I Accidentally Imprinted On The Wolf Duke (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 102

Of course, the wolf shifters could never stand idly by while someone detained their Alpha’s lifeline—his mate. After all, the two most defining traits of the wolf shifter race were the presence of the Alpha who led them as a pack, and imprinting, which was also their greatest vulnerability.

In other words, capturing the Alpha’s mate was tantamount to attacking both core characteristics that defined the wolf shifters’ very identity. Thus, it was only natural that the entire race would gather, ready to go to war over the unprecedented provocation by the Lion Emperor.

However, the problem lay in the fact that Chloe Reeden was a tiger shifter. If she had been human, things might have been somewhat simpler—but of all things, she was a tiger shifter. To wolf shifters, tiger shifters were akin to demons. In every conflict between wolf and tiger shifters throughout history, the tiger shifters had never once lost.

That meant the tiger shifters were precisely the kind of opponent against whom even the united strength of the entire wolf shifter race could at best only avoid defeat.

True, lions were also a formidable race like tigers. But the wolf and tiger clans in particular had clashed fiercely due to overlapping territorial ambitions. As a result, most wolf shifters had failed to establish a stable foothold within the Kingdom of Tigris—except for House Tilbeth, which had uniquely built strong influence even within Tigris.

An enemy against whom not losing was the best possible outcome. A tiger shifter race even more detested than lions. And now, a woman from that very race was the Alpha’s mate.

Naturally, the idea of risking their lives to fight lions merely to protect a single tiger shifter woman they despised would inevitably stir emotional resistance among them.

Though they had gathered despite the risk of breaking centuries-old peace treaties and even the possibility of war—since imprinting, once formed, could never be undone—they secretly harbored the wish that if any alternative existed, they would absolutely avoid this war.

Moreover, over the past several centuries, the shifter population had drastically declined, meaning defeat in war could very well lead directly to their race’s extinction.

And into this uneasy atmosphere stepped Leina Tilbeth, who relentlessly tried to persuade them. In the Alpha’s absence, Leina Tilbeth, leader of the second-most powerful wolf shifter family after House Ulphaz, continuously urged the elders on the futility of this war.

“It’s utterly absurd that a peace accord maintained among shifter races for hundreds of years should shatter over a single tiger shifter woman. Are we really willing to stake the fate of the entire wolf shifter race just to save one tiger shifter?”

At first, she voiced her opinion cautiously, but gradually began using increasingly blunt language—until now, she spoke without any restraint at all.

“But she is the Alpha’s imprinted mate. Calling her ‘just one’ is inappropriate. Once imprinting occurs, she becomes someone we must protect. Without her, the Alpha is powerless. Furthermore, as the Alpha’s mate, she is the one who will bear the next Alpha. Since she isn’t human, the likelihood of her bearing wolf shifters is high.”

Marquis Schreis countered.

“Bearing an Alpha? You’re far too optimistic. You can’t possibly be unaware of the rumors. That woman underwent tiger transformation yet failed to kill even a single person. Besides, no one except Duke Ulphaz and the Emperor actually witnessed whether she truly transformed or not—it’s uncertain. There’s even talk that she took shifter-suppressing medicine to survive in King Tigris’s court. If that’s true, can we even call her a proper shifter? Worse yet, side effects might render her not only incapable of bearing wolf shifters but even unable to conceive at all.”

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