All Chapters of Moonbound: The Alpha's Claim: Chapter 91 - Chapter 100

The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur of hurried conversations and quiet planning. Messages were already being prepared for the neighboring packs while Roland met privately with several of his senior guards. The manor had settled into an uneasy rhythm over the past few weeks. Everyone carried on with their duties, but there was a noticeable difference in the way people moved through the halls.Conversations became quieter whenever Elena entered a room, and more than once she caught wolves studying her with expressions she couldn’t quite decipher. She wasn’t sure which bothered her more. The ones who looked afraid, or the ones who looked hopeful.Elena eventually slipped away from the meeting room, needing a few minutes to clear her head. The gardens had always been her favorite place on the estate. Before everything had changed, she had imagined spending afternoons wandering the winding paths with nothing more important to worry about than whether Damien would eventually convince

Elena hardly slept. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the line of cars stretching down the manor’s driveway. She pictured the little girl leaning against her mother’s SUV, the elderly couple sitting quietly beneath the shade of a tree, and the worried expressions on faces that had clearly carried the same grief for years.By the time dawn broke, she gave up on sleep altogether. She pulled on a pair of jeans and one of Damien’s hoodies that had somehow found its way into her room and slipped barefoot over to the bedroom window.The line had grown. More vehicles had arrived overnight. Pickup trucks, family SUVs, compact cars with children’s toys still visible in the back seats, even an old station wagon that looked like it had traveled hundreds of miles to get there. Some people had climbed out to stretch their legs while others remained inside, trying to catch a little more sleep before the day truly began.No one argued with the guards. No one tried to force their way through th

Roland’s words settled over the room like a weight no one knew how to lift.He knows Marcus cannot defend himself.Elena lowered her eyes to the table. The anger she’d expected never came. Instead, all she felt was sadness. James hadn’t challenged her strength. He hadn’t questioned her power. He had gone after the one person who could never stand before the pack and answer him.She remembered sitting on her father’s shoulders during the summer festivals while he pointed out constellations she was too young to understand. She remembered falling asleep against his chest after long pack meetings because she’d insisted on staying awake until he came home. Marcus had always smelled like pine and cedar after patrols, and no matter how tired he was, he always made time to tuck her into bed.James remembered those moments, too. He had been there. That realization hurt almost as much as the speech itself.“I don’t understand,” Elena admitted quietly. “If James hated my father this much, why di

Roland wasted very little time putting his plan into motion. Before anyone left the council room, he summoned several of his senior warriors and quietly divided them into two groups. One would leave the manor within the hour and ride directly for the Ash River Pack. The other would remain behind, with no one outside the manor knowing they were still there.Elena stood near the map while Roland explained the assignments. She admired how calm he remained even with so many moving pieces. There was no panic in his voice and no hint of uncertainty. He spoke with the confidence of someone who had spent a lifetime making difficult decisions, and every wolf in the room seemed to draw strength from it.“I want the departure to be obvious,” Roland instructed. “Take marked vehicles, wear your formal patrol jackets, and leave through the main gate. If someone is watching this manor—and I believe they are—I want them to think we’ve committed a significant portion of our forces to Ash River.”One o

“Everywhere.”The word barely left Micah’s mouth before another violent tremor moved through the manor. This one was powerful enough to rattle the paintings against the walls and send a decorative vase crashing to the floor somewhere nearby. Elena instinctively reached for Damien, but her attention immediately turned inward as she tried to feel what was happening beyond the walls.Something was wrong with the wards, but it wasn’t the same sensation she had experienced during Peter’s earlier attacks. She didn’t feel corruption pushing against the manor or searching for a way inside. Instead, the magic surrounding them seemed confused. The individual layers were still there, but they were vibrating against one another instead of working together.“Gail!” Elena shouted.“I’m here.”Her aunt appeared at the end of the hallway, running toward them with Esther close behind. Gail’s normally composed expression was gone. Her hair had fallen loose around her face, and she was already whisperin