Thirty Four : Wolves in his Den
Ronald's POV
The council envoy had left his seal and his smirk behind, but the stench of politics lingered long after.
My den, my territory, felt less like mine with every hour their shadows stretched across it.
Reports came in at dawn. Rogues had been sighted moving near the eastern border, too many to be coincidence. Lone wolves didn’t gather unless they were called.
I stood over the war table, jaw tight as my lieutenants laid out maps and markers. “How many?”
“Two dozen for certain,” one answered. “Possibly more, hidden in the treeline. They’re testing our patrols.”
I leaned closer to the map, tracing the markers with a clawed finger. “If they’re testing, they’re measuring how fast we respond. Which means they already know where our blind spots are.”
One of my captains shifted uneasily. “You think they’ve had eyes inside?”
“I don’t think,” I said flatly. “I know.” My gaze cut across the table. “Double the watch at the river crossing. Pull two units from the northern patrols to cover the east. I want them surrounded if they step a paw further in.”
The captain bowed quickly and left, the tension crackling in his wake.
Lucas, of course, didn’t move. He crossed his arms. “You’re fighting shadows, Ronald.
Even if you trap a few rogues, the real threat is already here. In your house.”
I snapped my head toward him, growling low in my chest. “Say what you mean.”
“You’re letting her unbalance you,” he said. “And when you lose balance, the whole pack falls.”
Testing me.
Lucas lingered at the edge of the room, silent until the others filed out.
Then he stepped forward, his face lined, his voice measured. “You know what this means, Ronald.”
I didn’t look up. My hand pressed flat against the map, pinning it like prey. “It means the council thinks to provoke me.”
“It means,” Lucas said carefully, “that girl is drawing them in.”
My wolf snapped instantly, fury searing through my blood. No. The word thundered inside me, hot and absolute.
I raised my head slowly, fixing him with a stare sharp enough to cut. “Watch your words.”
Lucas didn’t flinch. He never did. “You can’t ignore the timing. She arrives, and suddenly rogues prowl our borders. The council is moving pieces we don’t see. You’ve said it yourself, this trial is no accident.”
I clenched my fists, nails biting into my palms. My wolf prowled beneath my skin, restless, growling. “You think she’s a lure? That she called them?”
“I think,” Lucas said, voice steady, “you don’t want to see what’s in front of you.”
The urge to strike him flared, fast and violent. My wolf surged, demanding I silence the insult with blood.
It took everything in me to stay still, to leash the beast clawing inside. Lucas was my second. My brother in all but blood. And he was right about one thing, there were too many pieces I couldn’t see.
But about Mara, he was wrong.
I knew it with the same certainty as I knew the beat of my own heart.
My wolf whispered it again and again, steady as a drumbeat: She’s not the danger. She’s the target.
I forced air through my lungs, slow and heavy, then turned away from the table. “Strengthen the patrols,” I ordered. “If the rogues want to test us, let them taste our teeth.”
Lucas studied me a long moment before bowing his head in reluctant obedience. “As you command.”
When the door shut behind him, silence pressed in.
I raked a hand through my hair, pacing the length of the chamber.
Every instinct screamed that the walls of my den were closing in, not from enemies outside but from within. The council wanted a spectacle.
They wanted me cornered, forced to choose between them and her.
And damn me, I didn’t know if I could make that choice.
My wolf pushed, restless. I could feel her through the bond, a low thrum under my skin, faint but undeniable. Fear sharpened it. Not her own, no, Mara didn’t fear easily but the fear of being hunted, trapped.
The bond coiled tighter, and I knew before I admitted it aloud: I had to see her.
I stormed through the corridors, my guards falling back at the look on my face. Servants scattered, their whispers trailing in my wake. I didn’t care.
The moment I reached her quarters, I shoved the door open.
The chains on the wall hung loose. The room was empty.
For a heartbeat, silence reigned. Then my wolf roared inside me, a sound that shook my bones.
She was gone.