Ch. my pack erased me, the lycan king didn’t 5 my pack erased me, the lycan king didn’t 5

Chapter 5 

The next morning, I made myself ask him. 

“Why did you let me in?” 

+45 Coins 

Kael Draven stood at the tall window of his study, looking at the mountains like they’d personally disappointed him. Whatever had happened to his eyes yesterday was gone. Cool gray again. 

“Because you were the best,” he said. “And because nobody in this Hall has ever been underestimated as badly as you. 

That’s useful.” 

“That’s it?” 

“That’s it.” He picked up his jacket. “Don’t make me regret it, Miss Wilde.” 

My fake name. On purpose. A secret kept. A door he’d decided not to open. 

Nobody had kept anything for me in a year. 

I didn’t cry until I was alone. 

They gave me eight Wardens and an office in the north tower. I read their files until three in the morning, but I didn’t 

need them. I’d watched these wolves for two weeks. 

At eight a.m., I stood in front of them. 

“Maya, you already picked your partner,” I said. “Say it out loud and you’re on patrol duty for a month.” 

Maya shut her mouth. 

“You’re not choosing friends. You’re choosing the wolf who keeps you alive. Every one of you has a weakness. I paired 

you with the wolf who covers it.” 

Nobody argued once I explained. Nothing shuts people up faster than being seen clearly for the first time in their lives. 

Maya found me afterward. Twenty–four, sharp as a claw, from a Boston pack that had written her off for choosing a 

career over a mate. 

“You put me with Jonah because you trust me?” 

“I put you with Jonah because you’re the only one who notices when he’s lying to himself.” 

She stood a little straighter. “We won’t let you down, Boss.” 

Chapter 5 

I keep that sentence in my pocket on bad days. 

Six months went by like a thrown knife. 

+45 Coins 

We settled a hunting–ground fight in Oregon. A stolen–pup accusation in Idaho. A border war in Colorado that was three days from going bloody. No bodies. 

And I learned something about myself. 

A year of being ignored had made me the most dangerous wolf in any room. I could read a face like a menu. I knew 

when an Alpha was bluffing because his thumb moved. I knew when a guard was afraid because his scent turned 

sour. I remembered every word anyone said to me. Forever. 

My family spent a year teaching me how to disappear. 

It turned out to be perfect training. 

The King watched me work from across rooms. Never said much. But once, after I closed a case in under an hour, he 

left a coffee on my desk with far too much sugar in it. 

Exactly how I take it. 

I never told him how I take it. 

“You’re staring at the cup,” Maya said from the doorway. 

“I’m not.” 

“You’re staring at it like it proposed.” 

I threw a pen at her. 

Every Alpha on the Council still thought S. Wilde was a man. Kael never corrected them. My reports went out signed S. Wilde, and the Alphas called me “him” and “the kid” and “the King’s new boy genius.” 

I let them. It was funny. 

Until the Friday Maya came back from the kitchens shaking so hard she dropped her plate. 

Maya doesn’t shake. Maya once talked a rogue out of a killing by insulting his haircut. 

Jonah was on his feet in half a second. Between her breathing and her swearing, I got the story in pieces. 

Garrett Crane. Senior Warden. Twelve years in the Hall. His uncle sits on the Council. 

Chapter 5 

+45 Coins 

He’d cornered her in the hallway outside the kitchens with two of his men. Told her exactly what he wanted. Which 

room. Which hour. 

When she said no, he smiled. 

“Then on Monday I’ll report that you leaked a case. You’ll be stripped and sent home in disgrace. And your little boy 

genius won’t be able to save you.” 

The room went very, very quiet. 

I set my coffee down. 

“How many female wolves have left the Wardens in the last ten years?” 

Jonah was already typing. His face went gray. 

“Eleven,” he said. “Nine of them after a report from Garrett Crane.” 

Nine women. Nine careers. Nine packs that probably stopped speaking to them afterward, the way mine stopped 

speaking to me. 

I stood up. 

“Monday,” I said, “is my first seat at the Council.” 

“Boss,” Maya whispered. “What are you going to do?” 

I thought about three hundred wolves watching me fall to my knees while nobody moved. 

“Something,” I said. “I’m going to do something.”