Nova
Nova seethed at the impossible situation that he had yet again been forced into. In the past he would have been scornful of Vesta's show of passion, but now he just wished he could express his anger half as well as she could. He was never going to answer another summons to Ascalon again. This King was nothing but a fool if this was the plan he thought of to deal with such rumors.
He didn't doubt the seriousness of the reports. He had seen enough weird things in his previous misadventures to keep a storyteller in business for several lifetimes. Neva City had been attacked before, it could easily be attacked again by this supposed group of immortal wolves. And if the report of the regimental slaughter was to be believed, the additional defenses his father had overseen construction of would only marginally impede their progress. They would have to move quickly in order to muster the garrison and put the vulnerable into the deep ice caves. But even if this whole thing was real, Nova saw ZERO reason to bring Blue and her demon along.
"Vesta and I will warn my pack. You should stay here and learn how to execute this criminal as soon as her information proves false," Nova spat, having no qualms about ordering around wolves of alleged higher rank.
He didn't care how the new government styled them. They asked for him to come, and he would be the one calling the shots. Otherwise this fragile new kingdom could kiss his services goodbye, and to hellfire with the peace. At least in war he could kill the courier who came to take him away from his family to play escort to a murder.