Chapter 8: An Unlikely Ally

It wasn't Damian.

It was Garrick, his beta, the man who used to train beside him every morning, the man who stood two steps behind him at the rejection ceremony without saying a single word to stop it.

"Stay back," Kael said, moving in front of me, but Garrick raised both hands slowly, showing he wasn't holding a weapon.

"I'm not here to fight you," Garrick said. "I'm here because Damian doesn't know I left the palace."

That stopped me cold. My legs were still shaking from the run, my mind still spinning from Vaughn and Ilsa, and now this, another piece of Damian's world showing up uninvited. "What does that mean."

Garrick's eyes flicked to Renata, then back to me, like he was deciding how much he could actually say out loud. "It means I've been watching the council for years, waiting for proof of what they did to your family. Tonight, when Renata said Damian's father was involved, something in me finally clicked into place."

"Why should we believe a word out of your mouth," Kael said, still tense, still ready to fight if this went wrong.

"Because I have documents," Garrick said. "Old ones. Records from thirty years ago that I found buried in the archive vault, sealed under the old king's personal seal. I've been sitting on them for two years, too scared to do anything with them."

My heart pounded. "What kind of records."

"Names," Garrick said. "Every alpha who sat on that council. Every order given. Including the order to hunt down Adira Voss and every Aurelian who might carry her bloodline forward."

The forest went quiet around us, even the wind seeming to hold still. My mother's name coming out of a stranger's mouth felt wrong somehow, like she belonged only to me and Renata now, not to anyone connected to Damian's world.

"You have proof my mother was murdered," I said slowly, "and you never told anyone."

"I was afraid," Garrick admitted, his voice rough. "Afraid of what it would mean for the kingdom if the truth came out. Afraid of what Damian's father would do to me if he found out I knew. I told myself I was protecting people by staying quiet."

"And now," I asked.

"Now I watched a king I respected reject a mate for a woman with no loyalty except to her own family's ambition. Now I know that same mate is the daughter of a woman his own father had killed. I can't stay quiet anymore. Not after tonight."

Renata studied him carefully, the way she studied everything, like she was weighing every word for a lie hidden underneath. "Where are these records now."

"Hidden," Garrick said. "Somewhere only I know. I came looking for you because if anyone deserves to see them first, it's her."

I felt something shift in my chest, not the heat of the shift this time, but something quieter, something almost like hope. "Why should I trust you over everyone else who's tried to use me tonight."

Garrick met my eyes steadily. "Because I'm not asking you to come with me. I'm asking you to let me help from where I am. I can get you those records without ever bringing you back into danger. You don't have to trust me completely. You just have to let me try."

Kael still looked unconvinced, arms crossed, jaw tight. "And if this is a trap. If Damian sent you to lure her back."

"Then kill me," Garrick said simply. "I mean that. If I'm lying, you'll have every right."

Nobody said anything for a long moment. I looked at Renata, searching her face for some kind of answer, but she just shook her head slightly, leaving the choice to me.

"Fine," I said. "Bring us the records. But we're not changing our path. We're still heading to the Ashwood Ruins."

Garrick nodded slowly. "I'll find you there. It might take a few days, but I'll come."

"How do we know you won't lead Damian straight to us," Kael asked.

"Because if I wanted to hand her over, I already could have," Garrick said. "I know exactly where you're standing right now. I chose to talk instead."

That much, at least, made sense.

Garrick turned to leave, then paused, looking back at me one more time. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for standing there and doing nothing while he rejected you. I should have said something. I was a coward that night."

I didn't have a response for that. Some wounds don't close just because someone finally admits they caused them.

He disappeared into the trees, and the three of us stood there in silence for a while, letting everything settle.

"Do we trust him," I finally asked.

"I don't know," Renata said honestly. "But if he's telling the truth, those records could change everything. Proof like that could turn kingdoms against the council that killed your mother. It could give you allies you don't even know you have yet."

"And if he's lying," Kael said.

"Then we'll deal with it when it happens," Renata said. "For now, we keep moving. The Ashwood Ruins won't wait for us to figure out who to trust."

We pushed through the ravine as the first light of morning started creeping over the horizon, exhaustion pulling at every part of my body. My mind kept circling back to Garrick's face, the guilt in his voice, the way he flinched when he apologized. Something about it felt real in a way Vaughn and Ilsa never had.

By midday we stopped to rest near a shallow stream, and I finally let myself sit still long enough to feel everything I'd been pushing down since the rejection. The betrayal. The fear. The strange, aching hope that maybe not everyone in Damian's world was as cold as he'd been. I dipped my hands into the cold water and splashed my face, trying to wash away some of the exhaustion clinging to every part of me.

Kael sat across from me, watching me carefully. "You're thinking about him. Garrick."

"I'm thinking about all of it," I admitted. "How fast everything changed. How many people suddenly care what happens to me now that I'm not just a rejected Luna anymore."

"That's the price of what you are," Kael said quietly. "Everyone wants a piece of power like yours. The real question is who wants to use it, and who actually wants to stand beside you."

I didn't have an answer for that yet. But as we sat there, the stream trickling quietly beside us, I felt the weight of the last two days pressing down harder than ever.

That's when Renata suddenly went still, her head snapping toward the treeline.

"Someone's coming," she whispered. "Fast."

I stood immediately, my whole body tensing.

"Is it Garrick," I asked.

Renata's face told me the answer before she even said it.

"No," she said. "This one feels different. Older. Stronger."

Kael was already on his feet, positioning himself in front of me. "How much stronger."

Renata's eyes stayed locked on the trees, gold light flickering faintly at the edges.

"Strong enough that I don't think we can outrun it," she said. "Whatever's coming, it isn't human. And it isn't a normal wolf either."