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Chapter 37
~Lucien’s POV~
Their heads bowed imdiately.
"Alphas," one said, his voice tight with urgency.
Another stepped forward, his gaze landing on Ryan. His eyes widened, face paling.
"Him," he stamred, lifting a trembling hand. "I... I saw him. I saw him walking toward the sacred chamber. I didn’t think much of it—he seed like he belonged. But then I heard the noise. By the ti I got there..."
His voice faltered.
"All I saw were bodies."
And silence fell again.
It wasn’t just the aftermath of blood and grief lingering in the room—it was sothing colder and wrong.
We were all still reeling from what had just happened, from Kael’s silent fury to Rhiannon’s transformation into a red wolf—a rarity even in the oldest legends.
But now... now sothing darker was creeping in beneath the surface of this chaos.
I stared down at Ryan Vale’s body, still lying in a grotesque sprawl where he fell, his blood soaking into the stone. His eyes—lifeless.
I reached down and picked up the heart. I still hadn’t fully processed everything. I could feel the warm stickiness drying on my skin, and I forced myself to drop it onto the floor before I lost whatever remained of my composure.
"Get his body and take it to the cold room," Talon instructed the guards. "We’ll get to the bottom of this."
"Yes, Alpha," they chorused and moved closer,s topping beside the body while waiting for my brothers to leave.
Darian was still crouched near Ryan’s side, but Riven had moved closer now, his sharp eyes narrowed, scanning.
Then he froze.
"Wait," Riven muttered.
We all turned as he leaned in, reaching slowly toward Ryan’s chest. Sothing was protruding slightly from the inside of the tattered tunic—a flicker of blue and silver, glinting beneath the fold of fabric.
"What is it?" I asked.
Riven didn’t answer right away. His fingers slipped inside and pulled sothing out—a stone.
It shimred like moonlight. My breath caught in my throat.
"The Moonstone?" Darian said, standing upright with his fists clenched. "How the hell did he get two sacred artefacts?"
Talon stepped back with arms crossed in front of his chest. "Sothing’s not right."
"More than not right," Riven murmured. He held the second blade up to the light. "This wasn’t just so attack against the Alphas out of what, maybe a grudge for buying his daughter. Soone gave him access. He knew where to go. What to take and what to do."
"aning," Seraphina cut in, stepping forward with her arms folded tightly across her chest, "he had help. An inside man."
We all knew where her words were leading to.
Still, it needed to be said for all to hear.
"Soone from the pack betrayed us."
Her words dropped like poison in the air.
Darian’s eyes darkened, and his face turned grim. "We must find this person. If there’s a traitor..."
"What if it’s her?" Seraphina cut in coolly.
All heads snapped in her direction. We may not show it, but I could tell each one had beco possessive of our mates and now that we were married, even more so.
My head snapped toward her, but it was Talon who responded first.
His eyes flared crimson. "If it’s what, Seraphina?" Talon growled deeply, sending shivers down the hearts of the guards, but Seraphina didn’t look fazed.
"Rhiannon," she said without hesitation, chin tilting upward in defiance. "What if she was in on this?"
My blood froze.
"She was shocked when she ca in," I snapped, stepping forward. "Did you see her face? She didn’t even know what was happening."
"Didn’t know or she was faking?"
"The fuck!" I thundered, closing the distance between and Seraphina. "Rhiannon scread for her father." I pointed at Ryan. "She tried to save him. How can you possibly think she was part of this?"
"But she got here before anyone else," Seraphina pressed. "Before the guards, before the rest of us. How did she know where to find him?"
"She sensed him," Riven muttered, more to himself than the rest of us. "She must have followed his scent. Her wolf recognised him."
Seraphina didn’t back down. "Or maybe her father told her. Maybe this whole thing was a setup. She gets your rings. Hur title. She gains our trust. And then the old man tries to finish the job."
"No," I said firmly. "It doesn’t track."
"Doesn’t an we shouldn’t investigate," Riven added, though his tone was neutral and more calculating.
Talon glanced at , then at Riven, then at Darian. "Do you think she knew?"
None of us answered right away.
Silence stretched between us. We weren’t just Alpha heirs—we were warriors. Strategists. We’d been trained to see through deception, to weigh facts against instinct.
And right now, mine were tearing each other apart.
"It doesn’t matter right now," I said finally, shaking off the thick tension building in my chest. "She’s unconscious. She won’t have answers until she wakes up."
"And when she does," Riven said sharply, "we’ll get them."
"Darian. Talon," he continued without missing a beat, turning to our brothers. He handed the Moonstone to Darian, the Moon Alpha, the one with the strongest connection to the Moon that any of us has.
Riven held Darian’s gaze. "Search the periter. Speak to every guard outside and within the Sacred Chamber. Find out who was posted where and when. I want a full report. Nas. Shifts. Gaps."
"On it," Darian said, already heading for the door with the Moonstone in his hand.
Talon followed without another word, eyes still burning with unspoken rage.
But before they stepped out, Riven called out once more. "And, I want the bodies of the guards examined. I want a full disclosure on their death."
"As you wish," Talon nodded and walked off.
The door closed behind them, leaving Riven, Seraphina, and in the room with a dead body, one enchanted blade, and far too many questions.
I exhaled slowly, rubbing my face.
This just got hotter.
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~Kael’s POV~
Rhiannon didn’t make a sound as I carried her through the door, not even a breath of protest. That silence unsettled more than any scream ever could.
I laid her down on the bed—my bed. Her body, too light, curled automatically beneath the heavy duvet as if, even unconscious, she refused to give in fully.
I took off the robe, Darian put on her and smoothed the blanket over her shoulders, my fingers brushing the bruises blooming along her collarbone. The sight tightened sothing in my chest.
Without thinking, I turned and made my way to the bathroom.
Quickly, I got warm water and a clean towel.
When I ca back, she hadn’t moved.
I sat beside her and dipped the towel into the water, wrung it out, then began to wipe the blood from her skin.
Her face was marred by dried sars and swelling at her jaw. The side of her temple had a shallow gash.
Her wrists were red, raw from the shift. She hissed once, the sound barely audible, even in sleep. I paused until her body stilled again.
When I was done, I fetched one of my shirts, a soft white silk, loose and oversized. I slipped it over her carefully, trying not to jostle her.
Then ca the shorts. She looked... smaller in them. Less like a weapon. More like sothing human.
I took two steps back, folding my arms across my chest and stared.
Rhiannon’s breathing was even, radiating resistance.
She didn’t look peaceful. She looked like a woman at war, and damn , but I admired it.
"Say it," ca my wolf’s rough voice inside .
I stiffened.
Karl.
I hadn’t heard him speak clearly since it all began, except for when Rhiannon cried and he woke up, directing to follow her scent.
"She’s rare," he said again, quieter now.
"Not now," I muttered.
"Aren’t we gonna talk about what happened?"
"Kael, I already said it. Not now. Rhiannon just went through sothing tragic and..."
Ignoring , Karl continued, "If not now, then when? She’s our mate, Kael."
"I know, but not now. I need to think," I snapped internally.
"Well, think. That’s why I am here for you to talk to."
"Karl?"
"What? You said it yourself. Rhiannon is ours. And so is her wolf."
"She’s unique, and things are complicated right now."
"She is powerful," Karl continued.
"Beautiful. And full of rage," I retorted.
My gaze drifted to her face again. Even in unconsciousness, her brow furrowed slightly—like she was arguing with the world in her dreams.
"She is a red wolf," Karl whispered. "A true Luna. You feel it."
I exhaled slowly, trying to focus on the facts.
"She’s brave," I said aloud, softly. "That’s what this is. I’m drawn to her... because she’s brave."
Karl laughed. Not out of amusent, but pity.
"Bravery doesn’t twist your gut. It doesn’t make you watch her sleep like you’re guarding sothing sacred. Bravery doesn’t make your heart flutter and thud wildly in your chest. Say it."
I didn’t answer because I didn’t have one.
My rules, my boundaries, and my logic—they were all bending under her weight.
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