Semua Bab The Alpha Forgets : Bab 41 - Bab 50

41 Morning came too soon. The packhouse felt different in the early light, quieter, heavier, like even the walls understood this was a leaving day. Lotty stood near the front steps with her bag at her feet, arms folded tightly across her chest as if that could hold her together. The bond between her and Decker hummed warm and steady now, stronger since the night before, but it didn’t quiet the ache sitting behind her ribs. Two dark SUVs from Dark Mountain had just rolled into the courtyard and parked in a neat line near the entrance. Tomas stepped out of the first one, Garrick from the second, both dressed in dark clothes and carrying themselves with the calm vigilance of wolves used to escorting power. Behind them, a few Edgewater Falls warriors lingered at a respectful distance, watching. Waiting. Saying goodbye in their own way. Adam came down the steps last. He’d already been up for hours, of course. He probably hadn’t slept much at all. He looked like himself, controlled, st

43 The run had done something to both of them. It stripped away the tension. The fear. The weight of everything waiting inside the packhouse walls. By the time they returned, Lotty’s breathing had steadied, her thoughts quieter, her body loose in a way it hadn’t been since before she left Edgewater Falls. Decker shifted first near the tree line, grabbing the clothes he’d left behind and pulling them on quickly before turning back toward her. When she shifted back, he was already there steady, calm, watching her like he was making sure she was still alright. Lotty pushed her hair back from her face, cheeks flushed from the run. “That helped,” she admitted. Decker’s mouth curved faintly. “I know.” She glanced back toward the packhouse, visible through the trees. “I still don’t know what I’m doing here.” He stepped closer, not crowding her. “You’re here with me.” “That’s not exactly a plan.” “It’s enough for tonight.” Lotty studied him. “You’re avoiding everything.” “Yes.” Th

45 Decker had never liked the council. Not even before he wore the crown. That hatred had not begun the day he became Alpha. It had been building for years through his father’s reign, through every cold meeting where old wolves spoke in circles and called it wisdom, through every moment they treated leadership like something they were entitled to steer instead of something they were meant to support. Counsel. That was what they were supposed to be. Not rulers. Not puppeteers. Not men like Roderick, who thought the Alpha existed to be shaped, controlled, corrected, and, if necessary, removed. Decker understood what a council was meant to do. Advisors. Balance. Perspective when an Alpha needed it. But what he had inherited was something else entirely. A nest of ambition wrapped in formal titles. A room full of wolves who mistook proximity to power for ownership of it. And today, he was done pretending otherwise. The truce sat folded inside the leather portfolio Tony carried under on

47 Lunch at Dark Mountain was quieter than Lotty had expected. Not silent. Never that. There were still the sounds of chairs scraping against wood floors, low conversations moving from one end of the long dining room to the other, silverware against plates, the occasional laugh from one of the younger warriors who hadn’t yet learned how to make themselves small around authority. But the attention on her had changed. Not gone. Just… settled. The first few meals after her arrival had been full of staring and whispered questions. Wolves had watched her every movement as if trying to decide whether she was fragile, dangerous, foolish, or temporary. Now they were getting used to seeing her there. At Decker’s side. At his table.That mattered. It didn’t mean they accepted her. But it meant she was becoming part of the room instead of a disruption to it. Lotty sat beside Decker near the center of the long table, with Tony across from them and two other senior wolves farther down. Garrick

49 By nightfall, the story had spread through Dark Mountain faster than any official announcement ever could. The woman at the Alpha’s side was a doctor. Not just a doctor. A good one. She had walked into the training hall, taken control of a crisis in seconds, and kept a warrior breathing long enough for the trauma team to save him. That was the version the pack told and retold by dinner. By the time the evening meal ended, Lotty could feel the difference in the air around her. Not complete acceptance. Not trust, not yet. But curiosity had shifted. Suspicion had loosened. The looks she caught as she passed through the hallways no longer felt quite so sharp. A few wolves nodded instead of staring. One of the older omegas in the kitchen pressed an extra roll into her hand with a quiet, “For your trouble today,” and hurried off before Lotty could respond. Decker noticed all of it. He noticed the way the whispers no longer carried the same edge. The way the warriors in the hall gav