Chapter 5
1172 Words
Kira
Ashford territory does not go back to what it was. Neither do I.
So many questions linger within me without answers.
The days after the conclave were tense. Quiet in the wrong way. Wolves watch each other more closely.
Old loyalties feel thin. New rules are not written yet, and that uncertainty makes people nervous.
I will not leave. That alone unsettles them.
“You’re still here,” an elder says on the third morning, watching me from across the council table.
“Yes,”
I answer.
“After everything.”
“Yes.”
He folds his hands.
“On what authority?”
“Mine,”
I say.
“And the council’s, if you want it formal.”
Declan sits beside me, not at the head of the table. That was his decision. It causes murmurs every time.
“She has conditions,”
Declan says.
The elders look at him sharply.
“You don’t give conditions,”
one of them says.
“You are the Alpha.”
Declan meets their eyes.
“Not like before.”
I slide a folder onto the table.
“This is the Hybrid Research Institute,”
I say.
“It will be built on pack land. Protected by council law. No Alpha can shut it down. Not now. Not later.”
An elder flips through the papers.
“You want full access to pack records.”
“Yes.”
“Bloodlines.”
“Yes.”
“Leadership candidates.”
“Yes.”
Another elder scoffs.
“You’re asking us to hand over our future.”
“No”
I replied.
“I’m stopping you from destroying it.”
Silence stretches.
“What exactly will this institute do?”
Another one of the elders asks.
“Track genetic stability. Study bond fractures. Treat Silverblood before it becomes fatal,”
I say.
“And screen future leadership lines. No one leads without understanding what they are passing on.”
Declan adds,
“Including my line.
That lands hard.
“Science replacing tradition,”
The rival elder mutters.
“Science replacing denial,”
I will correct. After a long pause, another exhales.
“And hybrids?”
“They step into the open,”
I say.
“No more hiding. No more exile. No more pretending they don’t exist.”
A younger council member speaks quietly.
“There are children.”
“I know,”
I say.
“I’ve treated some of them in secret. That ends now.”
The vote is not unanimous. It passes anyway.
Construction begins within the month.
The first hybrids arrive cautiously. Some flinch when guards pass. Some refuse to make eye contact. Parents hover like shields.
One woman grips my arm outside the temporary clinic.
“You won’t send us away?”
“No,”
I told her.
“You’re already home.'
Silverblood cases drop within weeks. Not gone. Manageable. Monitored. Treated early instead of buried quietly.
Power stops sitting in one place.
And that makes people uncomfortable.
Declan feels it most.
His authority is tested daily.
A patrol leader argues openly during a briefing.
“This route leaves the southern border thin.”
Declan nods.
“You’re right. Adjust it.”
The room stills.
“That’s it?”
Someone asks.
“That’s it,”
Declan replies. Later, I find him in his office, rubbing his temples.
“They expect me to roar,”
He says. “To force agreement.”
“And you don’t,”
I say.
“No,”
he admits.
“I listen. And some days, they hate me for it.”
“You’re earning it,”
I say.
"Not owning it.”
He looks at me.
“Do you think they’ll ever forgive me?”
“That’s not the measure,”
I answer.
“Trust is.”
The mate bond reforms slowly. Not all at once. Not whole. Sometimes it hums quietly between us. Sometimes it is barely there.
One night, Declan stops in the doorway of my quarters.
“I won’t cross without asking,”
He says.
I study him.
“Good.”
Another time, I reached for his hand first. He stills, waiting.
“Is this okay?”
he asks.
“Yes,”
I say.
“Because I chose it.”
Intimacy grows in small pieces. Shared meals. Long talks. Silence that does not press.
No claiming. No pulling. No instinct taking over choice. One evening, I tell him,
“I don’t belong to Ashford territory.”
He nods. “I know.”
“I’m not staying because I’m bound.”
“I know.”
“I could leave tomorrow.”
He swallows. “And I wouldn’t stop you.”
That settles something deep in my chest.
I stand beside him in council meetings. On patrol routes. During disputes. Not as his weakness. Not as his shield.
But as his healer, the one who basically brought the Cure that healed him.
The more I think about it the more I fidget. What if I was not here? Or even worse, what if the Silverblood disease had never occurred.
Would I still hold any importance to him? I take a deep breath as I calmly remember what happened that day.
The day he rejected me. Even though everything has been revealed, my gut still didn't sit calmly.
Questions arose inside me. Even though Declan had accepted me to be his mate.
I wasn't still comfortable. I hated the fact that my wolf was bonded to him to a point where I knew that I was in love with him.
So the craziest idea popped into my head. I needed to be with my child. Yes, I needed to get pregnant.
That was the only way I knew that I was going to keep my position.
I hated the stench of helplessness that clouded my mind and how fear seeped in.
So that night, I dressed in beautiful lingerie. And decided that I was going to take these meeting rituals to the next level.
"Ehat are you doing here?"
Declan said as he saw me scantily unclad
"Shhh"
I whispered as I carried his fingers to play with my breasts.
I could feel his arousals as both our wolves joined in the mating process.
His c**k, had grown and became really hard. It was rock hard, I could feel it.
I wanted it inside me. Immediately I stripped off my panties and spread my legs wild open.
Declan rushed and jumped on me. With our wolves howling inside us the desire was like none other.
As he thrusted in and out my p***y I could feel it. I could feel him. I craved for him, I desired everything that was part of him.
I could feel his groans growing thicker until he collapsed on top of me.
Both panting heavily. I dragged his hand and asked a question.
"Declan, would you still love me if I didn't have the cure to the disease?"
The question came as a shock just the way I wanted but I waited for an answer.
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