I felt guilty, but I couldn’t fight the smile. “Avoidance of hard work?”
Wolfe laughed out loud, pulled me close, and kissed the side of my head. “I won’t tell,” he whispered with a low chuckle. “You smell…inviting,” he murmured, his hand slowly running over my hip.
I pulled my shirt up to my nose and sniffed. The ritual’s smoke still clung to my clothes from earlier, along with the faded scent of freshly laundered fabric and the morning mist.
“I smell like I haven’t been to bed yet,” I corrected him, catching his hand from cupping my ass. Not that I usually complained, nor was I complaining now, but I had other things on my mind. “Before we go meet them, I…” I tried to step away, but my husband wasn’t having it; he held me tighter, and I looked up to see the concern in his eyes. “We need to talk,” I said quietly.
His brows lifted. “About?”
“Lewis.”
The name triggered the reaction I expected. Wolfe dropped his arm and took a few steps back, giving me space, his arms crossed and his expression flat. “What about him?”
I hesitated, hating the words even as they formed. “When you caught him…he said something. About my father.”
Wolfe didn’t react, just waited for me to continue.
I forced the rest out. “He said my father knew about the rogue attacks. That Malric was…complacent. He implied that he helped the Pack Council keep the territories under control through fear.”
Wolfe’s jaw tightened, eyes darkening. “Rowen?—”
“No.” My voice cracked. I pressed a hand against my chest because the pressure there was unbearable. “I just…I need to know if there was any truth in it. Ifyouthink it’s true.”
For a moment, Wolfe remained silent, then he moved toward me steadily and slowly until I couldn’t breathe. “Your father,” he said softly, firmly, with certainty, “was not a traitor.”
“You don’t know that,” I whispered, hands itching to reach out, pull him closer, and make him swear it was true.
He did not step back. “I knew your father, and”—he gave me a brief smile—“I know alphas better than you think. And I now know the Pack Council. They manipulate people. They distort information. They tell you a quarter of the truth and let your fear fill in the rest.”
My throat burned. “Then why would Lewis say that about Dad?”
“I’ve thought about this,” he admitted. He gave me a sheepish look. “I feel like it’s all I’ve thought about since thatnight.” He blew out a breath. “I’ve gone over everything we know and everything we’ve learned. And I think…I think Lewis was already theirs.” Wolfe’s voice dropped to a growl. “He wasn’t serving your father—he was surveilling him. Playing loyal. Feeding the Council enough to make him useful, enough to make him indispensable.”
The need inside me to believe his words was frightening. “So Lewis was lying?”
Wolfe hesitated for a brief moment, just a tiny pause, but it was enough for me to notice and for that silence to make me nervous.
“Tell me,” I whispered. “Please.”
His hand brushed mine—light, grounding, unbearably gentle. “I think your father suspected something. Something off. Something wrong. The way he suddenly stopped the records. He put an end to the rotations. He shut it all down. I think he suspected, but he didn’t know the truth.” Wolfe’s eyes grew hard. “And he didn’t confront the Pack Council. In fact…” He hesitated again. “He never attended another gathering.”
I stared at the ground, nausea twisting in my stomach. “He knew and did nothing?” That was worse, wasn’t it?
“Suspected,” Wolfe corrected me, his hand cupping the back of my neck. “Malric was a good alpha and a better father. And he wasalone. Surrounded by a Pack Council that wanted more than he was willing to sacrifice.” He looked away from me, mulling over his next words. “Think about it, keeping the rogues happy by working with them—it’s almost a good idea,” he conceded, “if you’re always prepared for the fact they’re uncontrollable, unpredictable, and not reallyyour ally.” He looked back at me. “It’s a reckless strategy. But it is a strategy.”
I blinked back tears. “In the later years, he always sent Lewis to the Pack Council gatherings.”
Wolfe’s throat bobbed. “Sent, or did he volunteer to go?” He dragged a hand over his face. “We’ll never know, but I suspect the latter.”
The world tilted as I listened to what my mate was telling me. My father hadn’t been a traitor. It wasn’t betrayal. It might not even have been complicity. Just a man realizing the fight was with a bigger player, and he wasn’t sure what the rules were, but he knew he couldn’t win.
“He sent me to the Pack Council with Lewis,” I reminded Wolfe.
Wolfe gently tugged me into his chest, one hand spreading over my back. “He was dying, Rowen. He was…desperate to make sure you were protected.”
“Do you think Lewis cared about that?” I asked him bitterly.
“I think they twisted the story,” he murmured against my hair. “Like they twist everything else. It’s likely Lewis never saw it clearly either. They want you to doubt yourself. Your family. Your legacy. Because fractured wolves are easier to control.”
