Chapter 7 - The Political Earthquake at Cascade Pack
While the sun climbed high over the Olympic Peninsula, bathing Croft Estate in warm coastal light, absolute chaos was erupting fifty miles inland at the administrative headquarters of the Cascade Pack.
Richard Hayes slammed his heavy wooden coffee mug down onto the conference table so hard the ceramic cracked, spilling dark liquid across a stack of overdue shipping invoices.
“What do you mean, she’s not coming back?!” Richard bellowed, his face turning a mottled shade of red as he glared across the table at pack legal adviser Thomas Vance.
Thomas adjusted his wire-rimmed glasses nervously, shuffling a set of newly delivered legal documents bearing the unmistakable silver seal of Croft Industries.
“Exactly what the document says, Alpha,” Thomas replied cautiously, keeping his distance from the enraged pack leader.
“The three-million-dollar development debt has been officially marked as paid in full by Kane Croft’s legal team. Furthermore... the formal candidate, Harper Hayes, has accepted the position of Alpha Luna of the Croft Territory.”
Silence descended upon the council room like a lead weight.
The half-dozen elder wolves seated around the long mahogany table stared at Thomas in stunned, horrified disbelief.
“An Alpha Luna?” council member Marcus growled, slamming his heavy palms onto the table and standing up so fast his chair screeched against the floorboards.
“That girl is barely twenty-four! She has no combat training, no high-ranking lineage, and zero experience in pack diplomacy! She was supposed to be a sacrifice to buy us time to restructure our debts, not a permanent fixture sitting beside the most dangerous Alpha in the northwest!”
“Well, she isn’t just sitting beside him, Marcus,” Thomas said, his voice dropping flatly as he delivered the final blow.
“According to Gideon Locke, the enforcer who delivered the notice this morning, Kane Croft’s wolf accepted her before dawn. Any attempt by this council to contest the arrangement or demand her return will be treated as an act of direct aggression against Croft Industries and the primary pack.”
Richard Hayes sank heavily back into his leather chair, the color completely draining from his face as the terrifying reality of what he had done finally caught up with him.
For five years, he had treated his eldest daughter like an invisible ledger machine—someone to fix his mistakes, pay his workers from her own emergency reserves, and bail him out of his endless gambling debts.
He had gambled everything on the assumption that Kane Croft would either reject her or break her spirit within the first hour, leaving the Cascade Pack humiliated but fundamentally unchanged.
Instead, his reckless greed had handed his most competent, hardworking asset directly to the most powerful Alpha in the region.
Without Harper, the Cascade Pack’s fragile economy would collapse within forty-eight hours.
Without Harper, the ledgers wouldn’t balance, the payroll wouldn’t clear, and the council would tear Richard apart for his financial incompetence.
“We need to go down there,” Marcus snarled, leaning over the table toward Richard.
“We demand an audience with the Alpha King. We invoke the ancient family clause. We tell him the girl was bartered under false pretenses!”
“Are you insane?” Thomas snapped back, shaking his head furiously.
“Did you not hear what I just said? Kane Croft’s wolf is stable for the first time in five years because of her. If you walk into Croft Estate demanding her back, he won’t just tear up our contracts—he will tear your throat out and scatter your remains across the Pacific!”
In the corner of the conference room, half-hidden by a tall indoor fern, Chloe Hayes gripped her cracked phone tightly in her hands.
She had listened to every word of the council meeting.
And for the first time in her life, the younger sister felt a fierce, burning surge of pride that completely eclipsed her fear.
Harper hadn’t just survived the monster.
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She had conquered him.
And in doing so, she had finally broken free from the golden cage their father had built for her.
