SAFER AMONG ROGUES

LUNA WESTON POV

The first warning came from the security screen beside my desk.

One of the vehicles sent to collect Yvonne had returned through Everstead's eastern gate, but the rest of the convoy was missing. The camera showed mud across the doors and several scratches along one sintron Graves sat in the back seat, while Lark occupied the front with one hand pressed against her face.

Neither woman looked as though the journey had gone well.

I reached through the household mind-link and summoned the head guard.

'Bring Matron Graves to my office the moment she enters the Pack House. Find out why the others stayed behind.'

'Yes, Luna.'

I closed the connection and looked at the preparations spread across my desk. A formal welcome had been arranged for the following afternoon, after the Council confirmed Yvonne's blood in front of Everstead's elders. I had chosen a small ceremony because I did not want the pack to turn her arrival into a public spectacle.

At least, that was what I had told myself.

The truth was less generous. I did not know how to welcome a daughter I had never raised without making Jacinda feel that twenty-one years of love had disappeared overnight.

I had ordered the north suite prepared for Yvonne because it stood close to the family rooms without sharing Jacinda's corridor. The staff had asked whether they should place the Chase crest and Yvonne's name on the door. I had told them to wait until the blood confirmation ceremony.

At the time, the decision had seemed cautious. Looking at the unfinished name card on my desk now, I wondered whether Yvonne would see it for what it truly was. I had prepared a room for her without fully preparing a place for her in my family.

Footsteps sounded in the corridor before the office door opened. My son entered wearing black training clothes, with dried mud on his boots and a sports bag hanging from one shoulder.

"Callum, where have you been?" I asked. "I sent for you two hours ago."

He dropped the bag beside the door. "The northern warriors were holding combat trials. I promised I would watch the final round."

"Your sister was supposed to arrive this morning."

Callum walked to the drinks cabinet and poured himself a glass of water. "Jacinda is upstairs. I saw her before I left."

"You know which sister I mean."

His hand stopped around the glass. The careless expression left his face, and the scent of his irritation filled the room.

"A Council test does not make that rogue my sister."

"Her name is Yvonne."

"I know her name. Everyone in the pack knows it now." He faced me. "The servants have spent three days whispering about the lost White Wolf who is coming to take Jacinda's place. Do you expect me to celebrate that?"

"No one is taking Jacinda's place in this family."

"Then why is Yvonne being entered into the succession records?"

I did not answer immediately. The Council had been clear. Yvonne's bloodline gave her the right to challenge for Everstead's Alpha position. Aldric and I could not remove that right simply because its arrival disturbed the family we already had.

Callum mistook my silence for agreement.

"Jacinda has trained for the position since she was six," he continued. "She knows our laws, our alliances and every territory under Everstead's protection. Yvonne grew up among rogues. She cannot walk through the gate and become an Alpha because a moonstone changed colour."

Three years earlier, Callum gave up his right to become Alpha. He chose to lead Everstead's northern warriors and serve as Jacinda's Beta instead. Under pack law, that decision could not be reversed.

"She will be given the opportunity to prove herself. That is what pack law requires."

"Pack law did not raise her. We did not raise her."

The words struck the place where my guilt had lived since the Council healer arrived with the blood report.

I remembered the night Yvonne was born only in pieces. The hospital alarms had been sounding because rogues had attacked the southern boundary. I had lost too much blood and shifted in and out of consciousness. When I woke, a dark-haired baby slept beside me, wrapped in the blanket carrying Everstead's crest.

I had never questioned whether she was mine.

For twenty-one years, Jacinda had been the daughter whose fever kept me awake, whose first shift I guided and whose future I carefully planned. Learning that another woman had given birth to her did not erase any of those memories.

It also did not erase the fact that my own daughter had grown up without me.

The Council report had listed old fractures, untreated silver burns and years of malnutrition. I had read every page twice, but the words had remained distant until that morning. Yvonne was no longer only a blood result or a problem waiting at the edge of our territory. She was a young woman who had survived twenty-one years while I used every resource Everstead possessed to protect the wrong child.

"Yvonne lost her family because someone inside our hospital switched the babies," I said. "You will not punish her for surviving what happened afterward."

Callum's expression hardened. "Bringing her here will punish Jacinda instead."

Before I could answer, someone knocked at the door. The head guard entered with Matron Graves behind him.

Matron Graves looked exhausted. Her grey uniform was damp around the hem, and the silver Everstead crest pinned to her collar had been scratched. Lark was not with her.

"Where is Yvonne?" I asked.

Matron Graves lowered her head. "She remains at the rogue settlement, Luna."

"Why?"

She glanced towards Callum before returning her attention to me. "There was an incident involving Matron Flora."

My wolf stirred uneasily. "What kind of incident?"

Matron Graves removed a small tablet from her bag and placed it on my desk. The screen displayed a document carrying the black wolf seal of the Lycan Crown.

"Matron Flora took Yvonne to an isolated lake before the convoy departed. She attempted to force her into the water. Both women fell in, but only Yvonne came out alive."

For several seconds, I could not make sense of the words.

"Flora tried to drown her?"

"That is Yvonne's account, and the evidence supports it. Flora's scent was found on the bruises around Yvonne's injured arm. Several wolves also heard Flora summon her to the lake alone. The royal healer inspected the scene before anyone could disturb it."

"Royal healer?" Callum interrupted. "Why would a royal healer be anywhere near that settlement?"

Matron Graves did not answer him.

I opened the document on the tablet. It was an emergency preservation order. Every witness, scent record and object connected to Flora's death had been placed under royal authority. Everstead could not question the servants privately or move the body without permission from the Crown.

Someone had ensured that we could not bury what happened, even if we wanted to.

"Who issued this?" I asked, although the seal had already given me the answer.

"King Calder Shaw."

The room became silent.

Callum crossed the office in two steps and took the tablet from my hand. "This proves nothing about Yvonne. Flora served this family for years. Perhaps the girl attacked first and invented the rest after killing her."

"The settlement leader and three other wolves heard the maid deliver Flora's message," Matron Graves replied carefully. "Calder's healer confirmed that Yvonne still had wolfsbane in her blood and fresh silver burns around both wrists. She had been attacked before Flora approached her."

"By whom?"

"Duncan Thorn and Holloway the Butcher are dead. Lillian Reed has been expelled from the settlement. The Council is investigating all three incidents."

Callum gave a humourless laugh. "Three people fall around her in one night, and everyone decides she is the victim?"

"Enough," I said.

My authority entered the command. Callum's shoulders tightened, but he stopped speaking.

I looked at Matron Graves. "Why did Yvonne refuse to return with you?"

"She no longer trusts the household staff. Flora arrived as Everstead's representative and then tried to kill her. Lark also demanded that the warriors restrain Yvonne before the investigation began."

"Lark did what?"

"She defended Jacinda and questioned Yvonne's right to enter the succession. She has returned with me because I could not leave her near the witnesses."

Anger spread through my wolf. Lark had served Jacinda for six years. She would not have acted against Yvonne without believing that she was protecting her mistress.

"What does Yvonne want?" I asked.

Matron Graves straightened. "She will only enter through Everstead's main gate as Alpha Aldric's biological daughter and a recognised succession candidate. She wants a Council representative present, and she refuses to let Flora's death be handled inside the family. She also requested that a member of the Alpha family collect her personally."

Callum stared at her. "She has not entered our territory, yet she is already giving orders?"

"She is setting conditions because our servants tried to kill her," I replied.

"You believe everything she says."

"I believe the evidence in front of me."

The office door opened again before Callum could respond.

Jacinda entered wearing a cream sweater and dark trousers, her long hair tied neatly behind her. Her eyes were red, as though she had been crying. Lark must have contacted her through their private mind-link before leaving the settlement.

"Mother, is it true?" she asked. "Is Flora dead?"

I watched her carefully. "Who told you?"

Jacinda hesitated. "Lark reached me during the journey. She said there had been a terrible accident and that Yvonne blamed Flora."

"It was not described as an accident."

Fear entered Jacinda's scent. She clasped her hands in front of her. "I never asked Flora to hurt anyone. I only told her to make sure Yvonne was prepared before bringing her here. I did not know she would do something like this."

No one had accused Jacinda of giving Flora an order.

Callum immediately moved to her side. "You do not have to defend yourself. Yvonne caused this and is trying to make everyone suspect you."

Jacinda lowered her gaze. "Perhaps I should go to the settlement. If Yvonne sees that I am not her enemy, she might agree to return."

The offer sounded generous, but it would place the two succession candidates together before the Council arrived. I could not tell whether Jacinda was being sincere or trying to control the first meeting.

My wolf moved restlessly as I studied her. Jacinda had always known how to appear calm when the household watched her. She had learned that skill because I taught it to her. Now I could not decide whether the tears in her eyes came from grief over Flora, fear of Yvonne or panic that the future we had promised her was slipping away.

"No," I said. "You will remain here until your father and I decide what happens next."

Callum turned towards me. "Then send me. I will bring her back and end this embarrassment."

"You called her a rogue five minutes ago. You are not going anywhere near her while you are angry."

"She demanded a family member."

"She demanded someone who would acknowledge her rights. You have made it clear that you will not."

Matron Graves remained beside the desk, silent but visibly tense. She had delivered Yvonne's conditions, yet I sensed that she was still withholding something.

"What else happened?" I asked her.

Matron Graves glanced at the royal seal. "His Majesty placed the remaining details under royal privacy. No one who witnessed what happened is permitted to discuss them."

Before I could question her further, the office door opened again.

A air of dominance moved through the room as Aldric entered. He carried a black folder marked with the silver seal of the Werewolf Council. His expression was controlled, but his wolf remained close enough to the surface to turn his eyes silver.

"Aldric," I said. "Matron Graves has just returned."

"I know." He placed the folder on my desk and looked from Callum to Jacinda. "The Council contacted me before my own household did."

Callum straightened. "Father, Yvonne is making accusations that could disgrace Everstead."

Aldric's gaze forced him to lower his eyes.

"Our reputation is no longer the greatest problem."

He opened the folder and removed the complaint inside.

"Yvonne has formally accused an Everstead representative of trying to murder the pack's biological heir before she could enter our territory."

Jacinda's face lost all colour.

"The Council has opened an investigation," Aldric continued. "We have until sunset to explain why our missing daughter is safer among rogues than she is with her own family."

No one answered.

Aldric turned towards the head guard. "Prepare my vehicle."

Callum stepped forward. "Where are you going?"

Aldric looked at him coldly. "To bring my daughter home myself."