CHAPTER FIVE: CLAIMS AND SHADOWS

The door swung open. Rose walked in.

The atmosphere of the room transformed as soon as she appeared as if it could feel that she fit into it better than I did.

Her eyes flitted across the room, not lingering on the room itself, or even on me, but on the empty space where Kieran had been a mere minutes prior.

She didn’t question me, nor demand an explanation. Instead, she stared, as if affirming a suspicion she had come to form.

Next, her eyes traveled back to mine.

“I saw you,” she stated.

There was something cutting about her tone despite its measured restraint.

“Through the window.” I couldn’t respond right away, my body still strained from the pain that had occurred throughout the day.

Rose made her way deeper into the room without any invitation.

“That is Alpha Kieran,” she continued.

A slight pause. “And I know what I witnessed.”

My hand clenched involuntarily against my side. She tilted her head. “You do not belong in his territory.”

The silence was thick and heavy. Not awkward but deliberate. I exhaled, carefully. “You walked into my room just to say that?”

My voice wasn’t raised. It simply held truth.

Her eyes narrowed a little, as if surprised at how quickly I could answer back.

“Just to warn you.” She took one step closer. Not threatening.

Just close enough. “Kieran is someone who, if you misunderstood him, you wouldn’t live through it,” she stated.

“He is not kind, he is not merciful, and he definitely is not yours but..”

She stopped herself for a split second before continuing in a lower voice. But “Mine.” The way she said that.

Not in asking but rather in ownership that was already assumed by everyone else in the world.

My throat felt suddenly constricted but I didn’t quite laugh. “You are standing in my room,” I began slowly. “And telling me whom I shouldn’t approach… despite the fact that I didn’t want to come here in the first place.”

A brief flicker of surprise crossed her face. “That makes no difference.”

“Yes, that makes a lot of difference,” I insisted. Only to find myself being interrupted.

“You think Kieran spared your life out of sheer interest?” she asked.

I didn’t answer. For I did not have an answer.

"You'll get used to it," she said. "People like you can't walk around Alphas like that without paying for it."

My teeth clenched together. "People like me?" I asked. She finally faced me.

"Survivors," she said plainly. "Unknowns. Disruptions." She paused on her way to the door, but continued.

Looking away from me, she said. "I won't say that again." And then she exited.

The door shut. The silence resumed.

Beyond the Door of Greenwood Council Chamber, Away from the barracks, in the stone heart of Greenwood, the air had become tense.

The council chamber was not quiet, It was heavy with whispers and Intense arguments. Elders stood around the large wooden table, their faces tense with discord.

"She needs to go," an elder stated bluntly. Another quickly joined in. "Or be destroyed so she doesn't bring Lucan's influence down on us through her."

There was a collective nod in the affirmative throughout part of the room. Not everyone, but enough.

"She came out of that massacre in Cirgee alive," another elder pointed out. "What do you think it means? No survivor from a massacre has a purpose."

Purpose cut through the air like a knife. An elder knocked the table gently.

“This is exactly how infiltration happens.”

Silence fell. The name that always spoke volumes:

“Lucan Graves doesn’t waste chaos. He harnesses it.” The silence turned deadly instantly.

Another elder spoke up. “So why doesn’t Kieran kill her?” This changed the dynamics entirely.

Because suspicion was not enough now.

This was a challenge thrown directly back into Kieran’s face. “He brought her inside.” “Himself! Into Greenwood!”

Because Alphas did not make such gestures without good reason.

They never made such gestures without cost.

One elder’s chair scrapped as he rose. “We have wasted enough time discussing this issue,” he spoke. “She is in our territory and too close to our Alpha.”

Another voice interrupted him. “Too close?” He paused sharply. “What, are you saying?” The room goes into chaos.

“Impossible.” “He would never fall for her.” “He already has.” The room split into factions. One wanted her dead. Another wanted her out.

Some wanted patience. But everyone agreed that Ana had become an Alpha problem. Everyone disagreed on what sort of problem she was.

Back in my room, I sat on the edge of the bed, well past the time when the door was closed. Rose’s words wouldn’t let go.

They echoed differently every time I played them back. Mine, disturbance, repercussions.

I took a breath, placing my hand on my bruised knee. Activity continued outside the room. Voices and footsteps were in motion.

A noise came after that one, it was quiet yet sharp enough to still me. I glanced towards the door.

There was nothing but silence. I waited for something more.

Then a second knock. More deliberate than the first one. And slower too. I found myself becoming tense. 

“Who’s there?” I called out. My fingers twitched beside me. This room suddenly seemed small and colder.

And then came the voice. Soft, low and unncontrolled. “You’re being discussed,” the voice spoke from behind the closed door.

Then it continued “They don’t want you alive enough to be worth discussing.”

The footsteps faded away. After that the room went silent, but this was no ordinary silence. It was heavier and deadlier.

I perched on the bed, eyeing the closed door.

"Not all of them want you alive."  The thoughts echoed through my mind.

My hands clenched onto the blanket. Only now did I fully comprehend just how delicate the situation was.

I was not a guest, not a member of the Pack, not even safe. I was an outsider asleep in an uncertain territory.

A voice sounded outside, freezing me in place.  "Alpha Kieran!."

The other responded immediately. Anxious and frightened. "You have to come see this."  My pulse began to race.

Heavy footsteps rushed by the doorway. faster and more determined. A voice sounded farther off.

"Get the elders here. Immediately!." The fear in his voice chilled me to the bone. 

Something had happened, urgent enough to call the Alpha, warriors, and the elders all at once.

Despite the pain shooting through my legs, I got up slowly from the bed.

The whole territory held its breath. And yet somehow… I could feel it in my bones that whatever has occurred has left a huge change, terrifying enough to cause chaos!.