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Author: Bella Fyre
last update publish date: 2026-03-18 11:54:57

30

The northern border smelled like rain and tension.

The forest opened into a long clearing where the invisible line between territories ran like a scar through the trees. On one side, the scent markers of Edgewater Falls clung to the bark and soil. On the other, Dark Mountain’s presence lay thick and sharp in the air.

Two lines of wolves faced each other across that narrow space. Warriors. Thirty on one side. Nearly as many on the other. No one had crossed yet. But it wouldn’t take much.

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  • The Alpha Forgets    125

    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

  • The Alpha Forgets    124

    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

  • The Alpha Forgets    123

    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

  • The Alpha Forgets    122

    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

  • The Alpha Forgets    121

    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 word Morgan used. But everyone knew what it meant. The room had cracked open too much. Now every Alpha needed time to decide what they believed. And who they suspected. For the rest of the afternoon, the retreat became a maze of private conversations. Alphas disappeared into assigned rooms with their Betas, Lunas, or closest advisers. Papers changed hands. Confessions were reviewed. Old promises were compared against current borders and trade routes. Matthew looked like he hadn’t eaten in a day and had no interest in changing that. Tony looked equally tired and far more annoyed. The two Betas sat together at one point with files spread between them, speaking in low voices while Jared stood

  • The Alpha Forgets    120

    120 The break between meetings felt less like rest and more like everyone had been released from a cage just long enough to pace. Alphas disappeared into private corners with their Betas. Guards gathered in tight circles. Lunas spoke softly near windows, their eyes moving over the room as carefully as any warrior’s. Lotty slipped out onto the side terrace for air. The cold helped. So did the quiet. She rested one hand lightly against her stomach and let out a slow breath. “Escaping?” Lotty turned. Selene stood in the doorway with two cups of tea in her hands and a knowing smile on her face. Lotty laughed softly. “Trying to.” Selene crossed the terrace and handed her one cup. “I thought you might need this.” Lotty accepted it gratefully. “Thank you.” For a moment they stood side by side, looking out over the neutral grounds below. Then Selene said, “That meeting was worse than I expected.” Lotty nodded. “And somehow better.” “Because no one died?” “ That helped.” Selene smi

  • The Alpha Forgets    9

    9 Adam hadn’t trusted silence since the day it learned how to lie. A week without attacks should have felt like relief. It should have loosened the knot in his chest, eased the pressure behind his eyes, let him sleep more than two hours at a time without jolting awake convinced the borders were b

  • The Alpha Forgets    8

    8 The first solid piece of information didn’t come from the front lines. It came in the quietest way war ever spoke through whispers, through the careful tension in people’s shoulders, through the way Matthew’s jaw set when he walked into the packhouse with his coat still on and snow caught in hi

  • The Alpha Forgets    7

    7 By the time Lotty finally stepped away from the trauma bay, her legs felt like they didn’t belong to her anymore. It had been one of those shifts that blurred into a single, endless stretch of blood, voices, and movement. One patient barely stabilized before the next one came through the doors.

  • The Alpha Forgets    6

    6 The trauma bay doors slammed open hard enough to rattle the glass. “Coming in hot!” a paramedic barked, voice clipped with adrenaline. “Male, mid-thirties, found near the north sector trail line. Severe blood loss. Possible arterial bleed, suspected” he hesitated, eyes flicking to Adam for half

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