Knotting His Rejected Breeder

Hannah walked in quietly, a flip smartphone balanced in one hand and a structured leather handbag slung over her forearm. She pulled up short when she took in the gathered council and the stone-faced expression on everyone’s faces.

"I was unaware we had called a formal council session," she said, her eyes sweeping the table.

Ramon offered a dry, humorless laugh. "You were expected."

Hannah arched an eyebrow at him. "By whom?"

"I sent a message to your room some twenty minutes ago," Sonia said gently.

"It didn’t reach me," Hannah replied, her tone perfectly smooth.

"I assumed someone would have notified you," Sonia added.

Hannah surveyed the room with cool detachment. "Evidently, I managed to find out regardless."

She walked over to the head of the table, pulled back the empty leather chair beside Sonia, and smoothed her skirt as she sat down.

"What is the damage?"

Ramon leaned back, crossing his arms. "You arrived just in time to hear your brother explain how we are currently being systematically encircled."

Hannah turned her gaze to Dane. "Is that the official terminology we’re using now?"

Dane met her eyes. "It’s an accurate description of the topography."

She placed her phone face-down on the polished wood. "How severe is the containment?"

Henrik threw his head backwards with a heavy sigh. "Silvercrest has fortified its positions along Redstone Pass, and we’re picking up unusual reconnaissance activity along the entire area too. Deliveries are stopping, and internal distribution is starting to stall."

Hannah studied the phone in her hand for a silent moment without operating it.

"Have there been any physical confrontation?"

"No," Henrik said.

"Has Vance issued a formal declaration or ultimatum?"

"Nothing through official channels."

She looked back at Dane. "So he is waiting for a reaction. He wants us to make the first mistake."

"That is my assessment," Dane said.

Hannah leaned back into her chair, resting her hands in her lap. "What does he expect you to do, Dane?"

"He expects me to head out to the Silvercrest immediately," Dane said flatly.

Ramon’s jaw tightened again. "He wants the Alpha of BloodMoon standing on his front steps, begging for a diplomatic resolution."

Sonia looked at Dane closely. "In other words marriage and a public apology to the Lycan crown"

"Then Vance establishes the dynamic for the rest of this conflict," Dane said. "He proves that he can dictate our movements simply by parking troops on a hill."

Hannah gave a single, firm nod. "Then you stay here."

Dane looked at her. "I had no intention of leaving the estate."

"Good."

Ramon drummed his fingers against the table, the sharp tap-tap-tap echoing in the quiet room.

"That’s fine for pride, but what happens when the arterial roads are entirely blocked off? What happens when the commercial supply chains stop dead?"

"We adapt," Dane said.

"And when the external suppliers cut us off completely?"

"We draw from our internal reserves."

"For how long?" Ramon demanded, his voice hard. "A pack this size consumes resources at an unsustainable rate."

Dane turned to Henrik. "What are our current inventory levels in the central warehouses?"

Henrik swiped to the quarter’s logistics manifest. "Grain, preserved meats, and fuel reserves are stable. We have enough essential supplies to sustain the compound and surrounding residential sectors for several weeks without requiring an external shipment."

Ramon leaned forward again. "Several weeks?"

"That is calculating standard consumption," Henrik clarified. "Without implementing mandatory emergency rationing."

A quiet stillness settled over the room.

Sonia broke the silence, her voice steady and pragmatic. "Then we immediately implement conservation protocols. Nothing gets wasted."

Ramon looked at her incredulously. "You’re talking about this as if it’s a temporary inconvenience."

"No, Ramon," Sonia corrected him quietly. "I am treating it as a manageable operational challenge. There is a difference."

Hannah nodded in agreement. "We cannot control the deployments Vance chooses to make outside our fence. We can control every single detail of what happens within it."

Blane picked up one of his phones, unlocking the screen. "We need to make contact with the neighboring regional Alphas."

"Quietly," Dane instructed immediately.

Blane looked up. "To request logistical support?"

"No," Dane said. "To gauge their alignment."

Blane nodded slowly, understanding the subtlety. "A loyalty audit."

"Exactly," Dane said. "I need to know who is quietly answering Vance’s calls."

Ramon let out a short, cynical breath. "You think any of them will risk standing with us right now?"

"I think they will be terrified of getting caught in the middle," Dane said matter-of-factly.

"Even after the trade concessions we granted them last season?" Ramon asked bitterly.

Dane looked at his father. "Vance isn’t asking them to launch an attack against us. He is simply asking them to close their eyes and look the other way. That is an infinitely easier request to grant."

Ramon’s mouth set into a thin line. "So we are operating isolated."

"For the moment," Dane acknowledged.

Hannah’s phone chimed and she looked back toward the glowing screen and hissed.

"Then we stop obsessing over who isn’t coming to save us, and focus on managing the people who are already inside these walls."

Dane glanced at her.

She offered a slight, nonchalant shrug. "What? Someone had to state the obvious before we all withered away under the weight of our own dramatic tension."

Sonia offered a faint, tired smile. "That sounds about right."

Ramon shook his head, though the tension in his shoulders visibly eased a fraction. "I am not being dramatic."

"You’ve been glaring at all of us, father," Hannah noted smoothly. "It’s getting quite loud."

"I am analyzing tactical options in my head," he grumbled.

"You’re brooding," she corrected softly.

Blane let out a short laugh under his breath, turning it into a cough as Ramon cast a sharp look his way.

The air in the room, thick with panic just moments before, settled into something far more stable.

Dane looked around the table, meeting the eyes of every leader present.

"The directives are clear. We do not launch a preemptive strike against Silvercrest. We do not send unauthorized patrols across the boundary line. We do not make threats we lack the immediate logistics to enforce."

Henrik pulled up a blank document on his tablet, ready to record the official orders. "Border protocols?"

"Double the watch rotations along Redstone," Dane commanded. "Keep them in defensive positions. No posturing."

"Supply corridors?"

"Maintain internal distribution routes between the outer farms and the central estate. Keep the trucks moving locally."

"Internal security?"

"Increase perimeter details around the fuel depots, food distribution centers, and main gates," Dane said smoothly. "I don’t want any domestic sabotage or panic."

Blane tapped his pen against his pad. "And the wedding preparations?"

Ramon turned his gaze directly to Dane, his expression unreadable. "That is still proceeding?"

Dane met his father’s sharp eyes across the long table without hesitation. "The wedding proceeds exactly as planned."

Ramon studied his son for a long, silent moment, assessing the resolve behind the decision. Then, slowly, he gave a single, decisive nod.

"Good. We don’t show weakness."

Sonia looked back and forth between the two men, a dry smile touching her lips. "The two of you reaching a consensus this quickly is making me deeply uncomfortable."

Ramon ignored the jab, keeping his eyes on Dane.

Dane pushed his chair back slightly.

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