Chapter 125 - JR POV

Chapter 125 - JR POV
We race toward the metallic scent hanging in the air.
Every stride makes it stronger.
Iron.
Blood.
Death.
Nyxen lowers himself beneath a wall of thick brush, every movement silent despite his massive frame.
Beyond it...
Bodies.
Six hybrids.
Some frozen mid-shift, their faces twisted between human and wolf. Others still bared elongated fangs, mouths locked open in silent snarls.
Every one of them was dead.
Severed limbs littered the forest floor. Trees were splintered where bodies had slammed into them. Deep claw marks gouged the earth, and blood soaked the leaves until the entire clearing smelled like rust and decay.
"So much blood..." I whispered.
Too much.
Far too much.
Nyxen lowered his nose, trying to separate scents.
Nothing.
The blood drowned everything else.
I can't find Pops.
My pulse pounded.
I searched every corpse again.
No...
He wasn't here.
Relief washed through me for half a second.
Then dread replaced it.
If six hybrids couldn't stop him...
How many had Stephen sent afterward?
Nyx... can you scent him?
My wolf inhaled deeply before growling in frustration.
Not with this much blood. Every trail is contaminated.
"Damn it."
Stephen knew exactly what he was doing.
My father had been his Beta for years.
Stephen knew how he thought.
He knew Pops wouldn't run.
He'd stay close enough to watch...
Close enough to strike if an opportunity presented itself.
Which meant Stephen would've hunted him the same way.
Time wasn't on my side anymore.
Every second I wasted...
Stephen's soldiers could be closing in.
My father could already be bleeding out somewhere.
Or worse...
Captured.
"No."
I refused to let that thought take root.
"We're finding him."
We moved carefully through the battlefield, stepping over shattered bones and torn flesh.
The forest had gone eerily quiet.
Too quiet.
Even the birds refused to sing.
Then...
Something flickered.
I froze.
A tiny blue light blinked beside my front paw.
It vanished.
Then appeared against the trunk of a nearby tree.
Tree.
Paw.
Tree.
Paw.
Again.
Again.
I looked down.
The light pulsed once against my paw before darting back to the tree.
A slow grin spread across my face.
"Pops..."
Only he would come up with something like this.
A trail no normal wolf would notice.
The little orb floated ahead.
Tree to tree.
Always waiting until I reached the next marker before flashing again.
We followed.
Farther into the woods.
Farther from Stephen's camp.
Until a narrow cave appeared between two massive boulders.
The light hovered at the entrance.
Flash.
Flash.
Flash.
Then...
Darkness.
Gone.
Nyxen immediately circled the area.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Listening.
Scenting.
Making sure no one had followed us.
Satisfied, we slipped inside.
The instant I crossed the threshold...
Magic slammed into me.
It wrapped around my body like chains.
Every muscle locked.
My legs buckled.
"What the—"
"Sorry, son."
Pops.
His voice echoed somewhere deeper in the cave.
"We had to hide your scent... and your presence. You'll only be out for a little while."
We?
Who the hell is we?
Before I could ask...
Everything went black…
Consciousness returned slowly.
My body felt impossibly heavy.
Like I was trying to swim through wet cement.
I forced my eyes open.
A tiny fire flickered near the back wall.
Calling it a fire was generous.
It looked more like someone had lit a single log just to keep the cave from being swallowed by darkness.
Three figures stood around it.
Their shadows stretched across the stone walls as they argued in hushed voices.
Hands moved sharply.
The tension was thick enough to choke on.
I pushed myself upright.
"Care to fill me in?"
The voices stopped instantly.
A woman turned toward me.
Her eyes were sharp.
Calculating.
"Why are you here?" she asked coldly.
"I figured my father might need backup after defecting."
I looked between them.
"But I see he isn't alone."
She folded her arms.
"I didn't account for you."
Her voice hardened.
"Your presence could get all of us killed."
Before I could answer, Pops stepped between us.
"Easy."
He raised both hands.
"My son can help."
I stood and walked closer.
As the firelight illuminated the woman's face...
Recognition hit me like a freight train.
No...
No damn way.
"What the fuck, Pops?"
My fangs exploded from my gums.
Every instinct screamed at me to attack.
"CALM DOWN!"
My father's Beta authority thundered through the cave. A couple of years ago, it would've pinned me in place. Now, I barely felt its pull. I hid my reaction behind a blank expression. There was no reason for him to know I'd already surpassed him.

"She's not our enemy."
"She isn't our enemy."
"The hell she isn't!"
I took another step.
"You better start explaining."
Pops sighed.
"Alana has been working with me from the inside."
I blinked.
"...What?"
"She's been feeding us information for months."
My mind raced.
None of this made sense.
"I need to call Irune."
"No."
Pops' answer came instantly.
"You can't."
"The hell I can't!"
I reached for my phone.
"Irune deserves to know every—"
"He cannot know."
The voice wasn't my father's.
It was hers.
Alana stepped forward until only inches separated us.
"The fewer people who know... the safer this remains."
I studied her carefully.
Every instinct searched for deception.
Nothing.
Pops continued.
"She's our ace."
"Our trump card."
"To Stephen, she's the loyal witch who never questions his orders."
"But behind his back..."
"She's been helping us destroy him."
I kept my eyes locked on hers.
"And why should I believe that?"
Alana didn't flinch.
Not once.
"I've wanted Stephen dead since I was seven years old."
Her voice was calm.
Too calm.
"He murdered my mother."
Silence swallowed the cave.
"I watched him butcher her right in front of me."
Every word carried years of hatred.
"He slaughtered members of my coven because they couldn't give him what he wanted."
Her fists clenched.
"I learned that day revenge isn't rushed."
"It's earned."
"So I smiled."
"I obeyed."
"I became exactly what he wanted me to be."
"The perfect servant."
"So one day..."
She stepped even closer.
"I can bury a blade in his heart."
"And while he bleeds..."
"I'll make him look into my eyes."
"He'll beg."
"He'll scream."
"He'll pray for mercy."
Her expression never changed.
"And I'll give him exactly what he gave my mother."
"Nothing."
The cave fell silent.
I listened carefully.
Her heartbeat never changed.
Not once.
No hesitation.
No fear.
Only cold...
Unshakable certainty.
The anger pouring off her was unlike anything I'd ever felt.
Even Trinity's rage burned hot.
Irune's came like a storm.
Alana's...
Her hatred was ice.
Patient.
Calculated.
Merciless.
For the first time...
I understood why Stephen trusted her.
And why she terrified me.
I slowly retracted my fangs.
"I won't tell Irune."
I looked between her and my father.
"So..."
"Tell me the plan."
For the first time since I'd awakened...
Alana smiled.
It wasn't warm.
It wasn't friendly.
It was the smile of someone who already knew how her enemy would die.
She gestured toward the fire.
"Have a seat."
As I lowered myself onto the cold stone floor, one thing became crystal clear.
I wasn't going back to Copper Mountain.
Not yet.
While Irune prepared for war from the front...
I'd be fighting it from the shadows.
Beside my father...
And the woman Stephen would never see coming.