To save her first? To save my pack?

To save her first? To save my pack?
Aeron’s POV

Dawn had barely bled into the sky when we left Moonshine behind, Elder Marvic did not come with us, we preferred to he stay at the village. The air was thin and cold. My heart hammered with each step — not from the run, but from the thought of finding Selene chained in some cold chamber.We could not fail her.

The palace lay like a white wound on the horizon, ringed by banners and soldiers. Patrols moved like a sea around its walls; I saw their shadows long before their voices reached us. There was no way to charge through the front. I could smell the intent on the air — they expected us to come in force, to be stopped. Eleazar had prepared for resistance.

“We can’t go head-on,” I told the small circle gathered behind me. Lira’s eyes were sharp, Zach’s jaw set, Kade and Rynn shifted impatiently beside them.

“The west,” I said. “There’s an old gate by the stream — near where I first met her. Guards don’t use it; it’s forgotten. I can slip through. Zach, you and Lira take the stables entrance. Kade and Rynn flank the servants’ wing.”

They agreed without protest. Good soldiers. Better friends. We split into small teams and melted into the trees.

The path to the old gate should have been empty. Instead, fresh wheel marks gouged the soft earth, the carriage’s iron rim carving ragged lines through the mud. Hoof prints crisscrossed the track. Someone had used this forbidden road — and recently.

A cold knot formed in my gut. That carriage moved too smoothly for the palace to have sent it. My head spun possibilities and landed on one that made my blood run cold: the Fangwood route. 

When I pushed open the old gate, Leonora was there, a ghost at the edge of the clearing. Her face, drawn and pale, lit with something close to relief when she saw me.

“You—” she breathed. I must have looked as wasted as I felt.

“Leonora.” My voice was rough from days of silence. “You alive?” She asked,stood before me, trembling but whole. She had worried eyes that cut me. “

“Yes,” I nodded . 

“ you came for here?” She asked in serious tone. 

“Yeah, you saw here?” Pain snapped through me like a live wire. “Where is she?”

“She’s gone,” Leonora said, the words small as a knife. “They took her east. An hour ago. Eleazar and a carriage, two black man. I tried to stop them. I couldn’t—”

The world narrowed. East. Fangwood. The place I had to keep my mouth from forming her name, to keep from breaking in front of them. The plan I had made seconds ago shifted like sand.

Before I could pull her into more questions, my team rejoined us, breathless, eyes bright. Zach pushed through the last of the brush, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“She’s not in the dungeon,” he said flatly, scanning our faces. “We tore through the dungeons like a storm. No trace.”

Lira’s face went pale. “She’s not there—” Her voice broke. Eleazar’s men had brought her into fangwood territory.

“She’s in Fangwood territory,” I said, my jaw tightening until the tendons strummed. “Eleazar took her there for the ritual. The Blood Moon—”

“You must move now!” Leonora urged, desperation and guilt coiling in her voice. “I can show you where they passed. I saw the carriage head down the old east road.”

“No,” Lira said suddenly, cutting through us. “We can’t pass by there.”

All eyes snapped to her. “What?” I barked.

Before she could answer, a wolf yelped in the distance; a runner came tearing toward us, clothes muddied, breath heaving. He skidded to a stop and spat words like a rock. “Harold — he’s in the village. He raised the Fangwood men. They’re summoning anyone who followed Aeron to be killed. They call for a massacre — the list names the trackers who came after you. They said: ‘Any who follow Aeron must die.’”

The air around us turned icier. Harold at the village. A trap. He had betrayed us — or perhaps been bought. My hands clenched. Rage flared hot, righteous and hungry. But the wolf in me, the leader in me, kept the heat tempered.

I’m torn — what should I do now? To save Selene, to protect my pack. Eleazar, Harold, and the Fangwood wolves have joined forces to bring my pack to ruin. I can’t let them win. I have no choice but to send Lira and Zach to rescue Selene while I deal with Harold and the Fangwood myself. They’ll pay for trying to massacre my pack.

“We split,” I said, voice even but hard. “Zach, Lira — you get Selene out. Back stables, shadows, I will follow there instantly. Kade and Rynn — form the outer cover and intercept any reinforcements headed from the village.”

“You can’t be serious,” Lira protested. “If Eleazar has set up at Fangwood, we’ll be walking into a hornet’s nest.”

“You think I don’t know that?” I snapped. “She’s not just any pack member. She’s—” I stopped; the name wanted to tear out of me and I caged it. I would not let her be a ghost in my orders.

The man eyes burned like old steel. “Alpha,” he said softly, “you lead the strike. Your pack needs you now.”

I met Zach’s steady gaze. He wore exhaustion like armor, but his hand nodded once. Lira’s jaw clenched and then she bowed her head — agreement. The decision carved a path.

“We move at the last hour before the blood moon rise,” I ordered. “Silent. Precise. No one dies unless we must draw blood to save a life. We take Selene and we bring her back.”

As we turned, the village of Moonshine lay behind us like a sleeping animal, unaware that at its heart betrayal had nested. Harold’s betrayal stung, but it added urgency, sharpened purpose.

For Selene — for the pack — I would cross any boundary, break any chain. The Blood Moon would rise, and I would meet it not as a broken man but as a blade honed for the strike.

“Move,” I said.

We melted into the trees, wolves among shadows, and I felt the old hunger ignite again, to take what was stolen and bring it home.