Chapter 54 Garrett's Confession (Declan POV)
I left Rowan after telling her that I was going to see my father in which she the not stop me. Ii walk towards one of the Nightshade pack guards.
"Hey, where’s the Alpha." I asked as I approached the guards.
"He is in the administrative tents near the ceremonial grounds." Replied the guard as the bowed towards me, even after defying my father publicly.
"oh, thanks." I said as I walk towards the place described by the guards.
I found my father in the administrative tents near the ceremonial grounds just as described, surrounded by the handful of Nightshade pack members who still supported him. Maybe twenty wolves out of a pack of three hundred. The rest had either defected to my side or were waiting to see which way the wind blew before committing.
He was putting on formal Alpha regalia… the ceremonial robes he'd wear to meet Julian. Deep green trimmed with silver, symbols of Nightshade authority embroidered in thread that caught the torchlight. His hands were steady as he fastened the clasps, but his face was haggard. Aged. The weight of the night visible in every line.
"Get out," he said without turning around. "You made your choice. You're not Nightshade anymore."
"I need to talk to you." I dismissed the other wolves with a gesture. They hesitated, looking to Garrett for permission. "Now. Alone."
Garrett waved them out. "Five minutes. Then I have to leave."
The tent emptied. Just the two of us in the enclosed space, facing each other for what might be the last time.
"Don't go," I said. "Julian's plan is a trap. You walk into that chamber and you might not walk out."
"I'm aware." Garrett continued dressing, methodical and precise. "But the alternative is worse. He uploads the evidence. Human governments get involved. We lose everything."
"Maybe we should lose everything." The words came out harder than I intended. "Maybe the pack system is too broken to save. Maybe Julian's right about burning it down and starting over."
Garrett's hands paused on the ceremonial sash. "You really believe that?"
"I don't know what I believe anymore." I stepped closer. "Three weeks ago I thought pack hierarchy was sacred. That Alphas deserved obedience because they protected us. That the system worked. Then I found Elena's journals. Saw what you did to those children. Watched suppressed students die tonight because of your decisions."
"They died because Julian forced them to shift… "
"They died because you created the conditions that made them vulnerable!" My voice rose despite my attempt at control. "You suppressed them. Drugged them. Erased them. Julian just exposed what you spent years hiding. Their deaths are on you."
Garrett finally turned to face me. "You think I don't know that? You think I don't carry every choice I've made? Every compromise? Every necessary evil?" His voice was raw. "I've been Alpha for twenty-three years. Do you know how many impossible decisions I've made? How many times I've chosen pack stability over individual welfare? How many people I've sacrificed to maintain order?"
"Elena," I said quietly. "You sacrificed Elena."
Something flickered across his face. Grief, maybe. Or just exhaustion.
"Yes," he said. "I sacrificed Elena."
The admission hung between us.
"Why?" I asked. "She was your daughter. Your only daughter. She came to you with evidence of an illegal program and instead of helping her expose it, you… " I couldn't finish the sentence.
"I gave the order," Garrett said flatly. "Elena was going to go public. Was going to take Project Chimera evidence to human authorities, to media outlets, to anyone who would listen. She would have destroyed pack society. Exposed our existence. Subjected us to human oversight and regulation. Everything we'd built for centuries would have collapsed."
"So you killed her."
"I ordered her execution. Yes." He met my eyes. "She was given a trial. Found guilty of treason against pack law. The sentence was death by silver. I signed the order. I watched them strap her to the table. I watched them administer the poison. I thought I watched her die."
"But she didn't die."
"No. She faked the death markers somehow. Escaped. Went into hiding." Garrett's laugh was bitter. "Elena was always cleverer than me. Even as a child. She found ways around every rule I set. Of course she'd find a way to survive her own execution."
"And you never looked for her? Never tried to verify she was really dead?"
"I saw her body," Garrett said. "Saw her cremated. Or what I thought was her body. Obviously it wasn't. Obviously she'd planned the escape down to the last detail. But I believed it. Wanted to believe it. Because thinking she was dead was easier than thinking she was out there somewhere, hating me."
I felt something crack open inside my chest. "You knew. On some level, you knew she might have survived. And you chose not to investigate because it was convenient."
"I chose not to investigate because it didn't matter." Garrett's voice went cold. "Dead or alive, Elena had made her choice. She chose a human researcher over her pack. Chose exposing our secrets over protecting our society. She stopped being my daughter the moment she decided her personal morality mattered more than pack stability."
"She was trying to save children!"
"She was trying to dismantle a necessary program!" Garrett shouted. "Project Chimera wasn't about cruelty, Declan. It was about survival. We had wolves being born without proper pack bonds. Children who couldn't integrate into traditional hierarchy. They were dangerous. Unpredictable. The suppression program gave them a chance at normal lives. Kept them safe. Kept everyone safe."
"By drugging them without consent. By erasing their identities. By making them think they were broken when really you were the one breaking them."
"By giving them stability!" Garrett stepped closer, invading my space. "You want to know what happens to packless wolves? They go feral. They kill. They die alone and violent because they have nothing to anchor them. Project Chimera prevented that. Gave those children families. Education. Futures. Yes, we lied to them. Yes, we suppressed their wolves. But the alternative was worse."
"The alternative was teaching them to live with their nature instead of hiding from it," I said. "Look at Bethany's pack. Five suppressed students who shifted three days ago. They're not feral. They're not killing indiscriminately. They formed their own bonds, their own support structure, their own pack outside traditional hierarchy. They're proof your entire premise was wrong."
"They're proof Julian's manipulation can make desperate people do desperate things," Garrett countered. "How many of those five will survive a year? Two years? Without traditional pack bonds, without Alpha guidance, they'll fracture. They'll turn on each other. It's inevitable."
"You don't know that."
"I've been Alpha for twenty-three years. I know exactly that." He turned back to finish dressing. "You're young. Idealistic. You think truth and justice matter more than stability and survival. You'll learn. Usually the hard way."
I watched him fasten the final clasps. "Did Elena beg you not to execute her?"
His hands froze. For a long moment he didn't move.
"Yes," he said finally. Very quietly. "She begged. Said she was pregnant. Said she had a daughter who needed her. Said the program could be shut down quietly, reformed, made ethical. She offered me a dozen compromises. I rejected them all."
"Why?"
"Because compromise meant weakness. Meant admitting the program was flawed. Meant opening the door for challenges to Alpha authority. I couldn't afford that. Not then. Not with the pack watching. Not with Catherine and David both questioning my leadership." He looked at me. "So I watched my daughter beg for her life and I gave the execution order anyway. Because that's what Alphas do. We make impossible choices. We sacrifice individuals for the collective. We carry the guilt so the pack doesn't have to."
The tent flap opened. Marcus… the senior Nightshade wolf who'd sided with me earlier… stepped inside. His face was pale.
"How much did you hear?" Garrett asked.
"All of it." Marcus's voice shook. "You ordered Elena's execution. Your own daughter. You watched her beg and you killed her anyway."
"To protect the pack… "
"To protect your power!" Marcus looked at me. "The Alpha just confessed to murdering his daughter to cover up an illegal program. Pack law is clear. That's grounds for immediate removal."
More Nightshade wolves entered the tent. Not the ones who'd been here earlier supporting Garrett. New ones. Drawn by Marcus's shout or just by the growing sense that something fundamental was shifting.
"Garrett Hale," Marcus said formally. "You are accused of murdering a pack member to conceal criminal activity. You are accused of participating in illegal experimentation on children. You are accused of ordering the deaths of multiple parents and researchers who discovered said experimentation. Do you deny these accusations?"
Garrett looked around the tent. At the wolves gathering. At me. At the complete collapse of his authority playing out in real time.
"No," he said. "I don't deny them. I ordered Elena's execution. I participated in Project Chimera. I authorized actions that resulted in deaths. I did all of it. For the pack. For stability. For survival."
"Then by pack law," Marcus continued, "you are removed from Alpha authority effective immediately. Your title is stripped. Your authority is void. Your protection under pack hierarchy is revoked."
"You can't—" Garrett started.
"We just did." Marcus gestured to the other wolves. "Seize him. He stands trial for his crimes. Real trial. With evidence. With witnesses. Not the sham you gave Elena."
Four wolves moved forward. Garrett didn't resist. Just stood there while they took his ceremonial robes, his Alpha pin, the symbols of authority he'd worn for twenty-three years.
When they were done, he looked smaller. Older. Just a man instead of an Alpha.
Marcus turned to me. "The pack requires leadership. Garrett is removed. You are his designated successor despite your renunciation. Do you accept emergency Alpha authority until formal succession can be determined?"
I stared at him. "I renounced my claim. I'm not… "
"You're all we have," another wolf said. "Half the pack already follows you. The other half just watched Garrett confess to murdering Elena. We need someone. Now. Before we fracture completely."
"Declan," Garrett said. My name in his voice, raw and broken. "Don't. Being Alpha will destroy you the same way it destroyed me. You'll make impossible choices. Sacrifice people you love. Carry guilt that never goes away. Walk away. Let someone else bear it."
I looked at my father. At the man who'd raised me, trained me, shaped me into what he thought an Alpha should be. And who'd murdered his daughter to protect a lie.
"I accept," I said to Marcus. "Emergency Alpha authority. Until the pack can hold formal succession proceedings."
Marcus nodded. "Then by the authority vested in Nightshade pack law, I recognize Declan Hale as acting Alpha. His word is law. His commands are binding. His authority is absolute until succession is resolved."
The tent erupted in howls… wolf voices, not human, the sound of pack acknowledging new leadership.
I felt it settle over me like a physical weight. The Alpha bond. Not complete yet, not formal, but real. Connecting me to every Nightshade wolf in range. Their emotions bleeding into mine. Their loyalty offered. Their expectations crushing.
Garrett was right. It was going to destroy me.
But I'd accepted it anyway.
Because someone had to. Because the pack couldn't survive this chaos without leadership. Because I was the only option that didn't involve complete fracture.
"What about Julian's deadline?" someone asked. "Twenty-three minutes left. The Alphas are supposed to meet him in the Eclipse Chamber."
I looked at Garrett. Former Alpha. Prisoner now.
"You're not going," I said. "Julian wanted three Alphas. He's getting two. Catherine and David can represent their packs. Nightshade is sending me."
"Julian will know something changed," Garrett warned. "He's been watching. Planning for every variable. If you show up instead of me… "
"Then he adjusts. Or he doesn't." I headed for the tent exit. "Either way, I'm not letting you walk into that chamber. Not after what you've done. Not when you'd probably prefer Julian kill you rather than face actual consequences."
I stepped outside. The night air hit me cold and sharp. Rowan was there, still in wolf form, waiting.
What happened? she sent through the bond.
Garrett confessed. To everything. Elena's execution. Project Chimera. All of it. I started toward the Eclipse Chamber. The pack removed him. Made me acting Alpha.
Declan…
I know. I know it's a terrible idea. I know I'm not ready. But someone has to lead. And it's me. I broke into a run. Rowan paced me easily on four legs. Twenty minutes until Julian's deadline. We need to get to the chamber. Need to see this through.
Whatever happened next… whether Julian killed the Alphas, exposed everything, or somehow negotiated terms… I'd face it as Alpha.
Not the Alpha Garrett had tried to make me.
But the Alpha Elena would have wanted me to be.
If that was even possible.