Chapter 33 033

Chapter 33 033
Chapter Thirty-Three

Sera

The funeral for Adrian was held two days later, a small ceremony attended mostly by his immediate family. His mate, a quiet woman named Claire, stood stoic throughout, their three children clinging to her sides. The youngest couldn't have been more than five.

I watched them from a distance, holding Elena, feeling the weight of complicated grief. Adrian had betrayed us, tried to sell our daughter, but he'd also been a father himself. These children would grow up knowing their father died a traitor, killed by the very people he'd conspired with.

"Should we go over?" Dante asked quietly. "Offer condolences?"

"I don't know. What do you say to the family of a man who tried to kidnap your child?"

"Maybe 'I'm sorry for your loss' is enough." Dante started walking toward them before I could respond.

Claire saw us approaching and her expression closed off, protective. Her children pressed closer to her.

"Claire," Dante said gently. "I'm sorry. For your loss, for everything."

"Are you?" Claire's voice was bitter. "You're the one who drove him to it. Years of service, years of loyalty, and what did he get? Scraps. Empty promises. The knowledge that he'd never be more than your shadow."

"That's not fair," I said before I could stop myself. "Dante valued Adrian. Trusted him with everything."

"Trusted him to stay in his place, you mean. Trusted him to never want more, never aspire to anything beyond being the faithful Beta." Claire's eyes were hard. "You have no idea what it's like, watching someone you love diminish themselves year after year because they're too loyal to admit they deserve better."

Dante flinched. "If I'd known he was unhappy—"

"You would have what? Stepped aside? Made him Alpha? Of course not. You'd have done exactly what you did—taken everything you wanted and expected everyone else to be grateful for your benevolence." Claire gathered her children closer. "Stay away from us. You've taken enough."

We left without another word. Back at the pack house, Dante went straight to his office and started drinking. Not heavily, just one glass of whiskey that he stared at without actually drinking.

"She's wrong," I said, sitting across from him. "You didn't drive Adrian to betrayal. He made his own choices."

"Did he? Or did I create an environment where betrayal felt like his only option?" Dante finally took a sip. "I never asked if he was happy. Never considered that maybe fifteen years of being second was enough. I just assumed his loyalty meant contentment."

"You can't read minds, Dante. If Adrian was unhappy, he should have said something."

"Should he? To the Alpha who held all the power, who could exile him or strip his position on a whim?" Dante laughed bitterly. "We create these hierarchies and then wonder why people don't speak honestly within them."

Elena started fussing in my arms, picking up on the heavy emotions in the room. I rocked her gently, trying to project calm through our bond.

"What do you want to do?" I asked. "Beat yourself up forever, or learn from this and do better?"

"Both, probably." Dante set down the glass. "But you're right. Adrian's choices were his own. I can acknowledge my role without taking all the blame." He stood and came to us, touching Elena's head gently. "I'm going to make sure his family is taken care of. Set up funds for the children's education, ensure Claire has everything she needs. It won't fix anything, but it's something."

"That's good. That's the right thing to do."

Maya knocked and entered without waiting. "Sorry to interrupt, but we have a situation. Vaughn's been spotted."

Dante was instantly alert. "Where?"

"Council territory. He was seen near the residential quarters where you'll be living." Maya pulled up a photo on her tablet. "Security cameras caught him surveying the area, taking notes, clearly planning something."

The image showed Vaughn in different clothes but the same cold, professional expression. He was watching a building, studying entrances and exits like he was preparing for an attack.

"When was this taken?" I asked.

"This morning. Security teams have been searching but he's vanished again." Maya swiped to another image. "There's more. He met with someone—we couldn't get a clear shot of their face, but the body language suggests they know each other well."

The second image showed Vaughn talking to a hooded figure. They stood close together, comfortable, like old associates.

"Could be another buyer," Dante said. "Or someone new he's recruited."

"Or someone already inside the Council," I said quietly. "We know Garrett had connections, that he'd been planning this for months. What if he wasn't the only Council member involved?"

The thought hung heavy in the air. We'd assumed the threat was external—Vaughn, buyers, enemies from outside. But if the corruption went deeper, if there were Council members themselves working against us...

"We need to tell Miriam," Maya said.

"No." Dante's response was immediate. "We don't know who to trust yet. If we tell Miriam and she's compromised, or she tells other Council members who are compromised, we're alerting Vaughn that we know he's there."

"So we just wait?" I demanded. "Let him plan whatever he's planning?"

"No. We investigate quietly. Maya, I need you to dig into Council members' financial records, communications, anything that might show suspicious connections. Look for anyone who had dealings with Garrett, who might have shared his vision of 'better leadership.'"

"That's going to take time. And it might not be legal."

"I don't care about legal right now. I care about keeping my family safe." Dante's voice was hard. "Do whatever you need to do. Use whatever resources necessary. Just find out who Vaughn met with."

After Maya left, I put Elena down for a nap and turned to Dante. "We need to talk about moving to Council territory. If Vaughn's already there, scoping out where we'll live—"

"I know. Which is why we're not moving there. Not yet." Dante pulled out a map. "There's a property about thirty miles from Council Hall. Remote, defensible, far enough from the main complex that Vaughn won't expect us there. We'll stay there temporarily while we figure out the security situation."

"A secret location? That sounds like hiding."

"It's called being strategic. Vaughn thinks we'll follow protocol, move into the assigned Council housing, be predictable and easy to target. We're not going to make it that easy." Dante marked the location on the map. "It's one of my pack's safe houses. Only a handful of wolves know it exists. We can fortify it, control access, create a secure environment."

"For how long?"

"As long as it takes to identify Vaughn's insider and eliminate the threat." Dante looked at me seriously. "Sera, I know this isn't what you signed up for. You thought joining the Council meant stability, safety. Instead we're right back to running and hiding."

"I signed up for you. For us. For this family." I touched the map. "If hiding in a safe house for a while keeps Elena safe, then that's what we do. I'm not precious about it."

"You're amazing. You know that?" Dante pulled me close. "A week ago you were a packless wolf with no standing. Now you're a Council liaison willing to live in a bunker to protect her family. That's remarkable growth."

"Or remarkable stubbornness. I haven't decided which." I leaned into him, drawing strength from his presence. "When do we move?"

"Tomorrow night. We'll make a show of packing for Council housing during the day, let everyone think we're following the expected plan. Then we slip away after dark and head to the safe house."

"Won't people notice we're not where we're supposed to be?"

"We'll have decoys. Wolves who look similar enough to pass for us at a distance, going through the motions of settling into Council housing. By the time anyone realizes they're not actually us, we'll be secure and ready." Dante was in tactical mode now, planning every detail. "Maya will coordinate. Marcus will handle pack transition. We just need to survive long enough to figure out who's betraying us."

Elena woke crying, hungry again. I fed her while Dante continued planning, drawing diagrams and making lists. Watching him work, I saw both the Alpha he'd been and the Council member he was becoming—strategic, thorough, always thinking three steps ahead.

"What if we're wrong?" I asked quietly. "What if there is no insider, and we're just being paranoid?"

"Then we've been careful for nothing. I can live with that." Dante looked at Elena. "What I can't live with is taking chances with her life. If there's even a possibility that Vaughn has help inside the Council, we treat it as fact until proven otherwise."

The next twenty-four hours passed in careful preparation. We packed openly, said goodbyes to pack members, made all the right noises about looking forward to Council service. The decoys—a mated pair named Helena and James who bore superficial resemblance to us—practiced mimicking our mannerisms and speech patterns.

"This feels excessive," I said, watching Helena practice holding a baby doll the way I held Elena.

"It's necessary," Dante countered. "Vaughn is a professional. He'll be watching, waiting for patterns. We need to give him patterns to watch while we disappear."

As night fell, we slipped out through a service entrance, Elena bundled against the cold, our real belongings packed in a single bag. Maya drove us in an unmarked vehicle, taking a winding route that would make following impossible.

The safe house was exactly what Dante had described—remote, fortified, with clear sightlines in all directions. It was also small, just three rooms and basic amenities. Nothing like the luxury of the pack house or the comfort of Council housing.

"Home sweet home," Maya said dryly, helping us unload. "I'll come back every few days with supplies and updates. Try not to go crazy stuck out here."

After she left, Dante and I stood in the main room, looking at our temporary home. Elena was asleep in a portable crib, oblivious to the drastic change in our circumstances.

"Could be worse," I said.

"Could definitely be worse." Dante wrapped his arms around me from behind. "We're together, we're safe, and Elena's protected. That's all that matters."

"Until Vaughn finds us anyway."

"He won't. Not here. Not unless someone we trust tells him where we are." Dante's voice was confident, but through the bond I felt his underlying worry.

We settled in for what might be days or weeks of isolation. The safe house had supplies, communication equipment, weapons. Everything we'd need to defend ourselves if necessary.

That night, lying in the small bedroom with Elena between us, I listened to the wind outside and wondered if we'd ever have a normal life. If Elena would grow up knowing peace or just this constant vigilance.

"She'll be okay," Dante whispered, reading my thoughts through the bond. "We'll make sure of it. Whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes," I echoed.

And outside in the darkness, unknown to us, the hooded figure from Vaughn's meeting sat in a vehicle watching our decoys through binoculars, believing they'd found us, planning their next move.

The trap was set.

Now we just had to wait and see who walked into it.