Chapter 183 Old Law

Chapter 183 Old Law
FREYA -

Freya felt the change move through the room before anyone answered. The older wolves went still first. Then the Council members leaned toward one another, not whispering enough for her to hear, but enough that she understood the word meant something more than just a bunch of old stones outside of town.
Jared looked from Grace’s mother to Eric, then let out a quiet laugh. “This is a Gathering, not a field trip.”
Grace’s mother kept her head high, unshaken by the laughter, and Freya felt a small smile pull at her mouth.
The room had gotten loud with murmurs, but when Eric stepped forward, everyone settled. He was still the hosting Alpha here. Even with the Council above him and visiting Alphas watching every breath, the territory answered his voice before theirs. “The Stones stand in Vernal territory, and their witness is part of our old law.”
“Your old law?” Jared’s smile sharpened. “Or the law that suited you when my brother died and this territory was handed to his Beta instead of his blood?”
Freya’s hand clenched tightly in Casey's before she realized she'd moved. She had known Jared wanted the Alpha position, but hearing him say it in front of everyone made the truth feel uglier somehow. He wasn’t only trying to take her now. He'd been angry that Lance’s death hadn't gone like he'd planned.
Casey stayed beside her, his body controlled enough that only the bond gave away the heat under his skin.
Eric’s expression didn't budge. “The last Gathering gave Vernal to the wolf that the Claim accepted.”
Jared’s eyes hardened, and his lips thinned into a tight line.
The ring beneath Freya’s shirt warmed, and she drew in a quiet breath. Across the room, Grace’s mother looked at her again, as if she had felt the same answer brush the air.
One of the Council elders lifted his hand. “The Stones remain recognized under Vernal’s old law. If the Speaker calls for old witness and the hosting Alpha accepts the call, the claim will be heard there.”
Jared tsk'd between his teeth before turning toward the raised seats. “You would move an entire Gathering because an old woman in ceremonial dress says the rocks have something to add?”
“The Council has ordered less for greater cause,” the elder said. “Do not mistake procedure for weakness, Alpha Calder.”
The title hit the room strangely.
Alpha Calder.
Old memories slid in from a place she'd not remembered in years. People saying that same title to her father and how proud her mother looked. The memories settled like a stone in her throat.
Only now, Freya heard it for what it was supposed to be... respectful and formal, but an attempt to remind Jared where he was.
Eric looked toward Grace’s mother. “Speaker, do you stand by the call?”
“I do,” she said. “This claim was born under blood, buried under lies, and brought back through the dead. It should not be answered under a roof.”
Freya’s stomach dipped at the words. Brought back through the dead. Her father's ghostly face moved through her mind, before she let him pass through her.
For a second, the room felt too full and the doorway inside her too close, but Casey’s hand brushed against hers, steady enough to keep her breathing.
Eric turned to the Council. “Then under Council witness and Vernal law, I call the Calder claim to the Stones.”
The elder lowered his hand. “So ordered.”
Sound broke loose all at once. Chairs shifted, guards moved, and visiting wolves began speaking in low voices as the room reorganized around a decision Freya did not fully understand. Thankfully, everyone else seemed ready to obey.
Jaxon was led away through the side door, his head down between the Stiller guards, and Casey’s attention followed him only long enough to make sure he was gone.
Freya had expected Jared to stop and demand more from Jaxon, but it seemed Eric had pulled what he'd wanted from him. She hoped she'd not see him again anytime soon.
As the hall began to empty, Eric stepped close to one of his senior wolves. His voice lowered, but Freya still caught the words through the noise.
“Prepare the next witness under healer care. No one moves them until I call.”
The wolf nodded and left quickly.
Freya looked at Casey, and his jaw flexed once. He'd heard it too.
Do they mean Aunt Sandy?
She wasn't sure if she was ready to see her either, but she would follow Casey's lead, and he seemed to understand what his father was doing.
They moved with the formal group through the house and out into the afternoon.
The air outside was colder than Freya had expected. It slid under her sleeves and carried the scents of dust, pine, exhaust, and too many wolves from too many places. Vehicles lined the road beyond the gate, and guards cleared a path as Eric led the Council toward the trail.
Jared walked ahead with his escort, shoulders relaxed like this had all been his idea. Freya watched him speak quietly to one of his men, and the old anger inside her pressed deeper.
He'd killed her parents, tried to drag her away, nearly killed Sandy, and now he still moved like the world should kneel to him.
Casey’s hand settled at her back for one second, warm through her shirt. “Stay with me.”
Freya looked up at him. His face stayed forward, but the bond carried the rest of it.
It wasn't an order to keep her under control, and for once, she was thankful that she had him at her back.
“Always,” she said.
At the word, she felt a jolt through the bond that he couldn't hide and a small pleased smile lifted her lips.
They followed the trail away from the house and toward the rise where the Stones waited. The closer they came, the quieter everyone became.
The Stones rose out of the ground in their uneven circle, dark and weathered against the pale sky. Freya’s steps slowed as the pressure in the air changed.
It wasn't like the night Lance moved on. Nothing opened inside her, and no dead pressed against her skin, but the land felt awake, waiting with a patience that made the wolves around her lower their voices without being told.
Eric stopped outside the circle. “No one enters unless called by Council or Speaker.”
The command rolled across the hill, and several wolves behind Freya shifted back at once.
Grace’s mother stepped to the edge of the circle and turned. “The old witness does not answer noise. It does not answer pride." Her gaze flicked to Jared briefly before she continued. "It answers what was done against one of our own, what was carried back here, and what still belongs to the land.”
Jared folded his arms. “Then let it answer.”
Grace looked at Freya, and her hand closed around the pouch at her waist as she lifted the Vision Stone up.
Freya’s father’s ring warmed against her chest at the sight, and for the first time since they'd left the hall, Jared stopped smiling.