Rejected and Pregnant I Fled The Pack novel Chapter 44

Chapter 44

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Chapter 44

I saw a few council members shift uncomfortably, and pressed forward, feeling something solidify in my chest.

“My father calls Evelyn’s decision to leave unstable. I’d ask this council to consider what actually drove that decision. I marked her, made promises to her, and within twenty-four hours betrayed those promises in the most direct way possible. When she found out, my response wasn’t remorse-it was to tell her she should have expected it, that having a companion alongside a mate was simply tradition, something she needed to accept. That’s not stability, council members. That’s exactly the kind of thinking that has quietly harmed Lunas in this pack for generations, dressed up as tradition so nobody ever questioned it.”

Helena’s expression remained carefully neutral, but I caught something shift slightly behind her eyes, a flicker of genuine consideration.

“Evelyn didn’t strike Marissa out of instability,” I continued. “She struck her after being mocked and dismissed the morning after discovering infidelity that had apparently been happening for weeks. I’d ask any wolf in this room to consider honestly whether they’d have responded with more restraint under the same circumstances.”

I paused, letting that settle, before turning my full attention toward my father, who sat watching me with an expression that had shifted from smug to something colder, more calculating.

“My father wants this council to believe that forcing Evelyn and my daughter back to pack lands under threat represents stability. I’d argue the opposite. Real stability doesn’t come from fear and forced compliance. It comes from trust, earned over time, not extracted through enforcers and ultimatums. If this council rules that I should be declared unfit because I refuse to force a woman and infant back here against her will, then I’d suggest the actual instability sits with whoever believes that’s an acceptable use of pack authority in the first place.”

The chamber went quiet, my words hanging in the air, and I watched several council members exchange careful glances, clearly recalibrating whatever assumptions they’d walked in with.

My father stood again, his composure fraying slightly at the edges now, something sharper entering his voice.” My son is inexperienced, still learning the weight of leadership. Sentiment is admirable in a young man, but this pack requires more than good intentions. It requires an heir capable of making difficult decisions for the pack’s greater stability, not one who lets personal guilt override sound judgment.”

“My personal guilt,” I said quietly, “is exactly why I understand what real accountability looks like, in a way you never have. You’ve spent thirty years managing outcomes instead of earning them, and calling it leadership. I’m not willing to inherit that model of authority, whatever it costs me here today.”

Helena raised a hand, silencing us both before the exchange could escalate further. “The council has heard sufficient testimony from both parties. We’ll deliberate and reach a decision within the hour. Both of you will remain available for questions should the council require further clarification.”

I sat back down slowly, my heart pounding, Callum’s hand landing briefly on my shoulder in quiet support as the council members began murmuring among themselves, some glancing toward my father, others toward me, the outcome still entirely unclear.

Across the chamber, my father sat rigid, his earlier smugness fully gone now, replaced by something colder and more calculating, clearly recalibrating whatever certainty he’d walked in with.

I didn’t know, sitting there in the tense, uncertain quiet of that chamber, which way the council’s deliberation would ultimately fall. But I understood, watching my father’s carefully composed authority crack for the first time in my memory, that whatever happened next, I’d at least finally said the things that needed saying-not to win, necessarily, but because they were true, and because Evelyn and Willow deserved someone willing to say them regardless of the cost.

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Chapter 44

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I only hoped, sitting in that heavy silence with the hour stretching out ahead of me, that it would actually be enough.

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