Chapter 22 Everything Falls #2
“No.” Elena's hand slammed down on the table, making the photographs jump. “We do what we should have done a century ago. We finish it. We find Silas and we destroy him, along with everyone who's helped him. Including the protégé. Including whatever's left of his coven.”
“And how do you propose we do that?” I demanded. “You just said the Council is broken. That you don't have resources to fight this.”
“We don't.” Marcus turned back to the window, stared at the too-still forest. “But you do.”
“Hollow Pines sits on one of the oldest ward networks on the continent,” Elena said. “The Evernight Forest has power that other territories can only dream about. If Silas corrupts that completely, if he gets control of the heart—”
“He'll have access to magic that could devastate every pack from here to Mexico.” I finished the sentence, because I'd already thought it. Already laid awake at night imagining what would happen if the wards failed completely. “I know.”
“Then you know what has to be done.” Marcus didn't turn from the window. “You're Head Alpha. You have authority over every pack on this continent. Use it.”
“Use it how?”
“Call a gathering.” Elena's voice went sharp. “Every Alpha, every Beta, every wolf who can hold a weapon. Bring them to Evernight. Make a stand against Silas on his own ground, with enough force to overwhelm whatever army he's built.”
“That's suicide.” I couldn't keep the disbelief out of my voice. “Pulling every wolf to one location. If Silas hits multiple territories while we're gathered—”
“The territories are already falling.” Marcus finally turned, and I saw desperation underneath the rage in his eyes.
“One by one, pack by pack. He's picking us off because we're scattered, because we can't coordinate, because we're too afraid of looking weak to admit we need help.” His voice cracked.
“My pack is gone, Daniel. My mate. My wolves.
Everyone I was supposed to protect. And I'm standing here asking you to do what I couldn't. To be the Head Alpha we need you to be.”
The grief in his voice was raw. Devastating. The kind of loss that left scars no amount of time could heal.
“I'm sorry.” The words felt inadequate. Pathetically small against the weight of everything he'd lost. “Marcus, I'm sorry for what happened to your pack. But calling a gathering now, when we don't know who the protégé is, when the corruption is still spreading—”
“Then find the protégé.” Elena's voice cut through my protest. “You have a witch in your territory, don't you? Gideon Ward. He's been working the wards, fighting the corruption. Put him to use. Make him find whoever's feeding Silas information.”
“Gideon is doing everything he can—”
“Is he?” Marcus stepped closer, and I could feel his wolf pressing against his skin. The challenge that wanted to become something physical. “Because it looks like someone's been playing you for a fool while wolves across the continent died for your pack’s sins.”
I felt my own wolf rise in response. The instinct to meet challenge with challenge, to prove dominance through blood and pain. But I forced it down. Forced myself to stay human. To think instead of react.
“You want someone to blame.” I kept my voice level.
“I understand that. When everything falls apart, when the people you love die, you need someone to point at and say 'this is their fault.
' But blaming my pack for a witch's hundred-year revenge doesn't bring back the Alphas who died.
Doesn't rebuild the territories that fell.
Doesn't stop Silas from killing more wolves tomorrow.”
“Then what does?” Elena demanded.
“Information. Strategy. Cooperation instead of accusation.” I moved to the table, looked at the maps and reports she'd spread out. “Tell me everything you know about Silas's movements. About the attacks. About any patterns that might help us predict where he'll strike next.”
For a long moment, neither of them moved. The tension in the room pressed against my skin like physical weight, and I could feel them measuring me. Weighing whether I was worth trusting. Whether the Head Alpha who'd let this happen could also be the one to stop it.
“There's something else,” Marcus said finally. “About your pack. The humans you've entangled yourself with.”
I went very still.
“Your son's mate. Nate. Human turned druid, bound to a wolf through magic no one fully understands.” His eyes tracked my face, looking for weakness. “And now you're involved with his father. Another human. One who's developing powers that shouldn't exist.”
“That's none of the Council's business.”
“It becomes our business when your choices affect other territories.” Elena's voice was sharp. “If Silas is targeting you because of these entanglements, if the corruption in your wards is tied to humans who don't understand what they're dealing with—”
“The humans in my territory have nothing to do with Silas.” I let the authority bleed into my voice.
The tone that reminded them who they were talking to.
“Nate was transformed by the forest itself, through magic that predates pack bonds.
Neither of them is responsible for a witch's century-old vendetta.”
Elena was quiet for a long moment. Then she moved to a desk in the corner, pulled out a thin folder.
“Everything we know about the attacks,” she said. “Which isn't much. There are patterns. Corrupted wolves showing up at territorial boundaries. Wards failing in ways that suggest insider knowledge. Attacks timed to when Alphas are away from their packs.”
I opened the folder, scanned the contents. Reports from packs that had been hit. Speculation about magical signatures. Notes about timing and coordination.
Nothing about Rafe specifically, though the description of attack patterns made my chest tight.
“One more thing,” Elena said. “Whatever he's doing, however he's building power, the magic that used to contain him doesn't work anymore.”
“Why not?”
“We don't know. But Daniel—” She met my eyes, and I saw genuine fear there. “There's something in the Evernight Forest. Something that's been sleeping for generations. The old Alphas sealed it away for a reason. If Silas breaks those seals—”
“What happens?”
“We don't know.” Marcus's voice was grim. “But the stories our grandfathers told. Power that predates pack bonds. Magic that answers to rules we don't understand.” He paused. “Do not wake what sleeps, Daniel. Whatever else you do, don't let him wake what sleeps.”
My phone rang.
The sound cut through the tension like a knife, and I pulled it out expecting Evan with an update on patrol rotations. A report on the ward status. Something normal, something manageable, something that wouldn't make the world tilt sideways for the second time today.
Gideon's name lit up the screen.
“I have to take this.” I didn't wait for permission before answering. “Gideon. What—”
“Daniel.” His voice was tight. Controlled. The kind of control that meant he was barely holding panic at bay. “You need to come back. Now.”
Ice flooded my veins. “What happened?”
“It's Michael.”
Two words. Just two words, and my heart stopped beating.
“He's hurt. Badly. Corrupted wolves attacked him in the eastern clearing. Alaric got him out, but Daniel—” Gideon's voice cracked. “He's bleeding and we can't stop it. The corruption is in the wounds, spreading faster than I can contain it. If you can't get back here in time—”
“How bad?” My voice came out flat. Distant. Like someone else was asking the question while I stood outside my body, watching everything fall apart.
“Bad enough that I don't know if he'll survive if you don’t get here fast.” Gideon paused, and I heard fear in his silence. “He needs you.”
The world tilted.
Everything else. The Council. The politics. The accusations about Silas and protégés and hundred-year revenge. All of it became background noise against the roar of terror flooding through my system.
Michael. Hurt. Bleeding. Dying.
Mine.
“I'm coming.” I was already moving toward the door, documentation forgotten on the table. “Keep him alive, Gideon. Do whatever you have to do. Use every trick you know, every spell you've been hiding. But keep him alive until I get there.”
“I'll try. But Daniel—” He paused. “Hurry.”
The line went dead.
I turned to Elena and Marcus, saw them watching me with expressions that said they'd heard enough to understand. Head Alpha, abandoning a Council meeting to chase after a human. Putting one man ahead of the needs of an entire continent.
“I have to go.”
“Daniel—” Elena started.
“Michael is dying.” The words came out harsh.
Raw. “The man I love is dying because corrupted wolves attacked him in my territory, and I wasn't there to protect him.
So whatever else you have to say, whatever accusations you want to make about Evernight and hundred-year revenge and humans who shouldn't be entangled with wolves, it can wait.”
“And the Council?” Marcus asked quietly. “The territories that need leadership? The wolves who are looking to you for guidance?”
“Will still be here when I get back.” I met his eyes, let him see the Alpha who'd held this position for two decades.
Who'd made hard choices and carried impossible weights and never once broken under the pressure.
“But if Michael dies while I'm sitting here playing politics, then I'm not the Alpha you need anyway.”
I left before they could respond.
Took the stairs down three at a time, hit the parking area at a run, and threw myself into the truck with hands that shook so badly I could barely find the ignition.
Hold on, I thought, pushing the thought through space and time like it could somehow reach him. Hold on, Michael. I'm coming.
The road stretched ahead, empty and endless, and I drove toward the only thing that mattered.
Toward home.
Toward him.