Chapter 37: The Secret Beneath the Garden

Atlas carried Rowan's pendant back inside.

He placed it carefully on the table while Elena stood across from him.

Lily had already gone upstairs to get ready for bed.

For several moments, neither Elena nor Atlas spoke.

The pendant seemed to hold the weight of an entire past neither of them understood.

Elena finally broke the silence.

“You said Rowan gave his life for the pack.”

Atlas nodded.

“He did.”

“Then why would something belonging to him be hidden here?”

Atlas looked down at the silver pendant.

“That's what I need to know.”

Elena folded her arms.

“And what exactly are you afraid of finding?”

Atlas was silent.

“The truth.”

Elena gave a quiet laugh.

“The truth has never been your favorite thing.”

His jaw tightened.

“You're right.”

He didn't defend himself.

That surprised her more than anything else could have.

...

The next morning, Atlas returned to the garden alone.

He searched beneath the leaves surrounding the shed.

At first, there was nothing.

Then his fingers struck something hard beneath the soil.

He knelt down and brushed away the dirt.

A small wooden box appeared.

There was no lock.

Inside was an old bundle of papers wrapped in oilcloth.

Atlas opened the first page.

His face changed.

It was Rowan's handwriting.

The first line read, “If I die before I can tell the Alpha the truth, this must be delivered to Elena Hart.”

Atlas stopped breathing.

He read the sentence again.

Then again.

His hands began to shake.

Why had Rowan written Elena's name?

...

Elena found him twenty minutes later.

Atlas was sitting beneath the oak tree, the papers spread across his knees.

She immediately knew something was wrong.

“What happened?”

Atlas looked up.

His eyes were filled with something she had never seen there before.

Fear.

“These belonged to Rowan.”

Elena walked closer.

“What do they say?”

Atlas handed her the first page.

She read the line slowly.

Her face went pale.

“Why would Rowan leave something for me?”

“I don't know.”

She turned the page.

The next entry contained dates.

Names.

Locations.

And several records from the weeks before Rowan's death.

One name appeared repeatedly.

Mara.

Elena's heart sank.

“Atlas.”

He looked at her.

“Read this.”

She pointed to a paragraph near the bottom.

Atlas read it silently.

His expression hardened.

Rowan had written that Mara's behavior had become increasingly suspicious before his final mission.

He had mentioned unexplained injuries.

Missing medical records.

And conversations Mara had secretly held with someone outside the pack.

Atlas turned the page quickly.

“There has to be more.”

Elena stopped him.

“Don't rush.”

He looked at her.

“If this is what I think it is...”

“Then you need to know everything before you accuse anyone.”

Atlas nodded.

For once, he listened without argument.

...

Lily came running into the garden.

“Mama!”

Elena immediately folded the papers.

“What happened?”

Lily held up a small basket.

“I picked flowers!”

Atlas smiled faintly.

“They're beautiful.”

Lily looked at the papers in his hands.

“What's that?”

“Something important.”

She considered him for a moment.

“Is it a secret?”

Atlas glanced at Elena.

“Yes.”

Lily nodded seriously.

“Then I won't tell anyone.”

Elena almost smiled.

Atlas reached out, then stopped before touching Lily's hair.

Lily noticed.

She stepped closer on her own and hugged him.

Atlas froze.

Then he carefully wrapped his arms around her.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

Lily pulled away.

“For what?”

Atlas smiled through the emotion in his eyes.

“For trusting me.”

...

That evening, Atlas returned to Blackwood.

He didn't tell Mara what he had found.

Instead, he went directly to the old records room beneath the pack house.

The room contained decades of sealed documents.

He searched through Rowan's mission reports.

Everything appeared normal.

Too normal.

Then he found a report that had been altered after Rowan's death.

The original witness list had been replaced.

One name had been removed.

Atlas stared at it.

The missing witness was the pack physician who had treated Rowan during his final week.

The same physician who had later disappeared from Blackwood.

Atlas's wolf growled inside him.

Someone had deliberately erased part of the record.

And whoever had done it had access to the highest level of pack authority.

Atlas closed the file.

For years, he had believed Rowan's death was a tragedy he could never change.

Now he wondered whether it had been something else entirely.

A secret.

A betrayal.

Maybe even a carefully planned lie.

He looked toward the locked archive door.

For the first time, Atlas understood that saving his family would require more than asking Elena for forgiveness.

He would have to uncover the truth he had once been too blind to see.

And somewhere inside that truth was the answer to one terrifying question.

Why had Rowan wanted Elena to know?