Chapter 14: The Name Behind The Note
302 Words
And I was finally part of it.
The feeling didn’t last long.
Mira’s hand was still on my arm, the surrender note crinkled between her fingers. “It’s not a trap,” she said quietly. “The scent on this… I know it. It’s old pack. Someone who left after the exile.”
Keal’s jaw tightened. “Say the name.”
She hesitated, then said it: “Roran.”
The hall went quiet. Even the pups outside stopped playing.
Roran. My uncle. The brother of my father who’d vanished the night I was exiled.
“He was banished for trying to stage a coup,” Keal said, voice low. “If he’s back, he didn’t come for mercy.”
I folded the note and slipped it into my belt. “Then we end this now. No more shadows. No more waiting.”
We moved fast. A team of ten, scouts leading the way to the old ridge where rogues used to camp. By nightfall, we found them.
Roran stood in the center, older but not weaker. His eyes met mine and he smiled like he’d won already.
“Lyra,” he said. “You look just like your father when he begged.”
I stepped forward, Keal at my side. “If you wanted me, you should’ve said it to my face. Not sent dogs to kill me in the dark.”
He laughed. “Dogs? Those were your pack, niece. They never stopped hating you for what your father did.”
My blood went cold. “What are you talking about?”
“Ask your Alpha,” Roran said, looking at Keal. “Ask him why he let you leave.”
Keal’s hand found mine.
I looked at him.
And for the first time, I saw doubt in his eyes.
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- Writer
