Chapter 106 Stepping Down

Chapter 106 Stepping Down
Jacob's Pov

My parents were in the main sitting room when we walked in.

My father was standing near the window. My mother was seated in the far chair. They both looked at me when I came through the door. Then they looked at Violet beside me. Then they looked at Eli in her arms.

My father's face did something small. He controlled it immediately.

My mother did not. She looked at Eli and her face stayed open for longer than she probably intended.

"Jacob," my father said.

"Not yet," I said. "I need Darius and Hal in here first. Senior pack members in the main hall in thirty minutes."

My father looked at me. "This is a family matter."

"This stopped being a family matter the moment you made it a pack decision," I said. "You sold Violet through a pack agreement. You used your Alpha authority to do it. The resolution happens in front of the pack."

"Jacob……"

"Thirty minutes," I said.

I looked at Darius, who had come in behind us. He nodded and went to handle the assembly.

My mother stood up. She looked at Violet.

"May I see him?" she said.

Violet looked at her for a long moment.

"No," Violet said. Quietly. Without anger. Just a clear answer.

My mother sat back down.

We waited thirty minutes. I used the time to sit with Violet in the side room off the hall. She fed Eli. I sat across from her and watched the window.

"Are you ready for this?" she asked.

"Yes," I said.

"What are you going to say?"

"The truth," I said. "In order. What they did and what the consequence is."

"And the consequence?"

"They step down," I said. "Both of them. Today. I take the Alpha title. You take the Luna title."

She looked at Eli. "They'll resist."

"Yes," I said.

"And?"

"It won't change the outcome," I said.

She was quiet for a moment. "Your mother looked at Eli," she said.

"I saw."

"She looked at him the way someone looks at something they know they don't have the right to want."

"Yes," I said.

"That was the right answer then," she said. "What I said. No."

"Yes," I said. "It was."

Darius appeared in the doorway. "Hall is assembled."

I stood up.

Violet looked at me. "Go," she said. "I'll be right behind you."

I went into the main hall.

The senior pack members were there. Twelve of them. People who had been in this pack for decades, who had built things under my father's leadership.

My parents were at the front. My father standing, my mother seated.

I stood in the center of the hall.

"I'm going to say this once," I said. "In front of everyone here. Completely. So there are no gaps in what the pack understands."

The hall was quiet.

"Eight months ago," I said, "my father used his authority as Alpha to agree with Eric Voss of the eastern territory. The agreement involved the transfer of Violet from this pack to Eric's household in exchange for financial compensation and political alliance."

No one spoke.

"Violet did not consent to this," I said. "She was not informed in advance. She was not given a choice. She was sold. By her Alpha. By her parents. In a formal pack agreement that used the authority of this office."

My father's jaw tightened.

"The background involves a lie maintained for twenty-three years. Violet is not my father's daughter. Her biological father is a man named Caius who has provided full documentation of his paternity. My father was aware of this when he accepted Violet's mother into this pack. He chose not to address it. He allowed Violet to grow up here under a false identity that served his purposes."

My mother made a sound. Not a protest. Something quieter.

"The consequence," I said, "is that Violet spent six months in Eric Voss's territory under pretenses. She was shown forged letters designed to make her believe I had abandoned her, and was held captive while pregnant. Eric Voss and his associate are in regional council custody. The documentation establishing their crimes also establishes how Violet came to be there."

I looked at my father directly.

"You enabled that," I said. "Your decision put her there. Your agreement made it possible. The regional council has the full record of the pack agreement you signed."

My father looked at me steadily. "I made decisions for the good of this pack," he said.

"You made decisions for the convenience of this pack," I said. "There's a difference."

"Jacob……"

"I'm not finished." I held his gaze. "The regional council is reviewing the pack agreement you signed. Your name is on it. Your seal. Whatever outcome that review produces is between you and the council. That's not what I'm here to address today."

"Then what are you here to address?" he said.

"The leadership of this pack," I said.

The hall was very still.

"You sold a member of this pack," I said. "A woman who grew up in this house. She was under your protection. You violated that." I looked at him. "An Alpha who violates pack protection is not fit to lead."

"You are my son," he said. His voice was controlled. "You do not have the authority……"

"I have the authority the pack gives me," I said. "I'm asking the pack to give it now."

I turned to the twelve senior members.

"You've heard it," I said. "I'm asking you to confirm a leadership transition. My father and mother stepped down today. I assume the Alpha title, Violet assumes the Luna title."

The hall was quiet.

Thorne was at the far end. He looked at me for a long moment. Then he stepped forward.

"Confirmed," he said.

Keira stepped forward. "Confirmed."

One by one. Not dramatically. Practically. The way people made decisions was when they had already made them privately and were now making them official.

Eleven of the twelve stepped forward.

The twelfth was an older man named Reth who had served under my grandfather. He looked at my father. He looked at me. He looked at the eleven already forward.

Then he stepped forward.

"Confirmed," he said.

My father looked at the twelve. He looked at the room. He looked at me.

"This is not how this was supposed to happen," he said.

"No," I said. "It wasn't. You had a different plan. One that happened on your timeline in the way you chose. This is the version that happened because of the choices you made."

"Jacob." My mother stood up. "We are your parents."

"Yes," I said. "You are."

"We made mistakes. We know that. But everything we did, we did for this pack and for you."

"You did it for the pack's convenience and your own position," I said. "I understand that's how it looked from inside the decision. It's not how it looks from the outside."

She looked at her hands.

"You'll both be provided for," I said. "A home, income, your standing in the pack as senior members without authority. I'm not removing you from the pack. I'm removing you from the leadership. That's the consequence. Not exile. Just the end of the title."

My father looked at me for a long time.

"You're ready," he said finally. Not a compliment. A fact he was acknowledging.

"I've been ready," I said. "I was waiting for the right circumstances."

"These are not the right circumstances."

"No," I said. "But they're the actual ones."

He nodded once. He looked at my mother. Something passed between them.

She sat back down.

He looked at the hall. At the twelve. At the assembled pack.

Then he looked at me.

"It's yours," he said.

I turned.

Violet was standing in the doorway of the hall with Eli in her arms. She had been there long enough to hear everything.

She held my gaze from across the room.

The hall was quiet around us.

I looked at her and then I looked at the assembled pack.

"This pack's Alpha is Jacob," Darius said from the side of the room. His voice carried. “It's Luna, Violet."

The hall did not erupt. It didn't need to. The twelve senior members had already spoken. The pack had already heard what it needed to hear.