Chapter 56: Call to Arms

Chapter 56: Call to Arms
Sasha POV

I didn’t wait. The moment Kade could sleep without gasping and Ronan could stand without swaying, I sent word through to the elders. The horn wasn’t sounded, this wasn’t war, not yet, but the call carried weight all the same. By dusk, the hall was full of tension. Thelma, Rowan, and Jones watched me when I entered the room. I stood at the front, my palms flat on the table so no one could mistake my shaking hands for weakness.

“Valen said my sister is alive,” my voice carried, louder than I expected. The hall fell into silence. “If he is telling the truth, then she is out there. Alone. Or worse…already in his hands,” the silence that followed was sharp, and it made me nervous. The last time I had counseled with the elders, they had wanted me dead. Rowan slammed his staff once as if he needed to make a noise to call the attention to himself.

“We do not chase ghosts,” he said coldly. “One sister is trouble enough. Two will doom us,” heat rose in my chest, but I kept my tone steady.

“You all saw it. You all heard him. My truth sense tells me he wasn’t lying. We can’t sit here and wait for him to use her against us,” I argued. Jones leaned forward in his chair, his smile thin.

“Or perhaps he lied because he knew you would come running like a dog on a chain. This is what he wants, to lure you into his woods and finish what he started,” Jones said, and I frowned as I stared at him.

“I won’t hide because you are afraid of the dark,” I shot back. His eyes gleamed with silent challenge.

“No, you will drag the pack into it with you. Again,” he said. Thelma’s gaze lingered on me, unreadable.

“You are not wrong,” she said softly. “But you are not ready either. Kade is still healing. Ronan is—” her eyes flicked to the window. As if she could see him. “—carrying his own battles. You would walk us into the fire before we have mended from the last burn,”

“I don’t care if I have to go alone,” I said. My voice rose, sharp enough to echo. “She is my sister. My blood. And if Valen has her, every moment we waste is another moment he twists her into something I won’t recognize when I finally face her,” Rowan looked sympathetic for a beat of a moment, before his gaze hardened. Before anyone could say anything, the door burst open and Delia stormed into the hall. Her shoulders back and her chin high. I felt a moment of relief. There was a time, Delia would have stood beside me without question. But as I stared at her, I knew differently.

“What is going on here?” she asked as she eyed us all in turn. When her gaze settled on me, she crossed her arms and waited.

“You heard him, Delia. I cannot just stand back and…do nothing. I have to go after him. I have to get my sister back,” I explained.

“Correction. She wants us all to go after him and her sister,” Jones said, and I shot him a dirty look. Delia’s laugh was short and sharp.

“You can’t be serious,”

“I am,” I said as I straightened. She stared at me for a long time before she shook her head.

“It’s suicide,” she said flatly. “He wants you to follow him. He wants you to be desperate. And you are about to give him exactly what he asked for,”

“I don’t have a choice,” I said.

“Yes, you do,” she stated as she stepped closer. Her eyes were bright with determination. “You can choose your pack. You can choose survival. But no…I can see that you want to chase fairy tales and drag the rest of us into another bloodbath,” her words stung more than I wanted to admit. Once, Delia would have clasped my hand and told me we would go together, that nothing could break us. Now, she stood on the other side, her loyalty tied to a man who had chosen her instead of me.

“This isn’t about you,” I said, my voice low. “It’s about her. My sister,” Delia’s lips curved in a bitter smile.

“No. It’s always about you, Sasha. You and your mark. You and your prophecy. You and the way the pack can’t breathe without tripping over your drama,” she said, and I sighed as I stepped back.

“I get it,” I said. “You don’t believe me, and I know now that you never did,” Delia shook her head.

“I believe Valen is clever enough to play you. And I believe you are reckless enough to fall for it,” Delia said. I wasn’t sure what more I could say. I hadn’t come to ask for assistance. I had come to let them know I could no longer sit back and do nothing. “You confuse me,” Delia continued. “Do you want all of us to chase after you? To run into the forest and put our lives in danger for…for you? For your sister? A sister none of us know about?”

“Stop,” I whispered.

“No,” she snapped. “Ronan is cursed to repeat the same mistakes, and you are so self-involved that you are prepared to drag every one of us down with you,”

“Stop,” I said again, but Delia ignored me.

“Stop what? Stop thinking of the safety of this pack?”

“So what?” I roared as anger washed over me. “Maybe I am reckless. Maybe I am being selfish. But I won’t ignore blood. Not mine. Not hers!” Rowan slammed his staff again.

“Enough! We will not march into the woods on the word of a mad wolf. This meeting is done,”

“No,” I said, louder. “It isn’t. You don’t get to decide what I do with my life. You don’t get to decide what I do with hers! I’m going. With or without you. With or without Kade. With or without Ronan. If Valen has her, then I will find her. And if he doesn’t…then I will make sure he never speaks her name again,” Delia stared, her jaw tight, her voice soft but sharp as a blade.

“Then you will die for her,” she said.

“Or live with her,” I shot back. The wind surged through the cracks in the hall, rattling the lanterns, raising gooseflesh across my arms. It whispered against my ear, words only I could hear.

Blood walks. Blood waits.

The torches flickered. The shadows deepened. And in that moment, I knew: my sister wasn’t just alive. She was closer than we realized.