LUNA'S REVENGE: REBORN FOR LOVE

4: PLAYING WITH FIRE

AMY'S POV

I was awoken at five AM (5:00 am) by the noises of someone vomiting in the bathroom beside me.

For a second, I thought perhaps it might be me – morning sickness had been knocking on my door like a freight train every day for a week. Then I heard a man swearing quite vocally, followed by the flush of water.

One of the Blackfang wolves had developed food poisoning or something. Just what we needed: with everyone's tensions already running high between the packs.

As I pulled on my clothes for workout attire, my phone began to vibrate due to a text from Sarah: ‘Emergency pack meeting in an hour. Something's wrong with three of the Blackfang wolves.’

My blood ran cold. In my old life, this hadn't occurred when they visited. That was because I'd already altered something, merely just by acting differently around Damian. The butterfly effect was taking place, and I had no idea where it could take me from here.

I hastily got dressed and rushed downstairs to find the main hall in chaos. Pack members were whispering in little groups, speaking in low tones and anxious, and I could sense the unease surrounding us like some waving force. My father and Alpha Marcus of the opposing Moonstone Pack stood by the fireplace, their faces stern and serious.

"What's going on?" I asked Sarah when I spotted her near the kitchen.

"Three of Damian's wolves fell ill at once last night. Badly ill – vomiting, fever, the whole thing." She spoke in a low tone. "There's a rumor that they were poisoned."

"Poisoned, you say? By somebody?"

"That's what people are wondering." Sarah looked around uneasily. "Some are saying maybe it was an accident, that they could have eaten something. But other people think…"

"Think what?"

"One of our pack members did it on purpose, attempting to sabotage the alliance talks."

My stomach dropped. This wasn't good. Really, really not good. If the Blackfang Pack thought we'd intentionally poisoned their wolves, they could start a war. And wars had a way of spiraling out of control, getting innocent people murdered.

People like Sarah.

"Where is Alpha Blackfang now?" I asked.

"Stuck in the conference room with your father and the pack doctor. He's not happy."

I would bet he wasn't. Damian had always been a passionate advocate for his pack members, sometimes too much to his detriment. If he believed that someone had intentionally harmed his wolves, he would want payback.

"Amy." My mother was standing next to me, hair disheveled. "I need your assistance to prepare other rooms in the medical wing. We're relocating the sick wolves there so Dr. Peterson can treat them effectively."

I spent the next two hours assisting in turning empty rooms into temporary hospital space, attempting not to dwell on how horribly this whole thing could end.

It was around noon that things started going from bad to worse.

"Amy!" my dad boomed over the pack house. "Conference room, now!"

The voice sent my blood chill running. He only ever used that voice with me once before – when a rival pack had accused us of trespass on their land.

I entered the conference room to find a scene that was like a tribunal. My father presided at the head of the large table, and our Beta and Gamma sat beside him on each side. Damian sat across from them with his jaw clenched so hard I was amazed his teeth did not shatter, and standing behind him were two of his more healthy wolves, both looking ready for battle.

"Sit down, Amy," my dad instructed softly.

I took the empty chair next to him, trying to ignore the way Damian's eyes tracked my every. In the dim light, I could sense the anger rolling off him—toned down tight.

"We have a problem," my dad went on. "Dr. Peterson's initial tests show that the three sick wolves were poisoned with wolfsbane. A concentrated amount, added to something they ate."

Wolfsbane—that accounted for their state. Toxic to werewolves when ingested in quantity, the plant was rarely fatal if treated early.

"The sole question," Damian's tone was deadlier still, "is whether this was accidental or deliberate."

"Alpha Blackfang appears to believe that one of our pack did this," my dad replied, and I could hear anger, tightly bound, in his voice also. "I've told him it's impossible, but he's asked to speak with some of the pack members in person."

"Ask them what?" I asked, though I suspected I already knew.

"As to who was in the kitchen last night," Damian answered bluntly, his gaze meeting mine over the table. "And who might have possibly had an opportunity to tamper with food or drinks."

Oh no. I'd been in the kitchen the night before. He'd been there as well, but he'd entered after me.

"I was in the kitchen about eleven," I said hesitantly. "Making tea. But I didn't move anything else, and I most definitely didn't poison anyone."

"Of course not," my father said firmly.

But Damian was studying my face like he was trying to read my thoughts. "What was the tea?"

"Ginger tea. For my stomach – I haven't been feeling well lately."

"Stomach issues?" His eyes sharpened with interest. "What sort of stomach issues?"

Red flags were ringing in my brain. I couldn't inform him about the morning sickness, couldn't even mention the pregnancy. Not when everything was already so volatile.

"Just stress," I lied. "The alliance talks have everyone under stress."

He didn't look convinced, however, before he could inquire more, the door to the conference room brust open. Sarah rushed into the room, cheeks red.

"Alpha Silverclaw, we've found something," she said, breathing hard. She observed the tension in the room and paused mid-sentence. "Oh. Sorry, I didn't realize..."

"What have you found?" my father inquired.

Sarah looked nervously at the two Alphas. "Perhaps I should have a word with you in private?"

"Whatever it is, it can be said in front of Alpha Blackfang," my father said. "We are all trying to find out the truth here."

Sarah breathed in deep. "We discovered a vial in one of the guest rooms. Concealed underneath the mattress. Tested positive for wolfsbane concentrate."

The quiet that came after was crushing. I could hear almost every individual's heart beating.

"Which room?" Damian's voice was ominously soft.

"Room 237," Sarah replied. "It's… it's one of your pack rooms, Alpha Blackfang."

I watched the color drain from Damian's face. One of his own pack members had poisoned the others? That didn't make any sense.

"That's not possible," he said stiffly. "My wolves wouldn't—"

"We need to question whoever was in that room," my dad cut in. "Now!"

"Marcus Webb," One of Damian's wolves replied hesitantly. "But he is one of the ill ones, hardly conscious right now."

"Then we will wait until he can talk," my dad decided. "Meanwhile, I think it would be best to table any consideration of an official alliance until this is resolved."

Damian stood to his feet, dragging his chair across the floor. "Agreed. But I want your permission to conduct my own investigation. If one of my wolves is responsible, I'll take care of it according to pack law."

"By all means," my father said, nodding. "We'll be fully cooperative."

As the crowd dispersed, Damian grasped my arm. "Would you mind a few minutes' conversation privately?"

My father appeared to be going to object, but I shook my head. "It's okay, Dad. I'll catch up with you later.”

When the room had been emptied except for the two of us, Damian faced me directly. Closely, I could see the fatigue in his eyes, the tight lines on his mouth. Never an easy task to be a pack leader, but to have to handle betrayal from within, it was a hundred times more difficult.

"You were in the kitchen last night," he informed me. It was not a question.

"Yes. I told you that already."

"And you didn't notice anything unusual? Was anyone else going or arriving?"

I shook my head. "It was just you, and you arrived after I had already gotten there."

He pushed a hand through his black hair, letting it remain rumpled in a manner that made him appear younger, more breakable. I nearly forgot, for an instant, that this man would one day sign the order for me to be killed.

"This doesn't make sense," he said, more to himself than to me. "Marcus has been with my pack for eight years. He's loyal, trustworthy. He'd never poison his own pack members."

"Perhaps he didn't," I offered. "Perhaps someone placed that vial in his room to frame him."

Damian's eyes flashed to me. "You think it was a setup?"

"I think that it was made to look as though it was a betrayal from within and not from the outside," I said warily. "What is better at shattering trust in your pack than to have you think one of your wolves is working against you?"

He glared at me for a moment. "That's… actually a genius. Sick, but genius."

"The question is, who would gain from your pack losing power through self-battle?"

"Any number of enemies," he replied ominously. "But they'd need to have inside information on our itineraries, our dorm assignments." His voice faded as the implications struck him.

"A person who has access to the guest room makes appointments," I agreed. "A person who would know where each of the wolves would be and when they'd be able to leave a trail."

"Which would mean that a member of your pack must be involved, or—"

"Or perhaps someone in your pack is playing a much more complex game than anyone ever thought."

The potential dangled before us, full of possibility. If there was someone within Damian's inner circle who was quietly betraying him, suddenly everything was different. In my previous life, I had not seen such betrayals within the Blackfang Pack either. Naturally, I hadn't been paying much attention to pack politics at the time either.

"Why would you want to help me sort this out?" Damian snapped in interruption. "Most she-wolves your age would be too scared to get involved in something like this."

In my past life, I had fallen in love with a man who was a monster, and now I am attempting to decide whether or not you ever were a monster or if something in between led you to become one.

But I could not say that to him.

"Because innocent wolves are harmed, and I don't want to see people suffer for the entertainment of others," I said instead.

He studied my face intently, and I had the uncomfortable feeling that he was seeing more than I wanted him to. "You're not what I expected, Amy Silverclaw.”

"What did you expect?"

His face turned into a slow smile, the first real one I'd ever seen since his pack arrived. "Someone much more predictable."

I didn't have a chance to respond before Sarah popped out of the conference room and into the hallway.

“Amy? Your mom is calling for you down in the medical wing. One of the patients asked specifically to see you.”

I raised an eyebrow. "Which one?"

"Marcus Webb. He's conscious now and insists he needs to speak with you about something."

Damian and I exchanged a look. This might be the lead we were going to need to break this whole mess.

"Let's go," I said.

As we moved towards the medical wing, a creeping feeling lingered with me, a feeling that we were stepping into yet another trap. Because if there was one thing I'd learned in my previous life, it was that nothing with the Blackfang Pack ever seemed quite as easy as it appeared.