Chapter 75 Cracks
Ivy POV
Alpha Chen was forty-three years old. He is the Alpha of the Seattle pack for eight years. Quiet. A man who had made decisions slowly and then lived with them completely. He had made a bad one. And he knew it.
I watched from the doorway as Lucas led him toward Caden’s room. My mind went back to the morning session. Voss’s face when I said he was afraid because I wasn’t a part of his plan.
The way his eyes had shifted. Just for a second. It wasn’t anger. It was fear. Old fear. The kind that builds slowly over time.
He had been planning this for twenty-six years. I was the one that could unravel it.
Not Caden. Me. And he knew it.
The door opened twenty minutes later and Alpha Chen stepped out. He looked different. Lighter, like something had been set down.
He saw me in the corridor and stopped.
“Miss Sinclair,” he said.
“Alpha Chen,” I said.
He held my gaze for a moment. He looked at me as something shifted in his face.
“This morning,” he said. “What you said about me. You were right. You’re not what I expected,” he said.
“What did you expect?” I asked.
He paused, like he was choosing his words carefully.
“Someone easier to dismiss,” he said.
Then he walked past me down the corridor. I watched him go. Caden appeared in the doorway and looked at me.
“Voss is going to move today,” I said. “During the afternoon session. He has to. He’s losing ground every hour he waits.”
“Yes,” Caden said.
“The formal motion, he still needs a second,” I said.
“He’ll have one ready,” Caden said. “He’s been planning this for twenty-six years. He has contingencies.”
I looked down the corridor.
“Who?” I asked.
Caden didn’t answer right away. He stayed quiet for a moment.
“Mercer,” he said. “Alpha of the northeastern territory. He’s been quiet this whole summit. Saving himself for this moment.”
“He owes Voss something,” I said.
“Yes,” Caden said.
“What?” I asked.
“His territory,” Caden said. “Twelve years ago. Before I was Alpha King. Voss helped him consolidate power in the northeastern territory.” He paused. “Mercer has been waiting to repay that debt ever since. They are pack allies.”
I looked at Caden.
“Today is that day,” I said.“Can we get to him before the session?” I asked.
Caden held my gaze.
“No,” he said. “There’s no time. And going to him directly would look like I'm desperate.”
He was right. I looked down the corridor.
“I’ll talk to him,” I said.
“Ivy.” Caden started.
“Not about the vote,” I said. “Just talk to him.” I held Caden’s gaze. “The same way I talked to Alpha Hargrove and Alpha Chen.”
I paused.
“They’re not shifting because of politics,” I said. “They’re shifting because they looked at me and couldn’t match what they expected with what they saw.”
Caden looked at me.
“You will be a great Luna. You have twenty minutes before the session,” he said.
I found Alpha Mercer in the corridor outside the reception room. He was standing alone, looking out at the forest.
I stepped beside him. I didn’t introduce myself. He already knew who I was. We stood there for a moment.
“Twelve years,” I said.
He looked at me.
“That’s a long time to carry a debt,” I said. “I’m not here to ask you not to repay it,” I said. “A debt is a debt. I understand that.”
He looked at me.
“Then what are you here for?” he asked.
“To ask you one question,” I said.
He held my gaze.
“Ask,” he said.
“The debt you owe Voss,” I said. “When you repay it today. What comes after?” I paused. “Not for Caden. For you. For your pack. For the wolf world twelve months from now if Voss gets what he’s after.”
Mercer looked out at the forest. He didn’t answer right away.
“I’m not asking you to betray your allies with Voss,” I said. “I’m asking if the man you owe it to is the same man he was twelve years ago.” I paused. “And if the wolf world he’s building is one your pack can actually live in.”
I left him at the window.
The afternoon session opened at two. Caden called it to order and Voss moved immediately.
“I’d like to raise a formal motion,” he said. “For review of the Alpha King’s fitness to lead, on the grounds of compromised judgment. I move that this council convene a formal review panel before the summit concludes.”
He looked around the table.
“I need a second,” he said.
His eyes settled on Alpha Mercer. Alpha Mercer looked down at his hands. The room waited. Voss looked at him.
“Alpha Mercer,” he said.
Alpha Mercer lifted his head and looked at Voss.
“I won’t be seconding that motion,” he said quietly.
The room went completely still. Voss stared at him. Alpha Mercer looked down at the table. Voss looked around the table. His coalition. What was left of it.
“Seconded?” he said.
Nobody spoke.
“Seconded?” he said again.
His voice changed. Just slightly. But it was enough for everyone in the room to hear his control slip.
The silence stretched. Caden didn’t say a word. He let it sit there. Let every alpha feel the weight of it.
Then.
“Motion fails,” Caden said. “For lack of a second.”
He looked around the table.
“Any other business?” he said.
Nothing.
Caden nodded. Gathered his papers and looked at Voss. Just one look. That was all. Voss held it for a few seconds then he looked away.
We were nearly done. Caden was closing the final procedural items. Border agreements confirmed. The Canadian rogue situation. A joint pack response authorized.
Voss sat at the far end of the table. Still.
He said nothing and was watching him. He had spent twenty-six years building toward this moment, and it was breaking apart in front of him.
I expected anger. What I saw instead was worse. He was thinking. Recalculating his next move already. Then he looked at me.
And smiled.
“Before we conclude,” he said, voice smooth and controlled again. “I’d like to formally welcome the Alpha King’s mate to her first summit.”
He looked around the table.
“As the future Luna of the wolf world.”
His gaze returned to me.
“Welcome.” A pause. “Daughter.”
The room went absolutely silent. Silent in a way that felt heavy. It pressed down on every person in the room differently.
I felt Caden go still beside me. I felt his wolf hit the edge of his control hard enough that the whole room seemed to tighten with it. I could feel how much effort it was taking him not to react. Under the table I grabbed his hand.
I looked at Voss. He looked right back at me. That cold smile still on his face.
Waiting for me to react and for Caden to lose control. I gave him nothing. My face stayed calm. Blank. I didn’t say a word.