Wolfless Red

Chapter Five - The Moon Goddess is dead!

Aldris crossed to the shelf of photographs and leaned in, working through them one by one until his focus settled on the one that matched the pendant. He turned back to Kallis.

"I have his scent," he said.

She said nothing, only watched him. Am I really doing this? Allying with a wanted man? The question circled in her head, uninvited. She thought of Daemon — how he'd kissed her goodbye, how he'd believed in her. What would he say if he could see her now, standing shoulder to shoulder with the man she'd sworn to drag home in chains?

"He gave me a ride, that first night," she said finally. "That's how I met him. Michael."

Aldris held her eyes for a beat, something unreadable passing behind them.

"Help me," he said, quiet now. "Win this."

"Help you?" The words came out disbelieving. "Are we friends now? I was sent to bring you in for trial."

He studied her. "Is that still what this is? You, capturing me?"

She thought about it longer than she expected to, and the answer she found unsettled her.

"Maybe."

His gaze lingered on her a moment too long.

"Michael comes from the Rogue Wolves' bloodline," he said. "Did they teach you that in your history lessons at the Keep?"

She tried to make sense of it, and couldn't. "The Rogue Wolves are extinct. The Circle wiped them out generations ago, to build peace between humans and our kind. That's what the professors taught us."

He shook his head. "That's what they want you to believe."

She waited, still not following.

"The Circle used magic to hold them in check for centuries," he said. "And I think the Circle is the reason Rogue Wolves keep turning on humans in the first place."

The weight of the accusation landed hard enough that her mouth fell open before she found words.

He let her sit with it.

"Why would the Seven do that?" she asked.

"I don't know. Whatever the reason, it has to be enormous."

"Is that the secret? The one they want you dead for knowing?"

"Not even close."

Her eyes widened. If waking the Rogue Wolves wasn't the deeper truth, then whatever the Circle was actually protecting had to be something they'd burn the world down to keep buried. And underneath all of it, one question kept circling back — why her.

"We should move, if you're coming," Aldris said, already turning for the door.

"Just the two of us. Against an entire pack?"

He glanced back, a smile tugging at his mouth. "I've got reinforcements, Kallis. Try to keep up."

He walked out. She stood there a beat longer before following.

They kept to the street side by side, neither speaking, stealing glances at each other neither one meant to be caught taking. The same question kept turning over in her mind — was she really doing this, allying herself with the man she was supposed to drag home in chains. Every instinct told her to knock him out where he stood and be done with it. She didn't. She couldn't have explained why if he'd asked.

He led her beneath a wide, old tree where twenty men waited — the town's vigilantes, guns held ready. Bernard stood at the front, his rifle cradled in weathered hands. Beside him, a younger man with a scar running from his temple to his jaw kept his eyes on the treeline. Two others flanked them, their postures familiar — men who'd done this before.

"There's my allies," he said.

She stared, struggling to place it. "Humans," she whispered.

"I told them everything. Werewolves. Michael. All of it."

Her mouth opened before she could stop it. "And they believed you?"

"More than believed. They're ready to fight for their own town."

She had no answer for that.

They approached, and the men straightened at their arrival. Bernard raised his rifle toward Kallis, the action cracking sharp in the quiet.

"She's kin to the enemy," he said.

"It's fine, Bernard." Aldris's voice stayed level. "She's with me. Went undercover, helped me track Michael down — same as Juliet did — so we could save this town." His eyes found Kallis's and held there.

Bernard hesitated, then lowered the gun, though his eyes stayed fixed on her.

"We move out," Aldris said, already leading the group into the trees.

Kallis followed, still turning over how much of any of this she actually believed.

Aldris moved through the trees at a steady pace, lifting the photograph to his nose every so often, refreshing the trail before it could go cold. Kallis walked beside him, unable to stop herself from glancing his way — this man she'd been sent to drag home in chains, now walking free at her side. The vigilantes kept pace a few steps behind them both.

"Juliet," Kallis said, quiet. "Michael killed her."

Aldris didn't answer right away. Something settled over his face, heavy enough that Kallis let the silence stand rather than push further.

They walked on without speaking.

"Werewolves are supposed to stay hidden from humans," she said eventually. "How did you get these men to believe you at all?"

"I lost my clan." His voice remained calm. "Only Juliet and seven others stayed loyal."

He paused.

"So I showed these men the truth."

She nodded slowly.

"If they were going to fight beside me, they deserved to know."

She said nothing for a while.

"After this is over, you're going to tell me everything," she said finally. "Everything I need to know. Or I swear to the Moon Goddess, I'll bring you back to the Keep — alive or dead."

He turned to look at her, studying her for a moment, and then he laughed — a real laugh, too loud for the woods around them.

Her frown deepened. "What's funny?"

"The Moon Goddess." He shook his head. "There's no Moon Goddess. There never has been. Not in a thousand years."

Something in her went cold. Then hot. Before she'd fully decided to move, her knife was at his throat.

The men behind them slowed, uncertain what they were watching.

"Blasphemy," she hissed close to his ear. "You're not just insufferable. You're a heretic."

"Easy. Easy, girl." He caught her wrist and knocked the blade loose in one motion, then took hold of her waist and shoulder before she could recover it. She fought against his grip, but it didn't give.

"The Circle murdered her," he said.

The words went through Kallis like ice water.

She stopped fighting. Her breath caught. For a moment she couldn't see anything but the space where her faith used to be.

"That's not possible," she said, but her voice had gone hollow.

"It is. And I can prove it."

She searched his face for the lie, the cruelty, the satisfaction of a man who'd just shattered someone's world. She found none of it. Only a quiet weariness, like he'd done this before and hadn't enjoyed it any more the second time.

They stayed like that a moment longer, neither one moving.

"You're strong," he said finally. "I understand now why the Seven sent you. But you're still no match for a High Alpha."

He let her go and turned to keep walking. The men fell in behind him. Kallis stood rooted to the spot, the knife still in her hand, her mind still spinning around the space where the Moon Goddess used to be.

She thought of Aldris, walking away without looking back, and the fact that he'd just told her the truth that could have been a lie.

She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, and followed.