Chapter 8: The Woman They Underestimated

Devlin’s POV

When I got home, Jason’s words from the previous evening kept coming back to me. He wanted us to see the doctor. Not because the Council had ordered him to, but because he wanted us to understand what was happening.

I wanted to believe him. That was the problem.

After everything that had happened, believing Jason was no longer something I could do simply because I wanted to.

Morning came, and I was still lying in the guest room when I heard a knock.

“Come in.”

The door opened, and Jason stood there.

“Good morning.”

“Morning.”

His eyes moved briefly around the room before settling on me.“I called the doctor.”

I pushed myself upright. “Already?”

“He gave us an appointment for nine.”

A glance at the clock beside the bed confirmed how soon that was. “That’s soon.”

“I know. I thought it was better not to keep putting it off.”

For a moment, I studied him.

Yesterday, I had asked him to talk to me before making any decisions about my body. He had listened. Now he had actually followed through.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll get ready.”

He nodded and stepped aside. Neither of us said anything else.Getting dressed, I chose a simple dress and pulled my hair back. Looking as nervous as I felt was the last thing I wanted.

The drive to the clinic was quiet.Jason kept both hands on the steering wheel, his attention fixed on the road. Through the window, I watched the pack grounds disappear behind us.

A strange thought crossed my mind.What if there really was something wrong with me?

For years, I had wondered if my missing wolf had something to do with it. Every failed month had made that fear worse. The thought had never been spoken aloud, but sometimes I wondered if my body was simply another thing that had failed me.

My gaze dropped to my hands.Beside me, Jason shifted slightly.

“You don't have to be afraid,” he said.

A laugh almost escaped me.“That's easy for you to say.”

He glanced at me. “You're right.”

The simple admission caught me off guard.

“I don't know what the doctor is going to say either,” he continued. “But whatever we find out, we deal with it together.”

My attention returned to the window. I wanted those words to settle something inside me.They didn't. But at least they helped.

At the clinic, the doctor welcomed us into his office.

He was an older wolf named Dr. Hale, someone I had seen around the pack before, though I had never needed to meet him personally.

He looked through the notes in front of him before turning his attention to us.

“How long have you been trying to conceive?”

I hesitated.“Almost four years,” I answered.

His eyes moved between us.“And have you both been tested before?”

“No,” Jason said.

Dr. Hale nodded. “Then I don't want either of you assuming where the problem lies.”

My fingers tightened around the edge of the chair.

He continued calmly. “Difficulty conceiving isn't automatically caused by the woman. There are several possible reasons, and sometimes there isn't an obvious cause at first.”

For years, I had carried the blame without anyone asking me to. Or maybe I had simply assumed it belonged to me.

The doctor explained that he wanted to run some initial tests on both of us before drawing any conclusions. Some results would take longer than others.

Jason didn't hesitate.“Do whatever you need to do.”

Turning towards him, I noticed he wasn't looking at the doctor anymore.He was looking at me.

“We'll do it,” he said quietly.

Something shifted inside me. It wasn't forgiveness or trust, just something small I wasn't ready to name.

After the appointment, we walked outside together.

The morning sun was already warming the pavement, but neither of us moved toward the car immediately.

“How are you feeling?” Jason asked.

“Scared.”

He nodded. “So am I.”

Facing him, I took in his expression. Jason had always been careful about showing weakness. Hearing him admit that made me realize he wasn't pretending this didn't scare him too.

“I don't want you blaming yourself anymore,” he said.

My gaze shifted away.If they were so certain they could take my position from me, there had to be a reason.

That evening, I went to the pack archives.This time, Jason wasn't the subject of my search. The rules were.

The archives were almost empty at that hour. Most wolves avoided the place unless they needed an old record or had been sent there by the Council.I preferred it that way.

After lighting the small lamp on the desk, I pulled the oldest Luna records from the shelves. Dust clung to their leather covers.The first book opened with a soft creak. Another followed.

Generations of Lunas had recorded everything from succession disputes to temporary appointments and challenges to Luna authority. Page after page, I forced myself to read carefully, determined not to miss anything important.

Then I found it.A section describing the removal of a Luna.My eyes moved across the page.

The Council could question a Luna, investigate misconduct, or present evidence against her. But they could not simply remove a sitting Luna because they believed another female would be more suitable.

There had to be a formal challenge supported by evidence.Most importantly, the Alpha's consent alone was not enough to complete the process.The passage was read twice, then a third time. My heartbeat picked up.

All this time, the Council had spoken as though my removal was already decided, as though my position was theirs to hand over whenever they pleased.But according to the oldest records, it wasn't.

Another page contained references to the pack's elders, but even their authority had limits. They could recommend, challenge, or demand an investigation. The same restrictions appeared in the earlier passage.

Simply declaring a replacement Luna and expecting everyone to obey wasn't one of their powers.

Leaning back in my chair, I tried to make sense of it all.

Why had no one told me this? Why had Jason's mother spoken to me as though my position could be taken away with a few words?

Why had the Council been so confident?

And why had Jason allowed me to believe they had that kind of power? The book closed beneath my hands.

For years, I had spent so much energy trying to prove I deserved my place that I had never stopped to ask who had the right to take it away.That mistake was mine. I wouldn't make it again.

An older record caught my attention. Its cover was cracked, and several pages had been repaired by hand.Opening it, I found a handwritten note in the margin beside one of the laws.

“A Luna who understands the law cannot be easily controlled by those who twist it.”I stared at the sentence. A slow smile touched my lips.

So that was what they were afraid of.Not my missing wolf or my inability to have children.Not even my marriage to Jason.

They were afraid of a Luna who knew exactly where her authority began and where theirs ended.

Drawing the book closer, I returned to the records with a different understanding of what I was looking at.

If the Council had built their entire plan around me not knowing the rules, then the Solstice Gala had just become something very different.

They thought they were preparing to put me on trial.They had no idea I was preparing to expose them.And if I was right about what I had just read, there was only one question left.

What had they done that they were so desperate to keep me from discovering?