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Chapter Twenty-eight: The Pack Council Meeting
publish date:
2026-06-23 21:14:06
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The Alpha's Lost Mate. Chapter Twenty-nine: Sophie and Vivienne
Sophie steele"I knew about the bond," Vivienne said finally. "Seven years ago. I felt it the moment it happened, the way you feel a change in pressure before a storm." She turned to face me. "I said nothing."I held her gaze. "Why are you telling me this now?""Because it's overdue," she said simply. "I am not going to pretend I have a good excuse. I was managing Richard's grief over his own father at the time, plus the pack's political situation, plus my own discomfort with watching my son bond to someone the family hadn't formally prepared for. I told myself it wasn't my business to interfere." A pause. "It was not a good reason. It was simply the reason I had."I said nothing. I let her continue."I don't expect forgiveness for the years of silence," she said. "I'm not asking for it. I'm telling you because you deserve the accurate version of events, not the comfortable one."She moved to the armchair, sat down across from me, her posture as straight as ever, but
The Alpha's Lost Mate. Chapter Twenty-eight: The Pack Council Meeting
Dominic Steele"Everything's here," Lena said quietly, sliding the final folder into her bag as we walked toward the council hall. "Payment records, dates, cross-referenced with Mrs. Harrow's access logs, plus the two additional staff members. It's airtight.""You're certain about the second names.""Confirmed yesterday. One in housekeeping, one in groundskeeping. Both receiving secondary payments from the same property management shell Gerald used for Harrow." She matched my pace. "Three people inside this household, on his payroll, feeding him information for years."I nodded once, pushed open the heavy doors.The council hall was the oldest formal room in the villa, dark wood, high windows, a long table that had hosted every significant pack decision for four generations. Seven chairs around it, six already filled. Gerald sat near the centre, composed, a folder of his own in front of him, looking like a man entirely at ease with whatever was about to happen.Aldric sa
The Alpha's Lost Mate. Chapter Twenty-seven: Rowan and Lena
Lena"You're back," I said, not looking up from the file I was organising. "I thought you were in the building until further notice.""I left it with two of Dominic's vetted people," Rowan said, setting his bag down inside the small office off the main hallway. "Council vote is coming faster than expected. He wants me here for that, not standing outside an apartment building watching a car that's already been identified.""Helena Voss's car.""That one." He pulled the second chair around to my side of the desk, which he had no reason to do, which he did anyway, the way he always positioned himself when we worked, close enough to see the documents, not close enough to be accused of anything. "Brief me. Everything you've got on Aldric's contacts, the two undecided council members, Erik's standing."I pulled three folders toward me, opened the first. "Aldric has thirty years on the council, strong relationships with both undecided members, Castellan and Brooke.
The Alpha's Lost Mate. Chapter Twenty-six: Dominic Tells Sophie About Gerald
Dominic Steele"You need to hear all of it," I said, closing the study door behind her. "Not the version that makes it easier to sit with. All of it."Sophie stood near the desk, arms crossed, already braced for something. She had that stillness she wore when she was preparing to absorb a blow without letting it show. I had learned to recognise it over the past three days. I hated that I had learned to recognise it."Tell me," she said.So I did."Gerald is going to take the question of Ethan's standing to a full council vote. Not the informal version from yesterday's meeting. A formal motion, on record, requiring documentation and proof of the bond." I kept my voice level, factual, the way I delivered anything that needed to be heard clearly rather than softened. "Aldric will support it. Two more council members are already leaning his way. If it passes, you'll be required to appear before the council, prove the bond publicly, and Ethan's status becomes a matter of
The Alpha's Lost Mate. Chapter Twenty-five : Gerald and Vivienne
Vivienne Steele"Close the door, Gerald."He did, then turned from the door with the ease of a man who had never once in his life walked into a room and felt unwelcome in it. He looked at me across Richard's study, took in the fact that I was seated behind Richard's desk, not in front of it, assessed this, adjusted."Vivienne." He settled into the chair across from me, crossed one leg over the other, relaxed. "You look like you haven't slept.""I haven't," I said. "Sit properly, please. This isn't a social visit."Something shifted in his expression, and I could easily tell it was not an alarm. Gerald did not alarm easily. A recalibration, the adjustment of a man who had expected a different kind of room, a different Vivienne, the one he had been managing successfully for thirty-four years."You called Helena Voss," I said.He didn't flinch. "I reached out to someone who has an interest in how this situation resolves. That's not unusual.""Helena Voss," I repeated, "aba
The Alpha's Lost Mate. Chapter Twenty-four : The Pull at Night
Dominic Steele"Helena Voss," Lena repeated over the phone, her voice stripped of everything except information. "The car is registered to a property holding company she set up six years ago. It's her current legal name, her current address in the registration. She's been using Erik's network, not Gerald's. Separate line entirely.""They know each other," I said."I'm finding the connection now. It goes back further than Gerald. She was involved with the Steele family commercially before she married Richard. She may have had a relationship with Gerald that predates everything."I stood at the window of Richard's study, the house dark outside, the grounds empty. "Does Sophie know yet?""Lena sent her the message twenty minutes ago," Rowan cut in on the second line. "The woman hasn't approached the building. She's watching. Just watching.""Keep your eyes on her," I said. "Don't move on her yet. I want to know what she's doing before we spook her into doing it faster
The Alpha's Lost Mate. Chapter Fifteen: Mrs. Harrow
Margaret Harrow"Thomas, the glasses on the east table need collecting," I told him as he passed me in the corridor. "Don't leave them sitting. It looks untidy.""Yes, Mrs. Harrow."He moved off. I watched him go with the mild satisfaction of a woman who had learned that a well-run hou
The Alpha's Lost Mate. Chapter Fourteen : Sophie and Lena
Sophie Steele"Miss Steele."I turned from the window.The woman standing in my doorway was not someone I had spoken to directly since arriving. Late twenties, neat, composed in the particular way of someone who had made a decision early in life to be competent above everything e
The Alpha's Lost Mate. Chapter Thirteen: The Informant
Dominic Steele"I need everything," I told Lena. "Who knew she was coming, who had access to her contact details, who on the staff has been here long enough to have history with Gerald. All of it."Lena did not write anything down. She never did. She looked at me with the particul
The Alpha's Lost Mate. Chapter Twelve: Leaving Is Not An Option
Sophie Steele"Miriam, listen to me carefully," I said into the phone, my bag already on my shoulder, my room already behind me. "Do not tell anyone where you're taking him. Not the address, not the area…Nothing.""Already moving," Miriam replied. "We'll be out in twenty minutes.""Good. Call me fr
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