She scanned the room desperately looking for that one person only and whentheir eyes met, it was the hardest thing for her ever to not give away her trueemotions.

Because Brayden was right next to her and watching her every move.He wrapped his hand possessively around her waist and pulled his wife closer.Gideon wanted to kill him.

The man didn’t even realise how thin the ice he waswalking on was.

If he gave him the smallest of reasons, he would snap his neckin less than a second.And would never regret it.But looking into Riannon’s blue eyes he knew that it was neither the place nor thetime.What he really wanted was to have his hands on her, to have her close to him.And all he had to do now was wait.

Just a little longer.Without even so much as a nod or wave, he turned away and left the foyer, goingstraight to the room where the summit was supposed to be held.

Reid and a fewguards followed him closely behind.Brayden released his grip on her as soon as the Lycan king was gone.

Riannonwould have scoffed if she could, but she also knew that it could cost her.Everything in due time.“Bray!” she heard a familiar sweet voice and couldn’t believe it.She didn’t even manage to turn her head when Roxy had already jumped intoher husband’s arms, making him let her go.

The foyer was full of Alphas, theirBetas and Gammas, and Lunas who came with their spouses.

Not to mentionthat practically each of them had guards around.

And all of them watched theshow.Riannon tried not to give them any reaction.

She had to remember that soon thishumiliation would be over.

“What are you doing here?” Brayden seemed as startled as she was, “You arenot supposed...”“I came here to support you, of course,” the redhead smiled innocently, “Yoursister Harper drove me here.

She said that all mates come here to support theirAlphas.”“How sweet of her,” Ria let out a little laugh.“Did I do something wrong?” Roxy looked at him with big eyes that were alreadyfilling up with tears.

That girl probably drank more than two liters of water per day.Her tear flow was limitless.Brayden did not know what to say.

It was already inconvenient and awkward.

Helearnedhis lesson at the Alpha Ball, which did not go the way he planned.

But if Roxannemade a embarrassing.

He couldn’t afford that.“Of course, not,” he took his mate’s shoulders, rubbing them gently, but stilldistanced her from himself a bit, “You just surprised me.

That’s all.

And where isHarper?”He wanted to make his sister babysit since she was the one to cause that mess.“She drove away,” Roxy flattered her eyelashes innocently.

“She said she wasgoing shopping and that you can take me home when you are done.”“My dear,” he coughed, glancing at his wife, “I can’t.

I am busy.”“We still have a few hours before the start,” Riannon said, “Go show her around.

Iam sure it’s her first time at a place like that.”“It is!” Roxanne took his hands in hers, “Can you really go with me now?”“What are you going to be doing?” Brayden looked at his wife suspiciously, butshe pointed at the entrance to the restaurant on her right – the opposite direction

to where Gideon went.“I am going to say hi to the other Lunas.

We usually gather there.

Some of themhelped me to persuade their husbands and I need to thank them too,” Riannonsaid indifferently and then gave Brayden a look, mind-linking him for the first timein a while, “Make sure she behaves and do not let her run around the placeembarrassing our pack.

She represents usnow.”He wanted to reply but she already cut him off and turned on her heels, walkingto the restaurant.

It was actually good for her that Roxy would keep him busyuntil the start.

If she had a task from whoever worked with her, it would probablybe to split her and Brayden to weaken their pack.

For once, they had the samegoal.“Riannon,” her friend Mariyah stood up as soon as she saw her and waved forher to join their group.

And it was a big one.

At least a dozen women were sittingat a big round table and about the same number were standing around them.They all stopped talking when they saw her and she felt that somehow it wasdifferent tonight.“Ladies,” Ria flashed her pearly whites at them, not knowing what to expect.

Itcould go either way.

Some of them were friends.

Some were frenemies.

Andsome simply enemies.

For one reason or another..“You‘ve been busy!” Mariyah chuckled.“And you look gorgeous too,” Ada, one of her frenemies added.

Surprisingly, thistime she“Thanks,” Riannon smiled modestly.“We heard about your project,” said Luna Helena.

She was one of the oldestwomen here and was once her mother’s friend.

“It’s very impressive.

And wewant you to know that we all stand with you on this one.”

“It was about time for such changes,” someone chimed in at the back.“The times have changed and so must our laws,” Ada took a sip from her glass,“I told my husband that if he doesn’t support this project with his vote, he won’tget any of this anymore.”She pointed at her perfect body in a tight yet elegant red dress.This was probably the friendliest conversation they ever had.

Lunas startedtalking, telling her the stories of how they learned about her project and howmuch it meant for them.

Most of them were mated to their husbands and did nothave problems with them.

However, they had daughters, sisters and nieces toworry about.Riannon felt a bit guilty.

They praised her too much.

And she did all this for themost selfish reasons.In her past life, she had been thinking about it too.

But also, after she got toexperience first-hand what it was like to be dumped by a powerful man whoowned everything they shared prior.However, she decided not to think about that.

This wasn’t important now.

Shewas adding many clauses to this law with the thought of anything that couldhappen to a woman in a man’s world.

So, she was helping them all.

And shechose to concentrate on that part.They spent the next half an hour talking but soon she heard a loudannouncement, recognising Reid’s voice.“The Alpha Summit is about to start.

Please, come and take your place if you aretaking part,” he was repeating the words over and over.So, Ria said goodbye to her friends and left, surprised that they were startingearly.

“Wait,” one girl caught up with her and Riannon looked at her questioningly.

Theydidn’t know each other that well, as the girl just recently got her title.

However,she heard some stories about her and her mate, who wasn’t the best of Alphas.

Itdid not escape Ria’s eyes that she was wearing a turtleneck dress and too muchmake-up too, probably covering her many bruisers.

and whispered.“Thank you.

If it works, I will be free,” she said, and then stepped away.

Andwithout adding anything else, returned to the Lunas’table.Riannon met Brayden back in the foyer and he was happy to see that she waswhere she promised him to be.

Roxy was not around, meaning that Ash wasprobably the one taking care of her now.They walked into the Summit conference room together and, for the first timeever, Ria saw what everything really looked like.

A long glassy table that wasnow filled with dozens of Alphas.

Gideon was sitting at the head of the table andBray grunted when he noticed this.Just for a second, Riannon allowed herself to look at her mate.

She needed tosee the support in his eyes, she needed to feel it.

He nodded at her just like hedid with everybody else, but his eyes were telling a different story and she knewit.Everyone was taking their seats and only Brayden and she stood in the sameplace.“What is wrong?” she asked him.

“The king took my seat,” her husband repliedand she shot her brows up.“That’s actually my seat,” Gideon said in a very relaxed tone, leaning over hischair that was bigger than everybody else’s.

“Thanks for warming it up for me.”“Here are a few empty seats,” one of Brayden’s friends said, gesturing for themto join their group.

He looked nervous and Riannon did not like his facialexpression.

Something was off.magic

“Why are there so many empty seats?” she tried to distract her husband.“Sorry, Bray, I need to tell you something urgent,” his Alpha friend interrupted,bending to whisper something in Brayden’s ear.

Now, this was a problem.

A realone.

He then started showing him something in the folder with her law project.“That’s because foxes and werebears did not come again.

The empty seatsbelong to them,” a woman with sleek black hair next to her purred and Ria lookedat her with interest.

She was the only other woman in the room today and thatmade her the Alpha of one of the werecat packs.“I am Ramina Knight, by the way, the...” the woman started introducing herself.They had never met before because werecats were the recent addition to theirunion.“I know very well who you are,” Ria smiled and wanted to tell the woman how sheand squeezed it almost painfully.“Bray, not now!” Riannon said playfully and loudly to draw the attention ofeveryone in the room to them, “The Summit is about to start.”He took his hands off her and immediately she felt how he tried to mind link her.But she did not let him.“That’s right,” Gideon growled, hardly being able to hold himself back fromtearing the werewolf to pieces for the scene, “Let’s start.

We have a fewimportant matters to decide today.”“But, my king,” someone said, “It’s supposed to be at least one hour before westart.

Why are we in such a rush?”“have places to be,” Gideon cut him off, “Or can you work only at designatedhours of the day? No? Then I don’t see the problem since everyone is present.Let’s start.”He gestured at Reid, who was sitting next to him, and the Beta stood up.

“As you are all probably already aware, our main problem at the moment is theuprising of foxes and werebears in the East.” He switched on the big screenbehind Gideon’s back with a map where the locations of every pack of their unionwere shown.“You mean your main problem,” one of the Alphas said with a smirk, “They areattacking your borders, not ours.”“And what do you think will happen after they are done with us?” Reid asked him.“Isn’t the whole point of being mighty lycans that no one can destroy you?”someone chuckled and a few others joined in.“The point is that they would not be able to destroy us,” Gideon sighed as if hewas already tired of all this, “And when they give up on that idea, they would startlooking at your packs and your lands.

At least six of you have borders with themif I remember correctly.

The question is if we will come to your rescue if you don’tfulfil your obligations to the lycans now.”To that, no one had what to say.

Shifter wars were always brutal.

Strong men andwomen were dying and the population was decreasing.

Behind their Union wereother lands.

More werewolves, another lycan kingdom and many other creatures.None of them were friendly.

If they got weaker, everyone would suffer.

So, tosome extent, they were all trapped in working together.“Besides that,” Ramina started speaking, “I think the foxes and the werebearsmostly“How would you know that?” Zack Morgan asked.“Because they approached me to join them,” the woman sneered, “But werecatshave no interest in ruining our comfort life with lycans as our allies just to strokeour ego.

We do not care about that.

It was peaceful since the lycans took usunder their wing.

We are not ready to lose that.”

They were all processing her words.“We would of course fulfil all our obligations according to our treaty, king Gideon,”one of the Alphas said.

He was one of Riannon’s father’s old friends.The room started buzzing as they were discussing to what extent werewolveswould be involved.

It took them some time and Ria knew that this meeting todaywasn’t the end of it.

Her mate would have much more work with all of them.“Anyway,” he cleared his throat when they were done with that topic, “The nextmatter that we need to look at today is the new Women’s Rights law project byLuna Riannon Thorn.

I guess you have all read it and have your opinion ready forthe voting.”“I have a few adjustments to make,” Brayden raised his hand, throwing a folder inGideon’s direction.He knew everything and Riannon tapped her shoe nervously under the table.“There are procedures for that,” Gideon pushed the folder back to him, “You canpropose adjustments at the next Summit.

This time we are voting for this versionof the new law since everybody is familiar with that.”The tension in the room was palpable.“Shouldn’t we at least discuss it first?” Brayden gritted through his teeth.“Why?” Alpha Zack Morgan interrupted him, “We were talking about it justyesterday.

And you were fully behind it.

You assured me and others thateverything was fine in that folder since you were the one who did most of thework.

I personally believed in your project since you were involved.

And I did notfind anything wrong inside.

So, what is the problem there now? Are you goingback on your word?”It was a masterful trap and Riannon knew that she would be thanking the Alphafor this later.

Now Brayden had no choice.

“Of course, not,” her husband sounded nervous for the first time in his life, “It’sjust that it could be even better...” innocently, “You’ve done a good job there,Alpha Thorn.”“Good job indeed,” Gideon smirked, “So, how about we vote to save ourselvessome time? I am sure real men want their wives, sisters and daughters to betreated fairly.

Reid, make sure that the count is visible on the board.”The Beta nodded and they saw two squares on the screen.

One was for the lawand the other one was against it.“I will start,” the Lycan king announced, “I vote for the approval of the law.”Immediately, the count on the screen changed to 1-0.The next one was alpha Dixon, Luna Ada’s husband.

He voted in their favor andseemed very eager to do so.

He probably wanted access to that gorgeous bodyof his wife after all.Riannon swallowed as one by one alphas started voicing their votes.

Thenumbers were changing and it looked like the difference in numbers would beminimal.

Most of Brayden’s pals voted against it.

But some, surprisingly,supported the law.Finally, it was done and Ria was afraid to even look at the board.“So, we have 39 to 35 votes.

The law is accepted by the Alpha Summit and iseffective immediately,” Gideon announced, and only now did she open her eyesto look at him.

He was smiling.It was done...