Chapter 213
DEREK
The door to the Alpha’s office shut behind us with a heavy click, sealing the tension inside.
Elena stalked ahead of me down the hallway, her bare shoulders tight with fury and frustration.
I caught up to her in three long strides.
“I want to talk to her,” she said, voice low and feral. “Now.”
I didn’t blame her.
I wanted to talk to Maggie too–though for probably far less noble reasons. My questions would have sharper teeth.
And if Maggie’s answers didn’t come fast enough, I wasn’t sure I could keep my temper in check.
Still, I stayed steady.
“Elena,” I said quietly, reaching for her hand to slow her down. “She’s in Council custody now.”
She yanked her hand free, turning on me, her eyes bright with pain.
“Do you think she’s the one who attacked our bond?”
Her voice cracked on the last word. It killed me to hear it. Killed me even more that I didn’t have a clean answer to give her.
I let out a slow breath.
“It seems likely,” I admitted. “Otherwise it’s a hell of a coincidence that she’s out there at the same time we were attacked, but… I have to be honest. I don’t see how or why she’d do something like that.”
I waited until her gaze met mine again before continuing.
“The bottom line is, we won’t know until we can speak to her directly. And they’re not going to allow that tonight. The Sentinels will have orders to keep her in complete isolation until the Alpha Council decides what happens next.”
She sagged a little, the fight draining out of her shoulders.
I hated it.
I wanted to give her something. Some promise. Some piece of certainty to cling to.
But lying wouldn’t help either of us.
“And,” I added, gentling my voice, “we can’t exactly walk away from your brother’s wedding. Maggie will still be there tomorrow. We’ll figure it out then.”
Elena closed her eyes for a long moment, her hands curling into fists at her sides.
Finally, she nodded.
A tiny, miserable nod that made me want to punch a hole through the wall just to bleed off the helplessness clawing at my chest.
We made our way back to the garden, the noise of the celebration washing over us again like a tide we didn’t want to stand in.
The party hadn’t slowed at all.
The bond breaking attack. The capture. The heavy, coiling dread none of them could feel–none of it had touched this place yet.
The wolves still laughed, still danced, still drank and threw flowers and dared each other into increasingly ridiculous games.
It was a thousand miles away from the lead weight dragging at my chest.
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Chapter 213
+25 BONUS
Elena moved through it all on autopilot, her smile brittle, her laughter hollow and a second foo late. No one else seemed to notice. They were too wrapped up in the glow of Mason and Erin’s happiness.
But I noticed.
Every strained movement. Every missed cue. Every flash of grief that crossed her face when she thought no one was looking.
I stayed near her all night, a silent shadow at her side, offering my presence but asking for nothing
The magic we had touched earlier–the raw, soul–deep connection–felt so far away now, a dream already slipping between our fingers.
I couldn’t blame her.
She was trying to be strong.
Trying to be a good sister. A good Luna. A good daughter.
But the ache between us grew anyway, a quiet thing neither of us could soothe tonight.
Near midnight, when the last song finally played and the pack began to thin, Elena found Aiden curled up near a fire pit, half asleep in the crook of a low Adirondack chair.
With a look from her, I scooped him up into my arms.
He woke just enough to mumble something about frosting and dancing and needing “five more minutes,” but he snuggled against my chest with a sigh, clinging to me like a lifeline.
Chapter 214
