If eyes could kill, the sub-alpha would definitely be dead.

But Elijah’s attention was drawn when Irene said, "But it’s not working, is it?"

"What?" Elijah was confused.

"You said the spell was supposed to attract the zombies like a beacon, yet what about that cluster?" she pointed at the screen.

Elijah stared hard at it, his jaw working, obviously pissed. It was his beta who took it upon himself to explain.

"According to reports, these clusters have been moving for days. Oftentimes, they break up and separate, but they still remain a horde. Not just that, even stragglers seem to be adapting the same pattern. Separate, infect, conquer, and move on."

"Moving to where?" Leon demanded, something close to suspicion sitting in the corners of his eyes.

Christian and Elijah seemed to share a look, as if hesitant to reveal that piece of information. A gesture everyone noticed. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"Moving to where, Christian?" Irene demanded, her ire rising.

"District One," Elijah announced. "That’s where they’re headed."

For a moment, no one spoke, having no idea how to react, or perhaps what to do with that piece of information.

"But District One is a ghetto," Aeron muttered this time, confused.

"Yet it’s also the place with the least protection. No authorities..." Ezra seemed to latch onto something, a new kind of understanding mixed with fear entering his eyes.

"Goddess above," Caspian exclaimed, "We all thought we were dealing with mindless creatures, but these are zombies with a hive system being operated by a genius general. District One is the perfect breeding spot. Their leader intends to build an army."

A chill washed over everyone, and not even Elijah was spared because though he hid it, he was obviously rattled.

An uproar broke out at once with several sub-alphas slamming their palms against the table so hard the sound cracked through the room. Chairs scraped while voices rose over one another in a sudden ugly wave of outrage.

"You planned to keep this from us? So that was your plan?"

Another Alpha barked, half-rising from his seat. "You’d treat us like fools?"

"And what exactly do you and your precious President intend to do about it?" someone else sneered, the mockery in his tone impossible to miss.

Unfortunately, that one was deliberate and whether intentionally or not, its aim to provoke the Alpha king worked.

Something flashed in Elijah’s eyes. He snapped. "I will not take this disrespect from you!"

His Alpha voice ripped through the room with brutal force, thick with command and dominance. It slammed into everyone present like an invisible wall of pressure, heavy and merciless, pressing down on shoulders, throats, and lungs.

Several of the weaker sub-alphas recoiled immediately, their bodies reacting before their pride could catch up. One dropped back into his chair so quickly it nearly tipped. Another lowered his head with a stiff, unwilling submission, jaw clenched as though he hated himself for it. Even some of the stronger wolves went tense, their eyes flashing in instinctive caution.

Because no matter what anyone said behind closed doors, Elijah was still Alpha King recognized by their law and the gods.

And his power made sure nobody forgot it.

Still, Leon Draven asked, in a voice far too calm for the mood in the room, "How do you intend to stop them?"

The air tightened with tension. Christian chose to answer as his Alpha looked about two seconds away from reaching across the table and removing Leon’s head himself.

"There will be no stopping them," he confessed. "The migration pattern was discovered too late. By the time president Roy’s team confirmed the route, the infected had already breached too far inward. At this point, the only realistic course of action is to warn the civilians and begin evacuation procedures for District One."

Except Irene let out a short, disbelieving scoff.

"Evacuate?"

Then she leaned back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other with the kind of cold elegance that made her look far more dangerous than if she’d stood up screaming.

"Have you all suddenly forgotten what District One is?"

No one answered. They knew.

"District One has been the underbelly of this country for years. The human government abandoned it to rot, and what grew in its place was crime, violence, gangs, black markets, and people who learned to survive without law or mercy. What exactly makes you think they’ll simply pack up and leave the broken place they’ve spent years clawing a life out of?"

"And go where exactly?" She gave a humourless laugh. "District Twelve?"

The sarcasm in her voice could have curdled blood.

"Would the rest of the precious polished districts even open their gates to those lowlives?"

There was nothing but silence. Everyone in that room knew Irene wasn’t wrong.

This whole thing reeked of excuses. When the zombie outbreak in Aster City had happened, the response had been immediate. The infected had barely spread before containment units had moved in overnight. Soldiers had flooded the streets and entire blocks had been sealed before sunrise.

And yet now, somehow, they were expected to believe that stopping the infected from spilling into District One was suddenly too late?

Please. Irene knew an extermination plan when she saw one. Just like every other time people in power found it easier to burn a problem than solve it.

What was to say President Roy wouldn’t simply let the infection swallow the district whole, wait until the numbers became too high and then level the city with a bomb under the guise of "containment"? Problem solved. If that wasn’t the plan already.

"You seem to forget," Elijah spoke up, his tone clipped now, "that District One has always been resistant to authority. Even before this, getting operatives in and out of there was difficult enough. The place is run on power struggles, gang territories, and blood feuds. There wouldn’t even be enough time to get in there and organize a proper evacuation before the infected numbers doubled. There is too much chaos in that district."

"So you’d give up?" Leon asked, and this time the challenge in his voice was impossible to ignore. "You’d let the zombies multiply in there until they become all of our problems next, Alpha King?"

A few heads turned. That was bold. Even for Leon.

But if Elijah was offended, he did not show it, at least not outwardly.

Instead, the Alpha king smiled. Unfortunately, there was absolutely nothing reassuring about that smile.

"Of course not. That," he continued, glancing around the room with chilling satisfaction, "is precisely why we are all here, isn’t it? To coordinate with the human soldiers and clean up the mess. I’m just glad we’re finally seeing the reality of the situation, and that there will be no more objections to wolves fighting for the humans."