# Chapter 41 - The Blood Pact
**– NANISA –**
"You're late. Again."
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. Like it was inside my head and outside at the same time.
I stood in the middle of a circle made of black stones. Deep in the forest where nobody would find us.
But I couldn't see who was talking.
"I'm sorry. Gerald's been watching me more lately."
"Gerald is becoming a problem."
"He doesn't know anything. He's just suspicious."
"He knows enough. We have reports of him making calls. Reaching out to other Alphas."
My stomach dropped. Gerald was trying to build alliances? Against what?
"What kind of calls?"
"The kind that could ruin everything we've worked for."
A figure stepped out of the shadows. But it wasn't a person exactly. It was tall and dark and where its face should be was just empty space.
The leader of the Shadow Council. The one they all feared.
"You said Gerald wouldn't be a problem," the thing continued. "You said you could control him."
