After My Alpha Marked Another, I Took Everything Chapter 10

After My Alpha Marked Another, I Took Everything Chapter 10

I held Callan’s letter in one hand and walked to his study–my study now–with Aldric and Nicolas behind me. The envelope felt heavier than it should have Not because of what it contained, but because of what Callan believed it would buy him

I sat at the desk and pulled out the confession Three pages Handwritten Signed by someone named Davan Marsh The script was rough, uneven, the kind of writing that came from a man who didn’t do it often.

I read it once Then I set it aside and opened the bottom drawer of Callan’s desk

The ledgers were still there. I had found them two weeks ago while sorting through his territorial acquisition records Meticulous Obsessive Every border

expansion, every treaty, every payment documented in Callan’s own hand.

I pulled the ledger from his early expansion years and flipped to the entries from five years ago. My finger traced down the page until I found it

A payment notation No name attached. Just an amount and a date.

I compared it to the confession. The date matched. The amount matched the sum Davan Marsh claimed he’d been paid.

I kept reading.

Two entries below the payment, there was a supplier notation Wolfsbane concentrate. Purchased from a border trader whose name I recognized–a man who’d been exiled from Ironvale three years ago for selling poisoned goods.

I pulled the confession closer and read Davan’s description of the attack. The patrol route. The timing. The location.

I opened a third document–Thomas’s border patrol logs, which I’d retrieved from the pack archives after his death. His route that night was documented

in his own handwriting

It matched Davan’s confession exactly.

Callan’s ledger Davan’s confession. Thomas’s patrol log. The wolfsbane supplier.

Every piece fit

I sat back in the chair My hands were steady. My breathing was even. Inside my chest, Sera was silent–not absent, just waiting

Aldric stepped closer He looked at the documents spread across the desk. His face did not change

“He gave you the thread, Aldric said quietly

“Yes, I said

Nicolas moved to the desk’s edge He scanned the ledger, the confession, the patrol log. His jaw lightened

‘He doesn’t know, Nicolas said

‘No, I agreed ‘He thinks this is leverage He thinks I need this confession badly enough to negotiate

I picked up the carved wooden wolf from where I’d set it on the desk corner Thomas had made it for me when I was sixteen A small wolf mid stride its head turned slightly as if listening

I closed my fingers around it

“He killed my father,” I said. My voice was calm. Flat He sold the patrol route. He provided the wolfsbane. He ensured Thomas couldn’t shift Couldn’t heal. Couldn’t survive

I looked up at Aldric.

“And then he attended the funeral,” I said ‘He stood beside me. He put his hand on my shoulder and told me the rogues would be found He let me thank him for the flowers

Aldric’s expression did not change But his hands, resting on the back of the chair across from me, tightened until his knuckles went white

“We follow the thread,” he said

Yes, I said “We do

I left the pack house at dusk.

I did not tell anyone where I was going. I simply walked to my car, set the wooden wolf on the passenger seat, and drove north

The border cabin sat exactly where I’d left it five years ago. Small. Weathered. The porch steps sagging slightly on one side

I parked and sat in the car for a long moment, looking at the structure through the windshield. The last time I’d been here, Thomas was alive. The last time I’d walked through that door, I’d believed Callan loved me

I got out of the car I walked to the porch. I sat on the top step.

The wooden wolf was still in my hand. I turned it over slowly, feeling the grain of the wood, the small imperfections where Thomas’s knife had slipped

I pressed it against the bond–mark on my neck. The mark was cold now. Dead. It had been cold since the rejection.

Inside my chest, Sera stirred.

“He would be proud of you,” she said quietly.

I did not answer I just sat there, holding the wolf, watching the sun drop below the tree line

I woke to footsteps on gravel

The sky was pale gray Dawn I had fallen asleep on the porch step, my back against the post, the wooden wolf still in my hand

Nicolas walked up the path from the road He was alone No guard No formal delegation Just him

He stopped at the bottom of the porch steps He looked at me. He did not ask why I was here He did not ask if I was all right

He just climbed the steps and sat beside me

We sat in silence. The sun rose slowly, turning the sky from gray to gold

Finally, I spoke

“He died on his own land; I said My voice was rough from sleep And I thanked Callan for the funeral flowers

Nicolas was quiet for a moment

Then he said, “He raised someone who is going to make sure Callan answers for it

I looked at him His face was calm Serious He meant it

I turned back to the sunrise

I did not cry But something inside me–something that had been held rigid for five years–loosened just slightly

Nicolas stayed beside me until the sun was fully up. Then he stood

“When you’re ready” he said, ‘your father is waiting

I nodded

He walked back down the path I watched him go. Then I stood, walked inside the cabin, and set the wooden wolf on the windowsill where Thomas used

to keep it

I drove back to Ironvale

Aldric received me in the council chamber It was just the two of us. I set the evidence package on the table between us Callan’s ledger Davan Marsh’s confession. The wolfsbane supplier records. Thomas’s patrol log.

Aldric picked up the ledger first. He read it slowly. His face was perfectly still.

He set it down He picked up the confession. Read it. Set it down.

He reviewed the supplier records. The patrol log.

Then he sat back in his chair

His jaw tightened once. Just once. It was the only visible reaction.

“This is complete,” he said quietly

I nodded

Aldric looked at me. His eyes–pale silver, identical to mine–held steady.

“Lycan Court tribunal,” he said ‘Formal charges Blood crime Premeditated murder of a territorial guardian

He paused

“The sentence,” he said, ‘will be permanent wolf dormancy and territory forfeiture Minimum If the tribunal finds intent to conceal, it escalates to

execution

I met his gaze

‘I want him to live,” I said

Aldric’s eyebrow lifted slightly

“I want him to live, I repeated, without his wolf Without his pack Without his power I want him to feel every single day what he took from ine

Aldric studied me for a long moment

Then he nodded

“The tribunal convenes in three days,” he said

That evening, Shadowcrest royal guard arrived at Callan’s residence I was not present I did not need to be

Petra brought me the report an hour later

Callan had been taken into custody Chain–bound. His wolf was silent His aura was gone

He did not resist

He had nothing left to resist with