Miles away from the safety of the Compound, silence pressed heavily against the walls of Greyson Pack House.
It was not a peaceful silence.
It was the kind that warned everyone nearby to lower their eyes, soften their footsteps and keep their mouths firmly shut.
Servants moved through the corridors without speaking.
Pack members who normally gathered near the main staircase had disappeared into their rooms.
Even the younger wolves seemed to sense the danger hanging in the air.
At the end of the upper corridor stood Alpha Derrick Greyson’s private study.
The thick oak door was closed.
Nobody dared approach it.
Inside, Jack Greyson stood in front of his father’s desk with his hands clenched behind his back.
His jaw ached where Derrick had already struck him.
The taste of blood coated his tongue, but he resisted the urge to wipe his mouth.
Any movement might be mistaken for defiance, and defiance was one thing Derrick never tolerated.
“You lost it.” His voice was quiet.
Jack almost wished he would shout.
Derrick’s anger was easier to survive when it was loud.
When he spoke softly, it meant he had already decided exactly how much suffering someone deserved.
“I didn’t know Lilah had taken my backpack,” Jack said carefully.
“She must have grabbed it while she was preparing to leave.” Derrick lifted his eyes.
Jack immediately regretted speaking.
“You didn’t know?” “No, Father.” “You shouldn’t have took it in the first place.” He struck jack once more around the face “The only reason you are still breathing now, is because you are going to get it back for me!” Derrick moved around the desk slowly.
Jack forced himself not to step backwards.
For sixteen years, he had watched his father control the pack through fear.
Derrick rarely needed to raise his voice.
A look was usually enough.
Everyone knew what happened to wolves who disappointed him.
Derrick stopped directly in front of him.
“I have waited sixteen years for that girl to come of age.” Jack kept his gaze lowered.
“I know.” “No, you don’t.” Derrick grabbed the front of Jack’s shirt and slammed him into the nearest bookcase.
The shelves shook.
Several heavy books crashed onto the floor around them.
“You cannot possibly understand what you have cost me.” Jack’s head struck the wood behind him.
Pain flashed across his skull, but he remained silent.
Derrick tightened his grip.
“I kept Lilah alive when others wanted her gone.” “You kept her as a servant,” Jack muttered before he could stop himself.
The room became completely still.
Derrick’s face changed.
Not much.
Only the slight narrowing of his eyes.
It was enough.
His fist struck Jack across the mouth.
Jack collapsed against the bookcase, catching himself before he hit the floor.
“Do not mistake strategy for compassion,” Derrick said.
“I did not feed that girl, shelter her and tolerate her disobedience out of kindness.
“Jack wiped the blood from his lip.
“You barely fed her.” Derrick kicked him in the stomach.
Air exploded from Jack’s lungs.
He fell to one knee, clutching his ribs.
“Everything she received,” Derrick continued, “was more than that orphan deserved.
“Jack looked up at him, hatred burning beneath the fear.
Lilah had arrived at the pack when she was four years old.
Jack had been old enough to understand that something about her frightened his father, although Derrick had never explained why.
She had been watched constantly.
Never allowed beyond the territory alone.
Never sent to school.
Never taught about her wolf.
At the time, Jack had believed his father simply despised her.
Now he understood.
Derrick had not kept Lilah close because she was worthless .He had kept her close because she was valuable.
“The Silverveil bloodline guarded the Celest Crystal for generations,” Derrick said, pacing towards the fireplace.
“Your grandfather believed it was a myth.
I knew better.” Jack slowly stood, one hand pressed against his aching side.
“The Silverveils were wiped out.” Derrick glanced over his shoulder.
“So everyone believes.” “You attacked them?.” Derrick gave no answer.
He did not need to.
Jack had heard fragments of the story over the years.
A powerful family destroyed.
A house burned.
Survivors scattered or presumed dead.
A four-year-old girl later found wandering alone through the forest with no memory of where she came from.
Lilah.
Derrick picked up an old, leather-bound book from his desk.
Faded silver markings decorated its cover.
“The surviving text said the Crystal would awaken when a Silverveil came of age.” “At eighteen?,” Jack said.
“That was my interpretation.” Derrick opened the book, staring down at a page filled with unfamiliar symbols.
“Lilah is sixteen.” “Yes, I had two more years.” Jack said nothing.
Derrick closed the book sharply.
“Two more years to find out how the Crystal responded to her blood.
Two more years to prepare her.
Control her.” “You mean break her.” Derrick’s eyes lifted.
Jack braced himself for another strike.
Instead, Derrick smiled.
It was far worse.
“You’ve always been too soft where your brother is concerned.” “This has nothing to do with Jace.” “It has everything to do with him.
“Derrick placed the book back on the desk.
“Your brother abandoned his blood.
He betrayed his Alpha.
He helped Lilah escape and carried the Crystal directly beyond my reach.” “He didn’t know it was in the bag.” “I don’t care what he knew.” “He chose her over us.” Jack flinched.
Derrick approached him again, stopping close enough that Jack could feel the fury radiating from him.
“Jace humiliated this family.
He made us look weak.
Every pack within travelling distance will hear that the Alpha’s youngest son ran away with a servant.” “She was never just a servant.” “No,” Derrick said coldly.
“She was a key.” The words made Jack’s stomach turn.
Derrick had never seen Lilah as a person.
Not once.
Everything she had endured had been part of a plan.
Every beating.
Every locked door.
Every lesson denied to her.
Derrick had wanted her powerless and dependent until the day he believed she could awaken the Crystal for him.
Now she was gone.
And Derrick needed someone to blame.
“You’re going to correct your mistake,” Derrick said.
Jack’s heart sank.
“How?” “You will find Lilah, Jace and the Crystal.” “They could be anywhere.” “They are travelling with rogues.
They will need food, shelter and protection.
There are only so many places willing to hide them.” Derrick moved back behind his desk and pulled open a drawer.
He removed a folded map and threw it onto the wood.
Several locations had been circled in red.
“Search every rogue settlement.
Every sanctuary.
Every community that takes in strays.” Jack stared at the map.
“And when I find them?” “Bring me the Crystal.” “And Lilah…Alive.” Jack hesitated.
“What about Jace?” Derrick’s expression hardened.
“Your brother will pay for abandoning this family.” “He’s still your son.” “He stopped being my son the moment he chose her.” Jack felt something break inside him.
Jace had always been the one person in the family who still believed there was goodness somewhere beneath Jack’s obedience.
Even after years of rivalry and Derrick constantly placing them against each other, Jace had never truly hated him.
Jack had watched him leave.
He could have sounded the alarm.
He could have stopped them.
Instead, he had remained silent long enough for them to reach the woods.
Part of him had wanted his little brother to escape.
“What exactly do you expect me to do to him?” Jack asked.
Derrick leaned back in his chair.
“Bring him home if you can.” “And if he refuses?” “Make him regret it.” Jack looked away.
Derrick studied him for a long moment.
“You’re hesitating.” “No.” “You are.” “I’ll retrieve the Crystal.” “That was not the order.” Jack clenched his fists.
Derrick’s gaze dropped to them.
“Do you still think you have a choice?” Jack said nothing.
A cruel satisfaction appeared in Derrick’s eyes.
Then he spoke the one name Jack had hoped would never become part of this conversation.
“Your girlfriend’s father has served this pack faithfully for many years.” Jack went completely still.
“Leave him out of this.” Derrick smiled faintly.
“He works for me.” “He has nothing to do with the Crystal.” “No.
But his daughter has everything to do with you.” Jack stepped forwards.
Derrick’s guards, positioned near the study door, immediately reached for their weapons.
Jack stopped.
“What have you done?” “Nothing.” Derrick rested his hands calmly on the desk.
“Yet.” Jack’s breathing became shallow.
His girlfriend’s father worked in the pack’s transport and supply division.
He had no rank, no power and no protection beyond the loyalty he had shown the Greyson’s for most of his adult life.
He was a good man.
One of the few adults who had ever treated Jack as more than Derrick’s heir.
Derrick knew that.
That was why he had chosen him.
“If you fail to return with the Crystal,” Derrick continued, “he will be accused of helping you lose it.” “That’s a lie.” “I decide what is true within this pack.” “You wouldn’t hurt him.” Derrick’s smile disappeared.
Jack immediately knew he had said the wrong thing.
“Wouldn’t I”?
Silence swallowed the room.
Derrick rose slowly.
“Bring me the Crystal, Lilah and your brother.
Do that, and your girlfriend’s father continues his comfortable little life.” “And if I don’t?” Derrick moved close enough to speak directly into Jack’s ear.
“Then I will make sure your girlfriend watches her father suffer for your failure.” Jack’s face drained of colour.
“You’re threatening an innocent man.” “I’m motivating my son.” Jack stared at him.
For years, he had convinced himself that Derrick’s cruelty served a purpose.
That harshness made the pack strong.
That fear maintained order.
Now he saw the truth clearly.
Derrick would destroy anyone.
Pack member.
Servant.
Enemy.
Family.
It made no difference.
All that mattered was power.
“You leave before sunrise,” Derrick said.
“Take whoever you need.
Use whatever weapons are necessary.
Wolfsbane, silver, human ammunition—I don’t care.” Jack’s gaze snapped towards him.
“Wolfsbane could kill Jace.” “Then your brother should surrender.” Jack looked at the map again.
The circled settlements seemed to blur before his eyes.
He had been ordered to hunt his own brother, capture a girl his father had tortured for most of her life and retrieve an ancient Crystal whose power none of them fully understood.
And if he refused, an innocent man would pay the price.
Derrick sat down again, already dismissing him.
“One final thing.” Jack paused at the door.
“If you lose the Crystal again, there will be no third chance.
“Jack did not turn around.” And if Jace gets in your way…” Derrick’s voice became quiet once more.
“Remind him what it costs to betray a Greyson.” Jack closed his eyes.
“Yes, Father.” He stepped into the corridor and pulled the door shut behind him.
Only then did his legs begin to shake.
Across from the study hung an old portrait of the Greyson family.
Derrick stood proudly in the centre.
is wife beside him.
Jack at sixteen, already being shaped into the perfect heir.
Jace stood at the edge of the picture, forteen and smiling, one hand gripping Jack’s sleeve as though he had refused to stand anywhere else.
Jack stared at his brother’s face.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
He touched the bruise forming along his jaw.
Then thought of his girlfriend.
Her father.
Lilah.
The Crystal.
He had no safe choice left.
If he returned empty-handed, Derrick would hurt an innocent man, who has a family, who’s been a family to himself.
If he followed his orders, he might destroy the only brother he had ever had Jack looked towards the window at the dark forest beyond the pack grounds.
Somewhere out there, Jace was free.
At least for now.
“I’ll find you,” Jack whispered.
His voice cracked.
“But I don’t know which one of us I’m trying to save.
“Behind him, the study door remained firmly closed.
Inside, Derrick Greyson opened the ancient book once more.
His finger traced pages.
He had waited twelve years.
He would not wait any longer