Caleb Silver POV
The cup flew from Lily’s hand, spilling dark liquid across the feast table as I knocked it away. The sweet sll of berries couldn’t hide the sour scent underneath - wolfsbane mixed with sothing else, sothing that made my stomach turn.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked, shocked.
"Don’t drink anything else," I said quickly, grabbing her wrist to check her pulse. "That was poisoned."
Around us, the pack feast continued. Wolves laughed and talked, celebrating another good hunt. No one noticed our quiet scene at the corner table. That worried more than the drug itself.
"Poisoned?" Lily’s eyes went wide. "Are you sure?"
I picked up the dropped cup, sniffing carefully. The sll hit again - wolfsbane for weakness, nightshade for sleep, and sothing else I couldn’t na. "Definitely. This would have put you in a coma within minutes."
"But who would..." Lily’s words trailed off as she looked around the room. Any of the fifty dogs here could have poisoned her drink. The thought made her face pale.
"We need to figure this out," I said, my mind already working through options. "Quietly. If the poisoner knows we found their plan, they might try sothing more direct."
Lily nodded, trust in her eyes that made my heart skip. She believed I could protect her, solve this problem. I couldn’t let her down.
"The cup ca from the main serving table," she said. "I rember the server handing it to specifically."
"Who was serving?"
"Maria, I think. The beta wolf with the red hair."
I frowned. Maria had been with our pack for years. She had three young pups and a mate she loved. Why would she harm Lily?
"Let’s talk to her," I offered.
We found Maria in the kitchen, washing dishes with quick, nervous movents. When she saw us, she dropped a plate.
"Oh! You scared ," she said, bending to pick up the pieces.
"Maria, do you rember serving Lily a drink earlier?" I asked gently.
"Of course. The special berry juice. Soone asked to make sure she got it properly." Maria’s face was innocent, confused.
"Who asked you?" Lily pressed.
"I... I don’t rember exactly. There were so many suggestions tonight. Soone said it was a gift for the Triple Moon carrier." Maria looked between us. "Did I do sothing wrong?"
The fear in her voice was real. Maria wasn’t the poisoner - she was another victim, used without knowing it.
"You did nothing wrong," I told her. "Can you rember anything about who gave you the instruction? Male or female voice? Tall or short?"
Maria screwed up her face in focus. "It was... crowded. Soone whispered to during the food preparation. I think it was a woman’s voice, but I’m not certain."
A woman’s words. That narrowed it down so, but not enough. Too many female dogs were at the feast tonight.
"The juice," Lily said suddenly. "Where did it co from?"
"The store. There was a special jug marked for you. I thought it was so sweet that soone wanted to honor you with your own drink."
My blood cooled. Soone had planned this carefully, not a spur-of-the-mont attack. They’d prepared the poison ahead of ti and planned for Maria to serve it without suspicion.
"Show us the jug," I said.
In the kitchen, Maria pointed to an empty glass container on the high shelf. I carefully pulled it down, sniffing the residue inside. The sa sour sll under the berry scent.
"Maria, who has access to the pantry?" I asked.
"Well... all the kitchen helpers, the pack hunters who store ga, anyone helping with feast preparation. Maybe twenty wolves?"
Twenty suspects. This was getting more difficult.
"We need a list," I told Lily as we left Maria to her work.
"Caleb," Lily said quietly, "what if this is related to what happened with Aiden and the River Pack? The Shadow Wolf attack?"
I’d been thinking the sa thing. Aiden and Lily had barely dodged the trap three days ago. Now soone was trying to poison her at our own pack feast. Too much chance.
"It’s possible. But Shadow Wolves can’t enter our territory without us feeling them. This has to be soone from inside our pack."
The thought made sick. One of our own dogs, soone we trusted, wanted to hurt Lily. Or worse - maybe one of our pack mbers was being controlled by Shadow Wolf magic.
"We should tell your father," Lily offered.
"Not yet. If word gets that soone tried to poison you, panic will start. We need proof first."
Lily nodded, but I could see the fear she was trying to hide. Soone wanted her dead or unconscious. Either way, she wasn’t safe.
"Let’s check the kitchen storage area," I said. "Maybe we can find where the poison ca from."
In the storage room behind the kitchen, we looked through jars and containers. Most held normal cooking tools, but in the back corner, I found sothing troubling.
"Lily, look at this."
Hidden behind sacks of flour was a small wooden box. Inside were dried herbs I recognized from my research - wolfsbane, nightshade, and sothing I’d only read about in old books.
"Shadow Root," I whispered, holding up a twisting black plant. "This is what I couldn’t identify in the poison."
"What does it do?"
"According to the old books, it makes a wolf subject to ntal control. Combined with the other plants, it would have put you into a deep sleep and left your mind open to outside influence."
Lily stepped back, terrified. "Soone wanted to control ? Like what happened to the River Pack wolves?"
"It looks that way. But who in our pack would have access to Shadow Root? It doesn’t grow naturally in our area."
A sound from the main storage room made us both freeze. Footsteps, moving quietly but getting closer. Soone was looking for sothing.
I put my finger to my lips, telling Lily to stay quiet. Carefully, I moved toward the door to peek out.
A figure in a dark cloak walked through the storage area, checking containers and shelves. They moved with purpose, like they knew exactly what they were looking for.
The person turned toward our hiding spot, and moonlight from a small window showed their face. My heart stopped.
Elder Thomas.
But that was impossible. Elder Thomas was one of the missing pack mbers Brock had been looking for. He’d disappeared days ago, along with two others. We’d assud Shadow Wolves had taken them.
Yet here he was, moving through our storage room like he belonged here. Moving like he was searching for sothing special.
"The poison box," Lily breathed in my ear, understanding instantly.
Elder Thomas was the poisoner. But if he’d been missing for days, how was he here now? And why were his eyes glowing with that strange red light I’d only seen in accounts of Shadow Wolf victims?
The elder moved closer to our hidden spot. In seconds, he would find us. I had to make a choice - confront him and risk a fight, or try to run and warn the pack.
Elder Thomas stopped right outside our door. When he spoke, his voice sounded wrong, like two people talking at once.
"I know you’re in there, little thinker. Co out, and bring the Triple Moon carrier with you. Our master grows impatient."
My worst fears were proven. Elder Thomas was under Shadow Wolf control, and sohow they’d managed to enter our pack without anyone knowing.
"The feast," I realized with rising horror. "This isn’t just about harming Lily. It’s about getting all the pack leaders in one place."
Through the thin walls, I could hear the party continuing in the main hall. My father, my brothers, all the most important pack mbers, eating and drinking without knowing they were in danger.
Elder Thomas laughed, a sound that made my skin crawl. "Too late, young Silver. The real danger was never in the cup. It was in the feast wine. Every leader who drank tonight will be under our power within the hour."
The blood drained from my face. We hadn’t just found a plot against Lily - we’d stumbled into the middle of a massive attack on our entire pack leadership.
"What do we do?" Lily whispered, her face white with fear.
Before I could answer, Elder Thomas kicked down our hiding spot door, his red eyes burning with evil light.
"You do nothing," he said with that awful double voice. "Except join your pack leaders in glorious service to the Shadow Realm."
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