Chapter 4
679 Words
The room didn’t change after she left.
That was the problem.
The council still sat where they had been.
The table still stood between them.
The air still held the same weight.
But something was missing.
Rowan felt it immediately.
No one spoke.
Not at first.
They avoided looking at him.
At each other.
At the door she had just walked through.
“Is it done?” one of the elders asked finally.
Rowan didn’t answer right away.
His gaze was still on the door.
Closed.
“She’s gone,” he said.
The words felt… wrong.
Not because they weren’t true.
Because they didn’t feel finished.
A few of the elders shifted.
Relief moved through the room.
Subtle.
But there.
“Then it was the right decision,” another said. “The pack needed—”
“Enough.”
The word cut clean.
Silence snapped back into place.
Rowan leaned forward slightly, resting his hands on the table.
Controlled.
Measured.
“We made the decision,” he said. “We don’t need to justify it.”
They quieted.
But the tension didn’t leave.
Because even they could feel it.
Something had changed.
Gamma Raymond hadn’t moved.
He stood near the edge of the room, arms crossed, jaw tight.
Watching.
Rowan didn’t look at him.
Not yet.
“Have the order finalized,” Rowan continued. “Effective immediately. She’s not to return to pack grounds without council approval.”
A few heads nodded.
“And if she does?” one of them asked.
Rowan’s expression didn’t shift.
“She won’t.”
It wasn’t said with arrogance.
It was said like fact.
Because he knew her.
Or—
he thought he did.
The meeting dissolved after that.
Quietly.
No one lingered.
One by one, they left.
Until it was just Rowan.
And Raymond.
The silence between them stretched.
“You let it happen.”
Raymond’s voice was low.
Flat.
Rowan didn’t turn.
“Yes.”
“That’s it?”
Now Rowan looked at him.
“What else do you want me to say?”
Raymond stepped forward.
Frustration breaking through now.
“You could’ve stopped it.”
“I didn’t.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Rowan’s gaze hardened slightly.
“It’s the only one that matters.”
Silence.
Raymond shook his head once.
“You think this is over?” he asked.
Rowan didn’t respond.
Because for the first time—
he wasn’t entirely sure.
“She won’t fight you,” Raymond continued. “She won’t come back demanding anything.”
“I know.”
“That’s the problem.”
That landed.
Not visibly.
Not in a way anyone else would notice.
But Rowan felt it.
A small shift.
Raymond stepped closer.
Lowered his voice.
“You didn’t just remove her from the pack,” he said.
“You removed the one person holding half of it together.”
Rowan’s jaw tightened.
“That’s your opinion.”
“No,” Raymond said. “That’s fact.”
The word echoed.
Familiar.
Too familiar.
Rowan looked away.
Toward the window this time.
The sky had darkened.
Rain had started.
Heavy.
He watched it for a moment.
Then—
without thinking—
he reached out.
Not physically.
Not something anyone could see.
But instinctively.
Toward the bond.
It was still there.
Faint.
Distant.
But not gone.
Rowan stilled.
That wasn’t right.
It should’ve snapped.
Clean.
Final.
Instead—
it lingered.
Like something unfinished.
Behind him, Raymond spoke again.
“She’s already leaving.”
Rowan’s focus sharpened.
“How do you know?”
Raymond didn’t hesitate.
“Because she didn’t argue.”
That answer settled heavier than anything else.
Rowan exhaled slowly.
Then straightened.
“Have the perimeter checked,” he said. “East side first.”
Raymond’s gaze flickered.
“You think she’ll use the gate?”
Rowan didn’t answer.
Because he already knew.
Outside, the rain came down harder.
And for the first time since the vote—
Rowan felt it.
Not doubt.
Not regret.
Something worse.
The sense that—
he had just made a mistake
he couldn’t take back.
- Writer
