Blood Promise (A SkinWalker Novel #4) (A DarkWorld SkinWalker Novel) by T.G. Ayer Read Free Book Online

they were silent. Especially when they were silent. Words mean little. Actions speak the truth.  
    If you know what to look for.
    Tonight Mary held her jaw tight, her spine tighter. She knew something, the thin smile on her face filled with glee and triumph. I glanced at Mom and the tightness at the sides of her eyes told me that she too was very good at picking up emotional tells.
    I took a tiny step closer to Mom and relaxed a little when I felt her arm curl around my waist. I didn't want to be seen comforting her because that would have made her look weak in front of all the other Alpha wives. And my mother was not weak.
    Instead, I leaned into her comfort, glad I was there to be a support during what I felt was going to be very bad news.
    Across the room, Dad now sat at the small council table placed along the wall at a right angle to the main conference table. The light from the ancient chandelier above him lent a hooded, shadowed cowl to his face. Beside him sat Alfred Gordon, cougar alpha of Texas, whose wife was Fae. On his other side sat Jem Gumble, Lynx alpha from Maine. His wife, Elaine, was human.
    Human and fae. Not walker. I was beginning to see a pattern.
    All three men sat very still, blank-faced, not looking at each other or anyone else. They too knew something was wrong but perhaps not precisely what. The meeting hadn't started yet.
    "What's going on?" I muttered.
    "Exactly what you think is going on, sweetie."  
    I turned to the owner of that voice of dripping ice--Denise Farnsworth, wife of one of the High Council members--but she'd dropped her little poison bomb and moved away, spine stiff, skin pale as if blood was in scarce supply.
    I glared after her. "Who does she think she is?"
    "High Council wife," was all Mom said.
    The crack of gavel hitting block in the now stuffy room pulled everyone's attention to the head table and the--now seated--High Council.  
    I gave the room a quick, sweeping study. From the expressions on the faces of various general members it was clear some of them knew what was on the meeting's agenda and not all of them agreed with it. A few looked downright upset. But here they stood, in spite of their unhappiness.
    It was massively clear who was in control here, and it was the council members whose forefathers had been elected into their illustrious positions decades ago.
    Grams often said that it was high time new members were elected but few walkers, Alphas or otherwise, were powerful enough to go against such an ancient tradition.
    And yet I too had to stand by and watch as the Walker High Council bound the strongest people in the history of Walkers.
    This can not be happening.  
    Council Leader Joseph Marsden got to his feet and swept his pale gaze over the gathered Alphas. He stood there for a moment, spine stiff, his hands behind his back like some great leader instead of a power-hungry, turkey-necked wannabe. He loved holding court, this overbearing old creep. As he spoke his throat wobbled, loose skin shivering, making my stomach turn.
    I knew what he was going to say before he spoke, and I listened in cold horror.
    "Alphas of the United States, wives and family members. We, the High Council, welcome you to today's meeting and would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation for your immediate acceptance of our invitation."
    I called bull. I didn't think they'd sent invitations .
    A rumble across the crowd confirmed they agreed with me.
    "Just get on with it," someone complained from the back row. Marsden's face tightened and he cleared his throat. "We have received every communication from the alphas regarding our last discussion and we have finalized and passed the Addendum to the Codex of Rules laws. Now we have an unpleasant task to perform."
    As he spoke he moved away from the head table and went to hover over the trio of stony-faced alphas at the smaller table, like an overgrown vulture. Dad watched him, his expression unwaveringly cool.
    "According to the tenets