Chapter 106

Darren

The silence in the room felt suffocating. My father’s hand trembled faintly as he scrawled across the notepad, the pen moving unevenly. His movements were jerky. Unnatural. Not at all like the calm and collected man I used to know.

Meanwhile, Arthur stood in the doorway. I didn’t look at him, but I could feel his presence as he watched my father write.

Something was wrong here.

When my father finally set the pen down, I reached for the notepad and my breath caught in my throat when I saw the words he had written.

“Charles did it. All of it.”

The words stared back at me, mocking me. My grip tightened on the edges of the paper, my pulse roaring in my ears. For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.

“Dad,” I murmured, my voice breaking through the heavy silence. “What does this mean?”

But he didn’t respond. Of course he didn’t respond. He just returned his gaze to the window, his body slumping in the chair once more as if he’d used his last remaining strength to write that message. The only sign of life in the man who used to be our pack’s Alpha was the faint rise and fall of his chest.

“Why won’t you talk to me?” I demanded, my voice growing sharper. “If you know something—if you’ve known this whole time—why didn’t you say anything?”

Still, nothing. He didn’t even blink.

Behind me, Arthur’s footsteps were barely audible on the thick carpet as he approached. “Alpha Darren,” he said quietly, “perhaps it’s best to let your father rest. He had been unwell for quite some time.”

I turned to face Arthur. “Unwell? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Arthur shrugged. “It’s just a head cold. A slight fever. I didn’t think it was necessary to bother you with something so trivial.”

My eyes narrowed. “Unwell or not, he’s just implicated Charles in something serious,” I snapped. “I can’t ignore this.”

Arthur’s expression didn’t change, but there was something in the way his eyes flickered toward my father that made me pause. Without a word, he moved to the side table and began preparing a cup of tea.

I watched him, the tension in my chest coiling tighter. “What are you doing?”

“Tea helps calm him,” Arthur replied simply without looking up.

Something about the entire scene struck me as odd. My father didn’t look ill; he looked worn and tired, but not sick. And Arthur… well, he was a squirrely, conniving little bastard for what he had conspired to do to Aria, but he had always been loyal to the pack and to my father.

Or so I thought.

But then Arthur lifted the cup to my father’s lips, and I saw it: the faint tremble in Arthur’s hands.

“Drink up, Elder Alpha,” he said, his voice shaking ever so slightly as he tried to quite literally pour the liquid down my father’s throat. “It’s time for your tea. Don’t you want to feel better?”

My father’s head didn’t so much as turn toward the tea, nor did he even acknowledge Arthur’s efforts. But Arthur just tilted my father’s head back, opened his mouth with one hand, and poured the tea onto his tongue.

This wasn’t right. Something was going on here. But I didn’t have time right now to figure this out; if Charles had something to do with Aria’s coma, then I needed to find him. Quickly.

Gritting my teeth, I folded the note carefully and slipped it into my pocket. Arthur’s eyes flickered toward me again, but he said nothing. I didn’t offer any explanation. If Charles was involved in what happened to Aria, then I needed to act, not waste time with more unanswered questions.

I turned on my heel and strode toward the door, my thoughts racing the entire way back to the village.

By the time I reached the packhouse, the sun was beginning its slow descent behind the mountains, casting long shadows across the snow-dusted ground. The packhouse loomed ahead, its windows glowing faintly with golden light. Inside, the familiar hum of activity greeted me, but I ignored it, heading straight for Wendy.

I found her in the kitchen, chopping vegetables with a furrowed brow—likely worrying about Aria, just like I was. She looked up as I entered, and her brow furrowed even more when she saw my dark expression.

“Darren,” she said, setting down the knife. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

I didn’t waste any time. “Where’s Charles?”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “He left the pack lands yesterday. Said he had an errand to run in the human world. Why?”

My stomach twisted. Of course the bastard wasn’t here. That would have made things too easy. “Did he say where he was going?”

“No,” she replied warily. “But what’s going on? Why do you need to find him?”

I hesitated for only a moment. My grandmother had always been someone I could trust, but this wasn’t something I could explain yet—not fully. Not until I had more answers. And more time. “It’s about Aria,” I finally said, handing her the note. “I think Charles might be involved.”

Her face hardened instantly as she unfolded the note and read its contents. “If that bastard had anything to do with this…” She didn’t finish the sentence, but the sharp edge in her voice spoke volumes.

“I need to go after him,” I said, already turning to leave.

“Be careful, Darren,” Wendy called after me. “And come back to us. Aria needs you. Lucas needs you. I need you.”

I didn’t respond, but her words echoed in my mind as I left the packhouse.

The journey back to the human world felt agonizingly slow, even running at full speed in my wolf form. It really wasn’t all that far in this form, but it felt like an eternity. Maybe it was because my mind kept wandering back to the packhouse, back to the bed where my mate was laying unconscious.

Back to my father.

My father, who had become a recluse since my sister’s death.

But maybe he hadn’t chosen that life for himself after all.

When I finally reached the elevator in the woods, I shifted back into my human form, my focus narrowing. I hardly even noticed the breathless feeling in my lungs, the pounding in my chest, or my cold fingers as I jabbed the button and stepped into the portal.

The ride down to the first floor felt even longer than the run through the forest, but I kept my mind focused on one thing. Whatever reason Charles had for suddenly going on an ‘errand’ in the human world, it wasn’t innocent. And I intended to find out exactly what it was.

But I couldn’t do it alone.

I needed my pack. My people.

Aria needed them.

The glass doors swung open as I stepped inside, and the sudden hush that followed was almost deafening. Heads turned, conversations halted, and every eye was suddenly fixed on me.

Liam, standing at the far end of the room, straightened.

“Alpha,” he said slowly, his eyes widening as he scanned the empty space behind me—Aria wasn’t with me, and there was no hiding the stormy expression on my face. “Where is our Luna?”