Chapter 44

The news hit before sunrise.

My tablet wouldn’t stop buzzing with alerts, notifications stacking like falling debris. Even half-awake, I could see the headlines screaming Richard’s name in every possible permutation:

“Alpha King Detached and Dangerous?”

“Richard’s Empire of Silence”

“Where’s the Transparency? Allies Demand Answers.”

The articles were slickly produced, peppered with cherry-picked quotes that made Richard sound like a tyrant, or worse, an incompetent child playing at war. The Crosthorn Pack had clearly worked with David’s team to get their message unified, with their Betas and advisors dropping sly, cutting comments in interviews:

“We want leadership that listens, not someone who hides behind closed doors and flirts with staff.” “Our Pack will always back truth, not arrogance.” “Ask his office plaything about transparency.”

That last one made me choke on my breath.

I sat up in the cold, gray light of morning, staring at the words until they blurred. My thumb shook as I scrolled. The fury was instant, white-hot and blinding.

“They’re coming for me, too,” I whispered to the empty room.

By the time I forced myself into clothes and boots and got to the command hub, the place was a war zone.

Emma was already there, her hair scraped into a severe bun that didn’t suit her, face taut with fury. She didn’t even say good morning. She just shoved a tablet at me.

“Look.”

I took it, fingers already numb.

It was a graphic David’s PR team had blasted everywhere overnight.

Richard at the summit, caught mid-scowl, eyes cold and alien. Next to it, my blurry silhouette leaving his room, circled in red. Underneath, in bold, bloodred font:

SECRETS AND SCANDALS: CAN HE BE TRUSTED?

I felt bile rise.

Emma’s voice was like a scalpel. “This is the clean version. You don’t want to see the ones on private Pack forums.”

I swallowed. “How bad?”

She sighed. “Worse than you think. They’re framing you as a manipulative mistress. Him as a power-drunk Alpha who can’t control himself.”

My stomach twisted.

Emma softened her voice. “Hey. Amelia. Don’t let them see you break. This is all just speculation based on your quick rise to this position. Show them how good you are and the rumors won't need clearing.”

I closed my eyes, breathing carefully until the trembling in my hands stilled.

“Where is he?” I asked.

Emma gestured behind her with her thumb. “Strategy room with Nathan. They’re triaging fallout.”

“Perfect.” My voice sounded calm. Cold. Dead. “I have work to do.”

The screens glared at me like a jury. Dozens of open files. Treaties, trade deals, threat assessments.

I forced myself to read, every word digging at my raw nerves.

They want to make me into a liability, a whore, a threat.

Fine, let them. I’d burn their precious arguments down, one by one.

Hours passed in a blur. I chased down cross-references, old treaties, amendments buried in legalese that could have passed for ancient curses. I ignored the low buzz of conversation in the room. The whispers when Richard raised his voice.

I didn’t go to him. Didn’t even look up.

Because I had something better than an apology.

I had a goddamn solution.

My voice cracked when I finally spoke.

“Emma.”

She jumped. She’d been pacing, phone in hand.

I beckoned her closer. “Look at this.”

She peered over my shoulder. I highlighted a block of text buried in the Treaty of Stonepeak, a defensive alliance signed nearly forty years ago.

Emma blinked. “What am I looking at?”

I tapped the clause.

“Any Pack that signs a secondary exclusive military treaty with an external aggressor forfeits Stonepeak protections.”

Emma’s eyes widened. “Holy shit. David’s ‘protection deals’ count as aggression.”

“Exactly. If we can prove he’s offered military support to Crosthorn, they void themselves from Stonepeak’s umbrella. They’d lose not only our support, but Stonepeak itself would sanction them.”

Emma let out a low whistle.

“That’s brilliant.”

I leaned back in my chair, exhausted. “It’ll be a political nightmare, but it’s leverage.”

Emma grabbed my wrist. “We need to tell Richard. Now.”

The strategy room was even worse up close.

Maps littered the tables. Digital boards flickered with updated polls and intercepted comms. Alex and Paul sat with sour expressions, arms folded, while Nathan barked orders into a headset.

Richard stood at the head of the table.

When he saw me, he went still.

For a split second, his eyes softened, so subtle I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t been staring. Then the mask slammed back into place.

“Amelia,” he said evenly. “You have something?”

I forced my chin up. “Yes.”

The room fell silent.

Emma nudged me forward.

I cleared my throat. My voice sounded steadier than I felt.

“Stonepeak Treaty. Clause 14-C. Any Pack that enters an exclusive military arrangement with an external aggressor voids their Stonepeak protections. David’s ‘protection deals’ would trigger it.”

Nathan blinked. “Shit. That’s… that’s good.”

Paul frowned, leaning forward. “You’d have to prove it’s an exclusive military arrangement.”

I held his gaze. “I can. They’ve already used the phrase ‘exclusive defensive agreement’ in their press releases.”

Richard’s gaze didn’t waver. But his fingers tightened around the edge of the table.

“This would give us real leverage,” Emma added quickly. “Stonepeak would have to cut them off or look complicit. It’s a political time bomb in David’s lap.”

Silence.

Then Richard spoke, voice like a blade.

“Good work.”

I tried not to flinch.

It would have been fine, professional, cold, controlled.

Except the Crosthorn Pack’s liaison had just entered the room.

Kellan Rath.

He smirked from his stance leaning in the doorframe.

“Cute trick, little miss wolfless,” he drawled.

My head snapped toward him so fast it hurt.

Kellan didn’t blink. “Digging through treaties like a rat in the archives. Did you even read all the words or just the ones with pictures?”

The silence was instant and suffocating.

My fingers curled into claws.

Richard’s voice cracked like a whip.

“Enough.”

Kellan’s mouth twisted into a smirk. “Just saying what everyone’s thinking. Maybe if she spent less time spreading her legs for Alphas—”

The next sound was a chair scraping violently.

Richard didn’t move toward him. Didn’t snarl. Didn’t touch him.

He just spoke, voice so cold it felt like being doused in icewater.

“Kellan. Get. Out.”

The man froze. Color drained from his face.

“I said out.”

Kellan swallowed and shoved his chair back, boots thudding on the floor as he left without another word.

Silence fell.

I realized my breathing was ragged. My vision blurred.

Richard turned back to the table, voice clinical.

“We’ll reconvene in thirty minutes. Emma, Nathan, Alex, Paul. Stay.”

I stood frozen.

His eyes flicked to me for the briefest second. Then away.

“Amelia. You’re dismissed.”

My heart cracked.

I found Emma in the hallway afterward, leaning against the wall.

She watched me approach, eyes flicking over my shaking hands.

“He didn’t even defend you,” she said softly.

I tried to laugh but it came out strangled.

“He did,” I whispered. “He threw Kellan out.”

Emma’s mouth twisted. “That’s not defending you. That’s controlling the room. Keeping the optics clean.”

My eyes stung.

“Doesn’t matter.”

Emma pushed off the wall. “It matters to me.”

I shook my head.

“Come on,” I rasped. “I have something to tell you. About my parents.”

Emma blinked. “Now?”

I nodded, throat tight.

“Now.”

We found a corner room. Emma closed the door behind us and crossed her arms.

I sank onto the edge of the table, feeling hollow.

“I found my mother’s old journal."

"What? How did you even find it?"

"It was just there when I opened my suitcase after the summit. I have no idea how it got there."

Emma blinked.

I stared at my knees.

“She was part of the negotiations that signed Stonepeak. That’s how I found the clause.”

Emma’s eyes softened.

“She... she wrote about what it meant. How desperate they all were. How many concessions she made. She wrote about being proud of it. Of making something that might keep people safe.”

My voice broke.

“I think she would have hated seeing me here. Selling pieces of myself for leverage. Watching people call me a whore.”

Emma’s voice was gentle. “She wouldn’t. You’re fighting for them. For us.”

I laughed wetly. “She’d say I’m fighting wrong.”

Emma sat beside me, her hand resting on my back.

We didn’t say anything else for a long time.

Through the cracked doorway, I saw her. Jenny watching us.

Her eyes were sharp and calculating.

I knew that look.

She had heard every word.