Scarred Wolf Queen Chapter 163

**Briony's POV**

"What do you mean?" I turned to face Freya.

"You're their biggest weakness, especially now that they know you have royal blood." She leaned back against the couch. "That so-called Rogue Wolf King - or whoever's really pulling the strings - wants to steal your abilities. Brandon's obsessed with getting an heir, sons who could carry on his bloodline."

"But here's the weird part - he was always careful with you. Never as direct as he was with other girls." Freya's voice dropped. "You threw off their whole plan, even made Brandon change how he operates. I don't know exactly how those two are connected, but you're right about Brandon not being the real boss. If they both want something from you, you'll end up causing problems between them."

"So what happens now?" Cyrus asked. "Does he keep grabbing other women, or does he come straight for Briony? Both?"

"Probably both. He made it clear he was with multiple girls, trying to get them pregnant. But his whole attitude toward Briony was different." Freya cleared her throat.

Derek shot up so fast I barely saw him move. "You said he didn't touch you! Diana confirmed there were no signs of... that!" His voice was almost a roar.

"She's right. I didn't sleep with him, if that's what you're asking. He never got the chance." I deliberately spoke loud enough for everyone to hear - I wasn't going through this conversation again. 

"I won't be his only target, especially if he's really after Alpha King Nathan's throne. Derek, Rowan - you and your future mate will all be targets. We need to watch for rogue pack threats while looking for clues about their female allies. Once Derek finds his mate, you'll have full power, which helps the kingdom but also puts you at bigger risk." I met Derek's eyes directly.

"Think we're just gonna skip over the 'didn't sleep with him' part? What exactly did he do to you, Briony?" Rowan's time with Derek was making him more direct.

"Enough to give me nightmares." I glanced at Freya - her nightmares always ended with screaming and cold sweats. I shouldn't complain about anything when what I went through was nothing compared to her hell.

She caught my look, blinked, then stared at the ceiling. "When you're locked in a dark dungeon with someone else, your wrists and ankles chained to damp stone walls, constantly forced to drink wolf-suppressing poison, can't even mind link..." Her voice started shaking.

"When you've been through all that, you understand the bond between us. We don't want to talk about it or relive it. Please don't ask anymore."

The room went dead silent.

"We won't ask these questions anymore." Cyrus walked over and helped Freya stand. The rest of us got up too.

"Alright, let's talk about something lighter." Derek started buttoning his shirt. "Ready for the next challenge? It's lunch time. By the way, I already told Aurora and her father that because of her behavior last night, she's banned from today's activities."

"Holy shit! You actually listened to us?" Aria looked shocked.

"Your analysis was spot on. Now's the perfect time to set boundaries. If she screws up again, we can say 'we already tried being nice,' then formally ban her from these events." Derek's smile got wider.

"I love hearing 'you were right' - it's like music to my ears." Aria laughed, linking arms with him. "Since that's settled, let's wear our training clothes to lunch. Show these people that training matters more than boring social crap."

"Dad will crack up, and Mom will pretend nothing happened. Want to bet which elder brings this up first?" Derek grinned back.

Lunch went exactly like we predicted. Some old elder jumped up to criticize our clothes, claiming these gatherings should welcome more participants and show proper dignity.

His long-winded speech got cut off by Aria: "What a fantastic idea! We should totally invite regular pack members to these gatherings! They understand the territory's real situation and what the pack actually needs way better than anyone." She beamed at the elder while winking at me.

"These important meetings should only include members with status and merit..." the elder started arguing.

"But that's exactly the problem! You spend all day in meetings handling 'important matters' with no time to get out into the pack and understand what people really need. Inviting regular members would let you hear authentic voices, understand their concerns and problems." Aria cut him off again. "We could even do field visits to different pack areas, work alongside the hardworking people. That's the only way to truly understand what they need."

"Work? You mean... doing physical labor outside with those regular people?" A young woman gasped, then yelped in pain - obviously her parents pinched her hard. At least they heard the trap in Aria's words.

"I think this is an excellent idea, Aria. We should work together to make this happen." Luna Queen Selena said approvingly. The young woman's face went sour like she'd bitten into a lemon, while her father and the questioning elder wisely shut their mouths.

After that, conversations in the hall were boring but peaceful. Before leaving, we casually said goodbye to Alpha King Nathan and Luna Queen Selena in front of everyone, acting as natural as friends normally would.

"Aria, could you stay? Before we send you back to the training center, I'd like to discuss some things with you privately." Alpha King Nathan suddenly spoke up.

"Of course, Alpha King Nathan. See you guys later." She hugged each of us goodbye, then sat back down while we left together.

The training that followed was brutal, but we all improved every day. Maybe because Alpha King Nathan's assignments were urgent, or because we were in such bad shape, but I felt like my fitness was at rock bottom and the trainers were especially hard on us.

After several weeks, we finally adapted to the crazy schedule. Every day started with high-intensity morning training before dawn. After breakfast with the whole warrior camp, we'd run several miles, then head to different training spots.

Cyrus and Freya got assigned to the tech group, learning advanced network techniques to develop tracking methods while trying to research and copy the tracking tech Brandon had implanted in us, hoping to make them easier to implant but harder to detect.

Mark and Sophia followed veteran Sentinels learning advanced tracking techniques. They worked like crazy during training, never slacking even when we weren't around. Every sparring session with them pushed me hard.

Layla joined our team too, specializing in herbal and poison formulas. She showed serious talent in this area, getting more excited during experiments than her mother. She was probably sick of regular academics too, which was good since it meant we could see her more often.