Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 212

Chapter 212

Ethan entered the house feeling like a stranger.

It was a ridiculous thing to feel in his own home, in the mansion that carried his family name, in the place where he had grown from a boy into the man everyone had once believed would lead Whitewood without question. He knew the corners of that house. He knew the way the light entered certain hallways in the morning, the way the floorboards held memory beneath polished wood, the way servants lowered their voices when they thought the family was close. He had lived too much of his life there for it to feel

unfamiliar, but it did.

Knowing that everything had been taken on the surface made the place feel alien to him. The doors were still the same. The pillors

were still standing. The scent of the mansion had not changed overnight. But the truth had. Sebastien believed he owned it.

Cynthia, that poisonous bitch, believed she had helped take it. On paper, to anyone looking from the outside without knowing the lie Joseph had planted in the signature, Whitewood was no longer fully theirs.

Ethan sat in his wheelchair as they moved him in, and the feeling was worse because the chair made him appear exactly how his

enemies wanted him to appear. Broken. Harmless. A defeated Alpha whose body had failed him and whose pack could be taken in his absence. He kept his face calm because that was what Meadow had advised. Keep the progress secret. Let them believe the silver

still sat in his spine. Let them believe he remained hopeless.

Still, every wheel turn into that house felt like swallowing fire.

The workers were outside and welcomed them in. Their greetings sounded respectful, but Ethan heard everything beneath them

now. Fear. Curiosity. Maybe loyalty. Maybe deception. He could no longer tell who was who by a bowed head or careful voice. That

was the cruel part. Once betrayal entered a house, it poisoned the innocent too, because everyone became a possible blade. A maid

carrying towels. A guard standing too still. A cook who looked away too quickly. A footman who knew more than he should. Any of

them could be loyal. Any of them could have fed Cynthia and Sebastien information that helped them bring Whitewood to its knees.

Ethan hated that his mind had to move that way now. He hated that coming home did not feel like safety but strategy.

Just when he wheeled in, Joseph arrived, and Ethan was glad to see his brother. The relief came deep and quiet, settling in his chest

before he could stop it. Joseph looked calmer than he had sounded on the phone. His face was composed, his shoulders steady, his

eyes sharp enough that anyone watching would think he had handled everything with ease. But Ethan knew his brother. He knew

Joseph was masking his emotions. He knew calm did not always mean peace. Sometimes calm was just grief wearing armour because

people were watching.

Ethan was proud of him. Truly proud. Joseph had carried a day that should have broken him. He had faced an attack, saved lives by

swallowing humiliation, signed the wrong name with enough presence of mind to buy them time, learned their mother was dying,

discovered Ashley’s lie, apologised to Dr Rosenberg, and still stood there like a man ready to move.

If Ethan had been in his shoes, he was not even sure he could have done better. He had told Joseph that, and he meant it.

Meadow used sign language to instruct Rashel to settle Camila and Brad in their wings. Ethan watched her hands move, watched the

quiet authority in her body, and something warm moved through him despite everything. With Amber in the hospital, Luna’s duties fell on Meadow, even though the pack no longer belonged to them on the surface. That detail hurt too. Meadow should have stepped

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Chapter 212

into those duties under different circumstances. Not like this. Not with enemies circling, workers suspected, Amber unconscious,

and Ethan pretending to remain weaker than he was.

But Meadow did not hesitate. She did not shrink away from responsibility or look at Ethan to ask if she had the right. She simply

did what needed to be done.

Rashel told Beatrix of Meadow’s instructions, and they sprang into action. Keith took Elaine to his old room in Ethan’s wing.

Everyone moved, but no one truly relaxed. The mansion had bodies inside it again, voices, footsteps, activity, but fear lingered like

smoke after a fire. They were all nervous being there because they knew the people who attacked the pack would be back, and they

were at the centre of attention. Sebastien had not truly claimed the house yet, but his shadow had already entered it.

Ethan felt it in the way people glanced towards windows. In the way no one stood with their back exposed for too long. In the way

even familiar corridors felt like they needed checking twice.

“How is she?” Ethan asked Joseph about their mother while they moved toward Ethan’s wing.

He tried to keep his voice controlled, but he hated how rough it sounded. He wanted to be at the hospital already. He wanted to see

Amber for himself. He wanted to know if she looked peaceful or in pain. He wanted to stand beside her bed, even if he could not

stand yet, and touch her hand. But they had agreed he had to be careful. His surgery could not be exposed. Not yet.

“She is in a coma. Levi is with her,” Joseph said.

Ethan felt terrible. The words were not new, yet hearing them again inside the house, their house, made them heavier. His mother in

a coma. Levi with her. The image sat wrong in his mind. Amber should have been here. She should have been the one standing in

the entrance hall, asking why everyone looked so gloomy, demanding reports, insulting Joseph for taking too long, and telling Ethan

not to think his surgery gave him the right to behave like a stubborn fool.

Instead, she was in a hospital room, unaware of the house that felt emptier without her voice.

“I will want to see her tomorrow. By then, I should be fully rested,” Ethan told his brother.

Joseph nodded. He did not argue, and Ethan appreciated that. They both knew there would be no stopping him.

“What about Ashley? How is she?” Meadow signed.

Ethan translated to Joseph. It was a complex topic for Joseph, and the way he breathed let both Ethan and Meadow know it was

hard. Ethan watched his brother closely. Joseph’s jaw tightened, his gaze moved briefly away, and for a second, the calm mask cracked enough for the exhaustion underneath to show.

“To start with, she came through when she was needed. They had surrounded us, and she managed to attack, breaking their concentration on us. Her target was Cynthia, and Claire would have ripped out Medley’s throat had Sebastien not cheated and stabbed her with a poisoned blade,” Joseph explained.

Meadow gasped.

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Underwater: The Silent Luna