FATED TO THE ENEMY ALPHA

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER NINE

THREE YEARS LATER

ELOWYNNE

The smell of burned skin, blood, and something uglier hit me. My wolf stirred uneasily beneath my skin as I stepped through the tree line and into what had once been the outer edge of our southern farmlands.

Now it was a graveyard.

I stopped walking.

Around me, my guard unit slowed and fell into formation, their hands going to their weapons.

"Luna." My head warrior, Dara, appeared at my left shoulder. "We've counted eleven dead. They were all border patrols, our guards."

Eleven.

I pressed my lips together and forced myself to look at their charred, disfigured remains.

I crouched beside the nearest body and rested two fingers briefly on his shoulder.

"What do we know about the attack?" I asked without looking up.

"It happened sometime between the third and fourth watch," another of my guards answered. "No howls for help were recorded by the guards stationed at the inner perimeter. Whatever attacked them came fast and unexpectedly.”

I stood and moved through the ruins. The burned grass, trees, and wooden walls that had been reduced to blackened splinters.

“Luna,” another soldier called my attention. “You need to see this.”

I moved towards the direction of the tree he was standing beside.

There was a piece of rough cloth nailed to the bark of an oak tree where he stood. Letters were written on it in blood.

THE WEAK SHALL FALL FIRST.

I stared at it for a long moment.

My hands shook and were quickly balled into fists, aware of the dozen pairs of eyes on my back, aware that every warrior standing in that ruined field was reading my expression, looking for the crack that would confirm what a certain portion of my pack had always believed.

That I was not built for leadership.

I reached out and pulled the cloth from the tree. Then I folded it once, twice, and tucked it under my arm.

"Dara," I said calmly. "I want every body brought in and prepared for proper burial rites. I want the perimeter of this entire field mapped for tracks, scent signatures, and anything that tells us the direction of entry and exit the attackers used." I turned around to face my unit. "I want those findings on my table within two hours."

"Yes, Luna."

"Dismissed."

They all moved at once, respecting me not for my title but for the fact that I’d proven myself worthy of authority. I spent the last three years earning it, layer by layer, until even the most reluctant among them had run out of reasonable arguments against me.

But there were still those who watched me with a particular sharpness in their eyes, men who were used to serving other men and held some level of resentment towards me, waiting for the moment they could prove I’m not fit to lead.

But their resentment held no power, not while I held the mantle and performed the responsibilities of a leader better than any candidate they could have put in my place.

I looked at the folded cloth in my hands.

This was the first time in three years of my rule that we had faced something like this.

I had handled disputes, border conflicts, drought crises, and internal politics effectively. I had held the pack steady through my father's deteriorating sickness. But this was different from all of those things.

My jaw tightened.

I inhaled a deep breath. Then I turned and headed back to the pack.

***

I could hear voices through the closed doors as I arrived at the council hall. I paused outside the door, squared my shoulders, and let myself in.

The noise stopped immediately.

Seven elders and four of my senior strategists occupied the long table. They had the good sense, by now, to rise when I entered. All of them, even Elder Caius, whose opinion of me had slowly changed over three years of close proximity to my capabilities. But his face, as always, gave nothing away.

"Luna," they greeted in unison as I took my seat at the head of the table and set the folded cloth before me.

"You've all been briefed on the attack," I said. "I want to hear your judgements."

Elder Rowan, who had been one of my father's most trusted strategic advisors and had transferred that trust to me without hesitation, was the first to speak.

“It’s quite obvious that whoever planned this attack knew our watch rotations from the level of it's coordination.”

"Which means either our security information has been breached," my head strategist Elder Ferris added, "or they've had eyes on us long enough to learn our patterns."

"Either option is troubling," I said.

"There is a third option." The voice came from the far end of the table. It was Elder Caius himself. "And I think we all know what it is."

The room shifted.

I watched the looks pass around the table, and my impatience rose quickly.

"Say it plainly, Elder Caius.”

He met my eyes. "The Frostvales."

The name landed like a stone dropped in still water, and I felt the ripple of it travel across the table. Old hatred and conditioning rose, their jaws and hands tightening on reflex.

I felt it in my own chest too.

It wasn’t the hatred we were taught to feel. It was something sharper and more personal than that, lodged below my breastbone like a splinter that was stuck.

A flash of silver-grey eyes under the moonlight. Soft lips against mine…

‘I, Xyron Fang, reject you—‘

I shut the memory down.

"The Frostvales have been trying to provoke us recently," Elder Rowan was saying. "The border tensions in recent months—"

"Tension between our packs is not the same as open assault," Elder Ferris said. "An attack of this scale is a direct act of war. Do we have any evidence placing Frostvale wolves at the scene?"

A brief pause, then Dara spoke from her position behind my chair.

"Not yet, but the scent signatures were corrupted by the fire. We can't rule them out."

"We cannot rule anyone out," I said carefully. " Which is why I want evidence before we name a culprit."

Caius's expression tightened fractionally. I had learned to read that expression, he considered my caution as me being naive.

Even though he respected me, he’d always see me as such.

A naive little girl.

"Luna, if we wait for perfect evidence while a threat is actively moving against us—"

"I did not say we would wait," I replied in a level tone. "I said I want evidence before we name a culprit. We don’t want to mistakenly start another war, do we?”

Another look exchanged around the table. They agreed with me.

"Then let's discuss response options," Ferris said, adjusting his posture. He spread a territorial map across the table. "If we assume the attack came from the northeast corridor—"

"We retaliate immediately," Elder Rowan said, and several voices rose immediately in agreement. "If it was the Frostvales, they must know they will face consequences. If it wasn't, then whatever group is responsible needs to understand that attacking Moonveil pack comes at a cost."

The energy in the room shifted. I could feel the anger finding fuel and rising in the air.

"Agreed," another elder said. "We should move more of our warriors to all our borders including the northeast border, increase patrol density and wait for them to make another move—"

"No. We should strike first," someone else countered. "We can’t wait—"

"We need to hit them hard enough that they don't consider a second—"

The door opened and the voices stopped.