I was furious. So much so that my hands were shaking. However, despite the raw anger inside of me, I felt oddly in control of my emotions— something I haven't felt in days.
Ronan was silent, but kept a close distance. I could tell that he was worried about me and the whole situation. He wasn't wrong to be worried. In fact, I was surprised that I didn't kill her the moment she tried to kill me.
I walked back down the long, dark hallway until I reached the entrance where two of the dungeon guards stood watch.
"I need you to keep a close eye on her. Don't let her do anything reckless," I said before storming off.
"Yes, Alpha," they replied in unison and disappeared behind me.
Ronan ran up to my side as we walked up the staircase. "Alpha, what do you plan to do with the human girl?"
My brow furrowed. The answer should have been simple— kill her— but the intense gnawing feeling in my stomach prevented me from saying that. But beyond that, there was an even stranger reason: my wolf was... excited.
I had never before felt this type of excitement. It was new, thrilling, and most likely a fluke, but the reality was that I was much more composed after this brief encounter.
'Maybe my wolf enjoys toying with humans.'
Still, an attempt on my, an Alpha's, life couldn't be taken lightly. And my hesitance to take action worried me; it wasn't like my usual self.
"Call the council for discussion," I finally ordered. In my current state, I couldn't trust myself to make a decision as big as this.
Ronan flashed me a worried look but nodded his head. "Very well, I'll have them report to the council room immediately."
After he left, I made my way back to my room in silence. It was still the middle of the night, so everyone was most likely asleep.
'Why? Why couldn't I bring myself to kill her?'
She was fully pinned down. It would have been so easy to snap her fragile neck right then and there.
'Is it because she's a human? And killing her would surely start the war?'
In the back of my mind I knew that wasn't the reason. I didn't care about the war. In fact, I wanted nothing more than to rampage through their lands and avenge my fallen pack that died for no reason.
Of course, I knew that I had to think of the pack first. Starting a war now would be reckless, especially with me in this… broken state.
As soon as I made it to my room, I walked over to the bed.
"Interesting. There's no lingering scent. It's as if she were never here."
My eyes darkened. This was most likely how the humans managed to kill my pack, by surprise, exploiting our scent-reliance. Our sense of scent was much stronger than that of the humans, but our flaw was that we relied on it too much. If not for my instincts, I would have died tonight.
'No— that's too strong. I can't have her here. She's a danger to the pack.'
But the moment the thought of killing her sprang up, I felt an immediate surge of hesitation, as if I didn't want to.
'But why? Keeping her alive would only put the pack at risk.'
The clashing emotions only got worse the longer I thought about it. I slammed my fist into the wall in frustration.
'She almost killed me! She deserves to die!'
Again, my stomach twisted into a knot in protest. The reaction was so illogical that the only thing I felt was frustration.
My eyes suddenly widened. I looked at my hands, then around the room. I felt...calm. Well, not calm about what had happened, but calm in the sense that I wasn't battling the rage. For the first time in who knows how long, my wolf was quiet.
'Was it because I had captured her? Or because I had won the fight?'
Various reasons began to bloom inside my head, but none of them felt right.
"Alpha, the council has gathered. We're ready for discussion," said Ronan from the other side of my bedroom door.
I snapped out of my thoughts momentarily and walked over to the door. "Let's go."
We walked down the hall to the opposite side of the mansion, where the council hall was. The moment I stepped inside, the buzzing room hushed, and everyone bowed their heads.
"Alpha."
I took my seat at the head of the table and looked them all in the eye. "I'm sure you've heard about what happened tonight. The human 'Emissary of Peace' snuck into my room in an attempt to take my life."
I pulled out the silver dagger from my pocket and slid it across the table. A few of the Elders gasped in horror as they saw the blade.
"Now I ask: what shall we do with our esteemed guest?"
The room fell into silence. Everyone's focus was on the silver dagger.
"We should kill her. Since she's proven to be an assassin, keeping her here is too much of a danger," one of the advisors finally said.
"No. If we killed her, what would we tell the humans? Could you imagine the outrage?" Elder Oren countered immediately.
Elder Thea nodded her head, "It's true. They could be using this as an attempt to corner us. I'm confident that they'll twist the situation and say that it was us who killed her."
The room quieted once more. I remained silent, fighting my own internal war. Whenever killing her was mentioned, rage flared inside me.
'Did she drug me?'
I thought about how she arrived without a scent.
"There's something else," I said, breaking the silence.
Everyone turned to look at me. I drew in a deep breath. "She didn't have a scent. Rather, she did something to erase it completely. If her target were anyone else tonight, I'm sure they would be dead."