Chapter 43 CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Chapter 43 CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Hellen’s POV

The air was thick that night.
The kind of silence that didn’t just hover, it pressed. Every breath I took burned in my lungs, heavy with the scent of smoke and fear. The pack’s borders hummed with movement; warriors preparing, scouts returning with blood on their claws and worry in their eyes. War was coming. And for the first time, I didn’t feel weak at the thought of it. I felt ready.

From my chamber window, I could see torches blazing along the training field, the warriors lined like dark shadows under the moon. My wolf stirred inside me, her strength finally steadying her energy like fire coursing through my veins.
“They think we’re not prepared,” she murmured, her voice echoing softly in my mind.

“Then we’ll show them,” I whispered back.
A knock came at my door, firm, steady, familiar.
“Come in,” I said.
Paul stepped inside, his expression grim. His usually calm eyes were now sharp, tracing every flicker of my movement like he was searching for a sign of weakness. Behind him, the tension of the pack’s command weighed like a storm.
“They’ve called for Matt,” he said, crossing the room. “The council demands a strategy meeting. They’re questioning his loyalty again. Laura’s name came up.”
My chest tightened. “Of course, it did.”
Paul’s jaw flexed. “They found traces of communication: hidden letters, messages carried through the healer’s line. Matt’s furious… but there’s more. Someone tampered with the border patrol orders. It almost left a gap open near the East side.”
My pulse thudded. “Laura.”

He nodded slowly. “And maybe the healer’s remnants of magic. We think they’ve been trying to set up something far worse than exile.”
I turned away from him, staring at the moon, the same moon that had witnessed every betrayal, every sleepless night I’d endured. “They want chaos,” I said quietly. “And they want to make sure it starts from within.”

Paul exhaled. “Matt needs to see you before the council meets. He’s… not in control right now.”
I froze. “Not in control?”
“He’s fighting two wars, the one outside, and the one inside his head. He’s angry, Hellen. At himself, at the lies, at the idea that he couldn’t protect you.”
I clenched my fists. “Then I’ll remind him who I am now.”
Paul’s lips curved slightly, the faintest hint of approval. “That’s the Luna I’ve been waiting to see.”
When I reached Matt’s chamber, the air inside was electric. He stood near the window, his broad shoulders tense, his hands gripping the edge of the wooden desk as if it were the only thing keeping him from breaking something or someone.
Maps, scrolls, and council notes were scattered across the table, marked with red ink and claw marks. He didn’t turn as I entered, but I could feel his energy reach for me. It always did, even when he was angry, even when he tried not to care.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said lowly. “Not tonight.”
“Then why does it feel like you wanted me to come?” I countered, stepping closer.
His jaw tightened, but he still didn’t turn. “Because every time I see you, I remember what they tried to take from me. And it makes me want to destroy everything.”

My heart twisted that familiar ache between us, where love and war always met. “Then destroy them, Matt. Not yourself.”
He finally turned, his eyes dark, the Alpha in him radiating fury, power, and something far more dangerous: guilt. “They want to use me, Hellen. To break me through you. I can see it in their eyes every time they speak your name. You’ve become their weapon.”
“Then maybe it’s time they see what that weapon can do,” I said quietly.
He stepped closer, so close I could feel the heat of his breath against my skin. “You think you can handle what’s coming?”
“I know I can,” I said, my voice steady. “You trained me for this. Every scar, every nightmare, it’s made me stronger. I’m not the weak Luna they once poisoned.”
His hand brushed my jaw, not tenderly, but with that desperate tension of someone who still couldn’t believe I was real. “You’re stronger than me,” he muttered.
“No,” I whispered. “We’re stronger together.”

For a moment, everything paused the war, the lies, the betrayal. It was just us, broken souls who had clawed their way back from hell.
Then the door burst open.
Paul’s voice cut through the air. “Matt, the council’s already seated. They’re demanding your presence. And Hellen...” his gaze flicked to me, uncertain, “...they want you there too.”

Matt’s eyes darkened. “They have no right to summon her.”
“They said it concerns the Luna’s… ‘influence,’” Paul said grimly. “I don’t think it’s a request.”
Matt turned back to me, his expression unreadable. “Stay close. Don’t speak unless I tell you to.”
I gave a sharp nod. “And if they speak lies, I’ll burn through them with truth.”

He stared at me for a moment, then, for the first time in weeks, he smiled. It wasn’t the smile of an Alpha. It was the smile of a man who realized his mate was no longer the woman who needed saving.
The council chamber was in chaos.
Old wolves muttered in corners, their eyes shifting between Matt and me as if watching a storm walk through the door. The scent of tension was everywhere, thick with distrust and fear.

Councilor Darrek, the oldest among them, slammed his cane against the floor. “Alpha Matthew,” he barked. “Your leadership has brought us to the brink of war. And your Luna’s mysterious recovery, we must discuss what kind of magic was involved.”
Matt’s growl was low, vibrating through the room. “Careful, old man.”
But I raised my hand. “Let him speak,” I said calmly. “Let all of them speak. Because soon, they’ll run out of lies.”
A murmur spread across the room. The council hadn’t expected me to speak not like that, not with fire in my voice and clarity in my eyes.
Darrek’s lips curled. “You claim strength now, Luna, yet you were once bedridden, poisoned by unknown means. And the same healer who treated you died mysteriously.”

Matt slammed his palm onto the table, making every candle flicker. “Enough!”
But I stepped forward. “The healer died because he made a pact with darkness. The poison wasn’t meant to kill me; it was meant to chain me. To silence my wolf forever. But his spell broke the moment I stopped fearing it.”
A hush fell over the room.

Another councilor spoke, trembling. “You’re saying the healer was working against the pack?”
“I’m saying he was working with Laura,” I said, my voice steady. “And together, they wanted the Alpha weak and the Luna gone.”
Gasps rippled through the hall.
Darrek turned pale. “That’s a dangerous accusation.”
“It’s not an accusation,” Matt said darkly. “It’s true. And I’ve seen the proof myself.”

He threw a folded parchment onto the table, the one that had left him, the one that exposed the conspiracy. The wax seal cracked open, and silence swallowed the room.
Every councilor read in silence, the air growing colder with every passing second. When Darrek finally looked up, his eyes were wide with fear.
“This… changes everything,” he whispered.
Matt’s voice was low, lethal. “You’re damn right it does.”
Hours later, when the meeting ended, the pack was officially in preparation for war, not just with the outside clans, but against the traitors among us.
As the torches burned into dawn, I stood on the balcony beside Matt, the night air cool against my skin. The stars were fading, replaced by the first light of day.
Matt was too quiet. His hand rested on the railing, his knuckles white.

“You did well in there,” I said softly.
He didn’t answer immediately. “I saw something in your eyes tonight,” he murmured. “Something I hadn’t seen since before the poison.”
“What was it?”
“Fire,” he said. “And something else… maybe the beginning of vengeance.”
I smiled faintly. “Then it’s about time they learn what happens when they make the Luna their enemy.”
He turned to face me, his gaze dark, but proud. “Whatever comes next, we face it together.”

“Always,” I said.
But deep inside, my wolf whispered a warning I couldn’t ignore.
Not everyone in that room believed you. And one of them is still hiding Laura’s scent.
My smile faltered slightly, though I didn’t let him see. The war might have just begun, but the deadliest part would be the one fought in shadows.
And as the first ray of sunlight broke over the horizon, I swore silently:
If betrayal lived within our walls, I would find it and burn it out myself.