The king narrowed his eyes to see Mason's condition. He met him once when he went to the capital. He was a bright, cunning and wicked child, but right now, he was nothing but a sorry creature.

Cane said nothing against that statement. He knew that he could remind them about this, but then where would be the fun in it? Weren't they always looking for something fun?

How funny it was when they laughed at Mason as he was being humiliated in the welcoming party, but right now they wanted him to be the alpha because they feared the power that Cane would hold?

"In this case, we need…" Alpha Gill was about to offer a solution, but Cane didn't allow him to talk.

"He is not the only child that Alpha Gerald has." Cane looked at Jace and he nodded before walking away from the room.

The beta and gamma started to realize what Cane had planned and they didn't know how to feel about this.

This was not a good idea, but they were out of options.

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