Chapter 229: Abdicate!
"Thunderstrike wouldn’t be the first," Alpha Thorton continued. "But it surely wouldn’t be the last."
He stood up, spreading his arms wide as he walked around his table and out so that he could stand in the middle. He parked himself in front of the Oracles, trying to block the moonwater from view.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he addressed, "how many times has Fangborne taken down previous members of the council? How often were packs across North America razed to the ground just because they had different beliefs from that of Fangborne’s? Think before you choose a side!"
A glow lit up across Alpha Thorton’s eyes as he grinned sinisterly.
"Choosing to side with Fangborne would mean you’re signing an inevitable death warrant for yourselves. This is merely a new tactic to destroy us all one by one!"
Damon rolled his eyes. "I hate to blow my own trumpet, but everyone here should know one simple thing."
Damon paused, and the room seemed to hold its breath as everyone focused their gazes on him. Damon met them all unflinchingly, with the majesty of a mountain that knew it was better than the peons that dared to tread upon its soil.
"If I wished to raze your pack to the ground, it would not matter whether or not you sided with me or not." His lips twisted derisively.
More than one werewolf sucked in a breath at his blunt words. Before Alpha Thorton could gleefully open his mouth, Damon stopped him with a glare hotter than a thousand suns.
"The enemies I have picked are none other than packs that have betrayed their fellow wolves first, by allying with bloodsuckers and hunters both."
"A likely story!" Alpha Thorton exclaimed. "We only have your word on this!"
"I don’t care if a scumbag like you believes me or not," Damon retorted blandly and turned around, showing Alpha Thorton his back. With the oracles keeping watch over the room, Alpha Thorton would have to be near suicidal to strike at Damon while his back was turned.
However, Blaise and I knew that this was another method of taunting that prideful man. Damon wasn’t even going to spare the last bit of his energy on him, and his blatant disregard for Alpha Thorton was tantamount to slapping him cleanly across the face. Spitting at his feet would have been a lot politer.
Meanwhile, Luna Cassidy looked like she was seconds away from hollering in excitement. If we were on pack grounds, I could imagine her straight-up taking bets over who got to sock Alpha Thorton first.
Damon began to address the room, his low gravelly voice heavy with impatience.
"We have wasted enough time on this man. I do not care if you wish to side with me or stab me in the gut. Instead, I urge all of you to examine yourselves as werewolves first and foremost." Damon’s hand thumped his chest, the same way Alpha Thorton did when he claimed that it hurt his heart to see his son abused by Damon.
I squashed down a proud smile that was threatening to overtake my face. Damon was a fast learner, using Alpha Thorton’s theatrics against him.
"Standing on Alpha Thorton’s side means standing with a kinslayer," Damon said grimly, his words causing a shiver to run through my spine.
Kinslayer. An old archaic term that had fallen from most vocabularies due to disuse, but never was it more apt than now.
Alpha Thorton and Darach were family. They were kin, and Thorton had stripped Darach from his wolf as easily as a child removing a smelly sock from his foot. A wolf without a pack was nothing more than a tragedy, and Alpha Thorton had torn both wolf and pack from Darach, killing him twice.
"Can you accept such a bastardization of our beliefs by this traitor? My wolf inside howls in anger and anguish just at the very thought of this injustice," Damon continued, his voice echoing in the silent room.
He didn’t need to raise his voice any longer― every individual present could hear even a pin drop.
"Every fiber of my being calls for justice to be served. The only way this can happen is if Alpha Thorton abdicates."
"Spoken like a true Alpha, Alpha Damon," Alpha Burke said approvingly, his voice cutting through the silence like a gunshot. "I am an Alpha, but before that I am a father, yet first and foremost I am a werewolf. It shames me that the Alpha title is given to someone so unworthy― someone who harms his kin either through neglect or pampering."
That last part was of course directed to Dahlia, who squawked in outrage. "How dare you! I’m not harmed!"
Damon nodded in thanks, his lips curling into a brief smile before he addressed the room. "If we allow such a scumbag to remain in charge of his pack today, we might as well resign as leaders so that bloodsuckers can take our positions tomorrow."
"What on earth are you saying, Damon?" Dahlia shrieked, her face alternating between white and red, as though she was a highly confused first aid box. "A vampire?"
"Before today, I thought werewolves would never eat their own kind. I am now a changed man," Damon said, sounding almost bored as he stared back at Dahlia. "I must say, I’m not capable of doing something as callous and cruel as harming my own family, so maybe I should abdicate instead and elect a vampire to better deal with your father."
"After all, only a soulless, heartless undead creature could be a fitting companion for him," Damon finished, sounding surprisingly serious.
Luna Cassidy cackled so loudly, that even the oracles turned to stare at her.
"Damn right, son, you got it," Luna Cassidy wheezed as she thumped the table enthusiastically, despite Milo trying to stop her. "You’ve got my vote just for that comparison alone. Thornton, it’s time for you to abdicate from your position!"
"That’s right!" Another voice chimed in, most likely emboldened by Luna Cassidy’s loud support and Damon’s passionate words. "Pack Lostlorn calls for your abdication!"
As though a dam had shattered, more voices joined in the fray.
"Whitecrown calls for your abdication!"
"Deadclaw calls for your abdication!"
"Giantmane calls for your abdication!"
"Abdicate!"
"Abdicate!"
"Abdicate!!"
