Chapter 174 What Lance Wrote

Chapter 174 I'm Taking This to Freya
CASEY -

Mrs. Hall looked down at the bundle in her hands like Casey had asked her to open a grave.
For a moment, no one spoke. The hospital hallway hummed with distant voices and rolling carts, but Tyler’s room stayed quiet behind them.
Casey could still feel Freya through the bond, warm and bruised somewhere beyond his reach, and every second he stood away from her, his wolf shoved harder against his skin.
He knew he would feel her more clearly after they completed the bond, but he hadn’t expected the need to be near her to feel this strong. He wondered if it would always be like this.
He made himself look at the faded blue cord to keep his mind off Freya.
“Let's move inside so we can open it,” he said.
Tyler moved back through the door, and they followed him in. When the door shut, Mrs. Hall’s fingers shook as she untied the knot. The papers inside were old but carefully kept, wrapped in layers of oilcloth and sealed again beneath the first fold. The Calder crest marked the top page in dark wax, worn at the edges but unbroken.
Tyler leaned against the doorframe, pale under the bruising. “That’s Lance’s seal?”
Mrs. Hall nodded. “His hand pressed it the night before he left Utah.”
Casey’s stomach turned over with nerves of what the folder would show them.
She unfolded the first page and turned it toward him.
The words were dark and neatly written.
If I don't return, and my daughter survives, give her what proves she is mine.
Casey stared at the words in silence.
Freya’s name was not on that first line, but somehow it felt like it was everywhere. Her father had written this knowing there was a chance he might never see her again. And yet, he still went.
What had been so important?
Tyler read over Casey’s shoulder, then looked at Mrs. Hall. “Why did you wait?”
“Like I said, before her wolf came out, Jared could call her anything he wanted.” Mrs. Hall’s voice stayed low. “A rumor or a mistake. Just another human’s child. But once her wolf woke, I knew the ring would answer her, and the old line could back her claim.”
Casey’s jaw locked. He was furious with her, but what she said made sense, and he wasn't sure if Freya had been brought forward as a child if she'd have been treated fairly. It had been so hectic back then.
“I knew what I suspected,” Mrs. Hall said. “And I knew suspicion wouldn't keep her alive.”
Tyler shifted, pain crossing his face before he hid it. “You said you kept records.”
“I did.” Mrs. Hall looked down at the papers. “I wasn't only a woman who worked in a school office. Before Alpha Eric held this territory, I kept bloodline records for the Calder line. Birth notations. Witness marks. Things like Midwife statements, and old Claim records.”
“Why you?” Casey asked, unable to keep some of his anger from his tone.
Her mouth trembled once. “Because Lance trusted me.”
“That doesn't work for me.” He stepped closer before he continued, her frame pulling in on itself. "Why you?"
Mrs. Hall swallowed audibly before answering. “He saved my child’s life.”
The room seemed to go still at her words.
“There was a storm on the east border when my son was sixteen,” she began. “A breach. Wolves from outside the territory. No one could cross fast enough. But Lance did.” Her fingers curled around the paper. “He brought my boy home bleeding but breathing. When he came to my door years later with his daughter’s future in his hands, I didn't ask if it was dangerous. I took what he gave me.”
Casey didn't know what to say to that. The more he learned about Freya's father the more he understood how good of an Alpha he truly was. He looked back at the page.
Mrs. Hall slid another page free. “He said the ring needed to stay in Utah, because it's what sensed the unease and it wouldn't let him take it across the border lines. Lance knew that if the trip went wrong, this would live on without him.”
Tyler’s eyes sharpened. “What trip?”
Mrs. Hall looked at him, then at Casey. “Texas.” She said the name like they both should already know about it.
Casey’s hand closed at his side.
“Lance said a bloodline record had surfaced there,” she continued. “Someone claimed old Calder blood had been witnessed outside Utah. A birth notation of some kind. Lance didn't trust it, but he said if he ignored it, it could become a weapon against Freya later.”
“So he went because of Freya,” Tyler said.
Mrs. Hall nodded, a small smile lifting her lips. “Over everything else, that man loved his daughter, and her future mattered more than even the pack.”
Casey felt Freya in his chest, quiet and aching. He wanted to take the page to her now, and watch her read the line her father had written and know she hadn't been unwanted.
Instead, he forced himself to stay.
“Who told Lance about the record?” Casey asked.
Mrs. Hall’s fingers moved through the bundle until she found a folded copy tucked behind the instruction page. “The warning came through pack channels, but not formal ones. That may have been what worried him about the claim.”
Tyler pushed off the doorframe enough to see. “Who carried it?”
“There’s no name on the copy Lance left me.” Mrs. Hall turned it, showing them the bottom corner. “Only witness initials and a Texas seal.”
Casey looked at the mark. “Is that Jared's pack seal?”
Mrs. Hall shook her head. "I don't know." Then shame moved across her face before she could hide it.
Casey saw it. “What else?”
She looked down at the papers. “Years later, Sandy brought Freya to the school. She had a different name, and she said the girl was safer as a Roberts.”
Casey went cold. “That's when you changed it.”
“I helped bury her Calder name,” Mrs. Hall said. “Yes.”
Tyler crossed his arms and glared at her.
“I know.” This time she stood taller. “And I've had nine years to hate myself for it. But a hidden child could survive. An exposed Calder girl with no awakened wolf and no proof strong enough to stand behind her would have been taken and probably killed before sunset.”
Casey wanted to argue. The anger rose fast, hot enough to make his hands ache again. Then the bond moved softly in his chest, and all he could think about was Freya standing in one of his shirts someday, knowing where her home was.
Mrs. Hall touched the top page. “Lance left the ring for Freya. Not for you.” Casey looked up and met her eyes. “But when it answered you,” she said, “I knew the Claim accepted you as Freya's Mate, and the Alpha she chose.”
The word Mate settled heavily inside him, and he couldn’t help but hope he was worthy of that choice.
Casey looked down at Lance’s writing again.
If my daughter survives.
Freya had survived, and she deserved to see what her father had left for her.
“I’m taking this to Freya.”