LOGIN127 Alden waited until the meeting finally broke apart. The Alphas had questions. Dozens of them. Morgan wanted details about the prophecy. Matthew wanted sources. Tony wanted proof. Jacob wanted names. Helena wanted timelines. But Alden answered very few. Instead, he stood slowly from his chair, leaned on his walking stick, and looked directly at Decker. "I would like to speak with you and your mate. Alone." The room immediately grew suspicious. Decker's eyes narrowed. "No." Several wolves looked surprised by how quickly the answer came. Alden merely smiled. "I expected that." Lotty sighed. "Decker." "No." "Decker." The old Seer actually looked amused. "You are going to hear that word often in your future, Alpha." A few wolves hid smiles. Decker did not. "What information?" Alden's expression became serious. "Information intended specifically for the parents." That got everyone's attention. Especially Lotty's. Alden's gaze drifted toward her stomach. "I have waited a long
126 The summit had changed. What had begun as a meeting to expose old agreements and hidden betrayals had become something much larger. The regional council was cracking. Not publicly. Not yet. But the fractures were there for anyone paying attention.Council members who had stood united two days ago now argued behind closed doors. Some demanded full transparency. Others wanted the archives sealed again. Several quietly denied knowing anything about the prophecy. A few were already discussing resignation. And somewhere among them, a wounded councilwoman named Elara sat under guard while the foundations of everything she had spent her life protecting slowly crumbled around her. The old order was breaking. Everyone could feel it. No one knew what would replace it. The Alphas had gathered once more in the main conference chamber. Not for a formal session. Just discussion. Trying to make sense of everything. Trying to fit together pieces that refused to cooperate. The completed proph
125 The rest of the prophecy was found just after midnight. Matthew found it. Of course he did. The Beta had refused to sleep, refused to leave the archives, and refused to stop digging until every sealed box, hidden drawer, and false shelf had been examined. By the time he burst into the temporary command room with a stack of ancient documents under his arm, every Alpha present knew it was important. Matthew only ran when he found something worth running for. Decker was reviewing copied records with Tony and Jared when the door opened hard enough to hit the wall. Matthew stood there breathing heavily. His notebook was tucked under one arm. Ancient pages under the other. Adam appeared seconds later. "Tell me you found it." Matthew looked around the room. "I found all of it." Silence. Immediate. Absolute. Twenty minutes later every Alpha, Beta, and Luna sat in the conference chamber. Even Lotty. Despite Decker's obvious desire to wrap her in blankets and hide her somewhere underg
124 Elara was found beneath the retreat before dawn. Not by the regional council. By Jared. That mattered. The lower tunnels beneath the retreat were older than the building itself, carved into the stone generations ago for emergency evacuations, storage, and the kind of secrets no council member wanted recorded in the main archives. They were narrow. Cold. Badly lit. And they smelled of dust, damp rock, old fear and blood. Jared stopped at the mouth of the third tunnel and lifted one fist. The mixed security team behind him froze. One guard from each pack. Dark Mountain. Edgewater Falls. Silver Claw. Ashvale. Iron Ridge. Pine Hollow. Blackwater. Whitefern. For once, none of them argued. They had learned quickly that when Jared stopped, everyone stopped. He crouched near the stone floor and touched two fingers to a dark smear on the ground. Fresh. Still wet. The Silver Claw guard leaned closer. “Elara?” “Likely,” Jared said. The Edgewater tracker sniffed the air, his eyes n
123 The retreat changed within minutes. Whatever illusion of neutrality the regional council had maintained shattered the moment Elara disappeared. Doors were locked. Hallways were sealed. Council guards spread through the old stone building with grim faces and clipped orders. But they were not the only ones searching. Not anymore. By Decker’s order and by the agreement of every Alpha present a second security team was formed. One guard from each pack. Dark Mountain. Edgewater Falls. Silver Claw. Ashvale. Iron Ridge. Pine Hollow. Blackwater. Whitefern. No single pack would control the search. No single council guard would be trusted alone. If Elara was found, everyone would know. If evidence vanished, everyone would see who touched it. That was the new rule inside the retreat. Trust no one completely. Watch everyone equally. Jared took command of the mixed security team without asking permission. No one argued. The Whitefern guard, a tall woman with a scar along her jaw, gave him
122 The regional council convened behind closed doors before sunrise. Not in the grand hall. Not where the Alphas could listen. They gathered in the inner chamber, an old circular room built beneath the retreat itself, lined with shelves of law books, treaty scrolls, and portraits of council leaders who had long since turned to dust. There were seven council members present. Seven wolves who had claimed neutrality for generations. Seven wolves who now sat beneath the weight of eight angry Alphas questioning whether neutrality had ever been real. Council Elder Rasmus sat at the center. Silver-haired. Sharp-eyed. Old enough that even Morgan had addressed him with caution. He listened while the others argued. “This is an insult,” Councilwoman Elara snapped. “The Alphas come into our retreat, accuse us at dinner, and now expect us to open private archives?” Councilman Torren leaned forward. “They do not expect it. They demand it.” “And we should refuse.” Rasmus lifted one hand. The
121 Round two of the summit never started. Not officially. The Alphas had too much to sort through before anyone was ready to sit in that circle again and pretend they knew where the lines were drawn. So the meeting was placed on hold. Not canceled. Not delayed out of fear. Paused. That was the w
119 The regional council retreat sat in the valley between territories. Neutral ground. At least, that was what everyone called it. No one believed that anymore. Not after everything that had been uncovered. Not after Ellis. Not after Varric.Not after Gregory’s promises had begun surfacing like b
118 The pregnancy was still not official. That was what Decker kept saying. No announcement had been made. No formal word had gone through the pack link. No celebration had been planned. Which meant, technically, the pack did not know. Technically. In reality, Dark Mountain knew. Everyone knew. T
117 Decker and Lotty agreed not to announce the pregnancy right away. It was sensible. Private. Responsible. They wanted to wait until she was farther along. Long enough for the risk to lessen. Long enough for the news to feel steady beneath their feet instead of bright and fragile. They told them







