Fated by the Rival Alpha

Chapter 5 — Twenty Eight More Days

The second patrol was colder than the first.

A front had moved in overnight and the ridge was wrapped in low cloud by the time both teams assembled at the eastern border. I could see my breath. The warriors on both sides stamped their feet and pulled their collars up and said very little.

Magnus was already at the meeting point when I arrived. He stood with his hands loose at his sides looking at the cloud cover like he was reading it. He had a dark patrol jacket on, unbuttoned at the collar. He looked like the cold did not bother him.

It probably did not. Blood Moon territory ran further north than ours. They were built for this kind of weather.

"Morning," he said when I walked up.

"Morning," I said back.

That was it. We moved out.

The first mile was quiet in the way that felt intentional. Like both of us had privately agreed overnight to keep things simple. Formal. Two Alphas running a patrol because they had signed a paper saying they would. Nothing more complicated than that.

I was fine with simple. Simple was manageable.

It lasted until the third mile when Magnus said, without looking at me, "Your pack elder came to see me this morning."

I looked at him. "Mara?"

"She wanted to assess me." He said it without any particular feeling attached. Just a fact. "She asked me three questions about pack governance, two about border law, and one about my intentions toward the treaty."

"She did not mention that to me."

"I imagine she wanted to form her own opinion first." He glanced at me sideways. "She is sharp. You should keep her close."

"I have kept her close for six years. What did you tell her? About the treaty."

"The truth. That I want it to hold. That I am willing to do the work to make it hold." He paused. "She asked if last night at the summit was planned."

I stopped walking. He took two more steps and then stopped too, turning back to look at me.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"I said no." His voice was even. "I said we had too much blood wine and made a poor decision about which room was whose. She looked at me for a long time after that."

"And then?"

"She said, and I am giving you her exact words — some poor decisions have better timing than others, Alpha Magnus. Then she thanked me for the conversation and left."

I stared at him. He looked back at me with that steady expression that gave nothing away.

"She is going to be a problem," I said.

"She is going to be an asset. There is a difference." He turned and started walking again. "Come on. We are falling behind."

By midmorning the cloud had dropped lower and the temperature with it. The valley below the ridge was invisible in white mist. The warriors moved in tighter without being told, the way wolves always did in low visibility. Bodies close. Senses sharp. Every sound registered.

We were crossing the narrow section of trail above the creek when Cole fell back to walk beside Magnus. I noticed it from ahead and slowed slightly to stay within earshot without making it obvious.

"You run Blood Moon for how long?" Cole asked. His voice was conversational. Friendly even.

"Seven years," Magnus said.

"Young for an Alpha."

"So is Kade."

"Kade took over at twenty two," Cole said. "His father was sick. He did not have a choice about the timing."

I wanted to tell Cole to stop talking but I could not do it without revealing I was listening.

"I know," Magnus said. There was something in his voice. Not pity. Something more careful than that. "The border conflict escalated the year he took over. Bad timing."

"Very bad timing," Cole agreed. "He spent his first year as Alpha managing a war he did not start."

"My father started that particular chapter of it," Magnus said quietly. "I am aware."

The trail went quiet for a stretch.

"He is not his father," Cole said finally.

"No," Magnus said. "He is not."

I moved ahead and did not listen to the rest.

We ate lunch in the valley when the mist cleared enough to find flat ground. Both teams sat closer today than yesterday without anyone commenting on it. Small progress. Wolf progress. Bodies make decisions that heads take longer to catch up to.

Magnus sat beside me without asking. Not close. Just beside. I unwrapped my food and said nothing about it.

After a while he said, "Your beta is testing me."

"Cole tests everyone."

"He is thorough."

"I told you. It is his personality."

Magnus was quiet for a moment. "He loves you like a brother."

I looked at him. The word landed differently than I expected. Not strange exactly. Just direct in a way I had not prepared for.

"He has been with me since we were twelve," I said.

Magnus nodded slowly. He looked at his food. "I do not have that. A beta like that." He said it without complaint. Just fact. "Dray is good. Loyal. But we are not close the way you and Cole are."

I did not know what to say to that so I said nothing.

He did not seem to need me to say anything. He ate in silence and after a while the moment passed the way moments do when you leave them alone.

The afternoon stretch took us north along the creek to the boundary stone and back. By the time the return path came into sight the cold had settled into everyone's bones and the pace had picked up without discussion. Warm camp. Hot food. Both things pulling us forward.

At the split point Magnus stopped beside me the same way he had the day before. His breath made small clouds in the cold air. Mine did too.

"You are quiet today," he said.

"I am always quiet on patrol."

"Yesterday you told me I was worse than your worst problem."

"That was a compliment."

He looked at me steadily. "Kade. Your elder came to my camp this morning at dawn to measure whether I was worth trusting. Your beta spent an hour on the trail running a quiet background check on my character. And you have not said a direct word to me all day."

I met his eyes. "I said good morning."

"You said morning. You dropped the good."

The air between us was cold and still.

"What do you want me to say, Magnus?"

He looked at me for a long moment. Not pushing. Not pulling. Just looking.

"Nothing," he said finally. "I just want to know you are still in this. The thirty days. The treaty. All of it."

"I signed the paper."

"So did I." He held my gaze. "That is not what I asked."

I looked at him. At the steadiness in him. The patience. The thing I had not expected from the wolf I had decided was my enemy before I ever really looked at him.

"I am still in it," I said.

Something in his expression settled. Not relief exactly. Something quieter.

"Same time tomorrow," he said.

He turned and walked toward his camp.

I stood at the split point in the cold for a moment longer than I needed to.

Twenty eight more days.

My wolf was counting them differently than I was.