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“Why is it that I so often find myself cleaning up your messes?” Holden asked as he entered the room, his tone uninterested at best.

Tomas scoffed without bothering to look at the man that had slithered into his office. Instead, he sipped on his drink and leaned back in his chair.

“Clean up my messes?” Tomas asked. “What about the ones you make?”

“Me?” Holden asked, putting both hands to his chest with mock offense. “I clean up my own messes.”

“Oh?” Tomas replied with a laugh. Taking another sip. “Is that what you did? Whiteridge, Shadowcrest… that was more than two hundred wolves we lost.”

“It’s hardly the first time we have removed a problem that way.”

Tomas growled.

“I didn’t agree to Hallowed or Lone Rock,” he snarled. “You did that shit on your own!”

“As always, I did what was necessary.”

Tomas laid back in his chair, tossing back the rest of his glass.

“Eclipsed, however,” Holden continued. “Was not necessary. In fact, we wanted them. You knew that.”

“It became necessary,” Tomas growled.

“Enlighten me,” Holden growled back.

Tomas gave an angry smile.

“After you lost control of your little pet. Let him use my wolves to attack fuckin Summer, of all the damn places. Caleb got curious, and started poking around in the lesser packs. Found their way into Broken Crag. You remember them, right?”_.

Holden let out an irritated sigh.

Tomas smiled. He stood up from his desk and approached the bar to pour himself a new drink as he spoke

“The pack you claimed you could get control of, sent in your little mice running through their holes scurrying about and causing problems… except your plan failed, hard. Your men barely made it inside before they were killed off.”

“I admit, my assumptions about their tunnel systems were wrong. But Broken Crag is a pack of seclusion. They practically reject their own wolves. They weren’t going to join anyone.”

Tomas laughed. He turned and smiled brightly at Holden.

“See…” he said. “You just keep making these dumbass assumptions.”

Holden growled.

“Do you know what a silver and iron battle is?” Tomas asked.

Holden raised a brow in irritation, he huffed before finally shaking his head.

“It’s a challenge,” Tomas replied, taking a drink. “Broken Crag has a unique mindset. They prefer to keep away from everyone. But, they are warriors with a strong desire to fight a worthy battle. But to make that decision, they need a battle master. Someone to lead them into a fight worth winning.”

“You mean the Alpha? What is his name? Jon?”

“Jonas,” Tomas corrected. “And no, it doesn’t have to be the alpha, they just have to win the silver and iron challenge.”

“Why do I care about any of this,” Holden sighed.

“Because almost a week ago Alpha Caleb of Summer fought in silver and iron.”

Holden clenched his jaw.

“And what was the result?”

“Do you know the only pack that Broken Crag truly considers an ally?” Tomas asked, his voice sounding tired.

“Who?”

Tomas took a drink, swallowing and then clenching his jaw as he stared at the remaining brown liquid in his glass.

“Eclipsed,” he replied quietly.

“Broken Crag and Eclipsed have the strongest warriors of any of the lesser packs, they share mutual respect because of it. They consider each other brothers in arms. And because of that, the lesser packs look to them.

“Broken Crag does what it can to separate itself from the rest of the packs. But it’s like a big brother being followed around by its snot-nosed little brother just wanting to be like him.”

Tomas finished his drink.

“Broken Crag has allied themselves with Summer,” Tomas said, taking a deep breath. “Removing Eclipsed became necessary.”

“Did you even try to get them on our side?” Holden asked.

“Did you hear nothing I just said?” Tomas snarled. “They are brothers! When Broken Crag chose Summer, the fight for Eclipsed was over.”

There was silence between them. Then, finally, Tomas poured another drink and dropped back into his chair.

“Well, what’s done is done,” Holden sighed. “From what I read, almost the entire pack was killed in a matter of hours. How strong could they have been if it was that easy.”

“It was easy because it wasn’t a fight,” Tomas sighed. He took another drink. “Eclipsed killed itself.”

“What?” Holden replied. “What does that mean?”

“It means…” Tomas said, letting out a bitter laugh. “I cheated them.”

He drank the rest of his glass. Tomas stared at the empty glass and then suddenly threw it across the room. It hit the wall and shattered.

“I cheated them of an honest fight!” Tomas shouted angrily.

“What did you do, Tomas?” Holden asked. A darkness seeped into his voice as his suspicions began to rise to the surface.

“I made them kill each other. Mothers killed their babies. Sons killed their fathers….”

Tomas leaned over his desk, clenching his jaw and squeezing his eyes tight, trying to push the thoughts out of his mind.

“I did what you would have done,” he said, looking at Holden with anger in his eyes.

Holden looked at him carefully and considered his words. Then it all made sense.

“I see,” Holden replied. “So, you gave them the mist?”

“No,” Tomas corrected. “I sent them weapons. Knives presented as gifts and oiled with the base of that mist.”

“You drove them crazy and armed them all at once?” Holden laughed. “That’s insane and brilliant.”

“It’s not brilliant,” Tomas scoffed. “It’s cheap, dirty. It has no honor, no respect.”

“Oh Tomas, it’s far, far too late to look for moral high ground,” Holden replied.

“I know how bloody my hands are,” Tomas growled. “But that don’t mean I enjoy families killing each other.”

“Oh? Are you family man now?” Holden smiled. “Then I have great news for you.”

Tomas furrowed his brows, unsure what this bastard had in store now.

Holden gave Tomas his best Cheshire grin and then walked to the door. He leaned out and called someone.

Turning back to Tomas, the smile even wider somehow.

“I know your parting was a little awkward and difficult, but hearing you talk about family in such a loving way… I feel much better about this now.”

“What are you–” Tomas started to question, but his voice died when the young man stepped through the door.

Tomas felt his heart leap into his throat. His lungs threatened to collapse, and he felt the cold sweat fall over him.

The young man, twenty-four years old, with black hair trimmed short and faded at the sides. He was tall, almost six feet. The t-shirt he wore was stretched by his broad shoulders and muscular frame.

His square jaw was covered in a thin, well-kept beard. His full lips were half-cocked in a grin as he saw Tomas’s look.

“Roman…” Tomas whispered in a voice that gave away his dread at seeing the boy again.

“Hey, Dad,” Roman smiled, his burnt orange eyes lighting up with delight at his father’s reaction. “I’m back.”

***

Their talk had lasted most of the night.

Axel had asked her questions and she did her best to answer. He had gotten upset and then calmed himself down.

Most surprising for Alice was that he never actually got angry with her. He was upset, he was hurt, but he never blamed her.

Alice had taken a walk through the village alone, she told Axel she needed to see the damage for herself. It was devastating.

When she returned to the room, they held tightly to each other. They were intimate, they gave each other pleasure. But they both knew they just needed the comfort they found in each other.

When the sun rose, Alice’s mind was made up.

She gathered the sheet around her body, careful not to wake him. She grabbed his phone and tiptoed out of the house.

***

His phone rang, he didn’t recognize the number, but somehow, he knew he needed to answer.

“Hello?”

“Families, Holden? Kids?!” Alice shouted angrily on the other side of the line.

Holden felt a deep sense of relief hearing her voice once again.

“Hello, Alice,” he smiled.