Chapter 31 AN UNKNOWN ENTITY
RAGNAR'S POV
The silence follows me long after I leave the training grounds.
It clings to my skin like melted butter as I walk back toward the pack house.
It is annoying and unnerving.
The corridor lights burn low casting long shadows that warp into several shapes with every step I take.
Wolves I pass lower their heads in fear and subservience, but their eyes linger a beat too long at my back.
They’re watching me.
Judging me.
“They’re afraid of uncertainty,” Yurik murmurs inside my head.
I don’t answer him.
He’s been restless since the border.
Ever since the rogues fell and the moon's name was spoken in accusations to us
My wolf feels it the same way I do. Just like I could predict the attack weeks ago, I can predict now that what is coming is even more dangerous than anything we've ever faced before.
The pack house doors close behind me with a dull thud as I enter my office.
Inside it, Ava is already waiting.
She stands near the central table with her arms crossed and her posture rigid.
Her armor is smeared with dirt and blood, though none smell like hers. Her eyes sharpen when she sees me.
“Alpha,” she says with a respectful but strained tone.“We need to talk.”
“I know,” I replied. “Report.”
She rises to her feet quickly in a standard posture of respect. “The patrols found nothing new. There was no residual scent beyond what we already told you or found.
There are no signs of magical concealment or trickery either–at least none the witches we consulted could identify any.”
“Could identify?” I echo flatly.
Ava’s jaw tightens as she braces for something. “There’s more Alpha”
I gesture for her to continue.
“The pack is uneasy,” she says carefully.
“The rogues’ words are spreading through ranks and other people fast. Wolves are asking questions, dangerous ones.”
“About me,” I say.
“Yes.”
“And my dead mate.”
Her eyes flicker.
“They noticed,” she admits. “Previously, you wouldn't agree to let anyone close to you ever since she died and now, all of a sudden you choose Sebastian and not to mention all of this is happening not long after you became close to him. People are curious.”
“They are not getting explanations from me,” I say. “Right now they need stability and control.”
“With all due respect Alpha,” Ava says, stepping closer, “they need honesty from you. Or at least an illusion of it. Right now, they think the Moon is watching you because of some prophecy.”
“She is right Ragnar”, Yurik growls.
I close my eyes briefly then open them again. “Double the patrols and keep the warriors busy. Idle wolves talk too much, you're dismissed.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
Ava hesitates before turning to leave. At the door, she pauses one more time . “For what it’s worth… I don’t believe all this bull shit about the Moon being against you.”
The door closes behind her before I can respond.
I move to my office and shut myself inside, the quiet pressing in on me immediately.
I brace my hands on the desk and take long slow breaths.
“You’re holding too much inside Ragnar,” Yurik says.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re lying.”
I straighten. “And you’re projecting.”
He snorts. “You haven’t thought about her in years. And now you’re thinking about her again.”
That snaps something sharp inside me.
“Don’t,” I warn.
“The rogues used her words,” Yurik continues relentlessly. “The Moon remembers, were her exact words you heard it.”
“Yes Yurik,” I bite out. “The whole pack probably heard it.”
The memory surfaces against my will but I shove it away.
I shove the thought away.
“I’ve buried her,” I say. “I watched the earth cover her coffin and I mourned her. She put the pack in serious danger and I nearly died because of her.”
“And yet the bond still gave you another,” Yurik says quietly.
That unsettles me more than I want to admit. Never has it been recorded that a wolf gets another mate after their first one.
I reach instinctively for the bond I share now with him.
Sebastian.
It answers. A bit faintly like loose spider webs but it's there.
He’s still in the territory. Still alive and still so distant from me.
The bond doesn’t feel damaged or interfered with so why does it feel strange and almost alien?
It is like I'm mated to him but there's something else added to it. Like someone else.
It feels interfered with.
My fists clench.
Why has the appearance and feel of the bond changed in less than 12 hours that I saw him?
“There is another presence, I can feel someone else,” Yurik murmurs slowly. “Inside him.”
I go still.
“What?”
“I feel it just like you can,” my wolf continues. “Its a wolf but not a wolf. And it doesn't feel like magic either.”
My pulse kicks up.
“Then what?”
Yurik is silent for a moment. “Sebastian is not what he seems to be Ragnar.”
This sentence lodges deep.
I straighten abruptly and move toward the window staring out at the moonlit grounds.
“Sebastian is an Omega.”
“Then how do you justify the string presence in the bond. We know it's not coming from you.” Yurik counters.
“You felt it too,” Yurik says. “That resistance from his end when he bit you.”
“Yes,” I admit.
My jaw tightens.
“Where is he,” I ask.
Yurik doesn’t need to answer. I already know where he is.
Not the pack house or training grounds, he's in his little cottage.
And with the growing rate of unease in the pack If I don’t act, these rumors will solidify into belief.
And such stupid beliefs are more dangerous than any rogue army.
“Tomorrow,” I say aloud, “I will address the pack.”
“And what about your arrangement with Sebastian?” Yurik asks.
I hesitate.
“I’ll deal with that later.”
Because whatever is happening also involves him.
And if the Moon is really watching me, then Sebastian has to be part of the reason why.