spanng="EN"Holden’s POV

    spanng="EN"The testimony was hard to watch. Tiffany was losing it, and she refused to see that Ana was right in doing this. I was the one who was actually forgotten when Tiffany was born. They adored her, as did the Caldwells. They spoiled her so much. Ana was loved from the moment she arrived, but they still got Tiffany something every time they got something for Ana. Tiffany just has a selective memory with this. She was the one that they doted on the most, not Ana. But clearly she didn’t think that was the case.

    spanng="EN"Or maybe she just wanted all their attention, and none for Ana. Which was a possibility as well. Tiffany was at pick me from before anyone even knew what that was. Our parents shouldn’t have encouraged it like they did. I nced over at them, and I could see the pain on their faces. I can see that they are now both realizing that they enabled her too much. They’re the reason she went this far, and they felt sick about it. Tiffany’s sudden  outburst didn’t help matters.

    The full moon rose over ckwood Forest, casting its silver glow on the silent trees. Elena’s heart pounded as she clutched the silver dagger in her hand. She had been warned—many times—never to betray the pack. But ambition had whispered louder than loyalty, and now, her choice could not be undone.

    Weeks earlier, Elena had struck a secret deal with hunters. If she revealed the pack’s hiding ce, they promised her freedom from the curse and a new life among humans. She thought she was clever. She thought she was strong enough to outsmart both wolves and men.

    But betrayal has a way of circling back.

    The hunters had lied. Instead of releasing her, they had chained her, forcing her to watch as they set traps for her family—the wolves she had once run with,ughed with, bled with. One by one, she heard their howls turn into screams, echoing through the forest.

    When the chains finally broke loose, Elena ran. Her wolf side tore through the woods, desperate to save what remained. She found them—her Alpha lying lifeless, her pack scattered, their blood staining the earth.

    Her knees buckled. The dagger slipped from her hand.

    In the distance, the hunters retreated, their workplete. And Elena was left in the ruins of what she had destroyed with her own greed.

    A low growl rose in her throat, but it was drowned by the crushing weight of guilt. She shifted back, tears streaming down her human face. She wanted to scream, to beg, to undo it all.

    But no one was left to hear her.

    And in that moment, Elena realized the cruel truth of her choice:

    spanng="EN"It was toote to regret.

    The night was unnaturally quiet in ckwood Forest. Not a single owl hooted, not a leaf stirred. The silence pressed down on Elena’s chest like a warning—but she ignored it. She tightened the cloak around her shoulders and walked faster, clutching the pouch of coins the hunters had given her.

    “This is it,” she whispered to herself. “My way out.”

    For years she had served the pack—fighting, hunting, enduring the endless bloodshed that came with being a wolf. But deep inside, Elena had always wanted more. Freedom. A life without the curse. The hunters promised her exactly that. All she had to do was betray her Alpha’s trust.

    She told herself it was fair. She told herself she had no choice.

    But when the hunters’ traps snapped shut around her pack that night, Elena’s chest tightened with something far heavier than fear. She heard the Alpha’s roar, full of pain and disbelief. She smelled the blood of wolves she had grown up with, staining the earth.

    The pouch of coins slipped from her fingers, spilling into the mud.

    “What have I done?” she whispered, but her voice was lost in the chaos.

    When the moon reached its peak, Elena realized there was no turning back. She had delivered her family into the hands of their enemies. And the hunters—smiling in the shadows—had no intention of keeping their promises.

    Her heart shattered with the truth:

    It was already toote to regret.

    Yes. For those that the hotel can’t room we will have them here. We should be able to make room,” Exined Colt.

    “Sloane we need to get busy preparing everything,” I told her.

    “Mathew, Melissa I am going to need your help with figuring out the best way to approach this with the Alphas,” Colt said.

    “Not a problem,” My dad said.

    “Does anyone else have any thoughts on anything?” Colt asked.

    “I’m sure there will be as we n this,” Mac said.

    “Why don’t we call it a day and Mathew and Melissa we can meet tomorrow and get started.”

    “Sloane we can start tomorrow as well. Noon my office.”

    “Sounds good,” Sloane said as we got up to leave. It wasn’t even dinner time but I was exhausted and could really use a nap.

    We walked upstairs to our room where Iid Callen down and took my pants off and crawled under the covers.

    “Princess, are you tired?”

    “Exhausted, want to join me for a nap?”

    “Yes!”

    He took his pants off and his shirt and quickly crawled into bed and pulled me to him. It didn’t take long for both of us to be sound asleep. I don’t know how long we had slept, not nearly long enough when Callen started crying. I groaned and started to get up.

    “Sleep princess, I know you are still recovering. I will take care of him,” he said and got out of bed.

    This man was literally a godsend to me. He really took care of me and Callen and did it withoutints.

    “Thank you, love,” I told him rolling back over and going right back to sleep.

    When I woke up from my nap I got out of bed and walked out to the living room and found that he had fallen back asleep holding Callen on the couch who was awake but seemed content right now. Since he was not fussing right now I was going to take this chance and get in the bath. I quietly slipped into the bathroom shutting the door as softly as I could. I turned the water on and filled the bathtub.

    “How are you girls holding up?” I linked my wolves. They have been quiet since having Callen.

    “We are good. We just wanted to give you time with your mate and our beautiful pup,” Jade linked back.

    “He is beautiful isn’t he,” Storm said.

    “I sure think he is,” I told them both.

    “We could go for a run, however. It’s been a long time since we’ve been out and we can now,” Jade said.

    “Yes, I will see if maybe my dad and Melissa want to watch him for an hour or two so you girls can get out,” I told them.

    “Oh yes please we need it,” Storm said.

    “Hey, dad would you and Melissa be willing to watch Callen for like two hours so my wolves can run? It’s been a while since they were able to get out.” I mind-linked him.

    “I would love to watch my grandson. You never have to ask we will always watch him,” he linked back.

    “Thank you, it will be after dinner.”

    “We will see you then.”

    I cut my link with him and just enjoyed the hot water. I had added some bubble bath and I had bubbles going over the edge but I didn’t care. I would deal with the messter. Iid back and just closed my eyes. I didn’t hear Colt open the door.

    “What are you doing in here?” He asked and tried to refrain fromughing.

    “Taking the most amazing bath of my life,” I told him without even opening my eyes.

    “Looks like it, do you want somepany?” he asked.

    I turned the shower on and stripped out of my nasty pajamas. I felt like a milk cow that was failing at her job. I was struggling to nurse him and am not sure why.

    “Lex, you are doing an amazing job. Our pup is doing amazing. Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Jade linked me.

    “I know. I just didn’t know how hard being a mom is,” I linked back.

    “Well, you are the best mom ever,” Storm linked to me.

    They sure knew how to make me feel better. I cut my link and stepped under the hot water and it felt amazing but I didn’t have a lot of time. I washed quickly and got out. I rushed to get dressed and ran a brush through my hair. I walked out into the pur living room and found Colt singing to our son and it was really the sweetest thing.

    “Are you boys ready?” I asked.

    “Yes, Princess we are.”

    We headed down to his office. We were meeting with my dad and Melissa and Mac and Liam. We were going to discuss what we all thought was the right way to approach the council.

    As soon as my dad walked in he came over and took Callen from me. He took any chance he could get to hold him. He was the best grandpa ever.

    We all sat down and Melissa pulled out a bunch of papers and some books.

    “Ok we need toe up with a n to approach the council,” Colter said.

    “This could be hard. We are going to need more on our side than just us,” My dad said.

    “Ya but how are we going to do that, most people don’t even know you exist,” I said.

    “Then we tell them. We teach them about the history they never learned,” Melissa said.

    “Again how do we teach them that?” I asked.

    “Well we need to get them all in one location,” Melissa said.

    “That’s easier said than done,” Colt said sounding frustrated.

    “Do we know how many packs were talking about?” I asked.

    “A couple hundred if not more and that’s just the states,” Colted said.

    “What if we held an Alphas meeting and invited them for a meeting and a ball and have the council show up the day after the meeting and anyone who is with us can attend the meeting with the council and the third day we can hold a ball,” I suggested.

    “That’s a great idea but where do we hold this? We can’t house that many people,” Colt said.

    “The hotel in town can,” Mac said.

    “This may work,” My dad said.

    “We have to see how many the hotel can amodate and we need to see how big of meeting rooms they have. We will also have to provide daycare for those with young pups.” Colt said.

    “We can do all of that,” I said and just as I finished Callen started to fuss. I am sure he is hungry.

    I walked over to my dad and took him. I walked over to the couch and sat down to feed him. I covered myself and hetched on and it had tears in my eyes. It was like this every time and I had yet to figure out why. Colt looked over at me and I could see the sympathy in his eyes.

    “Why don’t break for a bit ande back in an hour,” He said.

    Sloane looked back at me and saw me crying and was at my side.

    “Lex, what’s wrong?” She asked me.

    “How did you get past the pain of nursing?”