The Packs.

Everyone ran out of the training grounds.

I was confused.

When packs visit, they wait in line. Or better yet, don't come at all. Every single pack was subservient to Isaiah and his, so what the hell was going on? The Alpha-King pack was running out in a panic to greet the other packs?

Brit huffed a sigh and I turned to her.

"This has been happening more frequently." She said.

Donna walked up to us as well and spoke. "What has?"

Brit blew some hair out of her face. "Ever since dad got with Rosalind, they've been trying for peace. Rosalind is nice and all but… werewolves have always settled things with blood. Hell, even when dad became the Alpha King, he had fought his own father and killed him so he could take over!"

I nodded.

No wonder. The packs are getting restless. They're probably trying to put pressure on Isaiah to get his shit together, else they will get it together. Weak leader means weak packs means… coup d état.

Bad idea, Isaiah…

"Where are they?" I asked Brit.

She grinned at me. "Rosa's not gonna like this!"

"She'll get over it. I'm not going to have my family discredited in their own home. I don't care if they want peace. The packs want war, so I'll give 'em war."

Donna spoke up with a grin. "So… are we gonna start some shit?"

Brit laughed and slapped Donna's back heartily. "I think I'm gonna like you, pup!"

"Let's go." I said and started walking.

Donna trailed behind me and Brit ran up to my left.

"They're in the meeting room." She looked out the window. "Damn!"

I turned as well and paused mid step. There were werewolves standing outside! A lot of them! Probably around a hundred and fifty!

I grunted.

So they really did want war?! These fucking bastards!

I glared at them for a moment before walking upstairs and opening the first door on the left.

The meeting room was designed for just that, meeting. There was a large table in the center of the room with chairs going down it. Isaiah and Rosalind sat at the head with the alphas and lunas trailing down according to their rank.

There were fourteen packs present. All of them were alphas, and some were accompanied by their luna. There were seven packs on each side of the table and as I ran my gaze across them, I saw someone that was seated next to Isaiah.

"Alpha Kaen!" I grinned. "What do you think you're doing, buddy?"

The man stood up and gulped. "B-Birger… I didn't know you were back."

Because if you knew… you wouldn't have shown your fucking face, right?

A werewolves average life span was around six hundred years old. Alpha Kaen broke that record. He was well into his sixth century of life. He was also the guy who tried to deny a truce between vampires and werewolves two hundred and forty years ago.

I walked over to him and ignored the growls around me. "What's the big idea, Kaen?" I grabbed his shoulder and smiled at him. "You don't like the peace we fought for? You were one of the leading heads in our… disagreement with the treaty all those years ago. Did you get sick of it? Or are you finally going senile?"

One of the Alphas stood up. "That's enough! Alpha King, who is this human? He is disrespecting an elder of our pack!"

Isaiah growled and it shook the room. "Silence. Birger, what's the meaning of this?"

I sat on the table which elicited a round of growls.

Werewolves had a lot of… mannerisms. One of them was, don't sit higher than the ones that are above you. That was also why the table slanted up the further you went, the highest point being the Alpha King's seat. The fact that I sat on the table meant I was higher, more important, than their king.

Even if this was some kind of coup d état, they still had these values burned into their very being. It was instinctual.

"I heard you had a problem with mutts." I grinned as I stared at Alpha Kaen.

'Mutt' was as close to a slur as you can get for werewolves. Every race had something that they didn't like, after all.

The entire table growled at me, aside from three people. I turned to look at them.

The alpha from Pikes-Peak and the alpha from Soaring-Wind with her luna.

I frowned at them. "Disappointing."

The three of them lowered their heads. They had fought along side me in the V/W war. They were the ones who helped make the peace treaty. And yet they come here to rebel? Damn shame, it is.

Isaiah's voice thundered inside the room. "BIRGER! THIS IS PACK BUSINESS!"

I turned to him with a glare. "I am pack, Isaiah. My wife, your older sister, saw to that. You can cry about peace all you want. If you want peace… prepare for war."

I turned to Rosalind. "Have your heard this saying?"

She nodded. "I… have. It came from the Romans-"

"Wrong." I interrupted her. "It came from ME."

I stood up and circled the room. Slowly. As if the alphas and lunas sitting inside were prey, and I, the predator. Some watched me with skepticism and others watched me with hate and contempt. Only four of them however, watched me with fear.

"You fucking ingrates… your king wants peace and you decide to rebel? You people must have lost your minds."

I stopped behind Kaen and gripped his shoulders tightly. "Was it you, Kaen, who started this? I know it wasn't Pikes-Peak or Soaring-Wind. The only person with enough pettiness, is you!"

He gulped. "W-w-we just want… to prepare for the future."

I shoved him into his chair. "Future, huh?"

A younger alpha stood up. "Who the fuck do you think you are? You are not pack! You are human! Humans have no say in pack business, even if they are mates of a wolf!"

Isaiah spoke in a low voice. "Mind your place."

I felt his voice wash over me. He had used his alpha voice. It was something that all werewolves had. It was used to command wolves of lower rank. None could disobey the voice of the alpha king, so he whimpered and sat back down. He glared up at me.

"Good doggy!" I said with a shit-eating grin.

He growled again.

The Pikes-Peak's alpha stood up. He was sweating heavily. I turned to look at him with a single raised eyebrow.

"Florence. I have faith that you have regretted your decision?" I spoke to him in a clipped tone.

He sighed and rested his hands on the table. "No. I truly believe that this would be best. Rogue wolves are popping up all over America! We need a leader that will take matters into his own hands!"

I glowered at Florence. "Maybe you're right."

The Soaring-Wind's alpha and luna both stood up. The alpha spoke in a soft voice. "Birger, like alpha Florence said, we need someone who is strong enough to make the tough decisions."

I hummed in thought for a moment before I spoke. "Isaiah?"

He sighed in defeat. "Yes?"

"How old are the alphas and lunas at this table? Aside from Kaen, Florence, and Soaring-Wind."

"…they range from two hundred and twenty to seventy years old." He said in a confused tone.

I nodded. I looked at the one closest to Isaiah. "You. Name, pack, age."

He looked at Kaen who nodded in confusion. "…Gregory. Pack Poldark. One hundred and eighty seven."

"Okay, Greg! What did you do in the war between vampires and werewolves?"

He sneered at me. "I wasn't born, then."

I snapped my fingers. "Oh~ that's right!"

I looked at the next alpha who was sitting across from him.

"Kylie. Malroux Pack. One hundred and fourteen."

"And what wars did you participate in?"

Kylie looked at me with a sour face. "There have been no major wars."

I slammed my fist down on the table and it buckled, leaving a fist size hole in it. "AND THERE IS YOUR ANSWER!" I screamed at them.

"NO WARS! NO BLOOD! AND WEAK. FUCKING. ALPHAS."

I walked to the foot of the table and spread my arms wide. "LOOK AT YOU ALL! COWERING IN FRONT OF A HUMAN!"

My throat tightened as I spoke. "Fucking… disgraces. You think you can come in here and complain? That your king is weak for wanting peace?"

My eye glowed as my rage increased. I looked down to hide it. "His wife… died for peace. His sister died for peace."

I looked up and saw them gaze at me with shock and fear. "MY WIFE! DIED! FOR YOU PEOPLE! THE LAST WAR THAT EVER INVOLVED WEREWOLVES AS A SPECIES!"

I spoke in a tense whisper now. So quiet you almost couldn't hear. But I knew they could. "All of you. Fucking children. You've not experienced war, so how could you know peace?"

My face tensed as I continued. "You've heard stories. You've heard tales. It doesn't compare. Do you know why?"

Florence nodded slowly and the room turned to look at him. "Because… at the end… the people who were at the front line, the ones who fought head-on… never lived to tell their tales… their stories…"

I nodded and looked around the table. "Kaen. Who did? Who was the one person who fought in every single battle? Who was the one person who climbed up from a pile of corpses every. Single. Day. Just to fight again tomorrow?"

He spoke in a quiet voice that was filled with fear. "Y-you. Only you."

"Yes. So do not speak of war. Do not speak of peace. You know not."

"Dulce bellum inexpertis." I said. 𝘞𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵.

I turned to Isaiah and spoke. "As the eldest of the North American pack… I will execute Alpha Kaen of the Paxon pack."

Without giving anyone a chance to react, I reached into a portal and pulled out Dáinsleif and swung it at Kaen. It struck him in the side of the head, killing him instantly.

They all jumped up and lunged at me but Isaiah restrained them with his Alpha Voice. "STOP!"

He turned to me with rage in his eyes. "BIRGER, THIS IS NOT A DICTATORSHIP! YOU CAN NOT JUST KILL WHO YOU PLEASE!"

I ignored him and turned to Jessebelle, the alpha of the Soaring-Wind pack. "He incited you and Pike-Peak."

She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. "Our son… and his mate."

I figured as much. They were loyal to a fault. I didn't trust them, but I valued their input. That spoke leagues for their character, in my opinion. The others… probably too young or too stupid to even realize they were being played. No one had much knowledge about the V/W war and the politics that were sewn within.

I looked at Rosalind who was pale and shaking like a leaf. "If you want peace… prepare for war."

I opened a portal and threw my axe back into it. "Isaiah."

He growled at me. This fucker actually growled at me!

My gaze snapped to his. "Don't. You. Fucking. Growl at me."

I walked towards him. "You can have peace. You can try as much as you want, and I'll cheer you on. But when the real shit comes down, what use is it?"

"So you're going to act like Hrundi? Like someone who kills because they're losing an argument?! Birger! This is not how I run this pack!" He shouted at me.

Hrundi was the previous Alpha King, as well as Isaiah's father. He was a dictator through-and-through. He had killed and tortured many, and was the main reason the V/W war had started in the first place. It cost thousands of lives from every race. It might have been called the Vampire/Werewolf war but… for the supernatural world, it was like World War One. No one was uninvolved. No one walked away through those thirteen years without loosing something.

I punched him in the face. My hand broke and his nose caved in.

"You… fucker…" I said through grit teeth. "You know what? No. I'm not even going to humor you. Get fucked for all I care."

I looked at Donna who had stayed silent at the door. "You coming?"

She nodded and walked to my side. "Yeah, I'd rather be with someone who can actually help me, rather than someone who can barely keep his people in line."

I looked at Brit. "Get those two idiots together."

I turned to Rosalind. "I don't care how fucking nice you are. If you continue playing with flowers, one day you'll find a rose. You'll get pricked."

I opened a portal and stepped through with Donna at my side.

*I guess I got my answer.* I thought. *Home is where the heart is, and my heart isn't here anymore.*