Chapter 46 Help !!!!
Maya pulled up a map on her tablet. "Based on these records, approximately forty percent of current Silvercrest lands were originally Whitmore holdings."
"That's insane," Elara said.
"That's pack history," Maya said. "Stronger packs absorbing weaker ones, but the bloodlines never disappear."
"What would happen if I filed a claim?" Elara asked.
"Regional council would have to review it," Liam said. "And if they rule in your favor, those lands revert to Whitmore control."
"Which means they'd revert to me," Elara said slowly.
"And through you to Adrian," Maya confirmed. "He'd inherit both Silvercrest and Whitmore territories, making him one of the most powerful young Alphas in the region."
"If the council rules in my favor," Elara said. "What if they don't?"
"Then nothing changes and Derek's challenge proceeds as planned," Maya said. "But at least you'd have tried."
Elara looked at the maps and records spread across the table, seeing her family's history written in property boundaries and legal documents.
"I need to talk to Kai," she said.
She found him in his office arguing with pack accountants about budget shortfalls, and he looked relieved when she interrupted.
"We need to talk," she said. "Privately."
Kai dismissed the accountants and closed the door. "What's wrong?"
"I found something about the territorial challenge," Elara said and laid out the maps. "The lands Derek wants belonged to my family before Silvercrest absorbed them."
Kai studied the documents and his expression shifted from confusion to understanding. "You have bloodline claim."
"According to Maya and Liam, yes," Elara said. "Which means I could challenge for those territories myself."
"That would undermine Derek's entire case," Kai said. "If you have legitimate bloodline claim, the regional council would have to rule in your favor over his ancestral argument."
"But it would also mean taking lands from Silvercrest," Elara said.
"Lands that were yours to begin with," Kai said. "I'd rather you have them than Derek."
"You'd be okay with me owning forty percent of your territory?" Elara asked.
"It's not my territory if it was stolen from your family," Kai said. "And Adrian would inherit it anyway, this just makes it official sooner."
"The pack won't like it," Elara said.
"The pack will have to deal with it," Kai said. "When do we file the claim?"
"I haven't decided if I'm filing," Elara said.
"Why wouldn't you?" Kai asked.
"Because it makes me a target," Elara said. "Darius already wants Adrian dead to protect the bloodline, if I suddenly become a major landholder that threat increases."
"Or it protects you," Kai argued. "Once you have legal claim to those territories, killing you becomes more complicated because the lands would still pass to Adrian."
"Unless someone kills us both," Elara said.
Kai's face darkened. "I won't let that happen."
"You can't promise that," Elara said. "You couldn't stop one man from approaching Adrian yesterday."
"I know," Kai said. "And that's being handled, but Elara, this is your birthright, your family's legacy, don't let fear stop you from claiming what's yours."
"I'm not afraid for me," Elara said. "I'm afraid for Adrian."
"Then we make him so legally protected that no one can touch him," Kai said. "We file the bloodline claim, we win the territories, and we make sure everyone knows that Adrian is heir to both Silvercrest and Whitmore holdings."
"And if the regional council rejects my claim?" Elara asked.
"Then we fight Derek's challenge the traditional way," Kai said. "But at least we tried."
Elara looked at the maps again, seeing generations of her family's work reduced to lines on paper, and made her decision.
"File the claim," she said. "But I want extra security on Adrian until this is resolved."
"Done," Kai said immediately. "I'll have the paperwork prepared today."
He started making calls and Elara went back to the library where Maya was still researching.
"You're filing?" Maya asked.
"Yes," Elara confirmed. "What do I need to prove bloodline claim?"
"Birth certificates tracing your lineage back to the original landholders," Maya said. "Property deeds from when your family owned the territories, and testimony from pack members who remember the Whitmores."
"Most of the pack members who knew my grandparents are dead," Elara said.
"Not all of them," Maya said. "There are three elders who served under your grandfather, I can arrange meetings."
They spent the rest of the day gathering documentation and by evening Elara had a folder thick with evidence of her Whitmore heritage.
Kai filed the claim with the regional council that night, and within hours the news spread through the pack.
Reactions were mixed—some supported Elara's right to reclaim her family's lands, others saw it as opportunistic and divisive.
"You're tearing this pack apart," one pack member shouted at Elara when she took Adrian to the playground the next morning.
"I'm claiming what was stolen from my family," Elara replied calmly.
"Your family was weak," the man said. "That's why Silvercrest took the lands."
"My family was murdered," Elara corrected. "There's a difference between weakness and tragedy."
The man looked uncomfortable but didn't back down. "Either way, those lands belong to Silvercrest now."
"The regional council will decide that," Elara said and walked away before the argument could escalate.
That afternoon she received a summons to appear before the regional council in two weeks to present her bloodline claim.
The same day Derek Blackwood would present his challenge.
"It'll be a circus," Maya predicted. "Three different parties claiming the same territories."
"Who do you think will win?" Elara asked.
"Honestly?" Maya said. "You have the strongest legal claim, but regional politics are complicated and Derek has allies on the council."
"So it could go either way," Elara said.
"Welcome to pack politics," Maya said. "Where the law matters less than who you know."
That night Elara was putting Adrian to bed when he asked a question that made her heart stop.
"Mama, why does everyone say mean things about us?"
"What mean things baby?" Elara asked.
"The kids at playgroup say we don't belong here," Adrian said. "And that we're trying to steal from the pack."
"We're not stealing anything," Elara said firmly. "We're taking back what belonged to our family."
"What's our family?" Adrian asked.
"You and me and your dada," Elara said. "And your grandparents who aren't here anymore but loved you before you were born."
"Do I have a grandpa?" Adrian asked.
"You have two," Elara said carefully. "But one of them isn't very nice."
"The bad grandpa?" Adrian asked.
"Yes baby," Elara said. "The bad grandpa who sent that man to talk to you."
"I don't like him," Adrian said.
"Neither do I," Elara agreed. "But we don't have to worry about him because he's far away and can't hurt us."
She hoped that was true.
After Adrian fell asleep, Elara stood at the window watching security guards patrol the grounds and wondering how long they could maintain this fragile peace.
Her phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number: "Claiming Whitmore lands makes you a threat. Withdraw the claim or face consequences."
Elara deleted it but her hands shook because whoever sent it knew exactly what buttons to push.
She was about to go find Kai when another text came: "This is your only warning."
And attached was a photo of Adrian sleeping in his bed, taken from inside his room within the last hour.