Chapter 81

Chapter 81
Lucien’s POV

As I approached the pack’s entrance, my senses were sharp, alert, ready for anything that could happen .

But what I saw made me pause.

There he was  Alpha Silas of the Blackmoon Pack, he was  standing alone.

His posture was firm, but his body told a different story.

He was injured, his clothes torn, blood drying in streaks across his arms and side.

And beside him stood a wolf , he’s not shifted, but fully human,  yet unlike any wolf I had ever seen.

Calm.

Silent.

Mysterious.

Relief, cautious and thin, trickled through me.

This wasn’t what I expected.

In the back of my mind, I had been preparing for an ambush, convinced he had come to seize my newborn pup, to strike while we were vulnerable.

But he stood there… waiting.

Wounded.

Respectful.

Something about it didn’t sit right.

“Good day, Alpha Lucien,” Silas said, dipping his head slightly despite the pain evident in his voice.

“You told me to come see you,” he continued.

I frowned.

“Me?”

My voice was sharp, suspicious.

“When?”

Confusion flickered across his battered face.

I didn’t understand what he was trying to say.

I hadn’t sent for him.

I barely had enough time to even breathe, let alone summon another Alpha in the middle of a crisis.

“Yes,” Silas insisted, his voice firm. “You sent a messenger. He said it was urgent. That you wanted to speak about… Diane.”

At the mention of Diane, I stiffened.

Diane ,  the missing omega from his pack who had vanished months ago during that our wedding period .

We had launched an investigation back then, but with everything that happened afterward,  the wars,the attack,  the birth of Aurora,  I had pushed the matter aside, nearly forgotten it.

Until now.

“I didn’t send anyone,” I said, my voice low and even.

Silas’s eyes narrowed.

“Are you sure?”

“I would know,” I snapped.

“My pack is in no state to be playing games, Silas.”

For a moment, we just stared at each other across the cold stone courtyard.

The wounded Alpha.

The defensive one.

The unknown wolf standing silently like a shadow between us.

The air felt thick, charged.

The strange wolf beside Silas shifted slightly, drawing my attention again.

His aura… it wasn’t normal.

There was something ancient about it.

Something wild.

Something that didn’t belong here.

Kael stepped closer to me, his hand resting lightly on the hilt of his blade, reading the same danger that I did.

“Who is he?” I asked sharply, jerking my chin toward the unknown wolf.

Silas glanced at him briefly before answering.

“I don’t know,” he said grimly.

“He saved me.”

The words hit me harder than they should have.

Saved him?

Silas, one of the strongest Alphas in the northern territories, had needed saving?

“Explain,” I said tightly.

Silas shifted his weight, wincing.

“On my way here,” he began, “I was ambushed. Rogues. Organized, trained. Not the usual scattered kind. Someone didn’t want me reaching you.”

I cursed under my breath.

The same rogues that had been haunting our borders?

The same ones who had probably learned about Aurora’s birth?

“This wolf,” Silas said, nodding to the quiet figure beside him, “appeared out of nowhere. Took down half of them before I could even react.”

“And you trust him?” I asked coldly.

Silas gave a bitter laugh.

“I trust that I’d be dead without him.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

But still… the way Silas spoke, the gravity in his voice, it told me this was no ordinary wolf.

I studied the stranger more closely.

His posture was relaxed, but there was coiled power in the way he held himself.

His clothes were simple, almost ancient in style.

No visible weapons.

No signs of a pack or an allegiance.

And his eyes ,  when they met mine ,  were not like any eyes I had ever seen.

Not entirely human. Not entirely wolf.

Something more. Something older. 

A chill ran down my spine.

“Where’s the messenger who came to your pack?” I asked Silas, dragging my gaze away from the stranger.

Silas’s jaw tightened.

“Gone,” he said.

“He disappeared the same night he delivered the message.”

Convenient. Too convenient. I didn’t like any of this. Someone had set a trap.

Someone had tried to lure Silas here, knowing it would expose him , knowing it would destabilize both our packs if something happened to him on Mooncroft soil.

But why?

And who?

And most importantly ,  what did it have to do with my daughter?

Aurora.

I thought of her, lying peacefully in the nursery, unaware of the wars and betrayals swirling around her tiny existence.

I couldn’t afford mistakes.

Not now.

Not ever again.

“Come inside,” I said finally, stepping back.

“You’ll be safe here , for now.”

Silas nodded once, grim and grateful. He took a step forward , and  then hesitated.

The stranger remained still, as if waiting for my permission.

I clenched my jaw, every instinct screaming at me not to let him in.

But deep down, I knew the truth.

This wolf was already inside, in ways that mattered.

He was part of this now. Whether we liked it or not.

“Both of you,” I said tightly

The gates closed behind them with a heavy boom.

And somewhere deep inside, I knew: Tonight was not the end of the storm. It was only the beginning