Chapter 33 Gabriel's First Appearance (Gabriel POV)
She moves like our mother did, fluid and precise, silver fur gleaming in the afternoon light as she pins yet another sparring partner.
I've been watching from the ridge above the training grounds for three hours now, hidden in shadows that most werewolves wouldn't think to check. But I'm not most werewolves. I learned years ago how to be invisible, how to survive when the world's most efficient hunter is your own father.
"Boss." The voice behind me is quiet, respectful. Kieran…not the Greyfang Kieran, but my Kieran, a refugee from the Cornwall Pack who watched his entire family die in one of Edmund's hunts five years ago. "She's strong. Stronger than we expected."
"She's Silvermane. Mother's daughter." I don't take my eyes off Vivienne as she shifts back to human, laughing at something the Greyfang Beta says. "Did you really expect anything less?"
"No. But seeing it is different than hearing rumors." He moves to stand beside me, his posture careful. Even after three years in my pack, he's still nervous around me. They all are. "The other packs are going to target her. Eliminate the Silvermane before she becomes too powerful."
"Let them try."
"You sound confident."
"I'm realistic. Vivienne has Declan Hartley protecting her. The son of Marcus Hartley…one of the best tacticians the Greyfang Pack has produced in generations. Add in the fact that she's his mate?" I finally look at Kieran. "They'll die defending her. All of them."
"Even if it costs them The Culling?"
"Especially then. Mate bonds don't care about tournaments or territory or politics. They care about survival. Declan will burn every bridge, sacrifice every alliance, destroy every relationship if it means keeping her alive."
"And our father?"
The question makes my jaw clench. "What about him?"
"He's been quiet for two months. No surveillance, no hunters, no activity at all. That's not like Edmund." Kieran shifts his weight. "Rachel thinks he's planning something big. Something that involves The Culling."
Rachel. My Second. A survivor of the Highland massacre three years ago who has better strategic instincts than most Alphas. If she thinks Edmund is planning something, she's probably right.
"What kind of something?"
"She's not sure. But the timing is suspicious. All seven packs gathered in one location for the first time in decades? During a Silver Moon? That's either incredible coincidence or deliberate orchestration."
"Edmund doesn't believe in coincidence."
"Neither do we." Kieran hesitates. "Are you going to warn her? Your sister?"
I watch Vivienne accept water from Declan, their easy intimacy obvious even from this distance. She's laughing again, her head tilted back, completely unguarded in a way that makes my chest ache.
She looks happy.
When was the last time I was happy?
"No," I say finally. "I'm not warning her yet."
"Why not? If Edmund is planning…"
"If I approach her now, I become a complication. Another variable she has to manage on top of pack politics, The Culling, and learning to navigate the werewolf world. Better to wait until she's ready."
"And if Edmund attacks before she's ready?"
"Then we intervene. That's why we're here."
Kieran doesn't look convinced, but he doesn't argue. He knows better than to question my decisions about my sister.
Because Vivienne isn't just my sister. She's the last piece of our mother's legacy. The only Silvermane who still carries the bloodline forward. And I've been protecting her…from a distance…for seventeen years.
Even if she doesn't know it.
"You're brooding again." Rachel appears beside me so quietly I almost don't hear her. Almost. "That's never a good sign."
"I'm thinking. There's a difference."
"Not when you get that expression. The one that says you're debating doing something stupid." She follows my gaze to where Vivienne is now practicing combat shifts with three pack members simultaneously. "Like revealing yourself to your sister?"
"I'm not revealing myself. Not yet."
"Why not? She deserves to know she has family beyond the psychotic hunter who raised her."
"She has Declan. Has the Greyfang Pack. That's family enough for now."
"Family she's known for two months. You're her brother. Blood. Don't you think that matters?"
I turn to face Rachel fully. She's small for a wolf…barely five foot three in human form…but carries herself with the kind of authority that comes from surviving things that should have killed her.
"It matters. But timing matters more." I cross my arms. "Vivienne just established herself with the other packs. Proved she's not some weak mate hiding behind her Alpha. If I show up now, claiming to be her long-lost brother, it undermines everything she's accomplished."
"Or it strengthens her position. Shows she has support beyond just Greyfang."
"Support from an outcast pack made up of refugees? From a brother Edmund tried to kill seventeen years ago?" I shake my head. "That doesn't strengthen her position. That makes her a target. Because the other packs will wonder what I want. Why I'm here. What my agenda is."
"What is your agenda?"
"Keeping my sister alive. Making sure Edmund doesn't destroy the last good thing our mother created." I look back at Vivienne. "And when the time is right, making sure she knows she's not alone. That she has family who didn't abandon her by choice."
Rachel is quiet for a moment. Then: "The pendant. You're still planning to leave it?"
"Yes."
"That's going to raise questions."
"Good. Let her have questions. Let her start looking for answers. But on her timeline, not mine."
"You're scared." Rachel's observation is gentle but accurate. "Scared she'll reject you when she finds out you've been watching her for years without making contact."
"Wouldn't you? If you discovered a sibling who could have helped you but chose not to?"
"You did help her. Just not in ways she could see." Rachel moves to stand beside me, both of us watching Vivienne. "Every time Edmund planned a hunt near her school, you sabotaged it. Every time hunters got too close to discovering what she was, you redirected them. You've been protecting her since the day you ran from that delivery room."
"Protecting from a distance isn't the same as being there."
"No. But it kept her alive. That counts for something."
Does it? I'm not sure anymore.
Because watching my sister laugh with pack members who've known her for weeks while I've watched from shadows for years? That doesn't feel like protection. That feels like cowardice.
But I can't approach her. Not yet. Not until I know what Edmund is planning. Not until I can offer her something more than complicated family dynamics.
"Boss." Another voice. Thomas this time, my scout. He's breathing hard like he ran the entire way here. "We found something. In the woods near Edmund's hotel."
"What kind of something?"
"Equipment. High-grade surveillance gear. Silver-lined traps. UV deployment systems." Thomas wipes sweat from his forehead. "And maps. Detailed tactical maps of the Subterranean Pitch showing entry points, exit routes, ventilation systems."
My blood runs cold. "How many maps?"
"Six complete sets. Plus communication equipment for coordinating multiple teams." Thomas's expression is grim. "Edmund's not planning a small operation. He's planning a siege."
"During The Culling," Rachel says quietly. "He's going to attack during the tournament when all seven packs are underground. Trap them. Gas them. Eliminate everyone at once."
"How many hunters would that take?" I ask.
"At least twenty. Maybe thirty if he wants redundancy." Thomas pulls out his phone, showing me photographs of the equipment cache. "And this is just what we found in one location. Could be more staged elsewhere."
I study the photos. Military-grade gear. Professional setup. This isn't Edmund working alone anymore. This is organized, funded, coordinated.
"Who's backing him?" I wonder aloud. "Edmund's obsessed, but he's not wealthy enough to fund an operation this size. Someone else is involved."
"Does it matter?" Rachel asks. "Whether it's Edmund or someone using Edmund, the result is the same. Seven packs trapped underground during a Silver Moon, getting massacred by hunters with superior equipment and tactical advantage."
"It matters because if someone's backing Edmund, they have bigger plans than just eliminating British werewolves. This could be the start of something larger. More organized." I look at Vivienne again. "And my sister is right in the middle of it."
"So we warn her," Kieran says. "Tell Declan. Let them prepare."
"Warn them how? By revealing we've been surveilling the training grounds? By admitting I've been watching my sister for years without making contact?" I shake my head. "That raises too many questions we can't afford to answer right now."
"Then what do you suggest?"
"We leave evidence they can find themselves. Anonymous tip about the equipment cache. Let them discover Edmund's plan independently."
"That's risky," Rachel says. "They might not find it in time. Might not understand what they're looking at."
"Then we make it obvious. Leave the maps in a location Declan will check. Stage it like hunters abandoned equipment in a hurry. Make it look like we're doing them a favor without revealing who we are."
Thomas nods slowly. "I can do that. Make it look natural. Lead them to the discovery without directly interfering."
"Good. Do it tonight. Before Edmund realizes we found his cache and moves it."
"And the pendant?" Rachel asks. "You're still planning to leave that for Vivienne?"
I pull the silver wolf pendant from my pocket. It's old, ancient even. Our mother's symbol, passed down through generations of Silvermane women. Lyanna wore it every day until Edmund murdered her.
I salvaged it from the delivery room seventeen years ago, the only piece of our mother I managed to save.
"Yes. I'm leaving it. Tonight, while she's sleeping." I turn the pendant over in my hand, watching light catch the intricate wolf design. "She deserves to know our mother's legacy. That she's part of something older and more important than Edmund's campaign of genocide."
"She'll have questions," Kieran warns.
"Good. Let her have questions. But I want her to discover answers on her own terms. When she's ready to know the truth about our family. About what happened the night Mother died. About why I ran instead of staying to protect her."
"You were four years old," Rachel says gently. "You couldn't have protected anyone."
"I should have tried."
"You would have died. Edmund would have killed you the same way he killed Lyanna." Rachel's voice is firm now. "Running was the right choice. It kept you alive. Gave you a chance to build this pack, to help other survivors, to eventually reconnect with your sister when the time was right."
"And when is the right time? After Edmund attacks? After The Culling? After she's been put through hell because I was too much of a coward to step forward?"
"After she's strong enough to handle the truth without it destroying her." Rachel meets my eyes. "Which, based on what we've seen today? Won't be long."
I watch Vivienne laugh at something Declan says, her entire face lighting up with genuine joy.
She's happy. Safe. Surrounded by pack who will die to protect her.
What right do I have to disrupt that with complicated family drama?
But she also deserves to know she's not alone. That she has a brother who's been watching over her, protecting her from the shadows, making sure Edmund's hunters never got too close.
"Tonight," I say finally. "We leave the pendant tonight. And the equipment cache information. Let her start asking questions. Let Declan prepare for Edmund's attack. And when the time is right…after The Culling, after the danger has passed…I'll reveal myself properly."
"And if the danger doesn't pass?" Kieran asks quietly. "If Edmund succeeds? If something goes wrong during The Culling and she dies before you get the chance to talk to her?"
The question hits like a physical blow.
"Then I live with the knowledge that I watched my sister die without ever telling her I was there. That I was always there. That she was never as alone as she thought."
"That's not…"
"That's the choice I made seventeen years ago when I ran from that delivery room. I chose survival over staying with her. I chose building this pack over revealing myself. I chose protecting from a distance over being family." I pocket the pendant. "Now I live with those choices. Whatever comes next."
Midnight finds me on the roof of the safe house, moving silently across tiles that should creak but don't under my careful weight.
The window to Vivienne's room is open…werewolves run hot, especially newly transformed ones. I can hear her breathing, steady and deep. Asleep.
Declan is in the next room. I can smell him even from here, his Alpha scent mingling with Vivienne's in a way that confirms what I already knew: the mate bond is strong. Real. Permanent.
He'll protect her. Even if it costs him everything.
That should bring me comfort. Instead, it just makes me sad. Because I recognize the pattern.
Mother loved Edmund. Trusted him completely. Thought their bond was strong enough to survive anything.
She was wrong.
And now Vivienne loves Declan. Trusts him. Believes their bond makes them unbreakable.
I hope she's right. I hope Declan is different than Edmund. Hope love doesn't turn to horror when supernatural nature conflicts with human expectations.
But I've learned not to trust hope.
I slip through the window, silent as shadow. Vivienne's room is simple…bed, desk, a few personal items. No photographs of Edmund. Good. She's already separating herself from that identity.
The pendant goes on her nightstand, placed carefully where she'll see it first thing in the morning. The Silvermane crest catches moonlight, the silver wolf seeming almost alive in the darkness.
Mother wore this every day. Now Vivienne will wear it. Will carry forward the legacy Edmund tried so hard to destroy.
"I'm sorry," I whisper, knowing she can't hear me. "Sorry I wasn't there. Sorry I ran. Sorry I watched you grow up from a distance instead of being your brother properly. But I'm here now. And when you need me…when Edmund makes his move and everything goes to hell…I'll step forward. I'll fight beside you. I'll finally be the family you deserved."
Vivienne stirs in her sleep, murmuring something I can't quite hear. For a moment, I think she's waking up. But then she settles back into steady breathing.
I take one last look at my sister…silver hair spread across her pillow, face peaceful in sleep, completely unaware that her brother is standing five feet away.
Then I slip back through the window and disappear into the night.
Behind me, the pendant waits. A question. A message. A promise.
And tomorrow, Vivienne Silvermane will begin asking the questions that will eventually lead her back to me.
To family.
To the truth about the night our mother died and why I've been watching over her ever since.
Even if she ends up hating me for it.