Chapter 32 THE RIVAL PACK

Chapter 32 THE RIVAL PACK
Dalton's POV

Elias looked at Joyce, and something shifted in his face.

"The Blackwood Pack from the northern territories. Vane approached them six weeks ago with a proposition." He leaned back against the morgue table. "Help him wipe out Pine Ridge, and they could claim your territory and resources."

Joyce held my hand very tightly.

"How many Blackwood wolves are involved?" I asked.

"At least forty. They have been moving into position for two weeks now. Staying just outside your border patrols and waiting for the signal." Elias rubbed the scar on his face. "After the bomb goes off, they will come in from the north and west. Your pack will be dealing with the explosion and Vane's teams. You will not see the Blackwoods until it is too late."

“How do we stop them?” Alpha Marcus paced around the table, obviously not patient enough for all the revelations.

"You start by accepting my help. I can identify Vane's people. I know how they think and how they move and where they will position themselves." Elias stood slowly.

I looked at each council member and saw the same doubt I felt.

"I want to speak with Dalton alone," Joyce said suddenly.

Everyone looked at her, but she kept her eyes on me.

"Five minutes," I told the council. "Wait outside."

They filed out slowly.

Elias moved toward the exit, but Joyce stopped him. "Not you. You stay."

He raised an eyebrow but sat back down on the morgue table.

Joyce waited until the door closed and then turned to me. "We need to talk about what happens if this goes wrong."

"It will not go wrong."

"You do not know that." She crossed her arms. "If Vane succeeds, if the bomb goes off and the Blackwoods attack and we lose this fight, what happens to the survivors? To the children and humans in town who have no idea what is coming?"

I wanted to tell her we would win, but I could not lie to her anymore.

"We evacuate whom we can. Send them to allied packs. And we make sure Vane pays for every life he takes."

"That is not good enough."

"It is all we have."

She looked at Elias. "If we give you immunity, you will help us stop this. All of it."

"That is what I am offering."

"Then I want something else too." Joyce's voice was steady. "I want you to help us save the humans in Pine Ridge, not just the pack."

Elias studied her face. "Why do you care about the humans? Half of them do not even know you exist."

"Because they are innocent. They have families, and they do not deserve to die for Vane's revenge." She stepped closer to him. "You said you were done with killing innocents. Prove it."

Elias was quiet for a long moment.

"All right. I will help you save them." He stood. "But you need to understand what that means—evacuating three hundred humans without causing a panic. Finding the bomb before it detonates. Stopping Vane's teams and the Blackwoods at the same time. The odds of pulling this off are almost zero."

"I have survived worse odds," Joyce said quietly.

"We accept your terms," I told Elias.

"Good."

"Victoria will take you to a secure room. You will have guards and will not leave without my permission."

Elias nodded.

He left with Victoria. The door closed behind them, and Joyce and I stood alone in the morgue.

"We cannot trust anyone," she whispered.

"I know."

I pulled her close and felt her shaking against me. "We will figure this out. We will find the traitor and stop Vane and save everyone."

Later that evening, I found Joyce in the library at midnight with tears running down her face and my mother's journal open in her lap.

She sat in the old leather chair by the window. Her shoulders shook with quiet sobs, and she did not hear me approach.

The journal was one I had not seen in years. My mother's handwriting filled the pages with stories of love and loss and choices that nearly broke her.

"Joyce." My voice came out soft.

She looked up fast. Wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I am sorry. I should not be reading these. I just wanted to understand."

"Understand what?"

"What a real mate bond looks like. Whether it is worth all this pain." She held up the journal. "Your mother wrote about loving your father through a war, betrayal, and losing half the pack. She never gave up on him."

I moved closer and sat on the edge of the desk facing her. "My mother was stronger than most people will ever be."

"She wrote that loving him was like breathing. That she could not stop even when it hurt." Joyce's voice caught. "Is that what you felt with me? Like you could not breathe without me?"

I looked at her face and saw the girl I still loved so much.

"Yes. That is exactly what I felt, even though I was terrified of becoming my father."

Joyce frowned. "Your father is a good alpha."

"He was. Until my mother was threatened during the border wars." I stood and walked to the window. "When she was taken by the rival pack, my father went insane. Sent every warrior we had to get her back and nearly destroyed everything our pack had built."

"But he saved her."

"He did. And in the process, he got forty-three wolves killed." I turned back to her. "The elders never forgave him."

Joyce closed the journal slowly. "What does that have to do with us?"

"I saw that same obsession growing in me. The way I wanted you. Would have done anything to keep you safe. I started making decisions based on what would protect you instead of what was best for the pack. Could not sleep because I was too busy watching your window to make sure you were safe."

"I never knew."

"Because I hid it. Tried to convince myself I could control it." I sat back down closer to her. "But the night before I rejected you, I almost started a war with the Crescent Falls pack because their alpha looked at you too long at the treaty meeting."

"Dalton."

"You thought you loved me too much."

"I knew I did. I watched it destroy my father, and I refused to let it destroy me." I paused. "Or you."

She stared at me. "Your mother wrote that your father's love for her made him stronger. That the pack survived because they had something worth fighting for."

"My mother had a gift for seeing the best in situations."

"What if I told you I am not afraid of that kind of love anymore?"

I reached for her hand. "Then I would say…"

Victoria burst through the door. "They are here. The Hunters are attacking the eastern border."