Chapter 6
1250 Words
CARDAN MONTESSORI
Traitors!
I knew something was off the moment I stepped out of the southern watchtower. The air carried a kind of silence that didn’t belong in a place full of wolves. Not the peaceful kind… the eerie, belly-curling type. Like the trees themselves were holding their breath.
Kai met me halfway through the clearing, boots crunching against frostbitten grass, his brows furrowed so deep it made the scar on his left cheek twitch. That only happened when sh*t was about to hit the fan.
“We have a situation,” he said without preamble.
I folded my arms. “That’s never a good way to start a morning, Kai.”
“It’s Calder. And two others. They snuck out last night. North perimeter.”
My jaw ticked. “And?”
“They didn’t go alone. They took maps. Rations. Weapons.”
I didn’t speak for a moment.
Betrayal always came from the ones closest to you. Always. That was the first lesson my father ever taught me right before he drove a dagger through my shoulder and tossed me off the council.
“Do we have them?” I asked flatly.
Kai nodded once. “Tracked them before sunrise. Sent scouts ahead. They’re in the pit now. Alive. Barely.”
“Bring them to the square,” I said. “I want every wolf present.”
“Cardan…”
“What?”
Kai hesitated, which pissed me off more than the news.
“They were trying to find the girl.”
I blinked once. “Paedyn?”
He nodded grimly.
Now that… that was new.
“Tell me exactly what they were doing.”
“They said she doesn’t belong here. That you're compromised. One of them—Calder—said you’ve gone soft. That the moment you let her in, the pack became vulnerable.”
I let out a short breathless laugh, more fury than humor. “So they tried to fix it behind my back?”
“Tried,” Kai echoed.
I stared at the treeline for a long second. “Get them ready. I’ll be down in ten.”
By the time I got to the central square, the sky was draped in clouds the color of wet ash, casting the whole place in a muted gray that felt biblical.
Wolves lined the perimeter. Some in human form, others mid-shift. Their eyes flicked to me as I approached, and the crowd parted like the sea.
Calder and the other two—Derek and Marlo—were already bound to the post. Shirtless, bleeding, heads down. A poor attempt at looking regretful.
I stopped a few feet away, folding my arms again. My voice didn’t need to be loud. It never did.
“You know,” I began, turning slowly to address the crowd, “when I formed this pack, I made something very clear.”
My eyes scanned the faces. Familiar. Loyal. Questioning.
“I said we would not be like the others. That we wouldn’t live in the shadows. That rogues would have a name again. That we would build something of our own—our land, our law, our bloodline.”
I turned back to Calder, his face still stained with dried blood.
“But law only works when everyone believes in it. And blood?” I grabbed his chin and forced his face up. “Blood gets tested.”
He didn’t flinch. Brave. Or stupid. Likely both.
“You forgot who you're dealing with, Calder.”
“You forgot what it means to lead,” he said through cracked lips.
Oh.
The crowd gasped quietly.
I let go of his face and tilted my head.
“Do enlighten me.”
“You let a Nova live. That girl’s a weapon. Stefan marked her. Used her. And you? You’re what? Keeping her as a pet?”
“You think I’ve gone soft,” I said calmly.
“I think you’ve forgotten who you are.”
That... that stung a little. Not because he was right. But because a part of me was afraid of just that.
I smiled, slow and cold. “You’re right about one thing.”
Calder blinked.
“She is dangerous.”
There was a murmur in the crowd.
“Which is exactly why she’s mine.”
I turned to the rest. “Let this be clear. Betrayal won’t be hidden. It won’t be cleaned up in the dark. It will be public. It will be loud. And it will hurt.”
I walked over to the weapons table and picked up the iron-blade whip. Not silver. No. That would be too quick.
I tossed it to Kai. “Ten lashes each.”
“Cardan—”
I held up a hand. “If they survive it, I’ll decide what comes next. If they die... then so be it.”
And I stood there.
As the whip cracked.
Once.
Twice.
Blood sprayed across dirt.
The crowd didn’t cheer. That wasn’t what this was about. This wasn’t justice. This was a message.
By the eighth strike, Derek passed out.
By the tenth, Calder still hadn’t made a sound.
Kai dropped the whip and turned to me, breathing hard. “Your call.”
I didn’t look at the bodies. I didn’t need to. I faced the pack again.
“Loyalty is earned. But once it’s given, you don’t take it back.”
No one moved.
Then, someone in the crowd shifted forward. A smaller figure, wrapped in a dark cloak, stepping just past the edge of the circle.
My blood turned cold.
It was Paedyn.
Her hands were bound. Her lip was split. Eyes sharp, brown and burning with the kind of fire that should’ve been illegal in someone that beautiful.
“What the hell is she doing here?” Kai growled beside me.
“I didn’t bring her out,” I muttered, stepping forward. “Paedyn—”
“Don’t speak my name,” she bit out. “You want a show? You want to teach your wolves about loyalty?”
She turned her wrist and something snapped.
A blade. Small. Hidden in her sleeve.
My spine straightened. “Don’t be stupid.”
“I’ve been stupid before. Trust me, I’ve learned.”
I raised a hand to my men. “Nobody moves.”
Her eyes flicked to Calder and the others. “And you say I’m dangerous.”
“They betrayed me.”
She stepped closer. “And you think I won’t?”
I stared at her. “I don’t know yet.”
We were ten feet apart now. I could smell the tension rolling off her like thunder. The mate bond was tugging at the back of my chest, angry and hot and unrelenting. It wanted me closer. It wanted her safe.
She didn’t care.
“Go ahead,” she said, voice low. “Tell them who I am. Tell them what I was sent to do.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What game are you playing?”
“No game,” she whispered. “I’m just tired of pretending.”
Then she did something that stopped my heart.
She dropped the blade and sank to her knees in front of the crowd.
“I am Paedyn Nova. Assassin. Murderer. Last heir of the Nova bloodline. And I was sent to kill your Alpha.”
A stunned silence swept across the square.
She looked up, not at the crowd, but at me.
“So now what, Cardan?”
- Writer
