Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Dante

I stood at the window watching the sun climb higher, counting down the hours until the hearing. Five hours now. Five hours to prepare for a battle that would determine whether I kept my family or lost everything.

Behind me, Sera slept fitfully with Elena curled against her chest. They looked peaceful together, mother and daughter, exactly as it should be. Exactly as it would stay if I had anything to say about it.

My phone buzzed. Adrian's name appeared on the screen.

I stared at it for a long moment, anger and betrayal warring with fifteen years of trust and partnership. The photo Maya had shown me was damning—Adrian meeting with Vaughn, the two of them clearly in discussion about something. But I needed to hear his explanation before I condemned him completely.

I stepped into the hallway and answered. "Adrian."

"Alpha." His voice sounded strained. "I've been trying to reach you for hours. Where are you?"

"Safe house. Council's orders." I kept my tone neutral, giving nothing away. "How did the pack vote go?"

"That's why I'm calling. The vote was postponed when you didn't show. But Dante, we have a problem. A big one."

"Just one?"

"Garrett—the old advisor, not the Riverside Alpha—he's disappeared. Took files from my office, emptied his quarters, and vanished sometime last night. I went to question him about his communications with external contacts and found nothing but an empty room."

I processed this. Garrett missing the same night someone broke into the medical facility's records room. "What files did he take?"

"Pack lineage records going back fifty years. Financial documents. And something else—correspondence between him and my predecessor as Beta." Adrian's voice dropped. "Dante, I think he's been planning something for a long time. Longer than we realized."

"Planning what, exactly?"

"I don't know yet. But I found something in his room, hidden under a floorboard. A contract." Adrian paused. "With Vaughn. Dated three months ago, long before any of this started with Sera."

Three months ago. Before I'd even met Sera. Before the true mate bond, before the pregnancy, before everything fell apart.

"What was the contract for?" I asked, though dread was already settling in my stomach.

"Removal of obstacles to pack succession. That's the exact wording—removal of obstacles." Adrian's breathing was heavy, like he'd been running. "Dante, I think Garrett hired Vaughn to kill you. And when you found your true mate instead of dying, he adapted the plan to destroy your mate bond and credibility instead."

The pieces started falling into place. Garrett had always opposed my remaining unmated, had pushed for me to name Adrian as my successor. If I died without an heir, Adrian would inherit. And Garrett, as the old advisor who'd served my father, would maintain his influence through the new Alpha.

"Where are you now?" I demanded.

"Heading to the Council Hall. I'm bringing the contract and everything else I found. The Council needs to know Garrett's behind this." Adrian's voice turned urgent. "But Dante, there's something else in the contract. A contingency plan if the primary objective failed."

"What contingency?"

"Elimination of all potential heirs. Including any children born to you." Adrian's words hit like a physical blow. "If Garrett can't prevent you from having an heir, he's planning to eliminate the heir itself."

Elena. He was planning to kill Elena.

"When?" I asked, my voice deadly calm.

"The contract specifies 'at the moment of maximum vulnerability and public attention.' Dante, I think he's going to attack during the hearing. When everyone's gathered, when security is focused on the formal proceedings, when your daughter is exposed and unprotected."

"She won't be unprotected. I'll be there."

"Will you? Or will you be on the stand, testifying, separated from Sera and Elena by Council protocol?" Adrian's question hung heavy. "Think about it. The hearing puts you in a controlled environment where you can't act freely without violating Council authority. It's the perfect trap."

He was right. The moment I stepped into that Council chamber, I'd be bound by their rules, their procedures, their restrictions. And while I was playing by their rules, Garrett would be playing by his own.

"I'm bringing extra security," Adrian said. "Twenty of our best warriors. They'll be positioned around the Council Hall, ready to respond to any threat."

"The Council won't allow armed warriors in the chamber during proceedings."

"Then they'll be outside, close enough to respond in seconds." Adrian's determination came through clearly. "I know you saw the photo, Dante. I know you think I'm working with Vaughn. But I swear to you, that meeting was me trying to get information from him, trying to figure out who hired him and what they're planning. I've been investigating this for weeks."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I suspected someone in our inner circle was involved, and I didn't know who to trust. I thought if I told you, it might get back to whoever was orchestrating this." Adrian's voice softened. "I should have trusted you anyway. I'm sorry."

I wanted to believe him. Every instinct except raw paranoia said Adrian was telling the truth, that he'd been trying to protect me in his clumsy, secretive way.

"The photo showed you giving Vaughn something," I said.

"Money. I was paying him for information about his contracts, trying to get names of everyone who'd hired him. He took the money and gave me nothing, but it was worth trying." Adrian paused. "I know I've given you reasons to doubt me lately. The challenge to your position, the questions about Sera's legitimacy—I handled everything wrong. But Dante, I've never betrayed you. I've been trying to save you."

Through the bond, I felt Sera stirring, waking up. I had to make a decision about Adrian now, before the hearing, before everything came to a head.

"Bring the contract and the warriors," I said finally. "But Adrian, if you're lying to me, if any of this is misdirection—"

"I'm not lying. I'll prove it at the hearing." He paused. "How's Elena?"

The question surprised me. "She's perfect. Strong and healthy and more than we deserve."

"I'd like to meet her. After all this is over, after we've dealt with Garrett and Vaughn and everyone else trying to destroy your family. I'd like to meet your daughter properly and apologize for ever doubting her legitimacy."

Something in his voice convinced me. Adrian wasn't the enemy. He'd made mistakes, handled things poorly, but his loyalty was genuine.

"We'll see," I said. "Survive today first."

After hanging up, I went back into the bedroom. Sera was awake, feeding Elena, her eyes heavy with exhaustion and worry.

"That was Adrian," I said. "He found evidence that Garrett is behind everything. Hired Vaughn three months ago, has been planning this since long before we met."

I explained everything Adrian had told me, watching Sera's expression shift from confusion to understanding to fear.

"He's going to attack during the hearing," she said when I finished. "When we're most vulnerable."

"Yes. But we'll be ready. Adrian's bringing warriors, we'll have bond-readers to prove Elena's ours, and we know what to watch for now." I sat beside her on the bed. "We're going to survive this, Sera. All three of us."

"You can't promise that."

"Yes, I can. Because I've survived twenty-five years as Alpha by being smarter and more ruthless than my enemies. And right now, my enemies are threatening my mate and my daughter." I touched Elena's tiny hand. "They have no idea what they've unleashed."

Sera searched my face, seeing something there that made her nod slowly. "What's the plan?"

"First, we present our evidence—the altered medical records Maya found, the photo of Adrian and Vaughn that we'll explain was information gathering, the bond-readers confirming Elena's connection to us. Second, we expose Garrett's contract with Vaughn and his plan to eliminate our heir. Third, we stay alert for any attack and respond with overwhelming force."

"That's not much of a plan."

"It's enough." I stood and started preparing, checking weapons I'd hidden in my bags, mentally running through scenarios and responses. "The Council thinks they're controlling this hearing, dictating the terms. They're wrong. We're taking control the moment we walk into that chamber."

"How?"

"By refusing to play by their rules. By demanding answers instead of defending ourselves. By putting Garrett, Margaret, and everyone else on trial instead of us." I looked at Sera. "Trust me. I know how to work a room full of powerful wolves."

She stood carefully, holding Elena, and came to me. Through the bond, I felt her trust, her determination, her love. We were in this together, whatever happened.

"Four hours," she said, checking the clock.

"Four hours. Then we end this."

Maya knocked and entered with breakfast—food neither of us had much appetite for but would need energy from anyway. We ate in silence, each lost in our own thoughts.

Elder Thomas arrived at ten-thirty with three elderly wolves I recognized as the territory's most respected bond-readers. They would examine Elena before the hearing, establish baseline readings that could be presented as evidence.

The eldest, a woman named Cordelia who must have been ninety, approached Elena with gentle reverence. She held her hands above the baby without touching, eyes closed in concentration.

After a long moment, she opened her eyes and smiled. "True mate child. No question. She carries both parents' bond signatures, woven together in a pattern I've never seen this strong." Cordelia looked at me. "This child is blessed, Alpha. Protected by forces older than our laws."

The other two bond-readers confirmed Cordelia's findings. All three would testify at the hearing, their word carrying weight that even the Council couldn't dismiss.

At eleven-thirty, Captain Morris arrived to escort us to the Council Hall. The sun was high and bright, mocking the darkness of what we were about to face.

I took one last look around the safe house, memorizing it. Either we'd return here tonight victorious, or we wouldn't return at all.

Sera held Elena close as we walked to the vehicle. Through the bond, I sent her strength and certainty, even though my own doubts were screaming.

"Whatever happens," I said quietly as we climbed in, "we don't let them separate us. If they try to take Elena, we fight. If they try to exile you, I go with you. We stay together no matter what."

"No matter what," Sera echoed.

The vehicle started moving toward the Council Hall, toward the hearing that would decide everything.

And somewhere in the shadows, Garrett and Vaughn were preparing their own moves, planning their attack, counting on us being trapped by protocol and procedure.

They were about to learn their mistake.

I'd been a soldier before I was an Alpha. I'd fought in territorial wars, defended my pack from rogues and raiders, survived assassination attempts and political coups.

This hearing wasn't a trial. It was a battlefield.

And I had no intention of losing.