Chapter 4 Blood and Betrayal (Declan POV)
The name Edmund Ashford echoes in my skull like a death knell.
"Say that again." My voice doesn't sound like my own, too flat, too controlled.
Callum's face is grim in the moonlight, his mobile screen still displaying that damned article. "Edmund Ashford. Wildlife researcher, my arse. He's been operating under his real name this whole time, and we never bloody noticed because…"
"Because we were looking for hunters using aliases." I finish his sentence, my hands clenching into fists. "We assumed they'd hide their identities."
"Declan." Callum steps closer, cautious like he's approaching a wounded animal. Which, I suppose, he is. "I need you to stay calm."
"Calm?" The word comes out as a growl. My wolf is clawing at my insides, demanding I shift, hunt, tear apart the man who murdered my father. "You want me to stay calm when you've just told me that my mate…my mate…is the daughter of the bastard who put silver bullets in my father's chest?"
"I know what I'm asking."
"Do you?" I round on him, and Callum takes an involuntary step back. Good. He should be afraid right now. "Do you have any idea what this means?"
"It means you need to reject the bond."
The suggestion makes my wolf snarl so viciously that I actually stagger. Pain lances through my chest, sharp and immediate.
"I can't." The admission scrapes my throat raw.
"You have to." Callum's voice hardens. "Declan, think about what you're saying. Edmund Ashford, the most successful werewolf hunter in Europe, is going to be your father-in-law? He'll use her against us. Against you. This is exactly the kind of weakness that gets entire packs slaughtered."
"You think I don't know that?" I'm shouting now, and I don't care. "You think I haven't considered every possible angle? But my wolf has already claimed her, Callum. The bond's forming whether I want it to or not."
"Then fight it."
"I. Can't."
The two words hang between us, heavy with implications neither of us wants to examine.
Callum scrubs both hands through his hair, frustration radiating off him in waves. "Jesus Christ, Declan. Of all the girls at this bloody academy…hundreds of them…your wolf picks the one whose father killed yours?"
"The mate bond doesn't care about revenge." Even as I say it, I can taste the bitterness. "Or justice. Or anything else that matters."
"So what now?" Callum demands. "You just... what? Court her? Fall in love? Introduce yourself to Daddy as the son of the man he murdered?"
I flinch. I can't help it.
"That's not fair," I say quietly.
"Fair?" Callum laughs, but there's no humor in it. "You want to talk about fair? My sister was fifteen when hunters got her, Dec. Fifteen. They strung her up with silver wire and left her in the sun to burn. It took her three days to die." His voice cracks. "So don't talk to me about fair."
The memory of Callum's sister, bright, fierce Riley who used to beat us both at chess, makes my throat tight.
"I'm sorry," I say. "About Riley. About all of it. But Vivienne isn't responsible for what her father did."
"Maybe not. But she's still his weapon, whether she knows it or not." Callum pulls up another article on his phone, turning the screen toward me. "Look at this. Edmund Ashford moves around constantly. Never stays anywhere longer than eighteen months. But he's been in the Lake District, an hour from here…for three years. Why?"
"Because he was tracking us."
"Exactly. And then suddenly, after seventeen years of private tutoring, he enrolls his precious daughter at Blackthorn Academy? The same school that just happens to harbor the pack he's been hunting?" Callum's eyes bore into mine. "This isn't coincidence, Declan. It's strategy."
My stomach turns. "You think he's using her as bait."
"I think Edmund Ashford is a methodical bastard who doesn't do anything without a reason." Callum pockets his phone. "The question is: does she know?"
"No." The answer is immediate, instinctive. "She doesn't know what we are. I'd smell the deception."
"You sure about that? Or are you just desperate to believe she's innocent because your wolf's already half in love with her?"
The accusation stings because it's partially true. My wolf has imprinted so completely on Vivienne that rational thought becomes impossible when she's near.
"She doesn't know," I repeat, but my voice lacks conviction.
Callum sighs, the fight draining out of him. "Alright. Say she's innocent. Say Edmund's using her without her knowledge. What's your plan?"
"I don't have one yet."
"Brilliant. Our Alpha, everyone." Despite the sarcasm, Callum's tone has softened. "Look, I get it. The mate bond is powerful, and fighting it is... well, it's agony. But you need to think about the pack, Dec. If you complete this bond, if you claim her as your mate, every enemy we have will see her as your weakness. And they'll use her to destroy us."
"I know."
"And if Edmund finds out his daughter is mated to a werewolf, specifically, to the son of an Alpha he killed…he'll either weaponize her or kill her himself to spare her from becoming what he hunts."
"I know."
"Then what are you going to do?"
I look up at the three-quarter moon, feeling its pull in my bones. In a few weeks, it'll be full again. Then another cycle. Time marching inexorably toward the moment when I'll have to choose between duty and desire.
"I'm going to investigate Edmund Ashford," I say finally. "Learn everything I can about him. His methods, his patterns, his weaknesses. If he's hunting us, I need to understand how he operates."
"And Vivienne?"
The name sends a jolt through my chest, equal parts longing and dread.
"I'll keep the secret," I say. "For now. Until I figure out what Edmund's endgame is. Until I know for certain that she's not part of his plan."
"And if you're wrong? If she knows exactly what we are and is reporting back to Daddy?"
"Then I'll handle it."
Callum studies my face for a long moment. "You won't be able to hurt her, mate. Even if you discover she's been playing you this whole time. The bond's too strong already."
"I said I'll handle it."
"Right." Callum doesn't sound convinced. "And what happens when she starts asking questions? Because she will, you know. She's not stupid. She's already noticed something's off about you…about all of us."
"I'll deflect. Maintain distance."
"While your heat cycle's starting?" Callum shakes his head. "That'll work brilliantly. Nothing says 'I'm not interested' like stalking a girl with predatory intensity and growling at every bloke who looks at her."
"I'll manage."
"You're already not managing. Owen said you nearly shifted in Patterson's class today. One more slip like that and the whole school will know something's wrong."
He's right, but I can't admit it. Can't admit that my control is fraying, that every instinct I have is screaming at me to claim Vivienne regardless of the consequences.
"I need to see where he killed my father," I say abruptly.
Callum blinks. "What?"
"The attack site. Where Edmund and his hunters ambushed my father's patrol. I need to go there. See it with clear eyes instead of grief."
"That was two years ago, Dec. There won't be anything left to find."
"Maybe not physical evidence. But I need to... I don't know. Understand what happened that night."
Callum's expression softens. "You were sixteen. Your father had just been murdered. You became Alpha in the middle of a crisis, with hunters still active in the territory. No one expected you to investigate properly."
"But I should have." The admission costs me. "I should have tracked down every hunter involved. Made them pay. Instead, I buried him and focused on keeping the pack alive. I let his killers walk away."
"You did what you had to do to survive."
"And now one of those killers has sent his daughter to my school." The irony is so brutal it's almost funny. Almost. "His daughter, who happens to be my mate. Tell me, Callum…what would my father think of that?"
Callum meets my eyes steadily. "Your father would tell you that the mate bond is sacred. That it transcends pack politics and blood feuds. That finding your true mate is a gift, regardless of how complicated the circumstances."
"Or he'd tell me I'm thinking with my wolf instead of my head."
"Maybe. But he'd also tell you that being Alpha means making impossible choices." Callum claps a hand on my shoulder. "Look, I'll help you investigate Edmund. We'll dig into his background, track his movements, figure out what he's planning. But Dec... you have to prepare yourself for the possibility that there's no good ending here."
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning that even if Vivienne's innocent, even if she falls in love with you, even if you complete the bond... her father killed yours. That's not something you can just move past. And when she finds out the truth…because she will find out eventually, she'll have to choose between her father and you."
"She doesn't know her father's a hunter."
"Exactly. Which means Edmund's been lying to her for seventeen years. When that truth comes out, her entire worldview is going to shatter. And you'll be at the center of it, the werewolf who knew what her father was and kept it secret." Callum squeezes my shoulder. "There's no version of this where everyone walks away happy."
I know he's right. Have known since the moment he showed me that article. But hearing it stated so baldly makes it real in a way I'm not ready to confront.
"I have to try," I say finally. "I have to believe there's a way through this that doesn't end in blood."
"Alright." Callum drops his hand. "Then we start with the attack site. Tomorrow night, after your last class. I'll bring Owen…we'll need someone watching our backs in case Edmund's still monitoring the area."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. If this goes sideways, if Edmund figures out what you are…the whole pack pays the price." His voice hardens. "I'm doing this for you, mate. But I won't let you destroy what your father built. Not even for your mate."
The warning is clear: if I have to choose between Vivienne and the pack, Callum expects me to choose the pack.
He leaves me alone in the clearing, returning to campus through the forest paths we know by heart.
I stay, staring up at the moon.
My father died on a night like this. Clear sky, bright moon, perfect visibility. Edmund Ashford and his hunters used that visibility to their advantage, silver bullets fired from long range, taking out my father before his patrol even knew they were under attack.
Three wolves died that night. My father, Marcus Hartley, Alpha of the Greyfang Pack. His Second, Thomas Reed.
I was sixteen and at school when it happened. Callum found me in the library, his face white with shock, and I knew before he said anything that my life had just changed forever.
The pack expected me to step up. To become Alpha immediately, to lead us through the crisis. I wasn't ready…not even close…but readiness was a luxury we couldn't afford with hunters still active in our territory.
I remember the Alpha challenge. Owen's older brother Marcus tried to take the position, arguing I was too young, too inexperienced. The pack was divided, half supporting me out of loyalty to my father, half believing Marcus was right.
We fought in this very clearing. I was smaller then, less controlled, running on grief and rage instead of strategy. But my father had trained me well, and I had one advantage Marcus didn't: I'd inherited the full Alpha power directly from my father's bloodline.
I won. Barely. And became the youngest Alpha in our pack's recorded history.
Two years later, I'm still proving myself. Still fighting to earn the respect that should have come with the position. The pack trusts me in battle, trusts my tactical decisions, trusts me to keep them safe.
But an unmated Alpha is unstable. Everyone knows it. The whispers started months ago, quiet concerns that I'm eighteen and haven't found my mate, questions about whether that means I'm not strong enough to hold the position long-term.
And now, finally, I've found her.
The daughter of my father's killer.
The universe has a vicious sense of humor.
I close my eyes, reaching for the memory of my father's last words. I wasn't there when he died, by the time Callum brought me to the site, Thomas had already taken his body back to Greyfang Hollow, but Thomas told me what he said before the silver poisoning took him.
"Protect the pack. Trust your instincts. The mate bond is sacred…never forget that."
At the time, I thought he was just rambling, the silver affecting his mind. Now I wonder if he somehow knew. If he sensed that my mate bond would be complicated, that I'd need that reminder.
The mate bond is sacred.
Even when your mate's father murdered yours.
Even when claiming her might destroy everything you've sworn to protect.
Even when the rational choice is to reject her and find someone…anyone…else.
My wolf growls at the thought, and pain spikes through my chest again. The bond is already forming, invisible threads connecting me to Vivienne whether I want them or not. Every moment I spend near her strengthens those threads. Every touch, every conversation, every shared glance weaves us more tightly together.
If I were smart, I'd transfer schools. Put physical distance between us before the bond becomes unbreakable.
But I'm not going to do that.
I'm going to investigate Edmund Ashford. Learn everything I can about the man who killed my father. And somehow…impossibly…find a way to protect both my mate and my pack.
Even if it means keeping secrets that could destroy us all.
I pull out my mobile, typing a message to Callum: Tomorrow night. The attack site. Come armed.
His response is immediate: Already planning on it.
Then I do something I shouldn't. Something I know is dangerous and stupid and completely self-destructive.
I pull up the school directory and find Vivienne's number.
My thumb hovers over the call button.
What would I even say? Hello, I'm your mate, and also your father murdered mine, but let's give this romance thing a shot?
I delete the number before I can do something idiotic.
Then I look up Edmund Ashford's public profile…the "wildlife researcher" persona he uses as cover. There are photos: Edmund in the field, kneeling beside wolf tracks; Edmund giving a lecture on predator behavior; Edmund accepting some conservation award.
In every photo, his eyes are cold. Calculating. The eyes of a hunter, not a researcher.
And in one photo, standing beside him at some formal event, is a younger Vivienne. Maybe fourteen or fifteen, her dark hair shorter, her smile uncertain. Edmund has his hand on her shoulder, and even in the photograph I can see the possessiveness in his grip.
She's his weapon, Callum said. Whether she knows it or not.
Looking at that photo, t the way Edmund holds his daughter like a prized possession, I'm suddenly certain Callum's right. Edmund has been preparing for something, planning something, for years. And Vivienne is part of that plan.
The question is: what's the endgame?
I save the photo to my phone, then close the browser.
Tomorrow night, I'll visit the site where my father died. I'll look for clues Edmund might have left behind, patterns that will help me understand how he operates.
And in the meantime, I'll keep my distance from Vivienne. I'll maintain control. I'll be the Alpha my pack needs me to be.
Even if it feels like I'm tearing myself apart.
I shift, letting my wolf form take over. Four legs are more stable than two right now, and I need to run. Need to burn off this toxic mixture of grief and rage and desire before it consumes me.
I run until dawn, alone in the moors, howling my frustration at the fading stars.
By the time I return to campus, my decision is made: I'll protect my pack first. Always.
Even if it means breaking my own heart.