Silver Crescent Shadows

Chapter4

Blood in Cell

Elias POV

I had seen her before, but not spoken to her by the clearing.

For decades, I had been comfortable with downcast eyes and bowed heads — the reflexive submission of a people who saw only authority. Her defiance had been refreshing, rooted in ignorance more than in contempt. That fire had burned bright in her emerald eyes at the King’s Man Ball, when she had thought I was marking her as a possession.

I laughed a little, recalling her anger. Such beautiful eyes — dormant power slumbering behind deceptively plain green. She didn’t know what she was, what she might become.

“The rogues we apprehended are undoubtedly part of a greater organization with certain goals,” Alpha Trent’s authoritative voice shattered my thoughts and pulled me back into the council chambers. “They entered one of our areas without stealing or causing any harm, and remained silent despite interrogation. This means coordinated moves, Alpha. This threat must be found and neutralized, and quickly.”

The Blackwood Pack on our eastern border was led by Alpha Trent. To the west was the Goddess' Sea, a thousands kilometer natural shield. Why in the world were we attacked by three strange wolves, with no explanation? We were thawing out—we’d clumped together to address the security breach.

“They looked weak and emaciated,” echoed Roman, my Delta. “Probably misfits from remote packs. I think we're chasing phantoms and wasting resources when we should be looking for the Beta's missing daughter. There’s no point in dividing our forces.”

I had not been paying full attention to the early discussion, but I had heard enough to determine a response.

"And if you're wrong, Roman?" I made my voice deliberately quieter, much more obstinate than the yelling. “If these three wolves are an advance party for something larger?”

I leaned forward and the room went quiet. "What then? We sacrifice pack members because you didn’t want to ‘divide attention’?”

Roman's face paled. "N-no, Alpha. That wasn't my intention."

“I expected better judgment from you of all people,” I continued, deceptively calm. “You realize the possible danger to this pack and the whole Northern Empire.”

“Especially now that there’s no hope for an heir to the empire,” my uncle Adam piped up from the far end of the table, venom dripping from each word.

It was like the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. Everyone there knew he’d crossed a line — needling at a wound that remained open three years later. I gritted my teeth so hard that pain shot through my skull.

“Deepen the interrogation on all three border- jumpers,” I ordered, even as roiling rage simmered beneath my calm exterior. “When ordinary means do not suffice, contact the Mind Walker. This meeting is adjourned."

I stood and walked toward the exit. Roman tried to follow, but I waved him off with a little gesture.

No sooner had I entered my chambers when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, my uncle wearing a smirk that needed correcting.

“I stayed quiet during the council out of respect for your rank and for my brother’s memory,” I growled, glaring at him and pinning him against the stone wall with my forearm across his throat. “But don’t ever disrespect me like that again.”

Defiance sparked and my wolf's protective anger flared. I pressed down harder, sensing cartilage crumple beneath my arm. "Do you understand, Adam?"

At last he yielded his throat in the ancient sign of submission. "Yes, Alpha."

"Alpha Elias!" A voice, panicked, rang down the hall. A nervous young guard approached, the anxiety rolling off him in waves. "Is there a problem?"

I freed Adam and focused on the messenger. "Speak."

The guard swallowed hard. “I’m sorry for interrupting, Alpha, but… the three rogues have just been discovered dead in their cells.”

The implications hit me like a bucket of ice water.

"What did you say?" I said, but I had heard perfectly well.

Somebody had broken into our most secure facility, terminated three prisoners before we could interrogate them and slipped away unnoticed. The message was clear: we were up against something a bit more dangerous than rogue wolves.

And in Ravensvale, a girl with emerald eyes was waking to powers beyond her understanding.