Divided Loyalties
1033 Words
The second wave never attacked outright.
That was what made it worse.
They waited.
Lurking beyond the wards.
Watching.
Calculating.
And inside Bayou Falls, paranoia began to spread faster than fear.
Because enemies at the gates were one thing.
Enemies inside the walls were another.
⸻
Rae had not slept in thirty-six hours.
No one questioned it.
Not when every screen in the command room was flooded with intercepted signals, territory maps, and coded transmissions she was trying to crack before sunrise.
Her silver-blue energy flickered beneath her skin in uneven pulses.
Del hovered nearby with a cup of coffee and the increasingly resigned expression of someone who had accepted that Rae was impossible.
“Drink it.”
Rae didn’t look up. “I already had three.”
“That explains the eye twitch.”
“It’s tactical.”
Del set the cup beside her anyway.
Across the room, Remi stood over the latest security reports while Will, Trey, and Elijah argued quietly over defensive rotations.
The strain between them all had sharpened.
No one said it aloud, but everyone felt it—
something was off.
Too many patrol routes had been anticipated.
Too many defenses bypassed.
Too many weaknesses exposed.
Someone was feeding information outward.
And whoever it was… knew the Alphas personally.
Rae’s fingers flew over the console.
Then froze.
Her entire posture changed.
Del noticed instantly.
“Rae?”
No answer.
Rae zoomed in.
Ran the decryptor again.
And this time—
the message opened.
Her face went pale.
“What?” Remi demanded.
Rae looked up slowly.
“I found the leak.”
Silence dropped across the room.
Will crossed the space in two strides.
“Show me.”
Rae projected the file onto the center screen.
Encrypted threads.
Dates.
Movement schedules.
Guard rotations.
Council discussions.
Even internal disagreements.
Every weakness Bayou Falls had experienced in the last month—
documented.
Transmitted.
Sold.
Trey swore under his breath.
Elijah’s voice turned dangerously calm.
“Source?”
Rae highlighted the sender ID.
The room went still.
Because they all recognized it.
Not by name.
By access level.
High command clearance.
Direct inner-circle authority.
Someone close.
Very close.
Will stared at it.
“No.”
Remi looked at him.
“What?”
He didn’t answer.
Because footsteps sounded outside.
And the person entering made everyone’s blood run cold.
⸻
Commander Silas.
Will’s longtime second-in-command.
Practically raised beside the Alphas.
Trusted.
Respected.
Family.
Silas stepped inside, unaware of the screen still glowing behind them.
Until he saw their faces.
And understood immediately.
For one heartbeat, no one moved.
Then Silas’s jaw clenched.
“You shouldn’t have opened that.”
Trey lunged first.
Silas was faster.
He drew a concealed blade and slashed toward Rae.
Del shoved her aside.
The blade cut across Del’s shoulder instead.
Chaos exploded.
Will shifted instantly.
Elijah tackled Silas before he reached the exit.
Remi’s claws extended as instinct surged.
Trey pinned Silas to the floor while guards stormed in.
But even restrained—
Silas was laughing.
Actually laughing.
Blood stained his mouth.
“You’re already too late.”
Will grabbed him by the collar.
“Why?”
Silas looked straight at him.
And for the first time, there was no loyalty in his eyes.
Only conviction.
“Because your bloodline was never meant to rule.”
The room fell silent.
Remi stepped forward.
“You sold us out to the Ashen Circle for that?”
Silas shook his head.
“No.”
His smile widened.
“I sided with those who understand what your awakening means.”
Rae pressed a hand to Del’s wound, her energy glowing as she stabilized it.
But her eyes never left Silas.
“You mean they promised you power.”
Silas didn’t deny it.
“They promised survival.”
Will’s grip tightened.
“At the cost of your pack?”
“At the cost of preventing annihilation.”
That stopped everyone.
Even Trey.
Silas’s voice dropped.
“You think the Circle wants territory? Control?”
He laughed again, bitter.
“They are preparing for what comes after you.”
His gaze shifted to Remi.
“To what you unleash.”
Remi’s stomach twisted.
Will shoved him back.
“Take him to holding.”
Guards dragged Silas away, but his final words echoed behind him—
“When the Dominion rises, the world fractures.”
And then he was gone.
⸻
Hours later, the fallout began.
Whispers spread through the pack.
Silas had not acted alone.
A faction inside Bayou Falls had been working quietly against leadership for weeks.
Traditionalists.
Fearful elders.
Wolves who believed the prophecy should be stopped, not fulfilled.
And suddenly internal politics became more dangerous than the enemy outside.
Because fear gave traitors a cause.
And causes spread.
⸻
Rae stood in the communications room again, exhaustion pressing into every movement.
She was tracing secondary contacts when her screen flashed red.
Unauthorized access.
She frowned.
“Who’s in the lower network?”
No one answered.
Because no one should have been.
She traced the signal.
Then froze.
Her face drained of color.
Remi noticed instantly.
“What is it?”
Rae swallowed hard.
“Someone just wiped all surveillance feeds from the south wing.”
Trey straightened.
“That’s where the holding cells are.”
Everyone moved.
Fast.
By the time they reached the lower corridor—
the alarms were already sounding.
The cell doors stood open.
Silver restraints shattered.
Guards unconscious.
And Silas—
gone.
But he wasn’t the only one.
Del stopped at the final empty chamber.
Her breath caught.
“No…”
Remi’s pulse spiked.
“What?”
Del turned slowly.
Fear written across her face.
Not for herself.
For all of them.
“Rae’s gone.”
Silence.
Complete.
Then Will’s voice cut through like steel.
“How?”
Rae’s abandoned wristband lay on the floor.
Cracked.
Burned.
And beside it—
a single symbol carved into the wall.
The mark of the Ashen Circle.
Remi stared at it.
Heart pounding.
Because this wasn’t random.
This wasn’t escape.
This was extraction.
And somewhere beyond the walls—
their enemy now had one of the most dangerous pieces of the triad.
The storm had finally moved inside.
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