Accueil / Werewolf / The Alpha Forgets / Chapitre 121 - Chapitre 130

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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

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

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

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

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

126

126 The summit had changed. What had begun as a meeting to expose old agreements and hidden betrayals had become something much larger. The regional council was cracking. Not publicly. Not yet. But the fractures were there for anyone paying attention.Council members who had stood united two days ago now argued behind closed doors. Some demanded full transparency. Others wanted the archives sealed again. Several quietly denied knowing anything about the prophecy. A few were already discussing resignation. And somewhere among them, a wounded councilwoman named Elara sat under guard while the foundations of everything she had spent her life protecting slowly crumbled around her. The old order was breaking. Everyone could feel it. No one knew what would replace it. The Alphas had gathered once more in the main conference chamber. Not for a formal session. Just discussion. Trying to make sense of everything. Trying to fit together pieces that refused to cooperate. The completed proph

127

127 Alden waited until the meeting finally broke apart. The Alphas had questions. Dozens of them. Morgan wanted details about the prophecy. Matthew wanted sources. Tony wanted proof. Jacob wanted names. Helena wanted timelines. But Alden answered very few. Instead, he stood slowly from his chair, leaned on his walking stick, and looked directly at Decker. "I would like to speak with you and your mate. Alone." The room immediately grew suspicious. Decker's eyes narrowed. "No." Several wolves looked surprised by how quickly the answer came. Alden merely smiled. "I expected that." Lotty sighed. "Decker." "No." "Decker." The old Seer actually looked amused. "You are going to hear that word often in your future, Alpha." A few wolves hid smiles. Decker did not. "What information?" Alden's expression became serious. "Information intended specifically for the parents." That got everyone's attention. Especially Lotty's. Alden's gaze drifted toward her stomach. "I have waited a long

128

128 The evening meal ended much differently than anyone would have expected when the summit first began. No shouting. No accusations. No threats of war. No council records slammed onto tables. Just tired wolves who had spent days uncovering secrets that stretched back decades. For one evening, the Alphas agreed to stop digging. The archives would still be there in the morning. The council would still be fracturing. Elara would still be under guard. The prophecy would still exist. Tonight, they needed a few hours to breathe. So the Alphas drifted toward the retreat's study while the Lunas disappeared into the moonlit gardens. Decker watched Lotty leave with Selene, Rowan's Luna, and several others. The sight still surprised him. A few months ago, Lotty had been an outsider to most of these wolves. Now the Lunas naturally gathered around her. Not because of the prophecy. Not because of the twins. Because they genuinely liked her. The thought settled warmly somewhere inside him. Un

129

129 By morning, the summit no longer felt like a summit. It felt like the beginning of a trial. The Alphas gathered once more in the central hall, but the mood had changed. The old regional council members sat along the far wall under guard, not at the front of the room where they had once belonged. Their robes looked less official now. Less powerful. More like costumes. The prophecy pages sat copied and sealed in folders before every Alpha.The evidence of council manipulation sat beside them. No one could pretend anymore. Morgan was the first to speak. “The regional council cannot continue as it is.” No one looked surprised. Even Rasmus, seated with the remaining council members, closed his eyes as if he had expected the sentence. Malric leaned back in his chair. “You want to dissolve it.” Morgan’s gaze moved calmly to him. “I want to replace what has failed.” Calder gave a dry laugh. “Pretty words for the same thing.” “Then let me be clear,” Morgan said. “Yes. The current r

130

130 By the time the Alphas left the regional retreat, the place no longer belonged to the council. Not really. A consolidated guard force remained behind. Warriors from every pack, working in rotating teams to watch over the council members, guard Elara, and protect the archives while every hidden record was copied, cataloged, and reviewed. No single pack controlled the evidence. That had been the final decision before departure. No more secrets held by one set of hands. No more sealed rooms. No more history buried where only the powerful could reach it. The ride back to Dark Mountain was quiet. Lotty leaned against Decker’s side, one hand resting over her stomach. Their sons. She still wasn’t used to thinking that. Sons. Two boys. Decker had barely let her out of arm’s reach since Alden told them. At first, she thought it was sweet. By the time they reached Dark Mountain territory, it was becoming a problem. “You know I can walk from the car to the packhouse,” she murmured when

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