Chapter 173 Freya Makes her Claim

Chapter 173 What Lance Wrote
CASEY -

Casey watched Grace’s car disappear between the trees and forced his muscles to remain still.
Every part of him wanted to run after it. His wolf pulled hard beneath his skin, and whatever had woken with the Berserker shoved against his ribs. His shoulders and chest strained the seams of his shirt, and his hands ached from clenching. 
Freya’s warmth stayed open in his chest, stretched thin by distance but not gone.
"I won't."
Her promise to stay open helped relax his muscles.
“Casey?” his father's voice came from beside him, pulling his attention.
Casey kept his eyes on the road until Freya's car disappeared.
Finally, Casey turned to Eric and told him about Freya, Lance, and the vision. He left out the parts that belonged to Freya and him, but gave his father enough to understand why Jared couldn’t leave Vernal with her.
Eric had questions, but he didn’t dismiss Casey. Maybe it was the way the Stones still felt awake behind them, or maybe it was the fact that Casey's body was still too large. Whatever the reason, his father listened.
And once Casey was done talking, Eric stayed quiet for a moment before he looked toward the Council House beyond the trees. “I’ll keep eyes on Jared.”
Casey didn't know what to say. He hadn't expected his dad to fully believe everything.
“I'll need Tyler for this,” Casey finally said.
Eric nodded. “Then go. Although I'm not sure the healers will let him leave.”
When Casey turned toward his truck, the bond tugged hard from Freya's side.
She'd kept the bond open, but something in it had shifted. It wasn't panic, but something was causing her stress, and she wasn't dulling it from the thread.
His hand closed around the truck's handle.
For a second, every instinct in him turned back toward her. He could follow the pull and find her. It wouldn't take his wolf long, but she'd asked him for help. Freya rarely did that, and he wasn't going to let her down.
He pulled his phone out and called Tyler. Then he got in the truck and drove to the hospital.
Tyler was sitting upright when Casey got to his room. One side of his face was bruised, and a bandage disappeared beneath the collar of his shirt, but his eyes were clear when Casey shut the door behind him.
“You look like you’re about to kill someone,” Tyler said.
“You don't even know the half of it.”
Tyler’s mouth flattened, and he turned serious.
Casey crossed the room and lowered his voice as he told Tyler enough for the color to drain out of his face. He didn't try to explain the doorway or the ghosts and what happened with Lance and Freya.
But he gave Tyler the pieces that mattered for the fight that was ahead of them.
“If Jared calls the Gathering, he thinks he can win the room,” Tyler said, and Casey’s jaw clenched. He pushed himself higher on the bed before he continued. “We need records. Old Alpha records, bloodline proof, anything tied to Texas. If Jared lured Lance there, there has to be a trail.”
“Who keeps that?”
“That’s the problem.” Tyler rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Most official records would have gone through Eric after Lance died, but anything older, anything tied to the Stones or the old Calder line…” His eyes lifted. “Someone kept them out of normal channels.”
Casey started to ask who, but a soft knock touched the door.
Tyler looked at him, and Casey crossed the room to open it.
Mrs. Hall stood at the door with her coat buttoned wrong and an old leather bag clutched in both hands. Her gray hair had been pinned high on her head haphazardly, and her face looked older than it had at school.
“I need to speak with you,” she said.
Casey stepped into the hall and pulled the door nearly shut behind him. “About what?”
“About the things…” She glanced down both side hallways before continuing in a lower voice. “The things I couldn't say in front of Jared.” Her fingers closed tighter around the bag strap. “Or in front of anyone who might run to him.”
Casey studied her face. “Why come to me?”
Mrs. Hall looked toward the closed hospital room, then back at him. “Because I couldn't find Freya.” Casey’s whole body went still. “And because the ring answered you.”
He remembered the day she gave the ring to Freya, and how it had affected her.
“That ring would only warm for someone who had the right to stand beside Lance Calder’s daughter,” Mrs. Hall said. “It belonged to Freya, but when it answered to you, I knew the old Claim recognized more than her blood.”
Casey remembered the weight of the ring, its warmth, and Freya’s face.
“You knew what it meant?” he asked.
“I suspected.” Mrs. Hall’s mouth trembled, but she didn't look away.
Casey went colder. “How much do you know?”
“Not enough to stop what happened nine years ago.” Her voice broke, and she pressed a hand against the leather bag. “Enough to know Lance Calder prepared for the chance that his daughter might survive if he didn't come back.”
Tyler’s door opened behind Casey, and Tyler leaned against the frame, pale but alert. “What did he do?”
If Tyler’s presence surprised her, she hid it well. “He left records and instructions. Proof that should have been brought forward years ago, but it would have gotten her killed.”
Mrs. Hall opened the leather bag and drew out a bundle of papers tied with faded blue cord.
The seal pressed into the top fold was still clear. The Calder crest marked it.
“Lance left the ring with me, as you know,” Mrs. Hall said. “But he also left these. I know Alpha Jared plans to use the Gathering, but a Gathering can't be won by blood alone.”
Tyler pushed away from the doorframe. “What records?”
“Birth notations, bloodline witness marks, Lance’s written instructions, copies of the old Alpha line records before Jared’s name was placed over them.” Her fingers curled tighter around the bundle. “And the first school registration that told me who Freya was before Sandy had me change the name to Roberts.”
Casey stared at her, anger rising before he could stop it. “You knew when she registered?”
Shame moved across Mrs. Hall’s face.
Casey stepped closer. “So why now?”
“Freya’s wolf is awake. The ring answered her and you. That means the old Claim has stirred.” Mrs. Hall lifted the bundle slightly. “And Alpha Jared can't pretend that Freya's father left nothing behind.”
Casey’s phone buzzed in his pocket.
At the same time, Freya’s side of the bond flared hot with anger and something colder beneath it. His body turned before he realized it.
Casey dragged in one breath, then another, before he finally had himself under control and pulled out his phone.
His father’s message waited.
Freya is safe. Jared called for the Gathering. We only have a few days to find proof.
Casey read it twice before he could trust himself to speak.
He turned and looked down at the bundle in Mrs. Hall's hands.
“Then we start with what Lance wrote,” he said.