Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
That got a smattering of applause in return. Plenty from the omegas and epsilons, but the betas and alphas didn’t twitch.
“Now, before Vice Ash takes over, let me introduce you to our guests.” I swept out my hand to the big, white screen hanging overhead. Right on cue, Edric flicked on the video chat. Seven stern, blank, bored, and annoyed faces came onto the screen, staring down their noses at us all.
Ash fell out of her seat. “Clan leaders?! What on earth—! What is this?”
“I’d be more than happy to explain.” I beamed the same shit-eating smirk on Ash that she gave me on this very stage. “It was helpfully pointed out to me that I can make all the changes I want in the academy, it doesn’t make a lick of difference. The real change has to happen beyond these walls if we’re ever to have any hope of fulfilling Luame’s vision of the future.
“A point I made to the leaders of the moon, sun, water, earth, fire, metal, and wind clans.” I smiled at them—who could see me just as well as I could see them—but not a one smiled back. “Since they’re just as committed to Luame and the Golden Age, they’ve agreed to listen in on our weekly forums, come up with concrete plans to enact these changes, and then propose the new laws to the council—”
“Excuse me?” Ash screeched.
“Oh my gods, is this real?” Nia cried, jumping up. “But this is amazing!”
“Isn’t it wonderful, everyone?” I sounded off, clapping and jumping up and down. “Today your clan leaders will listen and hear you.”
My enthusiasm was infectious, getting everyone on their feet—but not for the same reason.
“You can’t be serious!” Megan shouted.
“A few omegas whine and cry, and you go changing the laws? That’s ridiculous!”
“You wouldn’t care about the laws changing, alpha, if you didn’t know they were skewed in your favor!”
“This is highly irregular,” Ash belted, rushing over to the podium. The secret police were swarming the stage to do the same. “I was not informed of this. The council wasn’t informed of this! We are not doing it. This forum is canceled!”
Magnus, the metal wolf clan alpha—and the bearer of a quite beautiful rising-moon-face tattoo—cocked a brow. “Canceled, is it? What a pity. I’ll be off, th—”
“You were paid for an hour of your time,” I sliced in, a hard edge bleeding into my sweetness. “Leave now and I’ll expect that money back.”
Magnus, and the finger that had been about to slam the escape button, paused. “That’s not necessary,” he gritted. “I will happily keep to my commitment, but in return, it’s not too much to ask for you to be ready and organized.”
“Exactly,” the others agreed. “You’re wasting your own time.”
“We are more than ready and organized. The students are too,” I said. “Everyone, if you’ve got something to share with your leaders, line up between the rows and—”
“No,” one of the secret police officers barked, even though the students were tripping over themselves to form a line. “Unless you have authorization from the council for this meeting, and provide that proof now, this forum ends now.”
I crooked a brow. “Authorization? Since when do clan members need permission from the council to speak to their leaders? Unless you can provide proof of that new law change, you end now. You have no business on this stage,” I stated. “You’re here to investigate Dagem’s murder, not get in the way of school business.
“Get off, or get out.”
The man exchanged looks with his colleagues, and then they all turned to Ash.
She stood there fists balled and nostrils flaring. She was shaking so hard, her tattoo was doing a rumba on her cheek. “High Priestess, please be reasonable,” Ash hissed. “You sprung this forum on me with no warning—”
“Nothing was sprung on you. You weren’t invited.”
Ash blew past that like I hadn’t spoken. “A gathering of the leaders is serious. Proposed law changes are serious. If this is to be done, it must be done the right way,” she hissed. “Let us now thank the leaders for sparing the time, let them return to their business, dismiss the students, and then you and I will meet with the clan leaders and the council privately to discuss your concerns.”
“My concerns? My concerns have nothing to do with this,” I replied. “It’s been pointed out to me several times that I don’t know about the lives of the wolves of Wolf Nation, and I shouldn’t pretend I do.
“Every student here has lived among these clans,” I said, sweeping my hand over the crowd. “They know what it’s like. They know what needs to be changed. They are going to speak now, Mrs. Ash,” I stressed, refusing to use her title like she refused to call me headmistress. “I put a lot of time and money into making this happen, so you’re going to step aside and stop wasting it.” I pointed to her chair. “Now.”