They Cut Out My Wolf. My Father Hunts Wolves. Chapter 08

They Cut Out My Wolf. My Father Hunts Wolves. Chapter 08

Kael’s grin faltered.

“What is that?”

“It’s a Warden’s seal,” I said. “Do you know what a Warden actually does, Kael? Six years and you never asked once.”

He said nothing.

“We gather evidence,” I said. “For tribunals. Under law, every word a Warden witnesses has to be recorded under sea or it’s not admissible. It’s the whole reason the Armistice holds.” I let that sit. “It has been recording since eight o’clock last

night.”

I watched the color leave his face in stages, like a tide going out.

“Every word Cassian said about the ninety–day re–binding clause,” I said. “Every word Margit said while she was cutting. Every word Elara said while she was putting your wolf’s claws into your son. You calling me dull while I bled into a gutter someone carved into a rock.”

“You-” Kael’s mouth worked. “There’s no signal in this valley. I built the shielding myself-”

“You did,” I agreed. “And it was excellent. Right up until my father took the east wall out at 3:09 this morning.”

I turned my phone around.

The Concord’s private network was open on it, and under that, split–screen, the human feeds – because the world got very small this decade, and Thornfell Holdings went public on a human exchange two years ago, and forty million people

had opinions.

The top of the trending list was glowing red.

#Thornfell Tapes

#TheRenderingStone

#WholsVesper

Three point one million views. Then three point four while he watched.

Elara made a small noise, like a balloon losing air.

“I started reading the comments about an hour ago,” I said pleasantly. “Would you like some?”

I scrolled.

“he cut the wolf out of his PREGNANT WIFE to give it to his assistant. i’ve read the transcript four times. i’m going to be sick.”

“the part where she says the pup hasn’t moved since one am. i had to put my phone down and walk around my kitchen.”

“WAIT. Thornfell’s founding capital. Where does a broke 26yo Alpha get thirty million in raw silver in 2017?? SOMEBODY

PULL THE LAND RECORDS”

the assistant is on tape saying “nobody’s giving it back.” she is ON TAPE.”

“vesper if you ever see this we are all your family now”

Elara’s knees hit the flagstones.

“That’s edited,” she whispered. “That’s faked, people do that, they can do anything now-”

“You know it isn’t.” I looked at her. “Forty seconds before you told me you never meant to fall in love with him, you told me you’d been practicing with my wolf’s claws. The internet is very good with timelines, Elara.”

I turned back to Kael.

“And I didn’t only post it,” I said. “The sealed original went to the Concord at 3:11. To the human prosecutors at 3:12. And to every partner in your directory, alphabetically, because I had the time.”

Kael fumbled out his phone with shaking hands.

The screen was a wall of red. Missed calls. Emergency board notices. Withdrawals stacking faster than he could scroll.

I watched his mouth move as he read.

“Marrow Creek,” he whispered. “The Ridgeline alliance – the bank-”

His legs folded and he sat down in my blood on the floor of the Hollow he’d built to hide me in.

“No,” he said. “No, no, this isn’t- my pack-”

Then his head came up, and something desperate and mean crawled back into his eyes.

“It won’t hold,” he said. “A trend dies in a day. Thornfell’s foundations are solid. Delete it, apologize, and I’ll pretend tonight never happened.”

Elara grabbed that rope with both hands. “Yes – Vesper, you love him, you’ve always loved him, take it down and he’ll save your baby-”

I laughed until my ribs screamed.

“You poor, small man,” I said. “Do you honestly think a hashtag is what I did to you tonight?”

The door banged open.

Cassian Roe came through it on his hands and knees, white to the lips, phone clutched in his fist.

“Alpha,” he gasped. “Alpha, the Armistice-”

Kael went still. “What about it.”

“They’ve read the clause out on the Concord floor,” Cassian said. “Thornfell’s protection is revoked. As of 4 a.m.

this valley is open range.”