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Chapter 188
Chapter 188
DEREK
It all slammed into me at once.
The office, the old leather chair beneath me, the taste of whiskey still lingering on my tongue–and Maggie’s name reverberating like a bell that wouldn’t stop ringing in my head.
Maggie. Pierce’s daughter.
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A rogue who had saved Elena’s! life, who had helped her escape when no one else had, who had vanished not long after–and now might be leading a faction of the same wolves who had once dragged her into the dirt.
How had we not seen it?
I stood up, pacing to the window, staring out at the Silverclaw grounds below.
I didn’t know Maggie well–she’d been there when I found Elena that day on patrol–but I could tell even then that she was tough watchful, scrappy. It was clear that she’d always kept her head down, never shared much, but she’d been loyal in her way.
Loyal to Elena.
And now… this.
A child of Silverclaw. Born within these very walls. Sent away into the roguelands before she was old enough to understand what
it meant.
“Derek?” Elena’s voice cut softly through the thick quiet.
I turned toward her slowly. “There’s something else.”
Her eyes flicked up to mine.
“When Pierce was exiled,” I said, voice tight, “he was given a choice. The tribunal offered clemency to his mate and children. They didn’t have to follow him into the roguelands.”
Her brow furrowed. “But they went anyway.”
I nodded. “I’m afraid… he forced them. That’s what the reports said. Pierce’s mate and two daughters disappeared with him. Months later, there were whispers they’d been killed. Some rogue faction attack, maybe another pack. His wife and eldest daughter were rovered. It was presumed the youngest died as well.
A silence stretched between us.
“But no one ever found her body,” I finished.
Elena inhaled sharply. “Maggie.”
“Yeah.” My chest was tight. “It’s her. It has to be.”
She rose from her seat, slowly, like her body was still catching up to her mind. “Do you think she’s… leading Pierce’s faction
now?”
I didn’t answer right away.
I thought about the calculated attacks, the guerrilla tactics, the way they knew how to strike where it hurt. The escalating violence. The precision. The familiarity.
“I think we need to find her,” I said finally. “And find out.”
ELENA
Chapter 188
I stood in the middle of Derek’s office, feeling like the floor had shifted beneath me.
Maggie. Rogue. Friend. Savior.
Silverclaw–born.
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My hand shook slightly as I set the glass of whiskey down on the edge of the desk. I didn’t trust myself to drink it anymore. Not without spilling.
The idea that Maggie had once belonged to this place–this pack–hit like a blow to the chest. That she had once played in these halls, maybe sat in this office when she was a child. That she had grown up under this roof until her entire world was ripped away because of her father’s crimes.
And now she might be leading a rogue army.
“Are you okay?” Derek asked quietly.
I turned to him. He looked tired. Haunted. But his voice was steady
I forced a nod. “Yeah. I’m just… processing.”
He took a step forward. “You don’t have to leave yet.”
I hesitated. “I should go.”
“I’ll get Aiden,” he said glumly.
I gave him a questioning look.
Derek blinked. “You’re not taking Aiden with you?”
I met his eyes. “Do you want me to?”
“No!” he said quickly, hands rising. “I just thought… maybe you would.”
I exhaled, slowly. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Derek. Not really. You had the area swept. You didn’t know there’d be a breach. You didn’t choose to put Aiden in danger.”
His shoulders dropped a little at that. “Thank you.”
I offered him a tired smile. “Enjoy the rest of your weekend with him.”
When I reached the door, I paused and turned back.
“And Derek?”
He looked up from where he’d gone to pour himself another drink
“Get some sleep,” I said. “You look like shit.”
His laugh was low and surprised, but it made something inside me ease. We both needed that–something human.
“Thanks,” he said. “I’ll try.”
***
Back at Moonstone, I didn’t go straight to my room.
Instead, I made my way to Erin’s. Her scent was fresh outside the door–honeysuckle and treetop air. I knocked gently, and her voice called, “Come in!”
I opened the door to find her surrounded by chaos.
Magazines. Swatches. Flower catalogs. Color palettes.
Chapter 188
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She looked like she was preparing to open her own wedding boutique. The bed was buried under open books, and she sat cross- legged in the middle, a pencil behind one ear and a hopeless expression on her face.
“Having fun?” I asked.
Erin gave me a long–suffering look. “This is extremely stressful.”
I snorted and dropped into the armchair across from her. “Your first run at Luna.”
She froze. Visibly paled. “I… I didn’t think about it like that.”
I winced. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”
“No, it’s-” She laughed, shaky but real. “You’re right. Goddess. That is what this is, huh?”
I smiled, softening. “You’ll be fine. And I’ll help.”
She gave a little laugh, then looked at me more closely. “You okay?“”
I hesitated. Then I nodded, slow. “Just… got some troubling news.
Erin set her pencil down. “What kind of news?”
I leaned forward, elbows on my knees. “Do you think there’s a chance Maggie is with–or maybe leading–Pierce’s old faction?”
Her eyes widened. She leaned back slowly, lips parting. “Elena…”
“I’m serious.”
She was silent for a long time.
Finally, she said, “Before the Alliance Summit, I would have said no. Not in a million years. Maggie would never.”
“But?”
“But then… she disappeared. She ghosted me. All of us. And when I last saw her, she was different. Angrier.”
I swallowed. “Angry how?”
“Hard to describe.” Erin frowned. “A lot of rogues carry that weight–resentment, bitterness. But Maggie? It was deeper. Like it lived under her skin. I’d only ever seen her that angry once or twice.”
I waited.
“Once was just days after we found you,” she said. “She’d gone out to get food, nothing serious. But she came back to the cottage, furious. Ranting. She didn’t say much, but she was shaken”
“And the other time?”
Erin sighed. “After Derek found you. After he took you to the safehouse. When you didn’t come back.”
“She was mad?”
“Livid. Not at you,” she added quickly. “I think she was happy for you. Proud, even. But at Derek? At Silverclaw?” Erin shook her head. “She hated them. Like something in her had snapped. I’d never seen her like that before.”
My mind turned the pieces over. “I know something else.”
Erin looked up.
“I know that Maggie was Pierce’s daughter.”
Her face paled.
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Chapter 188
“And did you know,” I continued, “that Pierce wasn’t just some 1 grew up there.”
Erin’s lips parted. “No. Oh no.”
I waited.
After a long pause, she whispered, “When you came in here and a no.”
I nodded. “And now?”
Erin’s voice cracked. “Elena, I think Maggie might be in real trou
Chapter 189
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Chapter 189
