Chapter Forty-Eight : Carol's POV
Belinda grabbed Seraphina's arm, yanking her backward.
The movement broke my concentration, and Seraphina gasped, awareness flooding back into her eyes along with the kind of horror that came from almost saying something she shouldn't have.
"We're leaving." Belinda was already pulling Seraphina toward the stairs. But she stopped to look back at me, her face stripped of even the pretense of warmth. "Whatever you are, Carol. Whatever tricks you're learning to play. Remember that you're still just a girl in a world of wolves. And wolves eat things like you."
They left. I stood alone in the hallway, my heart racing, the authorization document still clutched in my hand.
My ability had worked exactly as I'd intended, even as Seraphina tried to resist. But it had also shown me things I really didn't want to know.
Belinda's new husband—Seraphina's father—was already positioning himself to capitalize on the potential chaos in the pack.
And I was standing here, unable to stop any of it.
The dreams I'd once had, about becoming Luna, truly belonging to this family—they felt more distant than ever now. Because even if Simon woke up, even if he recovered fully, in their eyes I would still be what I'd always been.
I turned and walked toward the hospital, where Simon remained unconscious.
I sat down in the chair beside his bed and took his hand, even though he couldn't feel it.
Even though he didn't know I was there.
"I tried," I said quietly. "I know you probably expected them to resist, but I tried anyway."
The monitors beeped their steady rhythm. Nothing changed.
"Belinda and Seraphina showed up too," I continued, just to fill the silence. "They're already circling. The council wants to bring in the Blackwood family instead of listening to your instructions. Vasquez stood up for me, which was unexpected. But the others..."
My words trailed off, and I squeezed his hand gently.
"I don't know what to do," I said. "You left me these instructions, but nobody wants to follow them. They've never seen me as pack. Maybe they're right. Maybe I'm just—"
I stopped. No. I wasn't going to finish that sentence.
I wasn't going to let Belinda's words, Thornton's dismissal, or Seraphina's cruelty define what I was.
I had power now. I had survived the silver bullet, survived the warehouse battle, survived betrayals from people I'd thought I could trust.
I had something left behind by Maurice's transformation running through my veins, mixed with whatever I'd inherited from my father, creating something this pack had never seen before.
Simon had trusted me with this. He'd signed that document knowing exactly what it meant, knowing the council would resist. He'd done it anyway.
I owed it to him. I had to keep trying. Even if they never acknowledged the authorization. Even if they brought in the Blackwood family or found some other way to sideline me.
I would keep trying.
"I'll be back tomorrow," I told him, though he couldn't hear me. "The council might not want to listen, but there are still things I can do."
I stood up, reluctantly releasing his hand. As I did, that warmth flickered in my chest again, stronger this time. The power Maurice had left behind.
Maybe those dreams hadn't been wrong.
Maybe I was meant to be Luna, to stand at Simon's side and protect the pack when he couldn't. I needed to start learning to become what Simon needed me to be.
But first, I had to make them see that I wasn't just that human girl who didn't belong.
The emergency authorization Simon had signed, even with his seal and signature, wouldn't earn me the kind of respect that proved I could hold this territory together when the Alpha fell.
If I wanted to survive in this world, if I wanted to keep the pack Simon had built from falling apart, I needed to prove myself in a language the elders understood.
That required action, not words. Results, not promises.
Leon was waiting for me near the south wing entrance. His instincts had probably told him exactly where I'd emerge, even though I hadn't called ahead.
Marcus stood beside him, arms crossed, wearing that particular expression of resigned concern.
As I approached, they straightened. Leon reached for his phone, as if checking for messages that weren't there, and Marcus shifted his weight, trying to stay calm.
"I need to know what's happening in the territory," I said directly. "I need the truth. During Simon's incapacitation, what problems has the council failed to handle? What threats are we facing? What exactly are the elders using to argue I can't lead?"
Leon and Marcus exchanged a glance.
Marcus cleared his throat. As soon as he started speaking, I knew he was going to deflect.
"There have been some minor territorial disputes near the eastern border," he said carefully. "Some complaints about noise violations from the training grounds, and a paperwork backlog in the commercial licensing office. Nothing that requires your direct attention, Carol. We've been managing—"
"You call that 'nothing'?" I interrupted, my voice cold.
"Noise violations and paperwork backlogs don't make you both station yourselves at the hospital like guards, don't make Leon check his phone every thirty seconds like he's expecting bad news, don't create that tension in Marcus's shoulders that only appears when he's preparing for a fight. So try again, and this time pretend I'm actually capable of handling the truth."
The words landed harder than I'd intended.
Marcus flinched slightly, and Leon's careful mask cracked to show something that looked uncomfortably like guilt.
I realized with frustration that they were protecting me. Shielding me from the harsh realities of werewolf politics and territorial disputes, because they still saw me as the girl who needed rescuing, the human who didn't belong in pack leadership.
But protection born from kindness could be just as suffocating as control born from possession. Right now it was a luxury I couldn't afford.
"If you keep me wrapped in this bubble," I continued more quietly, letting them see the genuine fear beneath my anger, "if you filter every problem and solve every crisis before I even know it exists, then what happens when the council reconvenes? They'll point out that I haven't actually led anything, that you two did all the real work. They'll strip Simon's authorization and throw me out faster than you can blink, and then what? Who protects the pack when that happens?"
Marcus's jaw tightened. I thought he'd continue the deflection, but after a moment he sighed, and said: "Simon won't let them do that."
But the conviction in his voice was undercut by the worry in his eyes.
"Simon didn't think he'd get shot with a silver bullet either," I replied, keeping my tone gentle but letting the truth sink in. "He didn't plan to be unconscious while his territory needed him, didn't expect his enemies to be bold enough to strike at him directly. And if he wakes up to find the pack has fractured because I couldn't prove myself, because you protected me right out of my only chance to establish authority—do you think he'll thank you?"
The silence that followed was heavy with truths none of us wanted to acknowledge.
Leon broke first, running a hand through his hair in a gesture of frustrated capitulation.
"There have been incidents," he finally admitted.