Chapter 47 Before the Elders’ Eyes
The Livingston estate had never felt so still.
Not even during the nights when storm winds rattled the old windowpanes or when the pack gathered in hushed tension after battle.
This stillness was different. Dense, expectant, as though the walls themselves sensed the shift in fate circling the household. After the confrontation in the Sacred Grove, with its blinding moonlight and trembling ground, the quiet now felt almost eerie.
Every corridor seemed to hold echoes of something powerful that had happened there. Something that now demanded consequences.
Amanda felt that weight every time she walked past a window. The outside world seemed too calm, too untouched.
The lawns shimmered faintly with morning dew. The horizon washed in silver light. But beneath it all she sensed the same tight coil of energy that thrummed inside her chest. Relief mingled with dread. Victory laced with uncertainty. Hope wrapped tightly around fear.
Three days.
That was all the Council had given them.
The summons had come at dawn, as the pale glow of the rising sun slipped through their curtains. Amanda woke to the soft sound of footsteps and found Derek standing by the window. Shoulders rigid.
In his hand, he held a single silver envelope. Its wax seal imprinted with the mark of the Full Pack Council. Ancient as their laws and just as unforgiving.
He broke the seal without a word. Amanda watched the subtle shift in his posture. The way his jaw tightened. The way his fingers curled slightly around the letter.
"They want us at the Grand Hall in three days." His voice was low. "All Council seats present. No exceptions."
The words hit Amanda like cold water. She wasn't afraid of the elders themselves. She could handle sharp tongues and old traditions. But she dreaded what they represented. Their judgment. Their scrutiny.
After everything she and Derek had survived, the idea of her worth being measured by strangers felt almost insulting. But it still terrified her.
Victor delivered the next blow. Still pale, bandaged, and barely on his feet, he insisted on speaking in the study. He leaned heavily against the desk. Breath shallow.
"The Council is old. Traditional. Some believe change is a curse. They'll challenge everything. Derek's transformation. Amanda's bloodline. The legitimacy of your bond." His gaze softened with worry. "Don't underestimate them."
Amanda tried to smile. To reassure him. But her fingers twisted together of their own accord. The knot in her stomach tightened further.
She didn't have long to dwell on it before the next message arrived.
Councilor Agatha. So ancient that her age was whispered about more than her name. Sharp-eyed. Ruthless. She was known for never bending, not even when logic or compassion demanded it. Her words were law simply because no one had ever managed to argue against them.
Her note was brutally short.
We must verify these claims of prophecy and moon blessing. Bring proof or face rejection.
Just eight words. And yet Amanda felt the floor tilt beneath her feet.
Proof.
Of destiny.
Of power.
Of worthiness.
The kind of things that could never truly be measured. Yet the Council expected her to present them like items on a checklist.
"What if they don't accept us?" Amanda whispered later that night. Standing alone in their room as Derek reread Agatha's message. Moonlight spilled across the bed, catching in the angles of his face. "What if they look at me and see nothing? What if they say I'm not worthy of being Luna?"
Derek didn't hesitate.
He crossed the room in two long strides and cupped her face gently. Holding her like she was the only thing in the world that anchored him. His thumb brushed her cheek with slow, soothing warmth.
"Then they reject us both." He said it quietly. "I won't be Alpha without you. That's not a threat. That's a promise."
Her breath hitched. The sincerity in his voice, soft but unbreakable, tightened something deep in her chest.
"You would give up everything?" She whispered.
"For you?" His voice softened even more. "I already almost lost you once. I won't risk it again."
Those words settled into her like a steadying heartbeat. More grounding than any prophecy, any blessing, any ancient text. Derek's conviction had always been her greatest reassurance.
The next three days blurred together.
Hours folded into hours as duties piled up. Derek spent his time meeting with warriors, elders, and every witness from the Sacred Grove. He collected statements. Reviewed the chain of events. Prepared for every possible question the Council would throw at them.
Amanda, meanwhile, moved through the estate with purpose she didn't quite feel but forced herself to embody. She gathered every piece of evidence they might need. The journal from Derek's mother, fragile with age. The written records of the prophecy. Moira's notes on the curse. And testimonies from pack members who had felt the wave of moonlight when Derek's wolf returned.
She spent long hours learning the Council's traditions. Elder Moira guided her through the formal greetings. The intricate bows. The subtle hand gestures that conveyed respect or, if done wrong, insult. Amanda repeated them again and again until her neck ached and her shoulders throbbed.
But every evening, Derek found her.
Sometimes he brought her food she'd forgotten to eat. Other times he simply sat beside her. Brushing his hand against her arm. Grounding her with his presence. Not saying much. He didn't need to. The quiet between them was warm. Strengthening.
On the third night, exhausted and frayed at the edges, Amanda sank onto their bed. Knees trembling. Derek sat beside her and touched her wrist with gentle firmness.
"You need to rest," he murmured.
She nodded, but the tightness in her chest refused to ease. "What if all of this isn't enough? What if the Council only sees me the way my family did?"
Derek didn't answer with logic.
He leaned in and kissed her.
Slow. Sure. Grounding. The kind of kiss that melted tension into warmth. That replaced fear with something steadier, deeper. Amanda inhaled sharply. Her hands curling into his shirt. For a moment, there was no prophecy, no Council, no looming judgment. Just the two of them. Their hearts beating in sync.
When he pulled back, his voice was barely a whisper. "You are enough. For me. For this pack. For what comes next. I need you to believe that."
The tension inside her cracked. Dissolving. All the fears she carried, of not belonging, of being judged, of failing him, faded under the warmth of his certainty.
Their bond settled into place that night. Fully. Completely. Not rushed, not desperate. Just right.
Morning came too quickly.
Dawn light washed through the windows like cold silk. Casting long pale beams across the floorboards. Amanda stood before the mirror. Steadying her breath as she fastened the clasp of her Luna cloak. Her reflection looked different. Older, stronger, as though the past three days had carved new edges into the person she was.
Her hands trembled only a little.
Derek stood behind her. Adjusting the collar of his formal jacket. His reflection met hers in the glass. Warm and unwavering.
"You look like you were born for this," he murmured.
Amanda managed a small, breathless smile. "Even if I don't feel like it?"
He leaned closer. His voice gentle. "Especially then."
They stepped outside together.
The courtyard was brisk. The morning air sharp with the scent of pine and cold stone. The car waited with its engine humming softly. Warriors lined the steps. Saluting Derek. Some bowed to Amanda. She still wasn't used to it. Still felt a jolt of disbelief. But she didn't shrink back.
When the door opened, Derek extended his hand. "Ready?"
"Ready," she whispered.
But as the car pulled away, Amanda glanced instinctively toward the treeline.
A faint movement. A shift of shadow.
A hooded figure stood just beyond the forest edge. Still. Watching.
Their eyes glowed a deep, unnatural red. Wrong in a way that made her pulse stutter.
And just as the car turned onto the main road, a whisper drifted through the trees. Carried on a wind that should not have been able to speak.
"The Council is only the beginning. Let them think they've survived their greatest test. The real threat hasn't shown itself yet."
Then the forest swallowed the figure whole.
And the road ahead felt far darker than anything Amanda had expected.