Stuck with the enemy

Chapter 74: Truth in the Light

I had a name. A person I needed to find: Prophet Augustin. The oldest werewolf in the pack, and the last surviving member of the council. He had fought alongside my grandfather. I didn't remember him well. I was just a kid when he vanished, but the stories my mother used to tell me, late at night when the world was quiet... they never left me. She said he was a good man. A protector. And I believed her.

Before I went searching for him, I needed answers. Clues. So I decided to start with what my mother had left behind.

I pushed open the door to her office. It felt like stepping back in time. The air was heavy with dust and the scent of old parchment, but underneath that... there was her. Her presence, clinging to the shadows. The room was untouched, everything exactly as she'd left it—like she might walk in at any moment and smile that gentle smile of hers.

Her desk was cluttered, but in a way that made sense. Old books stacked on one side, papers and dried herbs in neat bundles. A half-burnt candle sat in a bronze holder, wax hardened into rivers of white.

I ran my fingers over the spine of her journal, memories flooding back. The nights she sat there, writing by lamplight, humming lullabies she thought I couldn't hear.

In the corner of the room was a cabinet. I remembered that safe—hidden behind false panels. She never told me the code, but I knew it had to mean something. Something she'd never forget.

I tried dates I thought would matter. My birthday. Her birthday. Nothing. Then, I remembered the story she always told me—the night she first met my father. The night the moon turned red and everything changed.

I punched in the date. The safe clicked open.

Inside were stacks of letters, tied with black ribbon. I reached in, heart pounding.

The first was from Prophet Augustin. His script was steady, each word carefully chosen.

"Luna, there are those who wish you harm. The Protectors are your shield—trust them. Even as darkness closes in, remember that they will not fail you."

I swallowed hard and set it aside. The next letters were a shock—a bundle of love letters from Alpha Lucian, my father. Words I'd never imagined him saying—how he called her his moonlight, his sanctuary. My chest ached as I read them.

There were others. Letters from my mother to the parents of Deniz and Aras. She wrote to them like family, her words filled with warmth and devotion. Letters they never received.

"You have always been my strength," she wrote. "I will go to the old cabin tonight, though I fear for what awaits me there. My children must be safe. They deserve a world of light. If anything happens to me, protect them like your own. Teach them how to be brave like my dear Aras. And my beautiful Deniz, I know she is going to become an amazing and powerful young woman."

She spoke of Deniz and Aras like they were her own. I felt a strange, unexpected comfort in those words. "She is, Mom...she is", I said, trying to hold my tears.

Then I found the last letter, half-burnt, charred at the edges. It was unsigned, but the seal of the council was still visible in the wax.

"My friend,

The plan is in motion. On the night of the attack, everything will be arranged to make it look like the Protectors betrayed the Luna.

Their loyalty will be their undoing. We must rid ourselves of all three at once—Luna, and the Protectors who stand in our way. No witnesses, no loose ends. The Council's power will remain unchallenged.

This is the only way to keep our power."

My stomach twisted. They'd framed the Protectors—my mother's friends, my mate's parents. And they'd planned it all. I've hated them my whole life because of a misunderstanding.