CHAPTER 59: CHAPTER 59: THE WET NURSE OF MISS SELENE

"We’ve sent out thirty-four search teams in a month," Kael murmured, quieter now. "Fifteen went down the cliffside. The others scattered through the bordering forest and river basin. Nothing. Not even a scent trail. It’s like she was erased."

"She wasn’t," Aeron said.

His eyes finally opened.

And when they did, they were glowing, but not with power. But pain...pure, unfiltered, soul-ripping pain.

"She’s still out there. I know it."

"Then where is she?" Aeron? he asked, voice breaking. "If she’s alive—why hasn’t she come back? Why hasn’t she tried to reach us?"

Aeron didn’t answer.

Because he already knew.

She hadn’t come back because she didn’t want to. Because she would rather face death alone than fall into their arms again.

And gods, they couldn’t even blame her.

"I’ll send another team tomorrow," Kael said quietly.

But the words had barely left his mouth when a knock filled with urgency echoed at the door.

All four alphas stiffened; every knock felt like it would bring the news of her.

Before they could respond, the door creaked open and Cyrus stepped in. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days...eyes shadowed, shoulders heavy with exhaustion. His clothes were wrinkled, his hair damp with sweat, and he moved like a man running on sheer will alone. But he wasn’t alone.

An old woman followed behind. She was omega, hunched with age, her graying hair braided and tucked beneath a worn scarf. Her clothes were plain, her scent faint but familiar in a way none of them could place.

Cyrus inclined his head respectfully. "Alpha Kael. Alpha Luca. Alpha Aeron. Alpha Lucian."

The old woman gave a slight bow, eyes lowered. "My Lords."

Kael’s brows furrowed. "Who is this?"

Cyrus straightened. "Her name is Maela. She was an Omega in Alpha Eirik’s Pack." He glanced between them, then added gravely, "She was also the wet nurse to Miss Selene."

A silence fell so thick it stole the air from the room.

"She..." Luca swallowed hard. "She knew Selene?"

Maela lifted her head, and though her age showed in the lines of her face, there was a steadiness in her gaze. "I did not just know her, my lords. I raised her."

Aeron took a step forward, eyes narrowing. "You were there... when the pack fell?"

"I was," she answered softly. "I was with her from the moment she was born... until the day you conquered the Silver Fang pack."

Luca stumbled back a pace. Kael’s hands curled into fists.

"Why now?" Luca’s voice was rough. "Why come forward now?"

Cyrus answered in her place. "Because Alpha Aeron asked me to find someone who could give you the truth of Miss Selene’s past. Someone who could answer the questions none of us had the courage to ask before." His voice quieted.

Kael’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. "The truth?"

Cyrus nodded once. "All of it."

A sudden pressure sank through the room. Heavy. Dread-laced. Because even before she opened her mouth, the alphas already knew—

This truth would not be easy.

Maela stepped forward. "I have heard from Beta Cyrus that Miss Selene told you once... that she was not Alpha Eirik’s daughter."

Kael flinched.

Luca looked away.

Lucian’s jaw tightened so hard a nerve jumped in his forehead.

"I’m here to confirm it," the old woman whispered. "She was telling the truth."

The silence cracked like a whip. Kael stumbled back a step, as if struck. Luca breathed, "But he... he raised her. She was always at his side—"

Even though Selene had already revealed this to them, they still found it difficult to believe.

"Because he needed her," Maela said, her voice laced with steel. "Not because he loved her."

They stared at her. But she didn’t flinch.

"I know what kind of man Alpha Eirik was," she continued. "I knew what he was capable of. You think he raised her out of kindness?" Her voice shook now, a brittle rage rising. "No. He kept her close because she has her purpose. Because she is someone he could use."

Luca’s knees almost buckled.

Aeron looked like stone, but his knuckles were white where they clenched at his sides.

"You mean to say," Luca rasped, "that all this time... she was never his child?"

"Yes," Maela whispered. "She was never his."

For a heartbeat, no one breathed.

The room was still. And in that stillness, a sickening realization took root—one that sent every brother’s heart into a downward spiral of dread.

Because if that was true... if she wasn’t Eirik’s daughter...

Then everything they thought they knew about her—every judgment, every cruel word, every punishment—they’d given to the wrong girl.

Aeron’s voice came low and ragged. "Why... why didn’t she tell us sooner?"

Maela’s eyes softened. "Would you have believed her?"

No one answered. Because they all knew the truth. They wouldn’t have.

They had branded her a liar, a seductress, and a traitor. Nothing more than Eirik’s filthy bloodline poisoning their pack from the inside.

And yet now...

Now the truth stood in front of them in the form of a frail old woman whose presence made their chests cave in with shame.

Maela’s eyes glistened with the weight of memories too old and too cruel to fade.

"She was just a child," the old woman whispered, her voice almost trembling. "Barely able to understand when it happened. Her mother was dragged out in front of her...she was beaten, bloodied, and butchered like a criminal. And for what?"

Silence.

The four alphas didn’t dare breathe.

Maela’s voice cracked. "Because she refused a demand from Alpha Eirik. I don’t know what it was. Missy...she never told me exactly. Only that it was something her mother would never allow. Not even to save her own life."

Aeron’s jaw clenched. Luca’s breath hitched. Kael’s fists were trembling at his sides.

"That was her mother’s last wish," Maela said quietly. "If he ever asked the same thing from Selene... she was to refuse. No matter what."

She looked at them all then, one by one. Her old eyes were piercing.

"And after the Luna died... Miss Selene’s life turned into something worse than any punishment the gods could imagine."