Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 114

Chapter 114

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Joseph had heard insults thrown at Ethan before. Heard pity and ugliness dressed up as concern. Heard the kind of cruelty weak men used when they wanted to feel strong. But hearing it tied to mutiny, tied to an organised attack, tied to wolves who thought Whitewood could be picked apart because Ethan used a wheelchair? That was something else. That was not mere disrespect. That was ideology. That was strategy. That was wolves deciding Ethan’s injury meant weakness in leadership and perhaps believing Joseph was easier to overthrow because of his temperament.

Brian went on.

“I asked Oscar who this Alpha might be, and he smiled, telling me I would soon find out. Honestly, it was creepy. He wasn’t resigned to death. Both he and Luis thought they could take me down. Bloody Gamma breeds thinking they could take an Alpha breed.”

Adam laughed at that, rough and tired, because they all knew the truth beneath the joke. Though Brian and Adam served under Joseph, they were Alpha breeds too. Powerful. Loyal. Men who had chosen second and third place not from lack of strength but from commitment. Still, Joseph was not amused for long.

“I took them out first before going for their friends,” Brian added with grim pride.

Joseph frowned.

“We should have captured at least one of them.”

Brian let out a short laugh, but there was no humour in it.

“They were willing to die when they realised they couldn’t take me out. I strongly suspect their plan was to pick us out one at a time and

finish us off. It was Oscar that said we did not need reinforcement and that we could just sneak to see what was going on. I asked him to go alone, and he suggested that I come with him just in case there was a need for authority to be applied. I strongly suspect they wanted

to kill me, Joseph. I was their target. They know Alpha Ethan isn’t home, so they would pick us out one at a time and kill us. What I do

not understand is why they did this and why did they try to tie it to Alan’s death?”

Joseph understood enough of it already to know Brian was right.

This had been a setup.

A setup layered over another crime. Alan Wilde’s murder had either been useful to them, connected to them, or simply turned into bait

the moment they realised Whitewood was sniffing around it. Either way, the intention was clear now. Draw them out. Isolate key men.

Test the response. Kill what they could.

Adam spoke next, voicing the theory already building in the truck.

“I hate to say this, but I suspect Alpha Malcolm of Ceenas, He is the only person that could be pissed off about this pack. You walked out

on the deal he offered. He could not let it go and had seen Alpha Ethan in the wheelchair. There is a possibility he believes this pack is for the taking.”

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12:00 Wed, Jun 17

Chapter 114

Joseph stared ahead for a second, thinking.

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The theory was not ridiculous. The timing made it difficult to dismiss. They had known peace for all the years they had been in charge,

and now, only a few weeks after walking away from Malcolm’s offer, someone launched a calculated test at their border? Suspicious was

not a strong enough word for that. Still, Joseph knew Malcolm well enough, or thought he did, to feel uncertainty there. It did not fit

Malcolm’s style. Not neatly. But men changed under pressure. Packs changed. Ambition changed the way wolves moved.

He would not dismiss it.

He would also not grab it too quickly.

“Let us look into the matter. The last thing I want is to be blindsided.”

His friends agreed.

Then Adam glanced over and asked the question Joseph knew had to come sooner or later.

“Don’t you think we should call Alpha Ethan and inform him?”

Joseph shook his head immediately.

“No.”

He did not need time to think about that answer.

“I have never seen my brother so happy in a long time. It will be wrong to trouble him and Meadow. They deserve the break they are

getting. This is our mess, and we must deal with it ourselves.”

He meant every word.

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12:00 Wed, Jun 17

Underwater: The Silent Luna