Julian's face goes dark. He's quiet for a long moment, and when he speaks his voice is rough.
"They were killed. All of them."
I don't want to hear this but I need to know. I need to understand what was done to make me the last one left.
"Twenty years ago," Julian says, moving to lean against his desk, "High Alpha Kol Revon convinced the Council that the Silverpelt bloodline was too dangerous to exist."
"Dangerous how?"
"Multiple mate bonds mean exponential power." His hands grip the desk edge, knuckles white. "One Silverpelt with four bonded mates could challenge Council authority and shift thebalance of power across all territories. Kol saw that as a threat to his control."
"So he what, just decided to kill us all?"
"He convinced the Council it was necessary. For stability. For safety. For the good of all shifter kind." Julian's voice is bitter, rough with old anger. "He stood before them and argued that Silverpelts were too powerful, too dangerous. That they bred instability. That their existence threatened the peace."
I sink back into the chair, legs giving out. "And the Council agreed."
"They voted. Nearly unanimous." He looks away, jaw tight. "Voted to eliminate the Silverpelt bloodline entirely."
My chest feels hollow. "All of them?"
"Every Silverpelt they could find. Men, women, children. Entire families." He looks at me and I see old grief in his eyes, guilt. "Anyone who carried silver wolf. It didn't matter if they'd formed multiple bonds or not. Didn't matter if they were threats or not. Just being Silverpelt was enough."
"How many?"
"Hundreds. Maybe more." His voice breaks. "It took two years. Systematic, organized. They sent enforcers to every territory, every pack. Hunted families down and killed them in their homes. In front of their children. In front of their pack mates."
My chest feels tight. Hundreds of people. Entire families. Children.
"My parents."
"Your parents were part of the resistance." Julian's voice is tight. "When the killings started, some Silverpelts fought back and tried to warn families, help them escape to neutral territories. Your parents were organizing the resistance. That made them priority targets for Kol."
"What happened to them?"
Julian's face goes dark. "They were killed in the genocide. That's all I know for certain." His voice is rough. "Kol Revon personally oversaw the elimination of resistance leaders. Your parents were organizing other Silverpelts, trying to help families escape. That made them targets."
"And I survived."
"Your aunt got you out somehow. The details are lost." He looks at me. "But you're here. That's what matters."
I'm crying now. Tears for parents I never knew, for a family stolen before I could remember them, for answers I'll never have.
I press my hands to my face, trying to hold myself together. Julian wants to reach for me. I feel it through the bond, the desperate need to comfort. But he stays where he is, giving me space to break down without touching.
"I'm the only one left," I say through my fingers.
"Yes."
"And if the Council finds out what I am..."
"They'll finish what they started." He says it flat, factual. "You're the last Silverpelt. The last chance for the bloodline to continue. They can't let you survive."
I lower my hands and look at him. "Then why tell me this now? Why not let me keep believing I'm just a rare wolf with one mate bond?"
"Because you need to understand what you are." He pushes off the desk, comes closer but still doesn't touch. "You need to know why the pull toward Caspian, Knox, and Nico isn't betraying what we have. It's your nature. And when those bonds start to form, you need to be ready."
"I don't want this." My voice cracks. "I don't want to be the last of anything. I don't want multiple mates. I don't want the Council hunting me for something my bloodline can do that I didn't choose."
