The Shattered Dawn — Harvey Price novel Chapter 132

132/He hadn’t believed me.

Lilith pov

Kael might be fired and executed.

That was what Lora had said when she burst into the room with frantic steps, her eyes wide with shock as she delivered the news-news that left both Theila and me stunned.

Were the Alphas really going to kill their beta?

But why?

The reason was obvious.

Kael had been nowhere to be found during the rogue attack yesterday. He was the beta of the pack, left in charge while the Alphas were away for this very reason, to protect the pack, the packhouse included.

And yet he hadn’t.

Countless lives had been lost because of it. Lives that could have been saved, or at least fewer lost, if he had been there to take charge and fight back.

After I had tried to reach him and sent the cab driver with a handwritten message warning that the packhouse was under attack, I had completely forgotten about him in the chaos of yesterday.

Now that I thought about it, why hadn’t he come at all? Had the driver failed to deliver the message? Even the Alphas, who had been far away, had returned, yet Kael hadn’t shown up.

For a brief moment, a bitter thought crossed my mind.

If Father had still been the beta, more than five lives wouldn’t have been lost.

The corners of my lips curved into a frown as I walked with Theila and Lora by my sides, my steps slow, my gaze unfocused as we headed toward the dining area where the Alphas were having breakfast.

After Lora’s announcement, she added that everyone was already downstairs, the Alphas, including Alpha Verya and Alpha Lucas, along with some pack elders, the evil ugly bitch (Seraphina), as she called her, and Kael’s parents too.

They were on their knees, begging for their son’s life.

And apparently, the Alphas had asked to see me.

When I heard that Kael’s parents were there, I felt my chest tighten. I really didn’t want to go, especially because of his mother.

Back when I had still been dating Kael, she had changed completely after my father’s death. Her once kind smile had twisted into a sneer. She berated me endlessly, made my relationship with Kael a living hell.

She had gone out of her way to remind me of my place. That her son being with me was nothing more than pity. There were times she deliberately dragged me to her gatherings, despite knowing I didn’t want to go, just so the people there could shame me openly.

Her words were always the same.

“My son, the beta, is so kind. This girl is practically a charity case now, and yet he still wants to be with her. Hmph. I can’t even get him to leave her. But if he loves her, what can I do?”

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She would say it loudly, sweetly, making Kael look noble, then turn around and try to matchmake him with every eligible woman in the room.

To be honest, I still carried trauma from her.

It wasn’t physical.

It was emotional.

Kael’s father wasn’t as cruel, but he wasn’t innocent either. Though it was clear he was happy that the beta position had passed to his family after my father’s death, he never said it outright.

As long as I “knew my place,” he tolerated me. Still, he often sided with Kael’s mother, that Kael deserved better, that his children shouldn’t be wolfless like me. He had even once advised Kael to take me as his mistress and

marry someone more suitable.

I really didn’t want to see them.

Before I realized it, a sigh slipped from my lips.

Theila’s voice cut through my thoughts, gentle but laced with concern.

“Are you okay, Lilith?” she asked, making me stop and look at her. Her brows were furrowed as she leaned closer and whispered,

“Are you scared?”

I blinked, about to respond, when a panicked voice echoed through the packhouse-loud, trembling, desperate.

“P-please, Alphas… please spare our son. H-he really didn’t know. W-we didn’t know the message was true. Please don’t kill him!”

I recognized that voice instantly.

Kael’s mother.

My brows furrowed at her words, but before I could fully process them, Lora leaned closer and whispered urgently,

“See? I told you. They really want to kill him, especially Alpha Lucien. He almost raised his claws to end him right there, but Alpha Silas stopped him—”

“Shh.”

Theila cut her off sharply, eyes narrowing as she shot Lora a stern look. Lora immediately snapped her mouth shut and leaned back, half-hiding behind me.

Theila turned to me then, her voice steady but firm.

“You don’t have to be scared, Lilith. The Alphas won’t hurt you. You saved the packhouse yesterday. The Alphas are not the kind to repay kindness with cruelty. You should go, you can’t keep them waiting any longer.”

She nodded at me.

Even though I wasn’t truly scared, just nervous about what was about to unfold, I nodded back and forced a small smile. Then I turned forward and, without hesitating any longer, began walking toward the stairs.

My heart pounded harder with every step.

I swallowed, rubbing my hands against my dress as I descended, each step carrying me closer to whatever awaited

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below.

As I reached the bottom, the scene before me slowly came into focus, the long dining table, surrounded by faces both familiar and unfamiliar. Some I recognized immediately.

Others, not at all.

The Alphas were there. Lucien. Silas. Claude.

They sat at the head of the table. No one was eating-well, no one except Claude.

Lucien and Silas sat rigid, their expressions carved from stone, lips pressed into tight lines, eyes cold and unreadable. Yet beneath that calm surface, the anger was unmistakable, simmering, restrained.

Claude, on the other hand, looked entirely unfazed. The bruises he should have had were gone, his face fully healed as he ate casually, as if nothing of importance was happening, as if the tension filling the room didn’t exist at all.

Verya and Lucas were there too, the Alphas who had gone to war with the triplets. Around them sat people I didn’t recognize, likely the pack elders.

And then there was him.

A man seated beside Claude, posture relaxed, a small smirk playing on his lips, his eyes glittering with amusement as he observed the scene like it was nothing more than entertainment.

I knew him.

Dr. Samuel.

My mother’s doctor.

The man from yesterday.

But my attention didn’t linger on him for long because the moment I became visible, every single person at the table snapped their gaze toward me at once.

The weight of it was suffocating. Enough to make anyone freeze. Enough to steal the air from your lungs.

But instead of feeling those emotions, my gaze drifted to the people kneeling on the ground.

Kael and his family.

They were on their knees, bodies trembling, raw fear etched deep into their expressions. Kael knelt at the front, his head bowed. He wasn’t crying. He wasn’t speaking. But the way his body shook betrayed his fear completely.

His father knelt beside him, face pale, hands trembling as they pressed against the floor.

His mother was worse. Much worse. She sobbed openly, shaking as she begged and pleaded for her son’s life, her voice breaking again and again.

And behind Kael was Seraphina.

She looked terrified, eyes wide and hollow, clinging to him for protection, hiding behind his back without saying a single word.

And then I noticed someone else.

One more person on the ground but he wasn’t kneeling. He was standing.

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A middle-aged man, his face battered and bruised, swollen as though he had been struck repeatedly. Almost instantly, the recognition hit me.

The cab driver.

The same man I had sent yesterday to deliver the note to Kael.

What was he doing here?

And what had happened to him?

Before I could even begin to process it, a cold, emotionless voice sliced through the air.

“Come here, Lilith.”

My breath hitched. I blinked and snapped out of my daze, turning toward the voice.

Silas.

He stared at me with an empty, unreadable gaze.

Instinctively, my eyes flicked to Lucien, who calmly lifted a cigar to his lips, his eyes never leaving me and then to Claude, who had stopped eating entirely, his face flushing a quick, bright shade of pink the moment our eyes met before he looked away with a cough.

By then, Kael and his family had clearly noticed my presence too. I could feel their gazes burning into me, especially one filled with raw, seething hatred. I didn’t need to look to know it was Seraphina.

“Miss! You’re alive!”

The cab driver’s voice broke out in relief. I glanced at him briefly, my chest tightening, but the weight of Silas’s order pulled me back.

Swallowing hard, I moved toward the dining table.

I lowered my head almost immediately, feeling everyone’s eyes on me as I walked-heavy, suffocating. Even Samuel, mother’s doctor, watched me with clear amusement, a perfect brow lifting as he observed.

With every step, I wished the ground would just open up and swallow me whole.

But I kept going.

When I stopped beside Silas, I began to lower myself to my knees to offer my greetings but before I could, his voice rang out again.

“Sit down.”

My body tensed instantly at the command. I jerked my head up and saw him staring pointedly at the empty seat beside him.

And the moment I realized he expected me to sit right there, beside him, my heart began to pound even harder.

Even the elders seated at the table looked taken aback. I knew why.

A lowly servant like me was being allowed to sit next to the Alpha.

Curious gazes turned toward me, followed by hushed whispers as they leaned toward one another, their voices carrying faintly through the air.

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