Chapter 127 SILENT PACK CHOICE
DEREK’S POV
The message came at first light, when the camp was still half asleep and the air felt heavy on my skin. I knew it was bad news before I even opened it. Nothing good ever comes quietly. I stood near the steps of the hall, the paper tight in my hand, and read the words twice just to be sure I wasn’t seeing what I wanted instead of what was there. One of the packs was asking for our help.
I let out a slow breath and rubbed my face. “Of course,” I muttered. “Now.”
Amber found me there a few moments later. She always did, she didn’t need guards or messengers to tell her when something was wrong as she took one look at my face and frowned.
“Who is it?” she asked.
“One of the river packs,” I said. “They want us to stand with them and they say the other pack is moving fast and won’t stop.”
Amber crossed her arms. “And what do you want to do?”
I hesitated, that pause said more than words ever could. “I want to stay out of it.”
Her eyes narrowed, not in anger, but in thought. “That’s not like you.”
“It is when I remember,” I said. “When we needed help, no one came, not them or anyone.”
She was quiet for a moment. Then she said softly, “This isn’t about pride, Derek.”
“No,” I replied, turning to face her. “It’s about survival.”
The council met soon after. Voices clashed, tempers rose, and old wounds were dragged back into the light. Some wanted to fight and some wanted to hide. I listened, my jaw tight with my hands clenched. When they finally looked at me, I stood because now was the time for me to tell them everything I had in mind leading to that moment.
“We’re not getting involved,” I said. “We hold our land, that’s it.”
The room went still and no one argued. They didn’t have to like it to obey it because in the long run this was the best thing we could ever do for ourselves but at this moment, they just didn’t know it yet.
Later that night, Amber came to me again. I was standing at the edge of the camp, staring into the dark.
“You’re carrying this alone,” she said.
“I’m the alpha,” I answered.
“You’re also human,” she said. “Talk to me, what’s going on in that pretty head of yours.”
She took my hands in her’s, giving it a gentle squeeze as she tried to assure me that everything was going to be fine. I knew it was going to be but at the same time, there were times when I had that doubting spirit in me.
I exhaled. “If we step in, we become part of their war. If we don’t, we become the ones they blame.”
She stepped closer. “And if you’re wrong?”
I met her eyes. “Then we’ll pay for it.”
She reached for my hand. “Just promise me you won’t let stubborn pride blind you.”
I squeezed her fingers. “I promise I’ll do what I think keeps us alive.”
That was the night the answer was sent back, we would not join. As the runner disappeared into the trees, a distant howl rose from far away, sharp and full of anger as Amber shivered beside me.
“Do you hear that?” she whispered.
“Yes,” I said. “And it’s only the beginning.”
The battle broke out before the sun reached its peak. We didn’t see it, but the land carried it to us and the air tasted wrong. Scouts returned one after another, their reports bleeding together into one ugly truth. Both packs had clashed near the river, there were no rules and no mercy.
My warriors were restless. I could feel it in the way they paced, the way their eyes kept drifting east as one of them finally snapped.
“Why are we standing here?” he shouted. “We could end this.”
I stepped forward. “You move without my word, you answer to me.”
Silence fell hard and in that moment, I didn’t even know how to breach that silence.
Amber pulled me aside. “They’re going to break if this keeps up,” she said.
“I know.”
“And if the pack that asked for help loses?”
I didn’t answer, I didn’t need to.
By evening, smoke curled into the sky. I stood on the wall, watching it stain the horizon. Amber joined me, her face pale.
“This feels wrong,” she said.
“So did being alone,” I replied.
Just before night fully settled, a body collapsed near our border as guards rushed forward. It was one of theirs, barely alive. Blood soaked his side as he shifted in and out of form.
“He said you’d come,” the wolf whispered, coughing. “He said you wouldn’t leave us.”
Amber sucked in a sharp breath as I felt something twist in my chest.
“Get him help,” I ordered.
When the healers took him away, Amber turned on me. “They believed in you.”
“I didn’t promise them anything,” I said, though my voice wasn’t steady.
“You didn’t have to,” she shot back. “Your name was enough.”
That night, I couldn’t sleep. Fires burned in the distance, there were too many and too close.
By morning, my second ran to me, panic clear on his face. “They won,” he said. “The pack you refused is breaking apart.”
Amber stepped closer. “And the other pack?”
“They’re moving,” he replied. “Toward us.”
My blood ran cold because I didn’t even know what to think at that moment.
“They blame us,” he continued. “For staying out, for letting it happen.”
I looked at Amber. She looked back at me, fear and understanding mixing in her eyes.
“So what now?” she asked quietly.
I opened my mouth to answer, to give orders and to prepare for what I knew was to come. Before I could speak, a horn sounded from beyond our trees. Long, slow and ancient.
Amber whispered, “That’s not a warning.”
I stared into the forest as shadows began to move fast like they had been waiting for this time and period.
“No,” I said. “That’s a demand.”
GOLDEN MOON MANIPULATOR