Ch. my pack erased me, the lycan king didn’t 7 my pack erased me, the lycan king didn’t 7

Chapter 7 

“Miss Wilde,” Kael said, loud and cold. “Is there a problem?” 

He gave me my fake name back in front of eight Alphas. On purpose. Like a hand on my back. 

“No, sir. Just an old acquaintance.” 

Logan took a step toward me. 

“Sienna, you look-” 

+45 Coins 

“Careful,” I said. “You’re about to compliment the King’s Head Warden in front of the King while your father’s Beta watches. It’s going to sound like begging.” 

Somebody coughed to hide a laugh. 

Logan’s jaw tightened. His eyes flicked once to his Beta. Once to the floor. Then back to me, soft and wet and practiced. 

I knew that look. He wore it every time he wanted something. 

“I made a mistake,” he said, low. “The bond is still there. I can feel it. Can’t you?” 

And behind him, his Beta leaned toward another wolf and whispered, just loud enough for someone who’d spent a year listening at doors: 

“Ashford lost the northern treaty. If the boy takes her back, their whole territory folds into ours.” 

A year of silence. And he was doing math. 

“You didn’t make a mistake,” I said. “You made a trade. That’s not the same thing. And it isn’t my problem.” 

I turned. 

“Sir, could someone show the Crescent Moon delegation to the east wing? They’re blocking my morning.” 

“East wing,” Kael said, without hesitating. 

I walked past Logan without looking at him. 

The best three seconds of my life. 

When the doors closed, Kael slid a thick file across the table. 

Chapter 7 

+45 Coins 

“Since you’re in a productive mood. The Greer and Holloway packs. Hollow Ridge, the old silver mine on their shared border. Two years of fighting. Four failed treaties. Three wolves dead last month. Next month it’ll be thirty.” 

Old Alpha Holloway stared at his hands. 

“We sent our best Wardens twice,” someone said. “Neither side will talk,” 

“How long has the mine been closed?” I asked. 

Silence. 

“Second question. What reason did either pack give for wanting it?” 

Eight wolves looked at each other. 

Kael flipped through the file slowly. 

“No reason recorded,” he said quietly. “In two years, nobody asked.” 

“May I take a swing at it, sir?” 

He put the file in my hands without a word. And eight Alphas understood exactly what that meant. 

He caught me in the hallway afterward. 

Up close, Kael Draven is honestly unfair. The scar. The gray eyes. The way he never needs to raise his voice because 

the whole world lowers its own. 

“You struck a senior Warden in front of my Council,” he said. 

“Are you writing me up?” 

“I’m asking if your hand is okay.” 

I looked down. My knuckles were split and bleeding. I hadn’t even noticed. 

He took a handkerchief from his pocket, took my hand, and wrapped it himself. Slowly. Like I was something that 

could break. 

Where his fingers touched my wrist, my skin went warm. Then hot. Little sparks, racing up my arm. 

I’d felt sparks once before. On the worst night of my life. 

I pulled my hand back so fast he blinked. 

Chapter 7 

+45 Coins 

“Sienna,” he said. My real name. For the first time. “Whoever taught you to stop noticing when you’re hurt did a very 

good job.” 

“My family,” I said. “They’re very thorough.” 

We drove to Hollow Ridge that afternoon. Me, Maya, Jonah, and four more of my Wardens. 

Jonah looked up from his laptop. 

“Boss. The mine’s been sealed since 1983. Both packs own it jointly. And it’s lined with pure silver. No wolf can scent through silver. Whatever’s down there, nobody’s smelled it in forty years.” 

Something cold walked down the back of my neck. 

“What happened in 1983?” 

“That’s the weird part,” Maya said. “Both packs‘ Chronicles have that whole year torn out.” 

I thought of a ripped page in my father’s vault. A single letter. R. 

We arrived at sunset. 

Sixty wolves. Thirty on each side of the mine entrance. Half of them already shifted, hackles raised, teeth bare. 

Two old Alphas glaring at each other across forty feet of frozen rock. 

I got out of the car, walked straight into the middle of it alone, and listened to sixty growls rise at once. 

“Gentlemen,” I said. “Two questions. Then you can all go home to dinner.” 

Chapter 8