Chapter 6 - THE BOY WHO CARRIED THE INVITATION
"They can't force me to witness a wedding."
I stood in the reading room, gripping the council notice.
Isla looked miserable.
"My father can order you to attend a formal pack proceeding."
"Not to approve a forged document."
"He'll say you're only there to observe."
"And if I object?"
Her silence told me enough.
The following morning, the courtyard was already crowded with wedding preparations.
Silver ribbons hung from the lampposts.
Workers carried white flowers toward the grand hall.
A banner bearing Damian and Isla's names stretched between two stone pillars.
I hated how beautiful everything looked.
Maya found me outside the archives.
"We have a problem."
"Another one?"
"Toby's missing."
My stomach tightened.
"What do you mean?"
"He was supposed to help deliver the remaining invitations. His supervisor says he stole a council envelope and ran off."
"Toby wouldn't steal."
"I know."
Maya looked toward the guard station.
"They've locked him in the east office until someone questions him."
I went straight there.
Elias accompanied us.
The guard at the entrance crossed his arms.
"This is council business."
"He's seventeen," I said. "And he's done nothing wrong."
"That's for the beta to decide."
Elias stepped forward.
"Then tell your beta that Alpha Elias Ward of Pine Ridge is requesting to observe the questioning."
The guard hesitated.
After several uncomfortable seconds, he opened the door.
Toby was sitting on a wooden bench.
His eyes were red.
When he saw me, he stood.
"Sarah, I didn't steal anything."
"I know."
"They said I took an invitation from the council office."
"Did you?"
He nodded slowly.
"I kept one envelope."
Maya frowned.
"Why?"
Toby reached beneath his jacket.
He withdrew a cream-colored envelope with a broken silver seal.
It was addressed to Elias Ward.
I looked at Elias.
"Did you receive an invitation?"
"No."
Toby swallowed.
"They gave me a list of people to deliver things to. Then the council secretary crossed out Alpha Ward's name."
"Why?" Elias asked.
"He said you'd already declined."
Elias's expression darkened.
"I never received a request."
Toby looked at me.
"I thought it was strange because he made me deliver yours personally. But he told me to put this one in the waste basket."
"Why did you keep it?" I asked.
The boy's face reddened.
"My grandma always says you shouldn't throw away a letter before the person it's meant for gets to read it."
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
He handed Elias the envelope.
Inside was a formal notice stating that Pine Ridge's presence at the Moonwell proceedings was unnecessary because its representatives had supposedly agreed to the transfer.
Elias read the page carefully.
"Someone has been speaking for my pack without our permission."
The guard shifted uneasily.
Elias turned toward him.
"This boy preserved evidence of a misrepresentation between two allied packs. Release him."
The guard looked torn.
Then he unlocked the inner gate.
Toby stepped beside Maya.
I rested a hand on his shoulder.
"You did the right thing."
He looked up.
"Am I going to lose my job?"
My heart ached.
"Not if I can help it."
Outside, Elias placed the envelope in his satchel.
"The original charter is our strongest evidence," he said. "Your archive copy and ours should agree word for word."
I nodded.
"Mine is locked in the restricted cabinet."
"Then we need to secure it before tonight."
We hurried back to the archives.
The front door stood open.
That wasn't unusual during business hours.
But the cabinet behind my mother's desk was unlocked.
And the shelves were empty.
I stopped.
"No."
The blue-covered index was gone.
The oldest Moonwell ledger was gone.
Even the wooden box containing my mother's seal had been opened.
Someone had taken the archive records.
I ran upstairs to my apartment.
My cupboards were open.
Papers lay scattered across the floor.
And beside the kitchen cabinets was my mother's blue cup.
Broken into three pieces.
I dropped to my knees.
For a moment, the missing records disappeared from my mind.
I could only see the little cup she'd held every morning.
The one she'd given me when I began working in the archives.
The one ordinary thing I still touched every day.
Maya knelt beside me.
"Oh, Sarah."
I picked up the handle.
The chipped edge was still there.
But now a crack ran through the painted blue flowers.
I felt tears burning behind my eyes.
"They didn't even need to do this," I whispered.
Elias crouched nearby.
He didn't tell me it was only a cup.
He didn't tell me to be strong.
He simply collected the remaining pieces and wrapped them in a clean cloth.
"We'll keep them safe," he said.
I looked at him.
For months, I'd grown used to people deciding what mattered to me.
Elias had known me only a few days.
Yet he hadn't questioned why a broken cup mattered.
We returned downstairs.
That was when I heard a familiar voice.
"Sarah."
Damian stood at the far end of the reading room.
He was holding the missing Moonwell ledger.
The original binding was open in his hands.
Beyond him, a fire burned in the old stone hearth.
My entire body went cold.
"Give that back."
Damian looked at the book.
Then at me.
"Alpha Thorne ordered me to destroy it."
I took one step forward.
"Damian, don't."
May you like
He moved toward the fireplace.
And for one terrible second, I thought I was about to watch the last proof of my mother's work disappear into the flames.
