The Alpha King's Heart novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Vote

The council hall was full to the iron beams by the time we came in.

Twelve Alphas sat at the long curved table, six on each side of the aisle.

Six were the King's.

Six wore the old long coats and were not.

The gray-maned wolf sat at the head as speaker, with his cane across his knees and a gavel in front of him.

He voted only to break a tie.

Strake's chair stood empty with a black cloth over it.

The gallery was packed with gray and silk, shoulder to shoulder, and Selma, Emmett and Mom sat in the front row.

Toby sat on Mom's lap and waved at me.

The King took his seat at the center of the table.

I did not take mine in the gallery.

I stood beside his chair with my hand on his shoulder, in plain sight.

"A human at the council table," one of the old wolves muttered.

"The Luna of the Crown is entitled to stand," the King said.

"She isn't Luna until we vote."

"Then she stands as my mate."

The gray-maned wolf struck the gavel.

"The motion is this," he said. "That a King mated to a human has broken the blood law of the old packs, and that the throne passes to the council. Speak."

An old wolf with a white beard rose first.

"We don't hate her," he said, to the room. "We fear what she is. She is the daughter of the man who killed forty-one of ours. We will not kneel to a Blaster's blood."

"Hear him," said another.

Murmurs rose on the left of the aisle.

I stepped around the King's chair and walked down to the floor.

"May I speak?" I said.

"A human has no voice at this table," the white-bearded wolf said.

"She has mine," the King said.

"And mine," said the gray-maned wolf, mildly. "Let the girl talk."

I faced the room.

My hands were wet, and I wiped them on my coat.

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