All Chapters of The Alpha King's Unclaimed Queen: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Vivienne's POVThe council chamber filled faster than usual that morning. News of Marcus's emergency session had already spread through the house, bringing several observers who would normally have had no reason to attend.Killian sat beside me at the table. Since the ritual, his place there had become a formality. A few months ago, no one would have allowed it. I was glad he was there, though the tension in the room made it hard to relax.Marcus rose as soon as everyone had settled. “I have a matter of considerable urgency to raise,” he said. “It concerns the legitimacy of what this council witnessed during the recent verification ritual.”A murmur went through the observers. My fingers tightened around the edge of the table. Beside me, Killian became very still. I had learned what that meant. He was angry, but he was keeping it under control.“The ritual was witnessed by representatives from three separate packs,” Fenwick said. “Delegates from Voss were also present and inspected eve

Vivienne POV“You didn’t have to say all of that,” I said, watching the last light fade over the grounds below. “In there. About trusting me completely.”We had ended up on the same terrace where Killian had first told me about Adaline. The evening had gone quiet, the kind of quiet that came after every storm in this house and never lasted long before the next one arrived.“I know I didn’t have to.” He turned to face me fully. For a moment, nothing guarded his face. Then he seemed to remember himself and pulled that control back into place. “I wanted to. I meant it.”“It’s a big political risk. Declaring that kind of trust before the investigation even ends.”“Then it’s a risk I’m willing to carry.”He held my gaze.“I meant every word I said in that chamber, Vivienne. Not as strategy. Not as some calculated move to shift the room, even though I know that’s what it did.”“Then what was it?”“The truth,” he said. “Finally said somewhere other people could hear it.”My fingers tightened

Killian POV“What did you find?”Owen was standing by the door when I got there, his arms crossed. A thin, nervous man sat at the table, his hands knotted together in front of him.“This is Gareth Hollis,” Owen said. “He was a records clerk at Maple Hollow until three weeks ago. They let him go for missing shifts. As far as the clinic knows, that’s all he ever did wrong.”“Then how did you find him?”“The director gave me the access logs for the month of the mix-up. Eleven names.” Owen nodded towards the man at the table. “Only one of them paid off a loan shark and bought himself a new car in the same few weeks.”I looked Hollis over. His suit was cheap and a little too tight across the shoulders. The watch on his wrist was not cheap at all.“You’ve had a good few months, Mr. Hollis,” I said.He flinched. “I didn’t do anything illegal.”“Reading a patient’s private file and selling what’s in it is illegal in every territory I know of,” Owen said. “Human or pack.”The little colour lef

Vivienne POV“I haven’t lost it,” I said. “I want to see you.”There was a pause on the line. Long enough that I knew I’d surprised him.“Well,” Draven said. “That’s new. Shall I come to the gate? I know the way.”“No. Tomorrow. Noon. I’ll send you an address an hour before.”“An hour.” He laughed softly. “You don’t trust me.”“No,” I said. “I don’t.”“Fair enough.” I could hear him smiling. “Bring your guard dogs if it makes you feel safer. I’ll be there.”The line went dead.I lowered the phone. Killian was still standing at my shoulder. He hadn’t moved the whole time.“He agreed too quickly,” he said.“He wants to know what I know.” I set the phone face down on the nightstand. “He can’t help himself.”*****Owen chose a café in Maple Hollow, on the square across from the town hall.I knew it. I used to sit by its front window after late shifts with a coffee I couldn’t really afford, back when my biggest worry was whether my car would start in the morning.It felt strange to walk in

Killian POVI had recorded the call.I hadn’t told Vivienne. I’d meant to that morning, before we left the estate. Then she’d looked up at me with her chin lifted and her hands perfectly steady, and I’d decided she was carrying enough already.If Draven said nothing worth keeping, I’d delete the recording and she would never know.He had said something worth keeping.By nine that night, every seat in the council chamber was taken. Fenwick sat at the head of the table, with Bramwell two chairs down, his arms crossed. Marcus had taken the same seat near the far end where he’d accused my wife of fraud only days before. He looked calm. That irritated me more than it should have.Owen stood by the door. Vivienne sat beside me, her back very straight.She had asked to speak first. I hadn’t argued.“This afternoon I met with Draven,” she said. “Most of you know who he is. He’s been working against this house for months. Today he told me what the people he works for plan to do next.”She drew