(Thomas POV)
As I passed through the forest, I didn't pay attention to the quiet that followed in my passing. Everything in the forest reacted to my moving through their territory with the same action. Every bug, every bird, and every animal… Freeze, hold perfectly still, and hope that whatever made this predator mad was far away from them.
Internally, my mind was focused on the change that came over me when I read Sam's intent through Jacob's warning.
Leah, our child. Bella, her child.
The idea that anyone had looked at my family and decided removing them was an acceptable solution had burned a line through me that wouldn't cool.
I ran the distance to the training clearing in my dire tiger form because I needed the space to breathe without ripping a door off its hinges. Because every muscle in this body wanted action, and if I didn't give it one, it would take it.
Edythe had argued. Of course she had.
Her eyes had gone dark and sharp the second she understood what Sam had tried to do. She'd been calm for Leah, steady for Bella, collected for Carlisle until I revealed my intent to 'speak' with the tribe.
Then she was all teeth behind a smile.
"I'm going with you," she'd said, voice velvet and lethal.
"No," I'd answered, and it had come out rougher than I meant.
Her head had tilted. "Excuse me?"
I forced myself to slow down. To speak like a husband instead of a dictator. "Leah needs you here. If they did one stupid thing, they can do another. If someone decides to be brave and dumb, I want you between them and our wife."
She'd stared at me for a long, hard second.
Then her hands slid to Leah's shoulders, gentle, claiming, protective, and she nodded once.
Leah looked me in the eyes, trying to hide the sadness Sam's betrayal caused in her own. "They didn't come in the end, and you can't blame the tribe for a moment of foolishness on Sam's part. Don't add another wrong to Sam's and try to claim it's right. You break bones, bruise egos, scare the message into them if you have to, but no killing. That would only carry over to the next generation."
She placed her hand on her swollen belly protectively as she finished. By Carlisle's estimation, she is at the beginning of her third trimester of pregnancy (Edythe saw my confused face and told me he meant she was about seven months pregnant.) I wasn't sure if it was because of Bella's trouble or if it was just natural, but Leah's belly looked almost twice Bella's size. (Not that I was going to point that out.)
To placate her, I pulled back on a large portion of my anger, "That's fair," I muttered.
The sharpness of Edythe's smile didn't fade at all, "But if you get hurt…"
"I won't," I cut in, because I wanted to keep Leah calm.
Edythe nodded and then kissed me hard… possessively like she was trying to demand my safe return without words.
I gave them both a reassuring look as I turned and left.
The training clearing opened ahead.
They were all there.
Every wolf. Every Elder. Every imprint who counted…clustered close, like proximity might keep them from being singled out.
In human form.
That surprised me. Not the obedience, fear makes people punctual, but the choice. This was a decision. A message. We came to talk.We came in peace.We're reasonable.
Sam stood at the front like a wall. Shoulders squared. Chin level. Eyes locked on me without flinching. He didn't look ashamed.
He looked certain.
The Elders held to one side. Old Quil's face was stone. Sue looked pale and furious…furious the way a mother gets when someone endangers her child and calls it duty. Terry Yindi kept his expression neutral, but his hands were tight at his sides. Billy sat in his chair, and the sadness on him wasn't soft, it was heavy, the kind that comes when you realize you raised something and it's about to be used wrong.
I fixed my eyes on Sam and let the memory roll through me like a match struck in my ribs.
Jacob's warning.
Leah's face when she understood what Sam had ordered.
Her hand on her stomach…instinctive, protective.
Bella clutching her belly in renewed fear after finally having hope that things could work out now that they knew the baby needed blood.
Sam, without knowing anything, had chosen to attack.
I stepped into the clearing.
I held Sam's gaze until I reached the center, then I let my eyes sweep the line: Jared. Paul. Embry. Quil. Boys I'd trained. Boys I'd laughed with at fires. Boys who'd patrolled with Leah.
Boys who had been one command away from tearing into my pregnant wife and my sister.
My claws sank into the dirt.
I lifted my head and let out a roar filled with all my rage…every threat I wanted to deliver to them, all the pain I had felt knowing they wanted to kill my wife and child. There was no human equivalent to what my roar said to them.
Even in human form, they understood the language of a savage beast.
As soon as understanding hit them, they lost their ability to stay human. Every single one of them shifted out of fearful reflex. Their first thought was to run… get as far away as possible, but then they knew if they did… Everything left behind would die.
So, they had only one choice their nature would allow them…attack.
Sam had the least hesitation, he charged at me first. My back legs twitched as I tested the firmness of my footing. When Sam got close enough, he lunged for my throat, no hesitation.
I simply lowered my stance and pushed forward with my back legs, my chest slamming into Sam's, and even with his forward momentum, my strength overwhelmed him. I felt his breastbone creak at the impact and watched as he tumbled away. A cry of shock and pain escaped his lungs as the air was forced out of them.
Next up was Paul, easy to tell because he was extended too far, he still couldn't keep his feet under him, just in case he needed to back up quickly. I used my left paw, claws extended, to swipe down from his cheek to his shoulder, laying the fur open and spraying blood all over the clearing.
I saw Embry and Jared hesitate and stumble a bit at the sight of Paul bleeding. This wasn't like training, where I held back from hurting anyone, this was a true fight with painful consequences.
Seeing Sam regaining his feet, I charged him and bit down on his hind leg. With a simple twist of my neck muscles, his leg snapped, and he howled in pain. Releasing his leg, I ran a clawed paw down his flank, opening him up the same as I had Paul. More wolf blood spilled onto the ground.
Cries of fright and terror came from the elders and the packs imprinted girls. This had become very real, scary fast.
Jared tried to get behind me as I went after Sam, his teeth trying to catch my back legs and hopefully tear a hamstring to reduce my movement. Unfortunately for him, I was able to spin and catch him on the side with a powerful blow. I felt many of his ribs give way, and he tumbled to the side.
Quil panicked and just charged at me with his jaws snapping, hoping to catch something, anything, that would slow me down.
He made the same mistake Paul always made.
He came straight in.
I met him with my shoulder instead of my claws.
The impact lifted him off his front paws. His body hit the ground hard enough that the dirt jumped, and he rolled once, twice, then skidded to a stop with a stunned yelp. Not broken…just rattled and humiliated.
Embry tried to flank.
I didn't even turn fully. I snapped my head toward him and let my teeth show.
It wasn't a bite. It was a promise.
He checked himself so hard his paws dug grooves in the dirt, and he backed out of my reach.
Good.
Fear was useful.
Jared had managed to crawl back to his feet, breathing ragged, trying to find an angle that didn't put him directly in front of me again. Smart.
Too late.
I pivoted and raked the flat of my claws across the ground in front of him, close enough to spray grit into his muzzle. He jerked back, sneezing and blinking, and I took the half-second to slam my paw into his shoulder.
Something popped.
His front legs collapsed, and he went down again, this time staying down.
Paul was still bleeding, pacing in a tight circle, rage overriding sense. He lunged for my front leg.
I let him have it…just enough to commit.
Then I jerked my leg back and brought my paw down on the side of his head, pinning him for a heartbeat with pressure that made his eyes go wide with fear.
Before I could do more, Quil was rushing me again, still desperately trying to get hold of me with his teeth. I jumped on Paul's ribs and used them to spring away, feeling several collapse as I pushed off of them.
Sam was trying to keep up with the fight, but his broken leg dangled behind him severely limited his movement. Finally tired of the whole thing, I shifted to my hybrid form, and when Quil charged me again, I grabbed him and threw him into Embry with enough force to send them both tumbling away.
Then I stormed toward Sam and reached past his snapping jaws to grab him by the scruff of the neck. Then I started to drag him to the group of panicked and crying humans who stood by while monsters fought.
Standing in front of Emily with Sam helplessly in my grasp, I asked, "Did he tell you what he planned to do?"
Emily, with tears in her eyes, cried out, "Thomas, please stop. You have proven you are stronger than the pack. Whatever you wanted to accomplish is done."
Rage slipped into my voice, "You think I wanted this? That I am doing this to prove my strength?"
I looked at Sam, who was helpless in my grasp, "Shift back…Now. Tell her what you tried to do."
Sam looked at me and growled in defiance. Then he tried to get his legs under him to continue the fight. I could see it in his eyes.
I reached out with my clawed hand and picked Emily up by the neck. "I SAID SHIFT BACK. If you don't, I will kill her and rip all your legs off. I promised Leah not to kill a wolf… Nothing was said about an imprint or how crippled I would leave you."
Fear crossed Sam's lupine face, and fur rapidly retreated back into his skin. "Thomas, please…No!"
I released Emily from my grasp, and she took in several deep breaths.
"Now tell her what started all this. Tell everyone here why their loved ones are bleeding on the ground today."
"I… made a call," he forced out, voice rough. "I decided…"
"Say it," I snapped.
Sam flinched, and the sound that came out of him wasn't the Alpha. It was just a man.
"I ordered an attack on the Cullen house," he said. "I ordered the pack to strike first. I ordered them to kill Bella Swan… and Leah Clearwater… and their unborn children."
The clearing went dead silent.
My voice raged out the part Sam had either tried to cover up or just thought it wasn't important enough to mention. "YOU ALPHA COMMANDED SETH TO TAKE PART IN KILLING HIS OWN SISTER!!!"
Emily gasped in horror as she looked at the man she loved.
As if finally realizing the full depth of what he had done, Sam stammered, "I didn't… I wasn't… There was a danger, and I reacted."
"It was fear," I cut in. "And it was arrogance. You didn't know. You didn't ask. You didn't come to me. You didn't come to Leah.
Sam's eyes flashed, and I leaned in, close enough that he could see exactly how little control I had left in this moment.
"The only reason you're still breathing," I said, "is because Leah asked me not to make martyrs today."
I turned my head, sweeping my gaze over the Elders and the scattered wolves dragging themselves into something like a line again.
"Listen carefully," I said. "This isn't a negotiation."
Old Quil's jaw worked like he wanted to speak and didn't trust his own voice. Terry Yindi's eyes had narrowed to slits, measuring the damage, the intent, the fallout. Sue's hands were clenched so tight her knuckles had gone white, and I couldn't tell if she wanted to hit Sam or me.
Billy's voice came first, quiet and steady, because Billy always tried to hold the middle of the world together.
"Thomas," he said. "You've made your point."
I looked at him. Really looked.
"I didn't come here to make a point," I said. "I came here because your Alpha decided my wifes, my sister, and my child were acceptable casualties."
Sam made a sound, half breath, half protest.
I cut him off without looking at him.
"You don't get to speak," I said. "Not unless you're explaining what part of 'pregnant' sounded like a threat."
Sam's face twitched. The pride in him wanted to rise. The fear kept it buried.
Terry stepped forward, just one pace. Careful.
"You're… making demands," Terry said.
"Yes," I answered. "Because your Alpha tried to murder my family and called it duty."
Sue's voice cracked like a whip. "He does not speak for all of us."
I believed her.
But belief didn't undo what almost happened.
"You should've stopped him," I said, not cruel…just flat. "That's what Elders are for. That's what leadership is. It isn't ceremonies and stories. It's stopping the worst of us when the worst of us starts making decisions."
I knew I wasn't being fair, it's not like Sam checked with them first. But they needed to have it beaten into them that they are also responsible for an Alpha's actions.
The wolves behind Sam shifted and limped and bled. Paul lay on his side, eyes wide and furious and not moving because he'd learned what "outmatched" felt like. Jared's breathing was ragged. Quil's ears were pinned back tight.
Embry wouldn't meet my eyes.
Good.
They needed to remember this the next time someone said attack first.
I took one step forward, slow, deliberate, and every wolf's body tightened.
"I promised Leah," I said. "No killing today. And I meant it."
Sam's shoulders loosened by a fraction, like he'd just grabbed onto that sentence as a lifeline.
I let him have it…right up until the next words.
"But don't confuse mercy with safety," I continued. "If you bring that pack to the Cullen house again, if you so much as sniff the property line with intent, then this ends differently."
Old Quil's eyes flashed. "You would bring war to our people?"
"Your Alpha brought war," I said, and my voice went low enough that it felt like the air changed. "I will bring death."
I pointed…sharp…at the Elders first.
"From now on, any action that is not self-defense against my household, the Cullen household, or any of our mates"…my eyes cut to Sam…"requires Elder approval. Not discussion after. Approval before. If you can't reach them, you do nothing. You patrol. You watch. You wait."
Terry nodded once, slow. "That is… reasonable."
Sue's voice came tight. "Agreed."
Billy nodded.
Old Quil held my stare a heartbeat longer, then dipped his chin, stiff. "Agreed."
Then I looked at Sam again.
His jaw worked. Pride fought reality.
Finally, he nodded once. "If there is a threat connected to your house or the Cullens, I will contact the Elders first. And… I will contact you."
"Good." I let the word cut clean.
Then I added the part he needed to hear most.
"And if you don't trust yourself in the moment—if you feel that fear spike again—you hand command to Jared." I glanced at the battered wolf trying to breathe through broken ribs. "Or you hand it to one of the Elders. You don't get to decide you're the only one who can carry the burden, Sam. That's how you almost killed your own people today."
Sam flinched like it was a slap.
He deserved it.
I looked over the wolves again—bleeding, limping, alive.
"This ends here," I said. "You will heal. You will remember how close you came to losing everything because one man got scared."
I turned slightly so my voice carried to all of them.
"And you will never again mistake my restraint for weakness."
My gaze locked on Sam one last time.
"You want to keep your pack?" I asked. "Then lead it like you actually deserve them."
I turned my back to them and shifted back to my tiger form, not the least bit worried they would attack. I had gotten what I had come for.
Not dominance.
But a line in the ground that everyone could see.