Chapter 70

I care that every breath I take inside that territory feels borrowed.

Ronan must see it in my face, because he smiles… slow and knowing. “You see it, don’t you? You know they’ll never let you back in.”

My claws dig into my palms. “You’re wasting your breath.”

He studied me for a moment, then his lips curved into a knowing smile. “You’d stay here forever, being their loyal stray… for her, wouldn’t you?”

It didn't take a genius to figure out who he was talking about.

My stomach turned. “Don’t.”

“I’ve seen the way you look at her, Kieran. Isla. That little spark you try to hide every time she’s near.” His tone was smooth, deliberate, poisonous. “You think no one else has noticed? You think Tristan hasn’t? The others talk, you know. They say the rogue’s got a soft spot.”

I grabbed him by the collar, slamming him into a tree. “Watch your damn mouth.”

He only laughed in the face of my violence, low and quiet. “There it is… your weakness.”

“Say her name again and I swear I will-”

“Relax,” he cut in, smiling through his bruised lip. “I’m just saying… when the storm comes, maybe she’ll be spared. If you play your part right.”

“What are you talking about?” I demanded.

“Join us, Kieran. You've always been one of our best fighters and strategists.” He said softly. “Help us take over before they turn on you. Before she gets caught in the crossfire.”

He leaned close enough that I could smell the iron on his breath. “Because if you don’t, she burns with the rest of them. And you’ll be the one to watch.”

Something in me snapped, anger bubbling up within me.

I shoved him back, but he didn’t fight. He just smiled that same infuriating smile, the one that used to mean I already won.

“Think about it,” he said, stepping into the shadows. “You’ve always known where you truly belong, I'm just telling you to embrace it.”

He was gone before I could stop him or say another word… vanishing between the trees, leaving me standing there with blood on my hand and fire in my chest.

The forest was quiet again, but my mind wasn’t.

His words echoed, cold and steady.

They’ll never trust you. They’ll use her to break you.

I stayed there until the first hints of dawn touched the trees, and for the first time in a long while, I didn’t know whose side I was really on.

Tristan POV

When I woke up this morning I thought it was going to be like every other day.

Argue with the council members, some more debates over stupid things like food rationing and security placements and so on but sadly, it was not so.

My head ached from a night without sleep, council documents spread across my desk like a battlefield I had no strength to fight on.

That was when the knock came.

“Enter,” I barked out, already irritated.

A young guard shuffled in, barely old enough to be wearing the crest on his shoulder. His hands were trembling around his helmet, his scent thick with fear.

“Alpha,” he stammered, eyes flicking anywhere but my face. “I-I wasn’t sure if I should say anything, but I thought-”

I leaned back in my chair, regarding him with interest. “You thought right. Speak.”

He swallowed hard. “I just saw something but I don't know if it's my place to say or not but then I spoke to someone and they said it would be wise for you to know that… that I spotted master Kieran talking to some hooded figure in the dark last night. I didn't recognize his scent but I recognized something else it was a rogue.”

Silence dropped like a blade between us.

Kierian was doing what?!

I stared at him for a long time, long enough for his voice to break into nervous explanation. “It might not mean anything, Alpha, I swear. I just—he was near the eastern border, and they weren’t fighting. Maybe they were just talking or…..”

I could hear my own heartbeat then.

Slow. Heavy.

Dangerous.

I had to force myself to calm down and not giving to the rage bubbling up within me

“You did the right thing coming to me,” I said evenly, forcing my voice into calm. “Not a word of this to anyone else, understood?”

He nodded so fast I thought his head might fall off. “Y-yes, Alpha.”

When he left, the calm shattered.

I slammed my hand on the table, papers scattering.

Fucking Kieran.

After everything… after the council meeting, after I defended his name, he had the nerve to speak to one of them? To stand there with a rogue while my pack bled to keep his name clean?

I wanted to go to him right then, to drag the truth out of his lying throat.

But duty called.

There were reports to sign, elders to appease, and paperwork to take care of.

Every second I spent doing it instead of confronting Kieran felt like swallowing glass.

By evening, the workload had lessened and the sun had dipped low, staining the compound in blood-colored light.

The day’s noise had dulled to a low hum, but my fury hadn’t.

I’d replayed the guard’s words all day until they twisted into something poisonous.

I took my time to walk around the compound in search of him and luckily, I found him near the edge of the compound, standing by the treeline, his back to me.

The wind stirred the dirt around his boots as well as make the crunch of twigs under my boot quite loud but didn’t even turn when I approached.

“Kieran.”

He looked over his shoulder, his face unreadable like he had been expecting me. “Tristan.”

The casual tone scraped at something raw inside me.

I see he hadn't done anything wrong.

“I heard something interesting today,” I said, voice low. “A report that you were seen speaking with a rogue wolf last night.”

His brows lifted slightly. “And?”

Seriously?

And is all he's going to say?

My jaw tightened. “And I’d like to know why.”

He exhaled, long and slow, as if I were a child asking a stupid question. “He snuck up on me but he didn't attack me yet so I wanted to know who sent him.”

Even a novice can come up with a better lie than that.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“You can believe whatever you want,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t owe you an explanation.”

That did it.

I stepped forward, fists curling. “You owe me everything, Kieran. I’m the one keeping you here when half the council wants you gone. I’ve been sticking my neck out for you while you-”

“While I what?” He turned fully then, eyes sharp and glinting with his wolf. “While I do your job for you? While I kill the rogues you can’t catch?”

My wolf snarled in my chest, pressing against my ribs. “Watch your tone.”

He smirked. “Why? Afraid someone will think you’re not the strongest one here?”

The words slid under my skin like a knife.