All Chapters of PREGNANT WITH THE ALPHA'S UNWANTED HEIR : Chapter 121 - Chapter 129

"The access was granted this morning," Ivy says.She says it at breakfast three days after River arrived, standing at the kitchen counter with her tablet in one hand and her coffee in the other and the specific energy she carries when something she has been working toward has just moved from pending to possible.River is in the carrier against my chest, which is where she has spent most of her first three days, not because she needs constant holding in the anxious sense but because she seems to find the saturation of my field at close range genuinely interesting, her gold eyes moving constantly over whatever is visible above the carrier edge, her fingers periodically reaching for my collar or my hair or whatever presents itself.Lyra is eating with the focused efficiency of someone fueling up before a significant morning."What access," Bastien says."The inter-pack neutral council historical archive," Ivy says. "The parallel record-keeping system that ran from the founding period unt

"Six months ago," Bastien says.He says it the way he says things that have reconfigured something, quietly, with the weight of someone who is already three steps into the calculation and does not like where it is landing.Ivy is still on the phone."The archivist would not give the name," she says. "I asked twice. She cited privacy provisions under council archive protocol, which are legitimate provisions, I cannot contest them through the access credentials I have." A pause. "But she said something else when I pushed. She said the request was not submitted by an individual. It was submitted by an institution.""Which institution," I say."She would not say," Ivy says. "But she used the word institution specifically, not organization, not individual, not pack. Institution. Which in council language means something with formal standing. A pack, a council body, a recognized governance entity.""Not my father," Bastien says. "He is a private individual now. Suspended, no formal standing

"Eight years ago," Bastien says.He says it the way he says things that are restructuring something significant, quietly, with the specific stillness of a man who is recalculating a position he thought he understood.Marta is still on the line."The request was denied," she says. "The archivist at the time did not grant access to founding-period documents for individuals without direct lineage connection to the relevant pack. Your father has no Iron Fang lineage. His request was refused on those grounds." A pause. "But the request itself tells us he was looking. Eight years ago he was searching specifically for information about gold-eyed children in the Iron Fang founding period.""How did he know to look," I say."That is the question I have been sitting with since I identified the request two months ago," Marta says. "The Founder's Mark is not widely documented. The Iron Fang founding texts are not public documents. The council parallel record is restricted. For your father to have

Nobody answers Bastien's question. It sits in the room the way certain things sit, too heavy to pick up right away."We need Wolfe," I say. "Not Marta's guesses about Wolfe. Wolfe himself, in front of us, answering directly.""He signed an agreement to stay away," Soren says."Then we invite him," Bastien says. "The agreement does not prohibit that."Marta clears her throat on the line. "I would advise caution. If my reading on his motives is wrong, bringing him into direct contact with River again is a risk we cannot undo.""If your reading is right," I say, "then he is the only person alive who knows what we need to know. We cannot protect her from a mechanism none of us understand."Bastien is already moving toward the desk, already reaching for his phone. "I will call him myself. Not through an intermediary. He answers to me directly or he does not answer at all.""Bastien," I say.He looks at me."If he says yes," I say, "we do this on our terms. Neutral ground. Ivy and Soren pre

Soren's voice comes through the door before he does. "The building is locked. Every exit is covered. Nadia is not inside."Bastien does not relax. "Not inside yet.""Marta," I say. "Where is she now?"A pause, keys somewhere on her end. "Her last registered location was a clinic two towns north, forty minutes ago. I am pulling current transit records.""Forty minutes is nothing," Bastien says."Forty minutes is enough for us to be ready instead of surprised," I say, and I hear how steady my own voice sounds, which surprises me more than it should. River is warm against my chest, gold eyes open, watching the ceiling the way she always watches things no one else can see.Wolfe's voice comes through the phone, quieter than before. "If I can help, I want to. Whatever this costs me with my own people.""Then tell us what she would need to do it," Bastien says. "If Nadia's plan requires separating Lena from River convincingly enough for the field to register it as loss, what would that look