Temporary Luna, Permanent Heartbreak - Chapter 74: Chapter 74

The pack enforcer gave us a disdainful look and said, "The Alpha Council personally ordered the arrest of Chief Lance and a thorough investigation!"
"Also, you two have to stay here tonight!" He pointed at Aunt Violet and Jared.
The two of them immediately went pale with fear.
Aunt Violet anxiously exclaimed, "Why do we have to stay? We haven't done anything wrong!"
"Causing trouble, scheming to occupy someone else's house, isn't that something?" The enforcer pointed out their crimes one by one. "Based on this alone, both of you could end up exiled from the pack for several years!"
Upon hearing this, Jared's face turned as white as moonlight, and he looked at me in disbelief.
A single phone call alarmed the Alpha Council.
And they managed to deal with Chief Lance so quickly?
How could it be possible... Wasn't I cast out with nothing?
Didn't we have any influential pack connections to help us?
Violet, being a local she-wolf, knew that Arthur had only moved there later, and despite living there for decades, we had no roots or powerful pack bonds.
The enforcer didn't care about what he was thinking and waved his hand, ordering someone to restrain him with silver-laced cuffs.
Violet tried to run, but was quickly dragged back by the pack warriors.
Soon, personnel sent by the Alpha Council arrived and took away the three of them.
The enforcer walked over and apologized to us with regret: "I knew you were innocent just now, but Chief Lance... sigh, working in there, you know how it is."
"We understand," I said, knowing that he was well-intentioned but unable to do much against pack politics.
The enforcer respectfully escorted my dad and me out.
He personally went to the Green Pack and had them clear out of the den overnight.
With Aunt Violet and Jared taken away, only their mate and the pudgy pup were left behind.
During the move, the sound of howling shook the forest, with the she-wolves cursing Aunt Violet and Jared as they left.
My dad and I walked side by side as we left the disputed pack.
"This time, thanks to Freya's help. If it weren't for her, I don't know how badly we would have been bullied by those jerks. Sigh, it's my fault, letting you suffer," my dad whispered, his old alpha instincts failing to protect his daughter weighing heavily on him.
I held his weathered hand and said, "Dad, I'm grown up now and can protect myself. But you, please don't go around wielding silver and scaring people like that in the future."
My dad had always been gentle, and in my memory, he had never done such a thing—not even once.
My dad remained silent with his head bowed.
In recent days, he had been feeling guilty, wondering if it was because his alpha strength had waned that I suffered so much at the hands of the Ashford pack.
Third-person's POV
Violet and Jared were only released the next day.
Both of them looked disheveled.
Chief Lance was none other than Jared's niece's mate.
Early in the morning, the niece came looking for Jared, howling and making a fuss, insisting that he find a way to get Chief Lance out.
Jared had no such ability and could only scare the she-wolf away with a good scolding.
Now that they moved back to their old den. Aunt Violet was never a hardworking she-wolf, and coupled with Jared's laziness, while everyone else around them was building strong dens, their family remained in a small and destitute one-room shelter. It was so cramped for a family of four that it was beyond shabby.
Early in the morning, their chubby grandson was whining and fussing, saying he didn't want to live there. Having lived in the spacious Silvermoon pack house before, the contrast was stark, and this place was barely tolerable.
Not only their chubby grandson but also Jared and his mate, Carla, were in a bad mood. To make matters worse, it started raining heavily in the morning and only got heavier as time went on.
It poured outside, and inside, water dripped from every corner of the dilapidated small shelter, forming little streams.
Carla couldn't stand it anymore and took her pup, grumbling and cursing, back to her birth pack.
Jared kicked and broke the few pieces of furniture they had in the den before leaving as well.
In the end, only Aunt Violet was left, sighing and lamenting. She regretted not being more respectful to Zara's family; otherwise, they wouldn't have ended up in this situation.
She also resented them, as they were so heartless and ruthless!
The more Aunt Violet thought about it, the more upset she became, and tears flowed uncontrollably.
It took her a while before she remembered that she still had a daughter with good pack connections. Their relationship had been strained, and her daughter hadn't come home in nearly twenty years. However, her granddaughter had stayed with them for a while.
Thinking about her granddaughter, a glimmer of hope appeared in Aunt Violet's eyes.
She rummaged through her belongings and found a small contact book where she had scribbled down some numbers using her own incomprehensible symbols.
After a while of searching, she finally found the number she was looking for and quickly dialed it.
"Hello?" Soon, a clear and melodious voice responded from the other end, as sweet as a she-wolf's call and especially pleasant to the ears.
Aunt Violet immediately took a deep breath and exclaimed, "Celeste, it's Grandma."
"Mmm."
On the other end, Celeste's expression and tone were indifferent.
She showed no enthusiasm for her grandmother.
Violet was eager to share her grievances and didn't pay much attention to her attitude, so she quickly said, "Celeste, Grandma has been bullied!"
"What happened?" It was unexpected for Celeste that someone like her grandmother would be bullied by other pack members.
Violet quickly recounted the incident.
Celeste immediately understood: "Grandma, you occupied someone else's house and wanted to drive them away. They were just defending their pack rights. What reason do you have to feel wronged?"
Celeste knew this grandmother well. She had no virtues, was lazy, and liked to take advantage of others. It was not surprising that she would do something shameless like this.
"I can't help you with this matter," Celeste said impatiently as she lifted her long fingers to inspect her newly done claws.
If Violet wasn't her grandmother, she probably would have hung up the phone already.
Hearing her own granddaughter speak to her like this, Violet felt hurt, and her eyes turned red as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Celeste, I'm already so old, and I don't even have a proper den. Your mother doesn't care about me. I had no choice but to do this because I had no other way. If you don't pity me, it's fine, but how can you say such things about me?"
As she spoke, she cried loudly, gasping for breath between sobs.
Still crying, she continued, "It's all because of that Zara. After having her bond dissolved and coming back with nothing, she even brought along her baggage."
"Her father used to live alone, and two small rooms were enough for him. We have been comfortably living in their big pack house for years."
"If she hadn't come back, the house would have been ours."
"Now that she's back and has no powerful pack support, it's natural that she wants to take the house from us. I just wanted your uncle and your cousin to live a better life."
Although Celeste didn't hang up the phone, she didn't listen very carefully either.
It was only when she heard the name "Zara" that she suddenly froze.
"Who did you say?"
She thought she had misheard.
Violet repeated, "Arthur and his daughter, Zara."
So she hadn't misheard?
"Which Zara?" Celeste instinctively asked.
"Who else could it be? It's the one who used to sit in the moonlight and sing wolf songs. She had two long braids and a high-pitched voice like a nightingale. Didn't you even ask me her name when you very little?" Violet replied.
Many years ago, Celeste stayed at Violet's place for some reason.
But Celeste had no memory of that time and was not sure if the Zara mentioned by Violet was the same person she knew. However, her heart was pounding with an inexplicable dread.
"Just describe her appearance clearly, and then I'll consider whether to help you or not," Celeste said.