A week before...
Lucius POV
The fight had been raging for almost twenty-four hours. Every second felt like a lifeti. I stood at the edge of the pack house, my eyes scanning the horizon, searching for sothing—anything—that could make sense of the chaos surrounding us.
It wasn’t just the bloodshed or the sound of claws ripping through the night. No, this was different. It had begun with sothing that seed so small, so innocuous, yet now it had spiralled into sothing much worse. Our communication lines had gone dead. All at once, every single one of them. We were cut off from the outside world, with no way to call for reinforcents or even contact neighbouring allies.
The airports were grounded. Our trading routes were blocked. It was as if soone had reached in and flipped a switch, pulling us into a war before we had a chance to react.
I felt the unease spreading like a sickness throughout the pack. Warriors moved with precision, their faces drawn in tight concentration. They were prepared for a fight, but this—this wasn’t just a simple raid. The rogue wolves attacking us weren’t like the usual strays. They moved in organized formations, their strategy too calculated to be re coincidence. And they all bore the sa mark. The symbol of Jared’s Blue Moon Pack.
Jared. Was this his doing? Was this so sort of twisted ga? I could hardly believe it, but the evidence was right in front of . It made no sense. Jared had never been one for pointless violence, and these rogues—they didn’t even seem interested in fighting. No, their goal was sothing else. They infiltrated our borders, sabotaged our communication and power grids, and then vanished back into the night, leaving nothing but confusion in their wake.
"What the hell is going on?" I muttered under my breath, trying to keep my frustration in check.
Kurtis’ voice echoed in my mind. Just last week, he had told about the strange revelations regarding Kragen and the role Selene was to play in so unfolding prophecy. I couldn’t help but wonder if this had anything to do with that. It was as if the pieces of a much larger puzzle were being moved, and I was too blind to see the full picture.
But I couldn’t afford to dwell on that right now. We were at war, and I had a job to do.
The doors to the strategy room opened, and I stepped inside to find Xavier and the pack elders gathered around a large map laid out on the table. Theo, the Gamma and head of the warriors, stood beside them, his arms crossed as he surveyed the battlefield markers.
Xavier’s face was as hard as stone, his eyes flicking between the map and the elders as they argued over the next move.
"We can’t let this go on any longer," Xavier said, his voice low but commanding. "They’ve crippled our communication, cut off our supply routes, and isolated us from the rest of the world. If we don’t put an end to this now, we’re going to be stuck playing their ga for God knows how long."
One of the elders, an older man with greying hair, shook his head. "But we don’t know what they want. They’re not taking territory or resources. What’s the purpose of this attack?"
Gamma Theo, chid in. "It’s not a full-on invasion, that’s for sure. They’re testing us, probing our defences. It’s almost like they’re waiting for sothing."
"Or soone," I murmured, my thoughts flicking back to Kurtis’ words about Selene.
Xavier’s gaze snapped to mine, and for a brief mont, I saw sothing flicker behind his cold deanour—worry, perhaps? But just as quickly, it was gone.
"What do you think, Lucius?" he asked, his voice carefully neutral.
I took a breath, trying to push aside the swirling thoughts in my head. "I think this isn’t the end. They’re biding their ti, waiting for the right mont to strike. If we don’t figure out what their real goal is, we’re going to be blindsided when they make their next move."
Xavier nodded, his jaw clenched. "Agreed. We need to tighten security and keep our patrols vigilant. But more importantly, we need to reestablish communication with the outside world. Without that, we’re vulnerable."
"We’ll deploy extra warriors to the communication towers," Theo suggested. "If we can get those up and running again, we’ll have a better chance of coordinating our defences."
"Do it," Xavier ordered. He looked at the elders. "You all need to prepare for the worst. We don’t know what’s coming, but we need to be ready for anything."
As the elders filed out of the room, I hung back. There was sothing I needed to say to Xavier, sothing that had been gnawing at since this all started. But the words stuck in my throat. I wasn’t sure how to begin.
"Xavier," I said after a long pause, my voice quiet. "There’s sothing I need to tell you."
He turned to , his brow furrowed. "What is it?"
I opened my mouth, ready to tell him about Moon Whisper, about everything that had been happening with Selene and the strange events surrounding Kragen. But then, I stopped myself. Sothing in his eyes told that now wasn’t the ti. We were already up to our necks in trouble. Throwing Selene into the mix would only make things worse.
"Never mind," I said, shaking my head. "Forget I said anything."
Xavier’s gaze hardened, but he didn’t press . "If it’s important, you’ll tell when the ti’s right."
I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. "There’s one thing, though. Can you try to mindlink Selene? Maybe she can help us figure out what’s going on. She could ask Alpha Noah to send us reinforcents or sothing, anything to get us back on track with the whole world. It’s just so strange that they want us to be in oblivion. No one knows what’s happening to us."
Xavier sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging slightly. "I already tried. She severed our mindlink the mont she left, Greyhound when she married Noah. It’s not possible."
Of course, I knew that, but I hadn’t expected that things would turn out this way. I knew she had severed ties with Xavier after she married Noah but I didn’t think she would cut off from the mindlink entirely. They had children together. What if they wanted to communicate sothing important?
After Xavier left, I found myself alone in the strategy room, staring at the map of our fractured defences. My thoughts churned with the weight of everything that had happened. I needed to reach out, to find soone who could give answers. Soone who could help.
First, I tried Emilia. But when I reached out, there was nothing. No response.
A cold wave of fear washed over . What if sothing had happened to her? What if she was caught up in this, just like Selene?
I clenched my fists, pushing down the panic. There was one more person I could try.
Kurtis.
The mont I reached out to him, I got an imdiate response. The shock of it nearly knocked the breath out of . For the past few weeks, Kurtis had been distant, lost in his thoughts. But now, he was right there, his presence as sharp and clear as ever.
"Lucius?" His voice echoed in my mind, filled with urgency. "What’s going on?"
For a mont, I couldn’t find the words.
"Kurtis, we’re under attack," I said, forcing urgency into my tone as I established the mindlink. "It’s been going on for nearly 24 hours. Our communication lines, the light grid... everything’s down. We’ve been cut off from the outside world."
The silence that followed felt unnaturally heavy. It stretched on for a heartbeat too long before Kurtis finally responded, his voice laced with confusion. "Under attack? But Lucius, I just returned to my pack yesterday. My soldiers haven’t picked up anything strange, no reports of movent near your borders."
Panic began to rise in my chest. How could he not know? This wasn’t just a rogue attack; it was orchestrated, ticulously. Before I could voice my doubts, Kurtis continued, determination seeping into his words.
"Listen, I’ll send so of my n. I’ll sneak them into Greyhound and help you get the communications and power grid back up. I’m sure we can—"
Suddenly, an abrupt crack jolted through our mindlink, a sound so sharp it made flinch. It felt as if sothing had physically broken between us. I gritted my teeth, straining to reach him again, but there was nothing—only silence.
"Kurtis?" I called out ntally, but the emptiness that answered was deafening.
Panic surged as I realized we were completely cut off—no outside help, no reinforcents, no way to reach anyone. The bond was gone, severed just when I needed it the most. My heart raced as the implications settled in; we were isolated, vulnerable, and running out of ti.
Reviews
All reviews (0)