The silence in Alpha Lucian's study stretched—thick, heavy, suffocating—before he finally moved. He pushed back from his desk, the scrape of the oak chair against the stone floor echoing like a warning. His eyes, still sharp as tempered steel, held something Harvey couldn't quite decipher. Not anger. Not yet. Something older. Weariness. Pride. And the kind of restraint that only came from a lifetime of carrying a pack on his shoulders.
"Were I the one who sent those attackers, Beta Harvey…" Lucian's voice was low, measured, each word carved with precision, "do you truly believe I would have gone to such lengths to bring her here? To offer sanctuary in my own home—one that now carries the scent of a Siberian?"
He stepped around the desk with deliberate calm, his gaze never wavering.
"If my intent were her suffering or her death, I would not have dispatched my most trusted Beta to retrieve her. I would not have prepared a house, stocked with every comfort, for a woman I wished ill upon."
Lucian paused. His jaw tightened; the faintest tremor of restraint passed through him.
"My pack is dying, Harvey. Children waste away, warriors grow weak, and the spirit of Stone Haven shrivels more with each passing day." His fists clenched until his knuckles whitened. "I will not let hatred blind me to the needs of my people. Hatred will not save us. It will only bury us faster."
He met Harvey's gaze, unflinching.
"I brought Elara here for one reason: to cure this illness. To save Stone Haven. Her lineage means nothing to me. To question me on this is to question my loyalty to my own pack."
Harvey swallowed, heat creeping up his neck. Lucian's hatred for the Siberians was legendary—etched into the very history of their lands. For him to set that aside spoke volumes about the desperation he carried.
"Forgive my presumption, Alpha," Harvey murmured, guilt roughening his voice. "The ambush… it was unsettling. And your silence only—"
Lucian lifted a hand slightly, enough to stop the apology without anger.
"The ambush concerns me as well. Why would wolves from our pack attack without my orders—unless they serve someone else?" His expression darkened. "This will require investigation. We'll discuss it further tomorrow."
He turned away, dismissing the weight for now.
"For tonight, make certain Elara has whatever she needs. Her focus must remain on her task."
Harvey bowed his head in acknowledgment, then left the study, closing the heavy door behind him. Lucian remained alone—surrounded by shadows, responsibility pressing like stone against his ribs.
Meanwhile…
In the house prepared for her, Elara stood before a wide window, the moonlight casting the room in soft shades of silver and smoke. Everything around her was luxurious—the furs draped over chairs, the intricate carvings on the wooden walls—but the richness felt distant, almost mocking after the hostility she had endured upon her arrival.
Stone Haven was nothing like her own pack. Her people welcomed outsiders; here, suspicion hung in the air like a living thing. If not for Harvey, she wasn't sure how she would have survived her first hour.
Elara closed her eyes. Faces from earlier flickered behind her lids—the hollow-eyed beggar, the grieving woman clutching empty air, the silent men with their shoulders bowed under invisible weight. Suffering seemed to cling to the entire pack like a shroud.
Her chest tightened.
"Not if I can help it." She said to herself as she laid on her bed, putting her heavy eyelids the rest.
---
Lucian sat alone in his study, elbows braced on the heavy wooden desk as the lantern's glow pooled around him. Papers lay on top his table, His thoughts were far darker than any ink on the page.
Who would dare target Elara?
The question echoed through him like a growl trapped in his chest. Elara, who had done nothing but try to help.
Whoever attacked her wasn't just striking at a newcomer. They were striking at the possibility of a cure.
Someone in this pack didn't want the sickness to end.
The realization crawled cold along his spine.
Lucian leaned back in his chair, jaw tight. He needed to root them out before they did something even worse.
His fingers drummed once against the desk.
If Harvey hadn't been there…
He exhaled sharply, a rough breath of gratitude and dread.
Thank the Moon Goddess for Harvey.
If the attackers had succeeded and Elara had died while coming to Stone Haven, It would have ignited a war with her people that Stone Haven, in its current state, wouldn't survive.
Lucian closed his eyes for a moment, letting the weight of what almost happened settle heavily on his shoulders.
A soft creak broke through his thoughts.
Lucian's head snapped up. The door eased open, spilling a thin ribbon of hall light across the floor.
"Lucian?" a familiar voice whispered.
His heart stuttered.
"Bella?"
She stood framed in the doorway, wrapped in a thin blanket, pale but smiling faintly as if forcing her expression into something warm would hide the tremor in her limbs.
"You startled me," she teased gently.
Lucian was already moving toward her. "What are you doing out of bed?" His voice came out sharper than he intended. "You shouldn't be up Bella, your fever hasn't broken. You could transmit the sickness without realizing."
Her laugh was brittle, but she tried to make it light. "Lucian, I'm fully covered. And I promised I wouldn't get close." She stayed planted by the door, as if afraid her body might betray the distance she was trying to keep. "Even if I wanted to."
Her eyes lowered, sadness flickering there before she could mask it.
"Are you… not happy to see me?"
His chest cinched painfully. "Of course I'm happy to see you." He stepped closer but still kept some kilometres away, his hands balled at his sides. "I'm just... worried. That's all."
She nodded slowly, but her smile wavered. "I wish things were like before," she whispered. "You and I...those evenings by the cliffside. When you actually let yourself breathe."
Lucian swallowed. The memory hurt.
"They will be," he promised. "When Elara will heal you. All of this will pass."
Bella opened her mouth as if to answer but her knees buckled.
"Bella!" Lucian lunged forward on instinct.
But before he could reach her, two guards rushed in, drawn by the thud of her collapse.
"Alpha, don't touch her!" one barked, stepping between them. "You can't risk getting sick too."
Lucian froze, fingers inches from her shoulder.
The guard knelt, lifting Bella carefully into his arms. Her head lolled weakly against his chest, breath thin and ragged.
Lucian's heart hammered as he stepped back, helpless fury and fear intertwining until he could barely breathe.
"Get Elara now!" he managed.
The guards nodded and carried her out as Lucian tagged from behind.