Lily Carter POV
The wooden wolf crashed to the floor as Brock spun around, his face going bright red. I stood frozen in the doorway of what I thought was an empty storage room, staring at dozens of beautiful wooden animals spread across tables and shelves.
"Lily! I... this isn’t..." Brock scrambled to pick up the carved wolf, his huge hands surprisingly gentle as he held the delicate figure. "You weren’t supposed to see this."
I stepped inside, my mouth hanging open. Tiny rabbits sat next to fierce bears. Graceful deer stood beside playful otters. Each carving was perfect, showing every detail from whiskers to fur patterns. But what shocked most were the three human figures in the center of the main table - Aiden, Caleb, and Brock himself, captured in wood with amazing skill.
"Brock, these are amazing!" I whispered, reaching toward a small fox. "Did you make all of these?"
He pulled the fox away before I could touch it. "It’s nothing. Just... stupid hobby stuff."
"Stupid? Are you crazy? These are the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen!"
Brock’s jaw tightened. "Warriors don’t make pretty things, Lily. I should be practicing or protecting the pack, not playing with wood chips."
The pain in his voice made my heart hurt. "Who told you that?"
"Everyone knows it. Alpha n fight. We don’t sit around making things like... like so oga housewife."
His words stung, but I could see he was hurting too. "Is that really what you think ogas do? Make decorations?"
Brock winced. "I didn’t an..."
"My grandma wasn’t just making decorations when she carved healing tools from special wood. Elder Iris isn’t just decoration when she carves mory stones for pack history." I picked up one of his bunnies despite his protest. "And you’re not just making decorations. You’re making life in wood."
The rabbit felt warm in my hands, smooth and perfect. I could almost see it breathing.
"My father would lose his mind if he knew," Brock whispered. "The future Alpha’s son, wasting ti on crafts."
"Your father stepped down, rember? Aiden’s Alpha now. And I bet he’d be proud of this ability."
"You don’t understand." Brock sank onto a wooden stool that looked homade. "Ever since we were kids, I was the strong one. Aiden got the brains, Caleb got the books, and I got the strength. That’s my job - being the tool the pack points at its enemies."
I sat on another stool, still holding his rabbit. "Is that all you want to be?"
"It’s all I’m good at."
"That’s not true. Look around you! This room is full of proof that you’re good at sothing beautiful and peaceful."
Brock’s hands twisted together. "I started cutting when I was eight. Found a piece of wood and a knife, and sohow a bird appeared. I hid it under my bed, afraid soone would find it and think I was weak."
"Eight years old," I said softly. "You’ve been hiding this for twelve years?"
He nodded sadly. "The pack needs to be strong and scary. If they knew I spent my free ti making cute animals..."
"They’d know you have a heart as well as muscles."
A loud crash ca from outside, followed by yelling. We both jumped up, my hands still holding his rabbit carving.
"What was that?" I asked.
Brock was already moving toward the door, his warrior reflexes taking over. "Stay here."
"Not a chance." I followed him out of the hidden room and toward the noise.
In the main plaza, pack mbers ran in all directions. Aiden’s voice bood over the chaos: "Form protective positions! Protect the children!"
My blood turned cold. "Another attack?"
But as we got closer, I realized the yelling wasn’t from fear - it was from anger. Two groups of pack mbers faced each other in the center of the field, shouting and pushing.
"The old ways were better!" soone yelled.
"Ogas shouldn’t have equal say!" another person added.
Elder Thomas, who I thought had recovered from being ruled by Shadow Wolves, stood at the front of one group. His eyes looked strange again - not quite his own.
"The Triple Moon mark has cursed our pack!" he announced. "We’ve lost our strength by letting ogas pretend they’re important!"
Several wolves nodded agreent. I spotted so faces I recognized - pack mbers who had always seed nice to before. Now they glared with hate.
"This is bad," Brock mumbled beside .
Caleb appeared next to us, his face pale. "It’s not natural," he said urgently. "Half the pack woke up this morning with changed thoughts about our new system. Soone’s influencing them."
"Shadow Wolves again?" I asked.
"Has to be. But I can’t figure out how."
The two groups pressed closer together, wolves on both sides beginning to growl low in their throats. I could sll the tension rising toward violence.
"Where’s Luna?" I asked suddenly.
Brock and Caleb looked around nervously. In all the chaos, none of us had seen her.
"She was supposed to et with the River Pack representatives this morning," Caleb said. "But that was hours ago."
A horrible thought hit . "What if they didn’t just affect our pack mbers? What if they took Luna to stop her international work?"
Before anyone could answer, Elder Thomas pointed straight at . "There’s the source of our problems! The fake Triple Moon holder who’s destroyed our pack’s strength!"
The angry group started moving toward us, their eyes glazed with unnatural hate. Brock stepped in front of , his body changing into protective mode.
"Nobody touches her," he growled.
"Stand aside, boy," Elder Thomas ordered. "We’re taking her to the old Sacred Grove where she’ll be cleansed of whatever dark magic she’s using."
I knew what the Sacred Grove was - a place where the pack used to exile or execute wolves for major cris. My heart hamred against my ribs.
"Brock," I whispered, still holding his wooden rabbit in my shaking hands. "I think we’re in serious trouble."
The influenced pack mbers circled us, cutting off exit routes. Aiden and our friends were trapped on the other side of the courtyard, too far away to help.
Elder Thomas smiled, but it wasn’t his real smile. "The Shadow Wolves send their thanks, little oga. They’ve been waiting for this mont."
That’s when I realized the truth - the Shadow Wolves hadn’t just affected random pack mbers. They’d been planning this exact trap, using our own people against us while removing Luna from the equation.
And now we were surrounded, outnumbered, and totally cut off from help.
The wooden rabbit in my hands felt like it might be the last beautiful thing I’d ever hold.
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