Chapter 171 CHAPTER 171
Morning in Silverpine did not feel ordinary.
Word had spread faster than smoke.
By the time the sun rose fully over the rooftops, small clusters of villagers had already gathered along the main road. Voices were hushed but urgent. Eyes were sharp. The story had traveled in pieces through the night - Sebastian Hale had exposed his own chosen mate. The golden girl. The quiet one. The one who smiled and bowed her head politely at gatherings.
A witch.
Sebastian walked slightly behind his father as the council and several guards made their way toward Leonard and Mara’s house. He had not slept. His face looked drawn, but there was something else there too - clarity. Painful clarity.
Alpha Richard walked at the front, his posture rigid, his expression unreadable. Beside him were three elders and a line of guards who, even in daylight, did not look entirely steady on their feet. The weakening had not been imagined. It had been deliberate.
They stopped in front of the house.
Richard did not knock gently.
He struck the door with the flat of his palm, hard enough to make it rattle.
Leonard opened it moments later.
The color drained from his face when he saw the gathering.
Behind him, Mara appeared, her eyes already swollen as though she had been crying long before this moment.
“Alpha,” Leonard said weakly.
“Step aside,” Richard replied.
They entered the house without waiting for permission. The elders followed. Guards positioned themselves at the windows and doorways.
“Where is she?” Richard demanded immediately.
Leonard swallowed. “She… she left.”
“When?” one of the elders snapped.
“Before dawn,” Mara whispered, her hands twisting together nervously. “She knew.”
“Knew what?” Richard’s voice sharpened.
“That her secret was out,” Sebastian said quietly from behind his father.
Richard glanced at him briefly, then returned his focus to Leonard.
“You are her guardians,” Richard said. “You will explain where she has gone. And if you cannot, then you will answer for harboring a witch within my pack.”
Mara broke down at those words.
“We are not her guardians,” she cried. “We were her prisoners.”
The room stilled.
“What did you just say?” Richard asked slowly.
Leonard’s composure cracked. Years of fear spilled out in one breath.
“We lied,” he said hoarsely. “Everything we told you about her was a lie.”
The elders exchanged tense looks.
“She is not our niece,” Leonard continued. “We do not know where she came from. She appeared one night. She brought our son with her.”
Richard’s eyes darkened. “Your son is studying abroad.”
Leonard shook his head violently. “No. That was part of the lie.”
Mara covered her mouth as sobs escaped her.
“She took him,” Leonard said, his voice breaking. “She showed him to us. Chained. Weak. She would conjure images of him in a dungeon, starving. She told us if we did not obey her, she would kill him.”
The guards shifted uncomfortably.
“So you allowed her to live here,” Richard said, anger rising in his tone. “You allowed her into my pack.”
“We had no choice!” Mara cried. “She said once her mission was complete, she would return him. We were waiting. We were hoping.”
Richard did not answer immediately.
He looked at Leonard again. “Why did you not come to me?”
Leonard laughed bitterly. “And tell you what? That a witch walked into our home and kidnapped our son? She showed us what she could do. She could twist memories. She could weaken men without touching them. What were we supposed to do?”
Mara dropped to her knees.
“We are sorry,” she sobbed. “We are so sorry, Alpha. We did wrong. We did wrong. But we did it for our son. Please forgive us.”
Richard’s anger wavered.
“Do you have any information,” he asked tightly, “other than lies?”
Leonard nodded weakly. “She would leave sometimes. She would go toward the mountains.”
“The mountains?” one of the elders repeated.
“She would disappear for a day,” Leonard said. “Sometimes two. When she returned, she seemed… stronger.”
The room grew heavier.
“Did she ever speak of her purpose?” Richard pressed.
Leonard hesitated. “Not directly. But we heard her speaking once. She said she needed to weaken the guard. That she had to prepare.”
“Prepare for what?” an elder demanded.
Leonard shook his head. “She never said. But she repeated it often — weaken them. Especially him.”
He glanced toward Sebastian.
Sebastian’s jaw tightened.
“Why would she weaken the guard?” Richard muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
“To prepare for an attack,” one of the elders said grimly.
The implication settled like a storm cloud.
If Sarah’s role had been to weaken Silverpine’s defenses, and she had fled once exposed, then whatever was coming would not be far behind.
The guards exchanged uneasy glances.
“We are not ready,” one of them whispered.
Richard felt the weight of leadership press down on him.
“We have faced one crisis after another,” he said slowly. “The bond scandal. The tension with Mooncrest. And now this.”
He turned toward Leonard and Mara.
“You should have come to me,” he said, his voice quieter now but no less firm. “We might have stopped this before it grew.”
Leonard lowered his head. “We were afraid.”
Richard closed his eyes briefly.
Fear. Pride. Secrecy.
All of it had festered inside his pack without him seeing it clearly.
Sebastian stepped forward slightly. “I believe them,” he said.
Richard looked at his son sharply.
“When I went into this house,” Sebastian continued, “I felt it. It didn’t feel like guardians caring for family. It felt like they were being watched. Controlled.”
Richard studied his son’s face.
For the first time in days, Sebastian did not look defensive or stubborn.
He looked certain.
Richard exhaled slowly.
“If what you are saying is true,” he said to Leonard and Mara, “then your son is still alive somewhere.”
Mara nodded frantically. “Please, Alpha. Save him.”
Richard looked toward the mountains in the distance, barely visible through the window.
“If she was weakening us,” he murmured, “then she expected something.”
Silence stretched across the room.
An elder stepped forward.
“Alpha Richard,” he said carefully, “we cannot handle this alone.”
Richard did not respond immediately.
“We have already been infiltrated,” the elder continued. “Our guard has been compromised. If an attack is coming, we will not withstand it without help.”
The word hung in the air.
Help.
“From Mooncrest,” another elder said plainly.
Sebastian felt a strange tightening in his chest at that suggestion.
Richard’s jaw clenched.
“We have not yet resolved the matter of the princess,” he said quietly. “And now we must go to the king and confess that we harbored a witch within our borders.”
“It is not about pride anymore,” the elder replied. “It is about survival.”
Richard’s gaze moved slowly around the room — over the shaken guards, over the sobbing couple, over his son.
The weight of leadership did not feel glorious in that moment.
It felt humbling.
He straightened his shoulders.
“I will visit Mooncrest,” he said at last. “I must inform the king of everything and accept whatever consequence follows,”
The elders nodded in agreement.
“If an attack is coming,” he said, “we will not face it divided.”
Outside, villagers still lingered in uneasy clusters, whispering about betrayal and witchcraft.
Inside Leonard and Mara’s home, the illusion of safety had shattered completely.
And in the distance, beyond the trees and hills, the mountains stood silent - holding whatever truth waited within them.