Semua Bab The Forbidden Alpha’s Mate: Bab 21 - Bab 30

LEVI'S POVWe walked back through the forest in the early afternoon light.Victor secured between Daniel's wolves. Aaron carrying the document. Chris moving quietly at the rear.Ray beside me.His shoulder against mine. Neither of us talking. The kind of silence that had stopped being uncomfortable somewhere between the clearing and the tree line and had become just — ours.The compound appeared through the trees an hour later. Walls standing. Gates intact. Wolves on rotation exactly as I'd left them.Home.Ray looked at it as we came through the outer gate. Something moved across his face I almost missed."What," I said quietly."Nothing," he said."Ray."He was quiet for a moment. "Last time I walked toward a compound it was mine." He paused. "Coming back to find nothing."I said nothing."This is different," he said simply. And kept walking.--Daniel took Victor to the secure holding room without being asked. Two guards. No clearance. No contact with anyone until the council heari

LEVI'S POVMina placed the folder on the desk between us.“Victor’s medical records,” she said. “From four years ago. Three months before the assassination.” She opened it to a specific page. “I treated him twice during that period. Both visits were logged under a false name but the handwriting in the margin is mine.” She paused. “I didn’t realize what I was looking at until last night.”Ray leaned forward. “What are we looking at.”“Victor was dying,” Mina said simply.The room went quiet.“Four years ago,” she continued. “Terminal. A degenerative condition affecting wolf shifting ability. Without treatment he had eighteen months.” She paused. “The treatment existed. One source. Extremely rare. Covenant derived.”“The document,” I said slowly.“The bond transfer specifically,” Mina said. “A sealed alpha bond at a pre-covenant location generates enough covenant energy to halt the condition permanently.” She looked at us. “Victor didn’t stage his death to build a plan. He staged it bec

LEVI'S POVThe council chambers were neutral ground.Underground. Stone walls. Seven seats arranged in a horseshoe with a central floor where testimony was given. Old. Deliberately uncomfortable. Built to remind everyone inside it that the law was older than any of them.I had been here twice before. Never as the one who called the hearing.We arrived with Victor secured between Daniel’s wolves. Aaron carrying the document. Chris walking quietly beside Ray.Aaron opened the proceedings.He stood at the head of the horseshoe and looked around the chamber with the particular authority of a sixty two year old wolf who had been present at the original covenant signing and had decided that today was the day he used everything that came with that.“This hearing concerns the actions of Victor Morgan,” Aaron said. “Former Alpha of Crimson Ridge. The destruction of Shadowmoon Pack. The staged assassination. The use of pack resources for personal gain. And the attempted bond transfer at a pre-c

LEVI'S POVWe left at sunrise. Just the two of us.Daniel had offered to send wolves. I had said no. Ray had said no at the same time and we had looked at each other and Daniel had understood and stopped offering.Some things needed to be done without an audience.The forest between Crimson Ridge and Shadowmoon territory was three hours on foot. Old growth. The kind of trees that had been standing since before either pack existed and would be standing long after both of them were gone.Ray moved beside me.Quiet. Steady. The particular focus of a man who had made a decision and was walking toward it without looking for reasons to turn back.I didn't push conversation.Just stayed beside him.An hour in he said — "I used to run this route.""Border patrol," I said."Yes. Every two weeks. Same path." He looked at the trees. "I could do it with my eyes closed." He paused. "I haven't been able to make myself come back this way since.""Until now," I said."Until now," he said.We walked.

LEVI'S POVDean Foster arrived mid morning.Tall. Auburn haired. Green eyes exactly as warm as I remembered. He walked through the compound gate with the easy open energy of someone who had no pack allegiances and had stopped finding new territories threatening a long time ago.He looked at me when I met him in the main corridor.Then at Ray beside me.Then at our shoulders touching.Something moved across his face. Quick and graceful and completely without bitterness."Alpha Morgan," he said. Then to Ray — "Ray Carter. I've heard a great deal about you.""Dean Foster," Ray said. Even. Measured.Dean almost smiled. "Relax. I'm here about the council.""I know," Ray said. "I'm relaxed."He was not entirely relaxed.I said nothing.Dean looked between us with the expression of a man reading a situation in thirty seconds and finding it both obvious and somewhat amusing."Shall we," I said.We moved to the main office.--Dean's business was straightforward.With Marsh removed and Victor'