Chapter 53
+25 BONUS
I stood at the head of the estate’s smaller council hall, sunlight cutting across the stone floor in bright strips. The windows were old and leaded, warping the light into odd shapes that stretched across the chairs and the scuffed table we’d pushed to the front.
Three minor pack leaders sat in a loose semicircle in front of me, each of them looking like they’d rather be anywhere else.
Dario, the youngest, kept tapping his knee like he was trying to kick a habit. Clara of Low Pine, gray- streaked, blazer fraying at the cuffs, had a face carved from years of gritted teeth. Vaughn, the last,
leaned on a cane and looked like he hadn’t smiled since before the last Alpha election.
Still, they’d come.
I cleared my throat. “This is a space to say what you feel hasn’t been heard. Say what you need, in whatever way you need to say it. I’m not here to justify bad policy–I’m here to change it.”
Clara went first. Her voice had a burr to it, like she’d spent too many winters smoking cheap tobacco. “We haven’t had a healer make rounds in my territory for over a year. You know what that means for people? My husband’s sister died in January. Lung rot. Should’ve been caught, treated. Wasn’t.”
I didn’t interrupt. I just nodded and let her keep going.
Then Vaughn laid out a list of tax codes that hadn’t been touched in fifty years.
“Still taxed for lumber,” he said, voice flat. “We switched to textiles in ’09. Whole new infrastructure. None of it’s been acknowledged. We’re bleeding money every quarter. The big territories get incentives. We get silence.”
Dario went last. I could see him working something over in his mind. His eyes flicked toward mine, then away. “I won’t lie–my people think this forum is a joke. Theater, at best. At worst? A trap. If we say the wrong thing, we’re marked. If we say nothing, we’re invisible.”
My hands were still folded in front of me, fingers loosely knotted. “Then let’s prove them wrong.
The air shifted. Not all the way to trust–but somewhere closer. We talked for almost two hours. I took notes, I asked follow–ups, I asked them to rank priorities. I thanked them for things they didn’t expect me to notice.
Dario finally stopped twitching. Vaughn almost smiled once. When Clara stood to leave, she looked me in the eye and said, “Don’t let this get buried.”
“I won’t,” I promised. I meant it.
They filed out one by one. Dario lingered by the door.
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Chapter 53
+25 BONUS
I tilted my head. “Something else?”
He stepped back in and pulled the door shut behind him. “Just for you. Not the official notes.”
I stayed standing, didn’t crowd him. “Go on.”
He didn’t sit. “David’s team reached out last week. Said showing up here would look like choosing sides. Implied we might lose central support next cycle if we aligned too closely.”
I didn’t blink. “Did you record it?”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t formal. Just a call. A friend–of–a–friend kind of thing.”
“Understood.” I crossed to the sideboard, pulled open the locked drawer, and took out my watchlist.
It was just a slim black notebook, but every name inside had weight. I flipped to the back.
DARIO – pressured by David’s camp, stood firm. Trust: cautious.
I wrote it in pencil. Everything in that section stayed erasable.
“Thank you for telling me,” I said.
“I haven’t told anyone else.”
“And they won’t hear it from me.”
He gave me a look I couldn’t read–half gratitude, half regret–and slipped out without another
word.
Later that evening, I curled up on a couch with my laptop. The lights in the estate’s east wing buzzed low overhead. My summary email to Richard and Nathan was short:
Key themes: healer access, outdated taxation, forum skepticism. Three actionable points flagged.
Dario reported external pressure from David’s camp. No formal evidence. Personal discretion
advised.
I hovered for a second, then added:
Trust index: medium. Might lean toward us with more support. Watching.
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