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Bleddyn\'s growl faded, but he didn\'t drop Zev\'s gaze.

Zev\'s upper lip curled back from his teeth. "She is the Alpha female. It\'s not your place, Bled."

"She\'s not the Alpha yet."

"The only thing that will stand between her and that title is me, and I do not," Zev growled.

"The other Alphas might yet take her."

Zev raised a brow. "You think I won\'t beat them just as I did a few years ago?" He stood on the balls of his feet, his hands loose at his sides, but poised. Bleddyn was strong and an excellent battle strategist—the perfect compliment to Lhar\'s cunning and ambition. But he was a dark wolf and the very tenacity that gave him such strength and single-minded purpose, also made him stubborn and slow to change.

"If you have a challenge to present, Bleddyn, it\'s to me, not to her."

"An Alpha female that can\'t fight her own battles?" Bleddyn snorted. "Female through and through—"

Zev didn\'t hesitate. Bleddyn was a male who didn\'t waver once he\'d started on a path. There would be no swaying him from this. He was a wolf who needed evidence.

Clearly he\'d decided he hadn\'t enough from watching Zev beat Lhars.

Sasha gasped when Zev rushed Bleddyn, but the others only waited. They all knew. Bleddyn was all strength and might, but little speed.

Within seconds, Zev had put a fist into the massive wolf-man\'s stomach that had him doubled over, then brought an elbow down on his kidney, dropping him to the cave floor, right at Zev\'s feet.

"Do you need more?" he snarled at the male on all fours, sucking against the winding of the blows.

Bleddyn shook his head. "No," he croaked when he could catch his breath. "I submit. But she remains un-acknowledged by the Clan. She shouldn\'t be at Council."

"Then call her my messenger if it makes you feel better. She\'s not leaving." Zev turned from the submitted male and held the eyes of each of the others, one by one. "Any more challenges? Let\'s get them out of the way so we can actually start bringing our people back to strength."

The others all dropped their eyes and shook their heads in the face of his glare, though Lhars was the last to do it, and slowest.

But that was as it should be if he was to retain second in the pack. He needed to be the whetstone to Zev\'s blade. Something he\'d been good at since they were pups.

The question was whether his motives could be trusted now. By all accounts, he\'d been in Xar\'s pocket.

Zev was undecided. The evidence against his brother was too mixed. For now, he would keep him in place since it would keep the pack more settled.

When no one lifted their eyes, Zev snorted. "Take your seats. Let\'s begin."

The wolves spread around the fire, settling onto the furs, except Harhy and Thula, who put their backs to the cave wall and squatted, waiting for orders. If there were messages to take back to the village, or requests for information, they would be runners.

Zev took his seat on the same fur as Sasha, her knee brushing his thigh when he sat with one knee up and leaned on it, while the other was bent on the ground so that he could rise in a single motion. Tensions were high in the room, and though he trusted all of these males to follow where he led—eventually—the taking over of new Alpha was always a time of uncertainty and unpredictable behavior in any strong members of a pack. And these males were some of the strongest.

He would have to prove himself not only physically tough enough, but mentally sharp and demonstrate to them that he had not lost his edge—or his loyalty—in the years he\'d been gone.

It was frustrating to begin again with them. To begin with less trust than the last time, actually. But he was better equipped now.

He would show them. And then together they\'d remove Xar and bring the wolves to their correct position as the strongest pack.

The question about why Lhars hadn\'t already done this in his absences niggled, but he pushed it away. Lhars had always been more circumspect about attacking in plain sight than Zev.

"Thank you for coming, and for being willing to hear me," he said, meeting eyes with every male around the fire. "I know it\'s been a difficult few years while I\'ve been gone. I grieve it."

"What happened?" Bleddyn piped up immediately. "Why did you leave without warning us?"

Zev\'s jaw rolled. "That\'s why I brought you here first, so you can ask me any question you wish. We can\'t move forward until you\'re certain of me and my motives—and what I\'ve done since I\'ve been gone. Let me make it clear, you were not told the truth today. I don\'t know if the humans lied, or if Xar did, but there was little truth in the picture he painted." Zev took a deep breath and the others waited. "I\'ll tell you what happened the day I left, and then you can ask any questions you want. I\'ll answer all of them." He said, his voice a low growl. "But I ask you to have a care. The past three years have been… difficult." Bleddyn snorted, but didn\'t speak up, and Zev ignored him. "But I wager by the end of this we\'ll share what we know and understand better exactly what\'s been happening with the humans. Then our job will be to find a way to thwart them," he said.

The males all nodded and gave yips and barks of approval as Zev turned to look at Sasha.

She sat on the fur, her brow furrowed. When he looked at her, she put a hand up to his arm and squeezed, and he could feel her concern for him.

He prayed she still felt that way by the end of the night.