Chapter 20 New Reality
ZANE'S POV
She was still looking at me, standing there and waiting for an answer.
“Come inside,” I said, hoping to escape the weight of the moment.
“Tell me out here,” she replied, unwavering.
“Davina…”
“You’re about to give me information that you’ve already decided how much of to share,” she interrupted. “And you’ll do that better with walls around you and a table between us. I’d rather you just say it here where there’s nothing to fidget with.”
I glanced at her, and she raised her eyebrows slightly, challenging me to speak. I exhaled through my nose and turned to face the tree line, buying myself a moment, while she patiently waited.
“Two of the three Council members aligned with Grayson have been receiving financial support from Ravenshade territory for the last four years,” I finally said. “Shell accounts, routed through human businesses in three different states. Caspian traced it.”
“So you have proof,” she said, her eyes narrowing.
“We have evidence.” I turned back to her. “The evidence we can present suggests they’re compromised. But proof that will hold up in a Council hearing, especially with Grayson’s legal team across the table, is a tougher nut to crack.”
She fell silent, processing my words.
“And the third one?” she asked, her curiosity piqued.
I hesitated for a moment, and she caught it.
“Zane.”
“The third one is complicated.”
“How complicated?”
I studied her, weighing my words.
“Don’t do that,” she said quietly. “Don’t decide what I can handle.”
“His name is Aldric,” I said. “He’s been on the Council for eleven years. Two months ago, his daughter went missing.” I watched her face closely. “Grayson has her.”
Davina looked at me, her mind obviously racing to fit this new piece into everything else she’d learned this morning.
“So he’s not corrupt,” she said softly. “He’s trapped.”
“Exactly.”
She turned away, pressing a hand briefly against her mouth before letting it drop to her side. Taking three steps down the path, she paused with her back to me, and I gave her that moment, allowing her the space to process.
When she turned back around, her eyes were dry but clearly working hard to stay that way.
“How old?” she asked.
“Eleven.”
She nodded once, pressed her lips together, and straightened up. “Then we don’t go after Aldric,” she said. “We find the girl.”
I stared at her, taken aback.
“Filing for recusal against the two compromised members gives us an advantage,” she continued, stepping closer, her voice steady and focused again. “But Aldric is the swing vote. If we can get his daughter out from under Grayson’s reach before the hearing, he votes free.” She stopped right in front of me. “Where is she?”
“I wish I knew,” I replied. “We’ve been searching everywhere.”
“How long has it been?”
“Three weeks.”
She glanced down at the ground for a moment before meeting my gaze again. “Who else knows about this? About Aldric’s daughter?”
“Just Caspian, my dad, and me.”
“Alright then, let's keep it that way.” She said.
As we walked back toward the lodge side by side, the frost had melted away from the grass, and the compound was buzzing with life. I could hear someone running drills on the far side of the training yard, the sounds carrying clearly through the crisp morning air. Two pack mothers were chatting outside the family quarters, and one of them glanced our way before quickly looking down.
I watched Davina take it all in, her eyes scanning the compound and cataloging everything.
“Two weeks,” she murmured, more to herself than to me.
“Two weeks,” I confirmed.
She stopped at the lodge steps and turned to face me, one hand resting on the railing.
“I want full access to the archive,” she said firmly. “Everything. Treaty records, Council precedents, the history of territorial disputes, everything that goes back as far as it exists.” She held my gaze steady. “And I want Caspian to walk me through what he found on those two compromised members. All of it.”
“I’ll make it happen.”
She nodded and started walking up the steps.
Fenris, who had been unusually quiet all morning, finally spoke up.
“She’s going to walk into that hearing room and take it apart.”
“I know,” I replied.
“You should probably tell her that.”
I ignored Fenris and just let me thoughts drift to Davina.
She was really strong though and I admired that about her.
Despite being human, she was braver than most wolf I knew.
If she were a wolf, I'm very sure she would be the strongest and most intelligent female wolf around.
I started walking up the steps too.
Inside, through the narrow window beside the door, I could already see her crossing the hall toward the staircase, with her shoulders back, and her chin up, moving confidently through a room full of wolves who had spent the week waiting for her to stumble, but she hadn’t faltered once.
From the corridor to my left, a door opened, and Aurelia stepped out. She stopped when she spotted Davina crossing the hall, her green eyes tracking her.
She looked away from Davina and locked eyes with me through the window for just a brief moment, then she turned and walked back the way she’d come.