Chapter Sixty one

Chapter Sixty one
I was still unsettled from everything that happened yesterday, the frustration of leaving Lucian’s office without the information I needed sitting heavy in my chest. Although sex with Darius made everything feel less overwhelming, sleep still refused to come. I kept turning on the bed, sheets twisting around my legs as my mind raced through every possible option, every mistake, every moment I should’ve pushed harder.

Then a thought clicked into place.

The file.

He was reading through something when I walked into his office yesterday. Whatever was in it tightened his expression, made him guarded. If there was any clue about the attack, it had to be in there.

I needed to get to it.

And I needed to do it without Lucian knowing.

So I waited.

I waited until everyone had gone to training, then trailed his scent just to be sure he was actually there.

Good. He was occupied. Focused. That meant I had a small window… maybe the only one I’d ever get.

I slipped into the pack house, heart pounding, each step careful as I made my way toward his office, praying that today, luck would be on my side.

I clicked the door of his office, and it didn’t budge. A wave of frustration crawled up my spine.

I pulled a hairpin from my hair and slid it into the lock, feeling for the tumblers as I pressed my ear to the door. The metal scraped softly, then shifted, a small, triumphant smile tugged at my lips, my years of training in Wood Creek Pack is paying off in this pack. I tucked the hairpin into my pocket and eased the door open.

“Iris,” Jake’s voice startled me. I'd been so focused on the lock that I hadn’t even caught his scent until he was right behind me.

“Hi, Jake.” I tried for casual, shifting my body to block the door as it opened a little more than I wanted.

“Lucian is at the training ground,” he noted, like he thought I hadn’t realized.

“Yeah, I know. He… he knows I’m here,” I lied, gripping the knob tighter. “I just forgot my hair clip and it’s the only one I have.”

I even clenched my teeth a little, like it physically annoyed me to be without it.

He smirked, I could practically see him picturing how it came undone.

If that’s what he thinks, fine. Works for me.

I waited until he stepped far away before slipping fully into the office. My fingers found the hairpin in my pocket, sliding it back into place to keep the short strands from brushing my eyes. I moved swiftly through the shelves, scanning for the folder, every rustle of paper making me flinch.

I pulled the first folder open, skimming the pages. Patrol rotations. Updated ranks. List of Alliances. Nothing useful. My eyes lingered, memorizing names of the allies but it wasn’t what I needed right now. I slid it back exactly where it had been.

Another file. Rogue sightings. My breath hitched for a second. The reports were more frequent than he had let anyone believe. Several attacks closer to the border, some even within territory. My eyes lingered on one note written in his handwriting: “Pattern confirms intent.”

Intent for what?

I shut the folder, forcing my mind back on task.

I moved to the next one. Training logs. Pack finances. A map marked with faint red circles that made my stomach twist, but still not the one I needed.

I stretched my fingers toward the top shelf, reaching for the folder he had probably hidden there. My fingers slipped, and a dusty black-covered diary toppled to the floor, landing open in the middle.

I bent to grab it, intending to slide it back, but my other mind made me pause. Curiosity burned, and I leafed through the pages. At first, I thought it might be Lucian’s old scraps. But then I realized it was Father’s daily journal. 

A surge of hatred and anger hit me for the man who had killed my entire pack and family. I skimmed through the entries, barely glancing at each day, trying not to stare too long. Why am I tormenting myself? I asked silently, maybe trying to figure out why he had done what he did. 

The council assigned me to represent them at the Shadow Glen Firefang Trials. I don’t want to step into that pack filled with dark wolves. 

The words Shadow Glen seemed to punch through the page, darker than the rest. My pulse stuttered. 

I turned the next page too fast, paper rasping under my fingers. 

Your mother is going to see that dark wolf we met yesterday. I shouldn’t have taken her with me to that cursed ground.

I moved through page after page, scanning the words like they might jump out at me. Who is that dark wolf in Shadow Glen? Could it be the one who betrayed us? No… we can’t betray each other. 

That fucking dark wolf… dare step foot in my land? Your mother isn’t listening. I feel like she’s been bewitched… though the witch insists nothing is wrong. 

Look at how she parades herself on my land… Ahhh.

What did Alpha Zareen see in her? Not as beautiful as our females… The pain of his mate's death must have forced him to accept this one. I’m going to talk to your mother again after this. 

Mother? I went through the pages, legs trembling under the weight of the diary, realizing she had visited my mother often.

Then the next page made me freeze.

Dear son,

Remember what the Zareen family did to you and your mother. You must avenge your mother’s death. I can’t survive without your mother, so I'm giving the order as the new Alpha. You must kill the Luna and her child and every other wolf from Shadow Glen who escaped.

I paused reading, and I flipped back through the pages, searching for anything I had missed, my heart racing as I read on.

I warned Mega. Spirits know I warned her. But your mother’s heart was too soft, too trusting. She believed in peace, in unity, in giving grace where none was deserved.

She said Dark Wolves were misunderstood and treated poorly. She said she owed them a chance.

I saw the danger long before it reached our door.

They argued the day before. I still hear Mega insisting it was nothing. That their friendship had survived worse. But when the sun fell, and you did not come home, I knew.

They took you.

A message followed at dawn. If we wanted you back, Mega had to come alone.

Your mother kissed my forehead and left before I could stop her. She thought she could reason with a monster.

She never returned.

I found what they left of her. And you…By some miracle, some stubborn spark in you refused to die.

So I wiped out the entire Shadow Glen Pack. Find the rest. Finish them. Your mother showed them kindness, and they betrayed her.

I sank my back to the shelf, the diary trembling in my hands. I scraped through the remaining pages, but it was just him cursing Zareen’s family and the entire dark wolves for killing his mate.

Mother had never mentioned kidnapping a boy.

All this time… I realized, with a bitter twist in my chest, how much I’d been a pawn in my mother’s schemes.

Suddenly a familiar scent drifted into the room, and I stiffened. 

Lucian. 

My hand hovered for a moment, then I placed the folder carefully back into a corner of the shelf, as close to me as I could manage without being obvious. I needed time to process this… and a plan to act.

His eyes flicked from my face to my hand on the doorknob, narrowing just a fraction.

“How did you get in? I thought I locked the door.”

My pulse jumped and I forced a slow breath and a small shrug.

“It wasn’t locked when I got here. I wanted to surprise you.” I bite down my lower lip, trying to steady the storm rolling in my chest.

He stepped closer, fingers sliding through my hair strands. 

“I didn’t like the way you assumed I viewed women yesterday,” he murmured, shifting the hair on my face. “I just don’t want you getting hurt.”

My lips parted, but he cut across me gently.

“You can come with us,” he said, searching my eyes. “But you stay close to Darius and me. Promise me that.”