Chapter 158 Chapter 158

Chapter 158 Chapter 158
Hunter's POV

Priya found me sitting on my apartment floor that evening, surrounded by old pack law books I'd borrowed from the palace archive.

My eyes tired from hours of reading dense, archaic language.

"You've been at this for hours," she said, sitting down across from me. "Talk to me."

I set the book down, rubbing my eyes.

"There's a law threatening Taylor's engagement to Asher, something ancient, forgotten until now. I'm trying to find a way to help overturn it."

She studied me carefully. "You still love her," she said, not accusing, just gentle and honest.

"I did," I admitted.

"For a long time, maybe some small part of that never fully goes away, but that's not why I'm doing this."

"Then why?" she asked.

I thought about it seriously before answering.

"Because this whole year, I've been defined by things other than what I actually wanted duty. Rivalry with Asher and a bond I didn't choose. Protecting people because it was expected of me, not always because I'd fully examined my own feelings about it." I looked at her.

"For the first time, with you, I get to want something just because it makes me happy. That's new for me. I think I owe it to Taylor to let her have that same freedom, whether it's with Asher or anyone else."

Priya smiled softly. "That's a good answer."

"Does it bother you," I asked.

"That I'm spending my evenings fighting for my ex's engagement to my brother?"

"No," she said simply.

"It tells me something important about who you are. Someone who does the right thing even when it costs him something personal and I'd rather love that version of you than someone who lets old jealousy poison a good decision."

I reached for her hand, grateful beyond words for how uncomplicated she made everything feel.

How steady and clear her presence was against the backdrop of everything else tangled and complicated in my life.

"What do you actually want?" she asked, echoing something I hadn't fully let myself examine in a long time.

"Not what duty demands not what the pack expects. What do you want, Hunter?"

I sat with that question seriously.

"I want to lead well," I said slowly.

"Alongside Asher, the way my father's finally allowed and I want this pack to be safer than it's been my entire life and I want," I paused, looking at her,

"I want this and something simple and real, without covenants or bonds forcing my hand."

"Then let's build that," she said.

"Together, if you want."

"I want that very much," I said, meaning it completely.



I went to Maria's office early the next morning, determined to dig deeper into the law's origins, hoping some technicality might exist that could give the council legitimate grounds to overturn it.

"I've been researching all night too," Maria said, already surrounded by old documents when I arrived.

"Something's strange about this statue, Hunter. It doesn't match the language pattern of other covenant protection laws from the same era."

"What do you mean?" I asked, pulling up a chair.

"Covenant protection laws typically reference specific historical incidents," she explained, pulling out a comparison document.

"This one doesn't and It's vague, generalized, almost like it was written to apply broadly to a specific situation rather than as genuine protective policy."

We spent hours cross referencing dates, council records, old family lineages, until finally Maria found something that made her go very still.

"Hunter" she said slowly.

"Look at this."

She turned an old ledger toward me, council meeting minutes from generations back, faded but legible.

"This entry," she said, pointing to a specific passage.

"Dated the same month this law was originally passed and It references a council member's daughter, engaged to marry outside an approved lineage.”

“The council blocked the marriage using emergency authority, then formalized the block into permanent law less than a week later.”

My stomach moved.

"You're saying this law wasn't actually about covenant danger at all."

"I'm saying it looks like it was written to stop one specific inconvenient marriage," Maria said grimly.

“Then relabeled afterward as ancient protective policy to make it sound legitimate and untouchable."

"That's fabricated history," I said with disbelief and fury building fast in my chest.

"An entire law, treated as sacred tradition for generations, built on nothing but one council member protecting his own family's reputation centuries ago."

"If we can prove this conclusively," Maria said.

"It undermines the entire foundation the elders are using to justify enforcing it against Taylor now."

"We need to bring this to the council before the vote," I said, already standing.

"Asher needs to see this too."



I found Asher at the training rink that afternoon, running drills alone, clearly working through frustration the only way he knew how.

"I need to show you something," I said, once he had noticed me standing at the board.

He skated over, breathing hard, sweat dripping despite the cool air of the rink.

"What is it?"

I explained everything Maria and I had found, watching his expression shift from confusion into disbelief, then finally into something sharp and determined.

"The law's fake" he said slowly.

"Built on nothing but some old scandal, dressed up as tradition."

"It looks that way" I confirmed.

"We need to bring this to the council," he said, echoing exactly what I'd already decided.

"Before the vote and undercut their whole argument before they even get the chance to use it against her."

"That's what I came to tell you," I said.

"I want us to present it together and not separately competing for who gets credit and actually together, the way we're supposed to lead once this is all over."

Something shifted in Asher's expression, real and grateful.

"Together," he agreed.

"For her and honestly, Hunter, for us too and we've spent too much of this year fighting each other instead of standing side by side."

"Agreed," I mumbled, extending my hand.

He shook it firmly, something settling between us that felt different from every truce we had built before, less fragile, more permanent.

"Let's go tell her," he said.

"She deserves to know we might actually have a real chance at fixing this before that vote ever happens."

We left the rink together, the weight of the discovery pressing urgent and hopeful between us, both finally united not out of necessity or crisis.

But out of genuine, chosen brotherhood, working toward something neither of us could have managed nearly as well alone.