The messenger blinked.
"Luna, the Alpha has asked me to emphasize."
"Tell Alpha Darius that we don't negotiate the location of our protected assets. Tell him also that the price of harming those wolves will be something he cannot afford, given what we just demonstrated about our ability to prosecute a fight against superior numbers." I kept my voice even.
"Tell him I look forward to a conversation about what he actually wants, which is not the location of the Black Realm, because he knows I won't give him that. Tell him to think about what he actually wants and send me another messenger."
The messenger left.
"That was a bluff," Martin said, after the door closed.
"Most things are," I said. "Right now I need it to work."
It worked.
Darius's second message arrived eighteen hours la
