Chapter 12: Beta's Investigation

Mira's POV

I wait outside Kael's office until well past two in the morning.

The hallway is silent except for the creak of old wood settling and the distant sounds of patrol wolves changing shifts. My boots are still muddy from tracking Nyra through the forest. My shirt smells like pine and damp earth.

The door opens before I knock.

Kael looks like he hasn't slept in days. His hair is disheveled, his shirt untucked. There are shadows under his eyes that weren't there a week ago.

"Come in," he says.

I step inside and close the door.

He leans against his desk, arms crossed. "Report."

I pull out my notes, though I don't need them. Every detail is burned into my memory.

"She met with twelve omegas tonight. Safe house, three miles north of the summit grounds. Hidden location, no pack scent markers. They came from at least six different territories."

Kael's jaw tightens. "What did they discuss?"

"Rescue operations. Safe passage routes. Emergency contacts." I pause. "She healed one of them. An omega from Ironpeak with bond scarring. I watched the woman's wolf return after three years of silence."

His expression doesn't change, but something flickers in his eyes. Pain, maybe. Or recognition.

"She's building an entire network," I continue. "Safe houses across four territories. Trade agreements with smaller packs that bypass Council oversight. She's calling it the Moon Pact."

"A direct challenge to Council authority."

"Yes."

"And you're certain this is rescue work? Not recruitment for something else?"

I meet his gaze. "I watched her heal a woman who was tortured by her own alpha. I watched her promise safety to wolves who've been used and discarded. She's not recruiting soldiers, Kael. She's offering what our system never did."

"Choice," he says quietly.

"Yes."

Silence stretches between us. Kael turns toward the window, his reflection ghostly in the dark glass.

"How many wolves has she helped?"

"Hard to say. Based on tonight's conversation, at least forty over the past month. Maybe more."

His shoulders tense. "That's not sustainable. The Council will retaliate. The alphas whose omegas are disappearing will demand action."

"I know."

"She's putting herself in danger."

"She knows that too." I hesitate, then add, "She told them she's afraid every day. But she's more afraid of doing nothing."

Kael's hand grips the windowsill, knuckles white.

I watch him carefully. This is the part of my job no one teaches. . .reading the spaces between words, understanding what my alpha won't say aloud.

"She asked about you," I say.

He turns sharply. "What?"

"One of the omegas asked if you knew what she was doing. Nyra said you're probably investigating her." I pause. "Then she was asked if you'd try to stop her."

"What did she say?"

"She said she doesn't know. But she's not stopping either way."

Kael looks like I've hit him. He turns back to the window, his reflection fractured by shadows.

"Keep watching her," he says. His voice is rough. "Document everything. I need to know if this network poses a threat to. . ."

"To what?" I interrupt. "Pack stability? Council relations? Or to her?"

"Mira."

"No." I step closer. "I've followed you for five years without question. I've defended every decision, backed every strategy. But I need to know what we're actually protecting here."

"The pack. . ."

"The pack will survive whether Nyra builds her network or not. What I saw tonight wasn't rebellion. It was wolves helping other wolves survive. If that's a threat to our system, maybe our system deserves to be threatened."

His eyes flash with warning. "Careful."

"You asked for my report. I'm giving it." I don't back down. "Everything she did tonight was rescue work. But rescue at this scale is still dangerous. Not because she's wrong, but because she's right. And the Council won't tolerate being proven unnecessary."

Kael turns away, his hand running through his hair in a gesture I recognize. He only does that when he's caught between what he wants and what he thinks he should do.

"What would you have me do?" His voice is barely above a whisper.

"I don't know. But pretending you're only investigating her for strategic reasons isn't working anymore."

"I'm not. . ."

"You asked how many wolves she's helped. You didn't ask how we stop her. You asked if she's in danger. You wanted to know what she said about you." I pause. "Those aren't strategic questions, Kael."

The silence that follows is suffocating.

When he finally speaks, his voice is so quiet I almost miss it.

"Does she seem happy?"

The question breaks something in my chest.

I think about Nyra in that safe house, her silver hair catching the dim light. The way she knelt beside Elena with infinite patience. The exhaustion in her face after the healing, and the fierce determination that burned through it anyway.

"No," I answer honestly. "She seems driven. Purposeful. But not happy."

Kael's shoulders slump.

"She's carrying the weight of every omega who ever suffered," I continue. "She's building something that might get her killed. And she's doing it alone because she doesn't trust anyone not to use her the way the Council wants to."

"I never wanted. . ." He stops. Starts again. "I thought I was protecting her."

"By rejecting her?"

"Yes."

"Did it work?"

His laugh is bitter and broken. "You tell me."

I look at him. . .really look. At the guilt carved into every line of his face. The way he can't quite stand up straight anymore, like he's been carrying a weight for so long he's forgotten what it feels like to put it down.

Five years. Five years of watching him bury himself in work and duty and control. Five years of wondering why our alpha, who used to laugh and strategize and occasionally bend rules, became this rigid version of himself.

I thought it was leadership. Maturity. The burden of power.

I was wrong.

He never stopped loving her.

The realization hits me like a physical blow. Every careful question about Nyra's movements. Every time his control slipped when her name was mentioned. The way he freezes whenever someone says "Moonshadow" like the title itself is a wound.

He didn't just reject his mate five years ago.

He's been mourning her every day since.