Chapter 24

"What?!" A woman in the crowd is the first Luna to speak up sounding horrified by the revelation.

"That's not possible!" An Alpha in the back shouts standing to his feet. Uneasy with the verity of high emotions swirling around the room I turn my body so I can face the crowd and council. Shock, uncertainty, and petrified are all the different expressions I can identify in the crowd.

"Silence!" The old head council member loses his cool shouting at all those interrupting each other by yelling and screaming over one another. His face is bright red with anger etching itself onto his face, and the way the vein in his forehead pops out staining against his skin has me worried for his health. "We will be taking a short break to go over all the evidence you have provided, and I hope the rest of you use the time to do the same." None of the members spare a second glance in our direction before they all scurry out of the room leaving us all dumbfounded.

"Let's go before it gets too hectic." Della leans over whispering to us. We gather up all our papers into our binder and follow her and Aidan as they climb back up the stairs and out the door. Quentin keeps a hand on my back shielding me from some of the Lunas and Alphas who are still hurtling questions in our directions. Pushing onto my top toes I steal a glance over Quentin's shoulder to make sure my dads are following along with us. Thankfully they are right behind us, but look infuriated meeting every person that glares at us with an equally vicious look.

"They are going to be talking to the witness right now." Aidan says while we climb up the four flights of stairs to our suite. I have a sick feeling that we aren't going to be able to hear from the rogue ourselves. The council knows other packs will be demanding answers the second the meeting resumes, and right now I have no doubt that they are coming up with excuses instead of answers.

"Nora and Elijah will be up shortly." Fletcher informs us all as Della unlocks our door urgently ushering us all in and slamming it shut behind us. We all pause at a constant ringing sound coming from somewhere in the room. The ringing stops for a second and then starts back up again making me realize it's my phone going off in me and Quentin's bedroom.

"Shit!" I take off for the bedroom with Quentin right behind me. Everyone who would possibly call me knows where I am and would only call if there was an emergency. Cursing myself for not bringing it down with me to the meeting, I rummage through my bag until my fingers grasp ahold of it.

"Hello?" I didn't even look who is calling hoping this is something stupid, but preparing myself for the worst.

"Tessa, Jasper called." Carl sounds tense and I can already tell this isn't going to be good. "He found something." I pull at my hair silently cursing him for being so vague.

"What is it?" I nearly shout my stress level about to reach its breaking point. Quentin moves closer to me taking the phone out of my hand and putting it on speaker. I look up seeing everyone looking at me expectantly and feel bad for not doing that in the first place but to be fair I have a lot on my mind right now.

"I don't know how he did it, but he's got emails between some of the council members talking about the attacks." It's great news but I don't see why it was urgent enough to call me over and over until I picked up. Jasper and I are going to be having a long talk because however he got the emails was no doubt putting him and his packs safety on the line, which I specifically told him not to do. "Before they happened." It takes me a second to register what he is saying and when I do I gasp covering my mouth.

"That son of a bitch." Quentin spits angrily as I lean my back against the wall. Of course I knew Ivan had to have something to do with the attacks, but the fact others were involved rattles me to my core. Feeling a bit lightheaded I sit down on the couch at the same time Ryder lets out a viscous snarl.

"I fucking knew it." The utter rage in my dad's eyes scares me a bit since I've never seen him this furious before. Aidan and Della spend the next few minutes instructing Carl how to send us the emails, and it doesn't take long until all of our phones go off alerting us we received them.

"Thank you. Tell Jasper I will call him back as soon as we are done." I don't have it in me to start lecturing anyone when this whole situation just got significantly worse. The whole system that has been built up for hundreds of years will most likely be non existent by the end of the day.

"Oh my god." Della scrolls through her phone with a disturbed look. Ending my call will Carl I immediately open up the emails with a pounding heart. The room is so quiet you can hear a pin drop, and I'm wore everyone else is able to hear just how loud my pulse is thumping in neck.

Scanning through the emails I see that more than a handful of council members were making sure that the attacks weren't going to come back to bite them in the ass. Ivan seems to reassure them all that it is going to fine and that we will be to broken to continue on.

"He wanted you gone." I nearly burst into tears as the words leave my mouth. Ivan was planning on taking Quentin out thinking we wouldn't have been able to recover without him. Quentin takes my face in his hands swiping away the tears that trickle down my cheeks.

"I'm right here." He leans down pressing a delicate kiss to my forehead before pulling me into his side. I clutch his shirt in my fists letting myself take a few moments to let out all of the pent up emotions. I don't care that almost my entire family is watching me because it's better than letting the council see how much they effected me.  "I'm not going anywhere." He strokes my hair while putting his phone up to his ear. "Hey Oli, arrange for a pack meeting later tonight." His stiff tone doesn't give away anything. "Yeah I know." It's silent for a while. "Okay, bye." He hang up turning his full attention back to me.

"We need to fight back." I sit up still pressed into Quentin's side, his arm slung around my shoulders. "They can't get away with this." My tears stop falling and I look up my sore eyes connecting with Della's. "All those people." They lost their lives at the hands of the group of people they trusted to protect them.

"Don't worry they are going to pay." Fletcher stands up heading into the other room. Della follows him pulling her phone out, but is too far to hear who she's calling. We don't have long to make a plan before they call us back, and to be frank I don't know if I can stand there and act as if I'm not staring down murders.

"We have the upper hand because they don't know we know." Aidan starts sitting down on the other couch. "When they restart the meeting they will want to address the treasonous talk charges, and we are going to let them because if don't approach this right it could backfire." Ryder nods in agreement, but I'm not so sure. It's not their mate that they have to sit and hear be torn apart over falsehoods.

"I can't be the one to bring up the proof." Quentin shakes his head knowing it's too risky. What we are about to do is uncharted waters for us, for anyone in fact. The council has been in charge for so long with no issues, so it makes me wonder why now they decided to turn their backs to those they took an oath to protect.

"Tessa has to do it." Aidan's assertive gaze has me shifting in my seat. I cant do this. None one would believe me since I only just took the Luna position. Adding to the fact I won't tell them where I really got the information will only hurt my case. Turning to Ryder I plead him with my eyes to back me up but he sends me a look silently telling me he agrees with Aidan.

"They won't listen to me." I saw the way they blew me off as a child who was simply an Alphas daughter who got lucky with a high ranked mate. I wouldn't normally care what they thought about me but so much rides on what happens next, and if I messed up and it cost people their lives I would never forgive myself.

"They will." Ryder assures. "I know you don't think so, but they look up to you." I shake my head chuckling. We are talking about leaders whom most are double my age. They aren't going to look to a eighteen year old for guidance when the structure of our world is crumbling.

"It's true." I whip my head to look at Quentin. His eyes swirl with a mix of adoration and worry. He's remained pretty quiet since the emails came through and I know exactly what he's thinking. Were they responsible for the attack that killed his parents? "You been through so much in your life, yet here you are standing tall with all the confidence in the world." He brushes a stray hair behind me ear. I don't feel confident by any means.

"I'll do it, but I can't promise they will listen." Taking a deep breathe I push down the nagging second thoughts about all of this. "How do we do this?" Della and Fletcher come back in and we all go through the plan over and over again.

* * *

Entering the meeting room acting as if nothing is wrong is one of the hardest things I've had to do. None of the council members are back, but most of the other Lunas and Alphas are. The room is a lot more settled down than when we left last although the whispers amongst the crowd are still just as rampant.

My dads take their seats towards the back, and Della, Aidan, Quentin, and I don't hesitate to sit down in the two tables right in front of the council board. This meeting is going to pick up right where it left off. Well at least that's what everyone else thinks.

The whispers grow louder with each passing second and it's getting increasingly harder to keep what I know to myself. They are anxious about knowing that there is a rogue army started by what was leftover of Blake's men, so it's going to be complete anarchy once the whole truth comes out. Which is exactly why it has to go exactly to plan or this could be a blood bath.

"I love you." Quentin tilts my chin up with his finger and kisses my lips. I know this is his way of keeping me from diving too deep into my thoughts, so I'll play along and let him believe it's working. Reaching up I run my hand through his short dark locks. In the past few days he's been keeping me busy so I don't completely lose my mind, one of which being having me cut his hair.

"I love you too." Cutting his hair was the easy part considering I've done it for Carl a few times, but it was the debate that ensued afterwords. He wanted to dye his hair back to black, but I wanted him to stay blonde for just a little longer. After one silent treatment, two puppy dog faces, and multiple kisses I finally caved and dyed his hair black. I know why he likes it that way, so at the end of the day I couldn't let myself be the reason he didn't feel as connected to his mother.

"You are the strongest and most kind hearted person I've ever met, and in the darkest of times you were the one to keep others on track. Don't doubt yourself for a second, and let your words come from your heart but don't allow it cloud your mind. It takes a balance of both to resonate with others, and you do that perfectly everyday. We will end this once and for all but it has to start with you." With tears pooling in my eyes I lean up pressing one last kiss to his lips when I hear the door open. Blinking the tears away I keep my eyes locked onto Quentin's face while composing myself before I face them. They've gotten enough tears out of me, and I'm not going to give them the satisfaction of seeing me do it again.

"Thank you all for your patience." The head council member with the white hair starts. "We have decided that it is in the best interest to look further into this rogue army account." I scoff turning whole rooms attention to me, and I can't help it I start chuckling that slowly turns into full blown laughter. Quentin was right we have to come from the heart, but if we don't use our brains we are as good as dead. "Are you alright miss Quinn?" The old guy's voice is tight with underling anger, and each one of them is stiff as a board.

"You really got me." I clap slowly standing up out of my seat looking to Aidan and Della out of the corner of my eye. Aidan sits there looking between me and Della with wide eyes, and she has a frown etched onto her face until she catches my eyes. Realization dawns on her and she just nods toward me a smirk taking over while getting comfortable in her seat.

The council is ending right here and right now. They have an appalling amount of blood on their hands and I'm certain they have more planned. Their utter compliance to violence and termoil killed my mother, and there is not a single cell in my body that doesn't believe they were behind Quentin's packs attack all those years ago. Goddess know how long this has been going on, but today is the end.

"Would you like to tell everyone your little secret?" I pick up the folders that hold all the copies of the emails. One set for each pack to keep. Ivan's eyes squint into a threatening glare, but it's more entertaining to watch the rest of them squirm in their chairs. Clicking my tongue I turn facing the crowd. "I hate to be the bearer of bad new, but I'm done hearing their sad excuses and lies." Not a single jaw in the crowd is not on the floor, and I can't blame them for being shocked either.

"That is enough of the theatrics. Sit Down!" The old one's composure is cracking. I slump my shoulder pretending to do as I'm told but stop picking up the last folder lying in front of my spot. He stands from his chair slamming his hands on the table as a last resort, but I walk straight up to him throwing the folder at his chest.

"It seems that our council who has once vowed to protect us has turned their backs to us." I walk for the stairs while looking to each Luna and Alpha. "We said that Blake's remaining men needed a new leader, and they found one." I set the first few folders down ignoring the gasps of horror that follow. "As you can see these emails describe the preparation and cover up of both the Silver Dawn and Black Moon attack." I hand the last two folder off and turn looking down on the council from the top of the stairs. "The fate of all of us is in our hands, and it's up to us to work together to short this mess out."

"This is fake!" The quiet and jumpy member from earlier bellows. "We didn't do this." He shakes his head vigorously.

"I've got this Gregory." Ivan holds his hand up stopping him from his blubbering mess of an excuse. "Do expect us to believe these are real? I mean where did you even get these?" He throws the papers on his desk with a snort.

"I don't think you are entitled to know just because you got caught." I walk down the steps letting my heels click loudly on the marble floor. "Admit it, you were behind the attacks." I raise an eyebrow meeting Ivan's challenging gaze head on.

"You don't know anything little girl. Just because you are still pining over your dead mother doesn't mean you can throw around such ridiculous allegations." It takes every fiber of my self control not to jump over the table and smash his head in. I smile at the few gasps and whispers that proceed his disgusting remark.

"My mother died at the hands of Blake Hale's men. I'm not holding you accountable for that because that would be crossing a line. One that you surpassed so long ago you forgot where it is." I hear Aidan covering his chuckle with a cough. "The council was formed by the packs to keep order and make sure no one abused their power, but our mistake was being naive enough to think you wouldn't do exactly that. You hold only the power we have given you and that power can be taken away just as quickly, so you better start talking." Most of the crowd has risen out of their seats waiting for something to happen.

"We didn't attack your pack honey." It's irritating how composed he still is with a room full of people who just found out he's a traitor. "I think you are just upset your mate over there isn't as innocent as he portrays, and you are doing anything to protect him. Including fabricating emails to tamper our ability to charge him." People aren't going to believe us if I flip out, and plus I didn't think he would happily admit to his wrong doings. This is Ivan we are talking about. Arguing with him isn't going to get us anywhere.

"The evidence sitting in front of you all is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm not going to stand here and force you to pick a side because I would be no better than them. What I wanted was to simply show you what they are capable of, and I have no doubt they will do again. It's up to us to join together to make a better future for those after us, just how our ancestors did when they formed the council. We don't need to come up with a solution today, but I would like us all to come to an agreement that what is instilled now isn't working." I look over to Quentin for a second only to get sucked into his silver eyes shining with pride. He should be standing next to me because I wouldn't be here without him. If I hadn't met him I would still be home with my dads still mourning the loss of a fruitless relationship that could have been. We balance each other out in the perfect way, and they need to see what a strong team is capable of.

"No!" The piercing scream cuts through the room like a knife. Jumping I clutch my chest and watch as Nora runs out of the room Elijah on her tail, but before he gets out the door he turn back to us.

"We're under attack." My heart falls into my stomach, spinning around I walk straight up to Ivan who looks surprised but I know it's all an act. They are cornered and this is a perfect distraction.

"You're fucking sick." I spit at him as adrenaline seeps throughout me knowing we are about run all the way to Crescent Pack. "This isn't over." Ivan leans closer so only I can hear what he's about to say.

"You're just like your mother." He sneers but leans back looking offended as if I just insulted him. His words only confirm what I already knew deep down, and my dream suddenly makes sense. He was the man I couldn't fully see from behind the tree, and I have a wretched feeling I was seeing my moms last moments.

*************

Song: Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Lorde

I hope no one minded the longer chapter. It was hard enough to cut it off where I did. Thank you to everyone for giving my books an abundance amount of support recently it means a lot! Sometimes I'll second guess a chapter on whether it was good enough, but your positive responses always encourage me that I must be doing something right. Anyway sorry for the short note I'm half asleep right now, and I just wanted to post so bad. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if you did don't forget to vote and comment! Stay safe and stay home! Until next time.

~Stella Gordon