Magnus
"How is she?" I ask Ron as he steps out of the recovery room. Dark circles shadow his eyes, evidence of the near day he’s spent tending to Camilla.
"Extraordinary woman," he murmurs, pulling off his narrow glasses and dragging both hands down his tired face. "It’s clear she’d been pumped full of aconite and sedatives for a long ti. And yet... sothing forced her body to purge it all. That, I suspect, is what allowed her to shift."
"So you think that’s why she was shot? She shifted while escaping Dark Wood?"
Doc nods, exhaling a long, weary sigh as he motions for to follow him into his office. "I don’t know how she survived it. The bullet exploded inside her and scattered silver powder in her abdon, and still she kept going. She’s lost an alarming amount of blood, but we’ve handled that. A few more days of transfusions, along with proper rest, and she should recover."
He stops then, tapping a finger against the center of my chest, his eyes narrowing in warning. "In the anti, you are going to rest as well. I’ve been told she’s crucial to your plan, but you’ll be no use if you collapse before she can even speak. Do you understand ?"
"You’re not the boss of ," I growl back, though the retort feels empty, almost codic, stripped of strength.
"No one is the boss of you, Alpha Magnus," he concedes, his voice sharpening with evident disdain, "which ans, in truth, anyone can be. Now, if you’ll excuse , I intend to shut my eyes for an hour before the night takes again. I take my responsibilities in this pack seriously."
He leaves without sparing a second glance, and sohow, as though bewitched, a crushing wave of exhaustion slams into , dragging dangerously close to the floor.
I am collapsing. At the worst possible ti, no less. I am a fucking ss.
"Alpha Reiner?" Arthur rises to his feet the mont I step into the recovery room, offering a respectful nod.
I wave him back down and lower myself onto the bed beside Camilla’s. Now that her wounds have been nded, she resembles her old self again—though her face is still swollen, and her body bears the stark hollowness of too much weight lost.
"I’m saying this now because I don’t want any tantrums later," I begin, forcing my voice into a flat, almost emotionless tone. "The mont she wakes up, I will interrogate her."
I brace myself for defiance, but instead, Arthur gives none. "If she crawled all the way here," he answers firmly, his gaze fixed on Camilla’s face, "then she must have plenty to say herself."
"Are you staying with her?" I ask, letting my heavy head sink into the pillow beside if only to catch my breath.
The man nods.
"I’ll be here too," I murmur, though my eyes are already sliding shut against my will.
A quiet pause lingers before words escape , softer than I intended. "I’m glad... your mate is back with you."
"Thank you, Alpha Reiner," Arthur replies.
***
I drift off a few tis, but wake up after no more than an hour of sleep. The steady rhythm of Camilla’s breathing is the only sound in the room, save for the faint crackle of the lantern burning low in the corner. Nothing has changed yet.
Arthur sits slumped against the wall, exhaustion pulling at his fra, while I remain at her bedside in his stead. I have not moved much in days, not when every instinct in scread that I should be out there searching for Kaya.
But I couldn’t—not when Camilla had clawed her way back from the edge of death. I might have lost a few days by doing nothing, but with the information she can give us, that ti will be completely irrelevant.
I am about to doze off again, my head dropping down to my chest, when suddenly, Camilla’s eyelids flutter, lashes trembling against pale skin.
"Ugh, fuck," she croaks, the word rough and raw.
I lean forward, instantly sobering up. "Luna Camilla? It’s fine, you’re at Blood Moon now. Don’t move too quickly."
Arthur stirs awake at her voice, imdiately springing to her side. Relief flashes in his eyes before he masks it with stoicism, though I could see how tightly his fists clench.
Camilla struggles, pushing herself upright despite her weakness. Her eyes, however, are sharp and burning with urgency. "No... you don’t understand. Kaya—you need to get her. And not just her. There are other won, locked away, drugged. We have to go. We have to free them. Now."
Her desperation cuts through like a rusted knife. I want nothing more than to storm into that cursed den, tear Damien’s people apart, and bring Kaya back into my arms. But haste without strategy is death.
Arthur reaches out, steadying her by the shoulder. "You can’t go, Camilla," he says firmly. "You’ve been through hell already. You need to rest."
She shakes her head violently, her dark hair falling in tangles. "No! You can’t keep here like so helpless child. I was there. I know what’s inside those walls. I know the tunnels. You need . And I’m ready to go!"
"Enough," I say, my voice leaving no room for debate. Both their gazes snap to , one pleading, the other steady.
"Luna Camilla, your courage saved more than you know. But you’ve done your part." I shift my gaze to Arthur. "You’re staying with her. That’s an order. Keep her safe. If anything happens to her under my watch, it will be on my head—and I will not carry another loss."
Arthur bristles but bows his head. "Yes, Alpha."
Camilla lets out a sharp, frustrated exhale, her lips trembling with unshed words. She wants to fight , I can see it, but the truth weighs too heavily on her. She is still too weak, and will only be a burden to us.
I press a hand to her shoulder, gentler now. "Arthur tells you’ve morized the blueprint of the tunnel. Give the necessary directions, and this will be more than enough. Just tell everything you know about Dark Wood and Windthorne. The rest... I’ll take care of it myself."
***
The war council gathers not long after. Aksel leans over the table, his arms crossed, a restless growl in his throat. Oliver unrolls the crude sketch of the tunnel system Camilla had described, spreading it across the map of the region. Samantha sits at the far side, pencil in hand, her sharp eyes flicking between the notes and the three of us as if already anticipating flaws in the plan.
"This is where she suspects the cells are kept," Oliver points out, tapping one jagged line with his finger. "And this here, the weakest point in the wall of the highest level. If we breach through, we’ll have the elent of surprise."
"He won’t expect us to use the tunnel right away," Aksel mutters, pacing around the table. "He will anticipate the attack, so he’ll position his guards at the front, thinking we’ll co like wolves through the gates."
"Which is exactly why we won’t," Samantha says smoothly. "But we need to ti it perfectly. If Damien catches wind, he’ll scatter the won before we get to them."
"He shot her with a silver bullet, so he expects her to be dead," Oliver adds. "It’s risky for him to send a search team because snooping around would raise suspicion from others."
"Plus," Aksel nods, "he is probably relying on the fact that we wouldn’t do anything without the King’s command, especially since we have been lying low all this ti. It’s a hopeful assumption, but we might still want to pencil it in."
I listen, absorbing each word, each plan, each calculation. My instincts scream at to run headlong into battle, but Athan’s voice keeps pulling back to my senses.
I can’t risk it––our mate’s life is on the line.
We draft until dawn, piecing together Camilla’s information into a battle plan sharp enough to carve through the uncertainty. By the ti the first rays of light break across the horizon, the decision is made.
***
The pack stands assembled in the training yard, the crisp morning air carrying the weight of their anticipation. Every wolf, every fighter, every soul who had taken the oath to serve under my command.
I look at them, taking in every expression and every glare. They are my warriors, serving under my command, but it is I who owes them everything.
"Listen to ," I begin, my voice carrying over the silent crowd. "What we’re about to do is more than a rescue. More than a simple fight. Alpha Damien thinks he can twist strength into tyranny, that he can shatter families, break won, and call it order. He thinks we’ll stay silent because the King has no interest in this."
A murmur ripples through the ranks, but no one breaks their stance.
"Understand this," I continue. "By moving tonight, we do so without the King’s command. We risk our standing. We risk Blood Moon itself. If any of you cannot stand with , if your conscience cannot bear it, then step away now. There will be no sha in it. You are free to go."
The yard remains utterly still. Not a single soul moves. Not one wolf flinches.
A small sigh of relief escapes my lips, and I feel as if the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders. This is my pack. These are my people. Till the very end.
"You might have given us the title of King’s Rage," Aksel steps forward, his eyes locked firmly on mine. "But it’s up to us to decide who our king is." He lifts his chin, defiance and loyalty burning in equal asure. "We are going, Alpha Magnus. All of us."
A roar erupts from the pack then, a unified cry that shakes the very ground beneath us. It isn’t just sound—it is a vow.
And for the first ti in what feels like an eternity, I let hope stir inside .
Kaya—I am coming for her.
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