Chapter 69
DEREK
The moment the emergency response teams cleared the worst of the wreckage, the adrenaline began to fade–and reality set in.
The Alliance Summit had been attacked. Not just disrupted. Not just interrupted. Attacked.
Bombs, blood, death. Alphas injured. Lunas crying. Warriors dead.
I had bruises forming across my ribs, a deep cut across my side that had already scabbed over–but that was nothing compared to the blow this night had landed on all of us.
Logan approached with a grim look, carrying a bundle of clothes he’d scavenged from what looked like a destroyed hotel boutique–dark slacks and a pale blouse that looked two sizes too big for Elena. He handed them to her with a quiet grunt, and she took them with a nod.
“Thanks,” she muttered, then turned her back to us and started dressing, barely bothering to hide the fact that she was still shaking.
I was still naked, blood–spattered, covered in soot and smoke. I didn’t care. Not really. Not
until Elena said-
“How do you think an attack like this is going to play in the press?”
Her voice was strained, but it cut through the chaos like a blade. Logan and I both turned toward her as she tugged the blouse over her head. It hung off one shoulder and cinched awkwardly at the waist. She looked wild. Powerful. Beautiful.
“Not well,” I said, brushing dust off my forearm.
“For once, I agree,” Logan added. His voice was lower now, more serious. Less sharp- edged than usual.
The thought of the press made me realize that any of them that had been hanging around the summit could, would and probably should arrive any minute to document the attack.
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And I was still standing here stark naked.
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Still. There wasn’t exactly anything I could wear to hand other than what Logan had managed to scrounge from the broken storefront, and due to my size, I’d never really been
able to shop off the rack.
Elena ignored my nakedness, looked between me and Logan, then straightened, drawing herself to her full height. The coppery ends of her hair were tangled and dirty, but her gaze
was steady.
“Then we need to get ahead of it. Right now. We have to spin it before they do. Before Carlton gets hold of it. Before Cassandra leaks something else. The narrative needs to be unity. Strength. Not chaos.”
I was ever so slightly irritated that Elena had mentioned Cassandra–she may be brash and
aggressive when she went after something that she wanted, but I didn’t think she’d do anything to hurt anyone on purpose.
Still, Elena was smarting from Cassandra’s last bold media move and so I let it go. Her
instincts on this move were right.
She paused. “There are reporters here, right?”
I nodded slowly.
“Then grab one,” she said. “Right now.”
I blinked at her–then smirked. “You’re giving orders now?”
“Yes,” she replied without missing a beat. “Someone has to.”
I turned to go–then heard her call out behind me.
“Maybe put some clothes on first?”
I grinned over my shoulder. “You sure you want that?”
She rolled her eyes. “Just go.”
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Fifteen minutes later, I was buttoned into a clean white shirt–borrowed from one of the
Alliance security staff–and standing behind a podium flanked by a fractured row of
Alphas. Some had blood still smeared across their brows. One had his arm in a sling. Another had his Luna beside him, clutching his hand as if he might still fall apart.
Elena stood a few paces behind me, off to the side. She wasn’t smiling. She wasn’t trying to look composed.
She just looked… ready..
I leaned into the mic.
a
“My name is Derek King, Alpha of Silverclaw,” I said. “And I am standing here with the
leaders of the Alliance Summit because we will not be intimidated.”
Cameras flashed.
“What happened tonight,” I continued, “was not a rogue brawl. It was not chaos for chaos‘ sake. This was a coordinated attack. Strategic. Calculated. And cruel.”
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Chapter 70
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Chapter 70
