Moon's Redemption

Chapter 7

The Beta's Gambit

The DNA results came back twelve hours later, and they were exactly what Lyra had expected. The skin cells under the hybrid's fingernails matched Thomas Carlisle's genetic profile. Confronted with the evidence, Thomas had broken down and confessed everything.

But the scope of his betrayal was worse than anyone had imagined.

"Five years," Kieran said, his voice hollow with shock. They were gathered in his private office; Lyra, Derek, Sarah, and the pack's senior council members. Thomas sat in the corner under guard, his once-proud bearing broken. "You've been selling information to hostile forces for five years."

"It wasn't supposed to go this far," Thomas said, his voice barely above a whisper. "At first, it was just minor intelligence. Pack movements, trade routes. They said they were building a database for peaceful coexistence."

"Peaceful." Derek's laugh was bitter. "Is that what you call the systematic murder of alpha families?"

Thomas flinched. "I didn't know. By the time I realized what they were really planning, they had too much on me. They said if I didn't cooperate, they'd expose my involvement to you. I'd have been executed for treason."

"So instead, you decided to help them commit genocide." Lyra's voice was cold as arctic wind. "How many packs have fallen because of information you provided?"

"I don't know. I tried to stop..."

"How many?" Kieran's alpha command left no room for evasion.

"Seventeen." Thomas broke down completely, tears streaming down his face. "Seventeen packs destroyed, their alphas murdered, their territories seized. All because I was too much of a coward to face the consequences of my first mistake."

The silence that followed was deafening. Seventeen packs. Hundreds of wolves dead. Entire bloodlines extinct.

"Who's behind it?" Lyra asked quietly. "Who's been pulling your strings?"

"I don't know his real name. He calls himself the Architect. But he's not working alone, there's a whole organization. Humans who know about our kind, rogue werewolves, hybrids like the one who tried to kill you. They're building something. An empire."

"Building it where?" Derek demanded.

"The eastern territories. Everywhere they've eliminated alpha families, they're moving in with their own people. Hybrid administrators, human overseers, rogue enforcers." Thomas looked up at Kieran with desperate eyes. "They're not just targeting random packs. They're working their way west, creating a corridor of controlled territory. And this pack? Your pack? It's the keystone."

"What do you mean?" Kieran asked.

"The Shadowmoon Pack controls three major mountain passes and the primary trade routes between the eastern and western territories. If they can take this pack, they cut off communication and supply lines between the remaining free packs. They can isolate and eliminate the western territories at their leisure."

Lyra felt pieces clicking into place in her mind. "That's why they wanted me dead specifically. Not just because I figured out the pattern, but because..."

"Because you're not just any wolf," Thomas said. "Your father wasn't investigating rogue activities when he died. He was investigating them. The organization. He'd figured out what they were planning and was trying to warn the other packs."

The revelation hit Lyra like a physical blow. "My father was killed because he was trying to stop this."

"The Architect had him eliminated, then spread the story about him being a traitor to discredit any information he might have shared." Thomas's voice was barely audible. "I helped spread those lies. I helped destroy your reputation so no one would listen if you ever started asking the same questions he did."

Rage built in Lyra's chest, hot and pure and demanding action. But alongside the rage was something else, a sense of purpose that had been missing from her life for years. Her father had died trying to protect the werewolf world from this threat. She could honor his memory by finishing what he'd started.

"When is the next attack?" she asked.

"Tomorrow night. They're planning to hit the packhouse directly while most of the warriors are out on patrol. The hybrid assassin was supposed to eliminate you and Kieran tonight, weakening the pack's leadership before the main assault."

"How many are coming?"

"Over a hundred. Professional soldiers, hybrids, rogue packs that have been recruited or coerced into service." Thomas met her eyes. "It's not an attack, Lyra. It's an invasion. They're planning to wipe out everyone who won't submit and turn this territory into another piece of their empire."

Kieran stood abruptly, pacing to the window. "We have maybe forty warriors, including the injured. Even with advance warning..."

"We can't win a straight fight," Derek finished grimly.

"No," Lyra said slowly, an idea forming in her mind. "But we don't have to fight straight."

All eyes turned to her. She stood, testing her shoulder and finding the movement less painful than expected. The werewolf healing factor was already knitting the damaged tissue back together.

"They're expecting to face a traditional pack defense. Warriors holding the packhouse, protecting the non-combatants, fighting with honor according to werewolf law." Lyra's smile was sharp as a blade. "But I'm not bound by werewolf law anymore. I'm a rogue, remember?"

"What are you thinking?" Kieran asked.

"I'm thinking that the daughter of a traitor might just be willing to make a deal with the enemy. Especially if she felt betrayed and abandoned by her former pack." Lyra looked around the room. "What if Thomas wasn't the only traitor? What if the rogue they sent away in disgrace came back for revenge?"

Understanding dawned on Kieran's face. "You want to go undercover."

"I want to get inside their organization and tear it apart from within. But that means making them believe I've switched sides." Lyra met his eyes steadily. "Which means you're going to have to reject me again. Publicly. Brutally. Make it look like I only came back for revenge and you've finally figured out my true agenda."

"Absolutely not." Kieran's voice was flat. "I won't do that to you again."

"You will," Lyra said firmly, "because it's the only way to save this pack. And because unlike last time, this rejection will be fake. A performance to fool our enemies."

"It's too dangerous. If they discover you're working against them..."

"Then I'll die fighting. Just like my father." Lyra straightened her shoulders. "But I won't stand by and let them destroy everything he died trying to protect."

The room fell silent as everyone processed the implications of her plan. Finally, Derek spoke up.

"It could work. If we stage a convincing enough betrayal, they might accept her as a genuine defector."

"The timing would have to be perfect," Sarah added. "And the performance would have to be flawless. One wrong word, one inconsistent detail..."

"I know." Lyra looked directly at Kieran. "That's why it has to be real. When you reject me tomorrow, in front of the pack, you have to mean it. At least in that moment. You have to tap into all the anger and disappointment and frustration you feel about this situation and direct it at me."

"Lyra..."

"Promise me." Her voice was fierce. "Promise me you'll do whatever it takes to sell this performance. Because if you don't, everyone in this pack dies tomorrow night."

Kieran stared at her for a long moment, war raging in his expression. Finally, he nodded.

"I promise."

But as they began planning the details of her supposed betrayal, Lyra couldn't shake the feeling that some performances cut too close to reality. And that once certain words were spoken, even in pretense, they had a way of becoming true.