LUNA'S REVENGE: REBORN FOR LOVE

5: SEEING THROUGH THE MASK

DAMIAN'S POV

There was something wrong with Amy Silverclaw, and I could not figure out what the hell it was.

I have done my research before coming here, of course! When you're an Alpha looking to form strategic alliances, you do your research on the power players. Amy was meant to be the perfect candidate – young, beautiful, lovely, from a good powerful bloodline, and according to every source I'd consulted had said, sweet and biddable. The kind of she-wolf who'd be flattered by the attention of an Alpha such as myself.

Until the woman walking alongside me to the medical wing was not at all what I had anticipated.

For one thing, she hadn't fallen over her own feet when I first met her. Most available she-wolves would have – not arrogance, just a fact of life. I was relatively young for an Alpha, quite good-looking, and ruled over a territory that comprised three states. I was quite the catch.

Amy had looked at me as if I were mildly interesting furniture.

Then, the way she'd turned down my invitation to take her to tour the territory. Not with breathless apologies or shy excuses, just a polite but firm no. As if she had better things to do than spend time with me.

And still, here in the midst of the turmoil of the poisoning crisis, she was acting like some kind of detective instead of a scared young woman. She was the one who had developed the idea of a frame-up job theory, linking together clues that my own Beta had not thought of.

None of it fit with the profile I had been given.

"You're thinking pretty hard over there," Amy said, without looking at me. "Want to share?"

"I'm just curious about who would attempt to stir up problems between our packs," I lied.

She gave me a sideways glance that indicates she knew I was full of s**t, talking crab, but didn't challenge me. Another shock. The Amy I'd anticipated would have taken my response at face value.

We arrived at the medical wing, and I could immediately smell the sickness in the air right away – that acidic smell of poison coursing through werewolf systems. My wolf stirred uneasily inside me, upset at the thought that our pack members were injured.

Marcus was awake when we arrived in his room, but he did not look good at all. His dark complexion had a grayish hue, and beads of sweat broke out on his forehead despite the chill in the air.

"Alpha," he wailed, struggling to sit up when he saw me, but Amy was quicker.

"Stay down," she ordered softly, pressing him back into the pillows. "You have to save your strength."

I watched her check his pulse, adjust his blankets, and pour him a glass of water. Her movements were efficient, economical, practiced, like she'd done this sort of thing many times. But when would the daughter of an Alpha ever get to study field medicine?

"You wanted to talk to Amy?" I reminded him.

Marcus nodded weakly. "There's something. something she needs to know." His eyes fixed onto hers with an urgency that had my wolf snarling. "About last night."

"What about last night?" Amy asked, sitting on the edge of the chair beside his bed.

"I saw you," Marcus whispered. "In the kitchen, at eleven in the night.” He coughed heavily. “But you weren't alone."

I felt Amy tense up next to me. "What are you talking about? What do you mean?"

"Someone was standing in the hallway, watching you. They were in the darkness. They stayed back, in the shadows, but I could still smell them." Marcus coughed again, that same harsh rasping cough that made him more weak. "It was a woman's scent, not from your pack."

My blood ran cold. "One of our wolves?"

"Had to be. But I couldn't tell who." Marcus turned, looked at Amy once more. "They saw you prepare your tea, waited until you'd gone, and then went into the kitchen."

"How long after Amy had gone?" I questioned.

"Perhaps five minutes? Not long." His eyes were already half-closing in fatigue. "I wanted to snoop around, but I began to feel ill about that time. I thought it was travel exhaustion."

Amy and I looked at each other. This altered everything. If a woman from my pack was in the kitchen after Amy had left, that would be when the poisoning would have occurred.

"MARCUS," I said urgently, " I need you to concentrate, think. Was there anything else? Any other details that you remember?"

"Perfume," he snarled, his eyes shutting. "Expensive perfume. The sort that costs more than most wolves earn in a month."

And with that, I immediately knew who had poisoned members of my pack.

The rage that built up in me was so great that I was gripping the back of Amy's chair to prevent myself from making a hole in the wall. Of all the betrayals I had ever suspected or imagined, this one had not even crossed my mind.

"You know who it is," Amy said quietly. It wasn't a question.

"Yes, I do." My voice was husky, with barely controlled rage.

"Care to share?"

I looked at her – really looked at her. Those green eyes that seemed to see too much, the way she held herself like she was ready for anything, the intelligence that sparked behind her carefully neutral expression.

"Selena Nightshade," I said at last. "My pack's political liaison. She's been working towards this alliance, and she's the sole female member of my inner circle who could afford that kind of perfume."

Amy grew very, very quiet. "Why would she poison her own packmates?"

"To sabotage the alliance negotiations." The puzzle pieces were clicking into place, and a wave of nausea swept over me. "She has publicly spoken out against any alliance that doesn't place the Blackfang Pack in the alpha position. If she could make it look like betrayal from within, or imply that your pack was at fault…”

"She could ruin the negotiations entirely," Amy finished.

"Precisely. And if I don't secure this alliance." I pushed a hand through my hair, a tide of frustration rising up. "Let's just say there are other packs that would have great delight in finding the Blackfang Pack isolated and weakened."

Amy said nothing for a long time, her gaze fixed on her hands. When she raised her head, there was something in her expression I could not read.

"What are you going to do to her?"

The question caught me off guard.. Most she-wolves would have asked how I was going to prove it, or whether I was sure. Amy was already assuming I'd handle it.

"Pack law is clear about betrayal," I said simply.

"Which is?"

"Exile, if she's lucky. Death, if she's not."

I thought she would flinch, perhaps plead for mercy. Instead, Amy nodded as if she'd anticipated that response.

"Good," she whispered.

The ferocity in that single word made my wolf sit up and take notice. There was more darkness in Amy Silverclaw than anyone realized, something that grasped the need for brutal justice.

"We need to go get her," Amy said, rising. "Before she discovers Marcus is awake and talking."

She was correct, yet something held me back. "Amy, you don't need to be a part of this. Pack justice is not nice, not when there is betrayal involved."

She turned to look at me, and for just a moment, I saw something flicker in her eyes. Something that looked almost like old pain, old fury.

"I can deal with it," she said simply.

As we left the medical wing, I couldn't help but study her profile, looking for that elusive bit of the puzzle that was always just out of grasp, trying to figure out what I was missing. Everything in me screamed that Amy Silverclaw wasn't what she seemed.

The question was: who was she, really? And why was she hiding it?

We found Selena in the guest quarters, packing her bags with quick, nervous movements. She looked up when we entered, and I saw the exact moment she realized she'd been caught. Her face went pale, then red, then settled into defiant anger.

"Damian," she said, forcing a smile. "I was just getting ready to head home. This whole poisoning incident has me rattled, and I thought—"

"Cut the crap, Selena." I entered the room, allowing my Alpha aura to fill the atmosphere. "I know what you did."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Marcus witnessed you in the kitchen last night. After Amy had gone. He smelled your expensive perfume." I saw her face fall as she understood her mistake. "Did you really believe you could frame an innocent wolf and get away with it?"

"Those wolves are not so innocent!" Selena growled, her mask finally slipping completely. "They're weak, Damian. They want you to make deals with inferior packs, to compromise our strength for the sake of peace. That's not what your father would have done."

"Don't you dare mention my father." The words were a snarl. "He would have been ashamed of you for what you have done."

"I did it for the pack! For you!" Tears ran down her face. "These alliances will only weaken us. Other packs will see it as a sign that we're too weak to survive on our own."

"So you poisoned our own wolves to stop it?"

"I never meant them to get that sick," she whispered. "It was just supposed to make them a little ill, to delay the negotiations. To give you time to come to your senses."

I felt Amy move beside me, sensed rather than saw her tension. When I glanced at her, her face was a mask of cold fury that startled me with its intensity.

"You're pathetic," Amy said, her voice deadly quiet. "You poisoned innocent wolves and tried to frame others for your cowardice. You don't deserve to be part of any pack."

Selena's eyes snapped to Amy, and I saw hatred flash there. "And what would you know about it, little girl? You don't know what it is to fight for your pack's survival."

"I know loyalty," Amy shot back. "Something you clearly don't understand."

"Enough." I stepped between them, putting an end to any further violence. "Selena Nightshade, under the power invested in me by the Blackfang Pack and according to the laws of our kind, I banish you from our territory. You have an hour to gather your things and leave. After that, you will be dealt with as a rogue if you are found on Blackfang lands."

She stared at me like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Incredulity carved across her face. "Damian, please. I love you. I did it all for—"

"One hour," I said again, icy.

After Selena left, Amy and I were alone in the silent room, the stillness between us awkward. I was still trying to get my head around all that had gone on, still trying to come to terms with the Amy I'd anticipated and the woman who'd just assisted me in revealing a betrayal within my own pack.

"Thank you," I said at last.

"For what?"

"For making me realize what was actually going on. For not running when it got messy and complicated." I turned all the way toward her. "Most she-wolves would have kept far away from pack politics."

Amy smiled, though a little less warmly than normal. "I'm not like most she-wolves."

No, she definitely was not. As I watched her walk away, I realized I was more intrigued with Amy Silverclaw than I'd been with anyone in years. The question was: what was I going to do about it?