Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 191

Chapter 191

Keith stayed in the living room long after Joseph’s call ended, but his body did not feel as if it was sitting there. It felt as if a part of him had been dragged back to Whitewood, back into that mess, back into the old life he had once sworn he was done with. He sat with his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped together so tightly his knuckles had gone pale, and stared at nothing in particular.

Shock had a strange way of making the whole world quiet. The cabin was not silent. He could hear faint movement from the rooms. He could hear the nurse somewhere down the hall. He could hear the soft sounds of life continuing around him as if Whitewood ha not just been ripped from the hands of the McClouds by force, lies, and a piece of paper. But inside him, everything had gone stil.

Joseph’s voice kept playing in his head. The words. The panic beneath the control. The strain of a man who had been forced to make a choice no brother, no son, no loyal wolf should ever have to make. Keith had known Joseph for years. He knew when the man was trying to hold himself together. He knew when he was pretending the situation was not as bad as it really was. And from the,way Joseph had spoken, Keith knew the attack had shaken him badly.

He searched his mind for everything he could have done differently that morning. It was a useless thing. He knew that. Useless and cruel. But his mind would not stop. It went back and back and back, dragging him through every minute as if there had been one clear moment where the entire disaster could have been stopped. He wished he had delayed Dr James. He wished he had asked more questions. He wished he had watched the doctor longer. He wished he had listened harder to the unease that had crawled through him when the man seemed too eager to leave.

He was not sure whether Dr Rosenberg was telling the truth. He did not trust anything anymore. Not doctors. Not soft voices. Not convenient answers. Not any story that came too easily when Ethan had spent seven years trapped in a body that had been deliberately ruined. Still, truth or not, Dr Rosenberg needed to be arrested pending proper investigation. There was too much blood behind this. Too much pain. Too many years stolen from Ethan for them to wave anything away because one man suddenly claimed

innocence.

Keith ran his fingers through his hair and dragged in a deep breath, but the air did nothing for him. It entered his lungs and left again, yet the tightness in his chest stayed exactly where it was. He breathed again, slower this time, forcing himself to think like the man he had once been, not the husband who had left war behind, not the friend who wanted to grab a gun and tear back to Whitewood, not the wolf whose instincts were clawing at him to move.

Sebastien and Cynthia’s attack on Whitewood had been unexpected, and that was what made it worse. They had not just shown up with threats. They had done it. They had walked into McCloud territory, injured people who mattered, used chaos well enough to force Joseph’s hand, and somehow made him sign away the pack. If Joseph had written Ethan’s name, it would have all been over. Truly over, Whitewood would have been theirs on paper, in law, in the ugly way power sometimes wore the face of legitimacy.

But Joseph had thought. Even in that terrible moment, he had thought. He had signed his father’s name instead of Ethan’s. A wrong name. A desperate lie. A small crack in what Sebastien believed he had taken. Keith closed his eyes for a moment. On the surface, it was still over. That was the part that made his stomach twist. Until Sebastien verified the document, he would believe Whitewood now belonged to him. He would stand in that pack and act as if the land had bowed. Cynthia would stand beside him with that same poisonous confidence. Their renegade warriors would strut around like men who had won something honourable. And Whitewood wolves, Ethan’s wolves, would have to keep their heads down and endure it.

O

1/2

12:28 Wed, Jun 17 MD

Chapter 191

Comments

1

Write Comments

<SHARE

003

|||

O

2/2

Underwater: The Silent Luna