<h4>Chapter 142: Chapter 142 Family Confrontation</h4>


    Author’s pov


    The hospital room door flew open, mming against the wall with a force that made the medical equipment rattle.


    Alpha Gavin strode in, his powerful frame filling the doorway, eyes shing with barely contained fury.


    "Leave us," hemanded the hospital staff without even looking their way.


    The nurses in the hallway scattered like startled birds.


    Alpha Gavin’s normally handsome features were twisted into a mask of cold rage.


    The events of the past twenty-four hours had pushed him to his limit.


    Yesterday’s tedious pack meetings had already left him exhausted; then came the frantic call from Boulder police, forcing him to drop everything and race across state lines to bail out his mother.


    But it was what he’d learned at the police station that truly shook him to his core.


    "Murder?" The word had hung in the sterile air of the station like poison. "A body buried in an orchard five years ago? My mother as an aplice?"


    Five years ago, he’d been studying international business at Oxford, building connections for the Shadow Pack’s future.


    Nobody had bothered to mention that his spoiled sister might havemitted homicide.


    He’d always known Cici was trouble - the baby of the family, indulged beyond reason.


    Her obsession with Alpha Xavier, the Blood Moon Alpha, had driven her to increasingly desperate acts.


    But this? This crossed every line of packw and human decency.


    Now he stood beside her hospital bed, his anger rolling off him in waves.


    "Tell me the truth," he demanded, voice deceptively soft but carrying the unmistakable edge of an Alpha’smand. "Is it true about the boy?"


    The hospital room fell into suffocating silence.


    Mrs. White couldn’t meet her son’s eyes, her normally imperious demeanor crumbling under his scrutiny.


    Cici made a dismissive sound, like this was all some minor inconvenience.


    "I didn’t do it on purpose," she muttered, examining her manicured nails. "It was an ident. If Mason had just listened to me instead of ying hard to get, none of this would have - "


    The crack of Alpha Gavin’s palm connecting with her cheek echoed through the room like a gunshot.


    "MURDER," he roared, "This isn’t some school yard bullying! You took a LIFE! A wolf’s life! Do you think this is some fucking GAME?"


    Cici’s eyes widened in shock as she touched her reddening cheek, tears welling instantly.


    "Your entitled tantrums have brought our pack to the brink of war multiple times," he continued, leaning closer. "We’ve cleaned up your messes, paid off your victims, and covered your tracks for years. But now you’ve dragged Mother into a murder investigation. Do you understand what that means? essories to murder face pack exile! "


    "You hit me," Cici gasped, eyes wide. "My own brother."


    Alpha Gavin’s jaw clenched so tightly, it looked like his mrs might shatter.


    Mrs. White rushed in, throwing herself around her daughter as if to shield her.


    "Hush, baby. Your brother didn’t mean it. " She turned to Alpha Gavin, voice sharp. "Don’t be so dramatic. I’ve already spoken to Detective Zack - he’s on our payroll. No body, no crime. Nicole’s testimony won’t hold. Detective Zack promised to delete the recordings. It’s handled."


    "You bribed the cops?" Alpha Gavin’s voice dropped, stunned.


    This wasn’t just about Cici anymore. His mother had dragged their entire pack into a corruption scandal.


    Mrs. White smirked. "Zack is reliable. He’s helped us before. He knows who pays his bills."


    Cici sneered. "Let Cecilia try something. She and that lunatic she dragged in won’t make it ten feet in court."


    Alpha Gavin saw the flicker of cruelty in Cici’s eyes and felt his stomach turn.


    "Do you even know who posted bail for Cecilia?" he asked quietly.


    "Alpha Sebastian ck," he added. "He was at the precinct before the paperwork even printed. First stop? The Chief of Police’s office."


    Their faces drained of color.


    "That’s impossible," Mrs. White whispered. "He didn’t even file charges when Cici stabbed him. He didn’t even help that human draft her settlement. He clearly doesn’t give a damn about her."


    Alpha Gavin barked a humorlessugh.


    "You think a man like Alpha Sebastian shows his cards before he makes his move?"


    He stepped forward, voice cold and sharp.


    "I told you - leave Cecilia alone. But no. You kept poking the bear. Now the bear’s awake... and pissed."


    Cici crossed her arms, defiant. "So what? He rescues his little human pet? There’s no body anymore. He’s got nothing."


    "Exactly," Mrs. White echoed. "No body, no proof. We’ll be fine."


    Alpha Gavin leaned in. "Then tell me - where is the body? Who moved it?"


    Silence.


    Mrs. White shook her head. "Cecilia doesn’t know. She couldn’t."


    Alpha Gavin stared at them, disgusted.


    "Really? You think someone just wandered in with a shovel and a death wish? You ever consider Alpha Sebastian might already have the remains? That his cozy little chat with the Chief wasn’t just catching up over coffee?"


    The silence that followed wasn’t empty.With guilt. With panic.


    Alpha Gavin dropped into a chair like the weight of his entire bloodline’s stupidity had finally broken him.


    His mother rushed over, clutching his sleeve like it was a life raft.


    "Gavin, you have to help your sister! I spoke to your aunt from the Locke family - if you agree to her terms, she can make it all go away."


    Alpha Gavin scoffed,posure cracking.


    "Her terms are insane. Neither I nor Xavier would ever sign off on that."


    "It’s just a business alliance," his mother argued. "She said it would benefit both packs!"


    "Mutually beneficial, my ass," he snapped. "You have no idea what you’re asking. That woman’s a walking power grab. Everyone who gets in her orbit ends up scorched."


    He stood, pacing. "The Locke family is already eating itself from the inside. You want to hand her the Shadow Pack too?"


    This so-called alliance was just a trap - one that would pull them into the Locke family’s dirty politics until they were toopromised to w their way out.


    And he definitely wasn’t siding with a woman whose power was as temporary as a summer storm.


    His mother pressed on, voice tight. "You always assume the worst. She’s harsh, but she protects her own. Just do this - for your sister."


    "Don’t bother begging him!" Cici snapped, eyes zing. "If he won’t help, Xavier will. He’s my mate. He has to protect me!"


    She snatched her phone, fingers trembling as she dialed.


    Their mother panicked, grabbing the phone away. "No - don’t call him. He... he won’te."


    Cici froze. "What are you talking about? I’m carrying his heir!"


    Alpha Gavin didn’t flinch. "He’s already been there."


    Her voice cracked. "Then where is he?"


    "Gone,"Alpha Gavin said tly. "He called from the road. Said if the murder allegations stick, the mating ceremony’s off. Effective immediately."


    The phone slipped from Cici’s hands as her world cracked open.


    "No," she whispered. "That’s not possible. He wouldn’t do that to me."


    Her voice rose to a hysterical pitch. "You’re lying! Our ceremony will proceed as nned! I’m his mate! His MATE!"


    She thrashed wildly, trying to get out of bed despite her injuries.


    Blood began seeping through the bandages on her shoulder and hand where Nicole had stabbed her.


    Mrs. White finally snapped.


    "Open your eyes, Cici! Xavier stood there while Nicole came at you with a knife - he didn’t even flinch! What kind of mate watches his own get attacked and does nothing? You’ll never be happy with someone that cold."


    She reached out, gently stroking her daughter’s hair.


    "Forget the mating ceremony. We’ll raise the baby together, just us - like a real family."


    "Baby?" Alpha Gavin let out a dryugh and rubbed at his temple. "I spoke to her doctor ten minutes ago. There is no baby."


    The room went still.


    Mrs. White froze. "...You’re not pregnant?"


    Cici didn’t say a word. Her silence said everything.


    In Denver, she could bribe doctors, twist testimonies, stage whatever fantasy she needed. But Boulder wasn’t Denver - and this time, she’d run out of time.


    Alpha Gavin’s voice was t. "I don’t know how you got Luna Dora to lie for you, but you actually convinced Xavier. Tricked him into a mating ceremony. Why? There are dozens of strong, unmated males who’d dly fight for a chance with you. So why chase the one man who wants nothing to do with you?"


    Mrs. White’s face shifted, something dark settling in her eyes.


    "Now it all makes sense," she muttered. "Xavier must’ve found out the truth. That’s why he turned on her. That’s why he teamed up with that woman - to tear Cici down."


    As her mother ranted, Cici’s expression shifted.


    The pout disappeared, reced by something sharper - colder.


    Her smile turned razor-thin, no warmth, just realization and poison.


    It wasn’t Xavier.


    It was Luna Dora.


    She was the traitor.