Ch. my pack erased me, the lycan king didn’t 10 my pack erased me, the lycan king didn’t 10

Chapter 10 

Kael cleared the chamber. 

Everyone except Silas, his Beta, who stood by the door like a wall. 

“Sit down, Sienna.” 

“I’d rather stand.” 

“Sit down anyway.” 

+45 Coins 

I sat. 

“Your father came to this Hall nine days ago,” Kael said. “He walked in alone and he begged. Gideon Ashford hasn’t asked anyone for anything in thirty years.” 

“I don’t care.” 

“You should. Because he told me why.” 

Silas set a small wooden box on the table and opened it. 

A photograph in a cracked silver frame. A young woman, maybe twenty. Black hair to her waist. My chin. My 

eyebrows. 

My eyes. Silver at the edges. 

“Rose Ashford,” Kael said. “Your father was nine when she was taken.” 

“She’s in the silver mine at Hollow Ridge.” 

“Yes. You gave her peace last week without knowing whose grave you were standing on.” 

Then he told me the rest. 

In 1983, my grandfather made a blood pact with Lord Anton Morrow to end a war he was losing. The price was written in the old way, in blood, the kind of contract no wolf can break. 

The Ashford line owes the Morrow line a daughter. The Alpha’s most treasured one. 

“Moon–blessed wolves are rare,” Kael said. “One in a generation. Their blood keeps a vampire young for a century. Rose 

ran. You know how that ended.” 

Chapter 10 

“But the pact didn’t,” I whispered. 

+45 Coins 

“Anton’s son Casimir rules the coven now. He’s patient. He’s cruel. And he’s been waiting forty years for another 

silver–eyed Ashford girl to grow up.” 

My mouth went dry. “When?” 

“The night of your Mating Ceremony. A single white rose was left on your father’s chair with a card. Congratulations on your treasure. I’ll be collecting soon.” 

I stopped breathing. 

“Nine months before that, your father caught a guard in his own house selling secrets to the Morrows. He never 

learned how many others they’d bought. So that night, he made a decision.” 

“Make me worthless,” I said. My voice sounded far away. 

“Make you look worthless. To every eye. Every ear. Every mind on the pack link. A blood pact only binds a treasured daughter. If the whole world saw that the Alpha didn’t care about you, the pact couldn’t touch you.” 

“So they cut me from the link.” 

“Because Casimir had spies in it. And they never told you why, because a girl who knows she’s being hunted acts like prey. The Morrows would have smelled it in a week.” 

“And Logan?” 

Kael’s mouth twisted. “That was his own greed. He’d already chosen a richer pack’s daughter. Your father let it stand. Because a rejected daughter is the most worthless daughter of all.” 

I couldn’t breathe for a second. 

“One sentence,” I said, and my voice cracked down the middle for the first time in a year. “They could have said one sentence. Sienna, we love you, we’re protecting you, be patient. One.” 

“Yes,” Kael said quietly. “They could have. They were wrong. It cost them their daughter. And your father knows it.” 

“The flowers,” I said. “The lake lodge. The binders.” 

“A party,” Silas said from the door, almost gently. “Your father was one week from breaking the pact for good. The lodge was where they were going to tell you everything. Your mother planned it for eleven months. You left eight days 

before.” 

Chapter 10 

I put my face in my hands and let it hurt for four seconds. 

Then I sat up. 

“None of that matters right now. A vampire got into this Hall. Someone let it in.” 

Kael’s face changed. 

+45 Coins 

“Four recruits were thrown out six months ago. Shamed. Nothing left to sell but information. One of them looked at me like he wanted me dead.” 

“Brock Danner,” Kael said. 

“Who does the Danner pack owe blood money to?” 

Silas answered before Kael could. 

“The Morrows.” 

The door slammed open. 

A guard stood there white as snow, a phone shaking in his hand. 

“Your Majesty. Miss Ashford. It’s the north.” He looked at me. “Your family was ambushed on the border road an hour 

ago. Two of your brothers are with the healers. They may not make it.” 

I stood so fast my chair hit the wall. 

“And your mother,” he whispered. “Your mother is gone.”