Jiro POV
He'd never seen the Great Hall in Cresta House so crammed with Alphas and Betas and representatives of all packs. Marcus Mond and Caleb Wolfbane had arrived together, with Aldwin Brocius Wolfbane beside his mate Caleb. Jiro was heartened to see Aldwin looking hale and hearty, with a sparkle in his eyes.
Bram, his father's Beta, was standing in for Jude and nagging any Alpha that would listen to support the effort to raid the Ember Faeries and steak back his father Jude and stepmother Ravyn. Slightly guilty, Bram growled, "I NEVER should have let them go."
"Alphas are supposed to risk themselves to protect the packs, or they ought to just go be healers," Caden said in his blunt way."
Seated at the long table, Kyon crossed his arms. "I'll be sure and tell my mate Azandra you said that."
Caden shrugged, smelling distinctly unimpressed by Kyon's glower. "My point was that the pup here," he waved his hand to indicate Bram, "is next in line to be Alpha and ought to have absorbed what that means with his mother's milk."
"He does," Dane said, his own steely blue glare out in force. "He just was expressing what ANY leader would express. What any beta who's worth anything would say."
"A beta is supposed to back his Alpha," Caden grunted.
Aldwin elbowed him. "And this is why your beta looks like he wants to tear his hair out. We're not in our pack territory anymore. Put away your claws." He looked apologetic, this former rough-and-ruthless bandit. "You'll have to excuse him. He's used to the harshness of our home, and not this pleasant environment."
Jiro hid a grin. "Then it's fortunate he has you to, ah, smooth things over. SOME of these Alphas get a little testy." He tried not to look at his brother Dane, who got the message nevertheless and huffed.
Bram leaned in, his red hair gleaming in the light. "I do back my Alpha--who happens to be my father. And I prevented him from leaving on a dangerous mission weeks ago because he had just returned from being captured and enduring an ordeal on Abandonnado Island--"
"But he won," Caden Wolfbane snarled.
"Yes, and I don't know how it works in your pack, but OURS didn't want him rushing off into danger again after all that he AND his pregnant Luna endured," Bram asserted, standing his ground. "We barely approved him going on this mission, which we thought would be less perilous--we were wrong."
"You couldn't know," Jett Wulfric of the Oak Ridge Prowlers asserted. "I mean ... we have all heard of Dark Fae, and Queen Ylavi has looked rather shadowy of late. But who could possibly suspect that an ally would trap--"
"The Brighmere Wood Elves trapped us," Kyon asserted, with a sly glance at Marcus Mond. "I'm sure SOME of us remember that. And they are most definitely an ally."
Marcus huffed. "That was a misunderstanding."
"Found a mate yet?" Kyon asked.
"NO. I thought I had, but like Azandra, she wasn't the one," Marcus snarled.
"Too bad." Dane REALLY put on a sympathetic face.
Oblivious, Marcus continued. "Of course, that kind of confusion is why Alpha Jude and Luna Ravyn are prisoners of--"
His beta growled at him. A mild growl, but still a growl. Dane's look of sympathy evaporated. Bram leaped up, smelling like fireworks.
"There is no one else responsible for Alpha Jude's predicament but Queen Ylavi AND the Dark Goddess," Dane pronounced. "In fact, if Alpha Jude had mated with her, the Silverpaw Pack, and shifters everywhere, would be in a world of hurt."
"We'd be in the Nightmare Realm," Lilia added, her eyes steely. "And I won't have you blaming my father for this."
Although she couldn't go on any of the major adventures because of Dane's protectiveness, she was still a powerful presence, and Marcus shrank from her, mumbling something.
Mentally, Jiro shook his head. And he'd thought he was hopeless at finding a mate. He dismissed Marcus Mond as irrelevant beyond being a fellow Alpha.
The Speaker of the Shifter Parliament, Alpha Tyrell Lynx of the Nightclaw Howlers, borrowed the sphere that the Evenhide Council used. He hit it and a howl burst forth, silencing everyone. All the Alphas and Betas and other shifters in the room sat up and fell silent.
"Let us not lose sight of what matters," he said in his even, measured way. "What matters is that the Ember Fairies have not only attacked and imprisoned an Alpha and Luna without cause, their ambassador refuses to speak to us and has fled back to court."
Jiro cleared his throat. "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, what do we intend to do about this?"
* * * * *
Garnet POV
She didn't blame Bram for agonizing over letting his father and stepmother walk into danger. Her heart ached for him. Not once but twice had his father been put in jeopardy. Yes, it was part of an Alpha's path to risk danger to protect the pack and his family. And Ravyn and Jude had followed her vision of Ylavi as the Dark Fae, knowing full well that because of Dark Fae tendencies and the sting of Jude's rejection, the situation was precarious at best. But that did not make Bram's heartache any easier to bear.
Tyrell Lynx bared his teeth. "That depends on if all of us think this is an act of war that embroils the entire Shifter Federation."
Another Alpha said snidely, "You mean if all of us are willing to risk ourselves and our pack lands for the Crestas' sake. Because they control Silverpaw--"
"TAKE THAT BACK," Bram roared, smelling like a forest after a blaze. "No one controls Silverpaw, you mangy mongrel."
Jiro smirked. "Someone's jealous."
"ME?" The loudmouthed Alpha sneered.
"Yes, you, Moonwing," Caden sneered back. "No one in their right mind would WANT to control your territory. Just dirt and rocks."
"As opposed to your homeland paradise?" Alpha Moonwing jeered.
Caden bared his teeth. He smelled of snow and ice and also hot cider. "It's made us stronger wolves. Tougher. Better."
"ENOUGH," Alpha Tyrell shouted. "Moonwing, you want to claw at people, you do it outside, not during Parliament. That goes for you, too, Alpha Caden and Beta Bram, and even you, Alpha Jiro, for egging everyone on."
Jiro mumbled an apology, and his hand found hers under the table.
Dane glared at Moonwing. "The Alpha made an unfounded accusation. We have NEVER asked the Shifter Federation to be our army--even when Alpha Jude and Luna Ravyn were the prisoners of the late, unlamented Hades."
Alpha Tyrell held up callused hands. "Be that as it may, this brouhaha gets us nowhere. And Alpha Moonwing, the imprisonment of an Alpha and Luna without just cause is ample reason to consider intervening."
Jiro quoted from the Shifter Federation charter. "Section 3, Subsection A, Paragraph 2. 'Several offenses shall be considered as grounds for war and for the Shifter Federation to declare war, including but not limited to: (1) kidnapping of an Alpha and/or Luna, (2) infringing upon a pack's territory, (3) assassination--attempted or successful--of an Alpha and/or Luna in good standing, (4) any action taken to harm a member pack.'"
Garnet added for good measure, "Also, 'Consorting with the Dark Goddess.'"
"Yes, thank you, my Luna." Jiro smiled appreciatively, then turned to gaze at his fellow Alphas and Lunas with his stern, steely turquoise eyes. "I would argue that in taking this action, the Ember Faeries have committed several of the above offenses. About the only one they didn't commit is number two, infringing upon pack lands. Any and all of those are valid reasons to go to war."
Murmurs from many of the Alphas, Betas, and Lunas in the gathering. They seemed to embrace Jiro's reasoning.
Dane cleared his throat. "Well, given that logic, shall we call for a vote?"