Chapter 40 CHAPTER FORTY

Chapter 40 CHAPTER FORTY
Matt's POV

The throne hall was quieter than it should’ve been. The kind of quiet that made the hair at the back of my neck rise, not because it was peaceful, but because it was wrong.
Moonlight streamed through the high windows, glinting off the obsidian floor, and every echo of my boots sounded like a heartbeat in the dark. My pack’s council had gathered, but their murmurs died as soon as I entered. Their eyes followed me with a blend of respect, fear, and something else. Doubt.

I could smell it on them.

I took my seat at the head of the long council table. My claws twitched under my skin, aching to surface, but I held myself still. Control. Always control. That’s what made me Alpha. That’s what made me fear.

“The reports,” I said evenly, scanning their faces. “From the healer. From the borders. Speak.”

Elder Rowan cleared his throat. “Alpha,” he began, “the healer says the Luna’s strength is fading again. The herbs aren’t working. He… he believes her body is rejecting the medicine.”

My jaw tightened. “Medicine?”

He hesitated. “Yes, Alpha. That’s what he calls it.”

“Interesting,” I said softly. “Because my Luna was walking yesterday. Breathing. Her eyes were open.”

The room went still. Not a breath dared to move.

Elder Kellan shifted uneasily. “Alpha, the healer...”

“The healer,” I cut in, my voice low, dangerous, “has been lying.”

The words hit like a growl beneath the surface. My wolf stirred inside me, sensing the deception woven in every report. For weeks, I’d allowed it, watched, waited, played along, but now the pieces were shifting too quickly.

And someone was about to get burned.

Another elder spoke, older than the rest, his voice trembling but bold. “Forgive me, Alpha, but the pack whispers. They say your judgment is clouded. That the Luna’s sickness...”

My gaze snapped to him. He stopped mid-sentence.

“Finish it,” I said softly.

He swallowed. “That her sickness… weakens your leadership.”

The silence that followed was sharp enough to cut through bone. My control slipped for a heartbeat. The gold in my eyes flared, and a faint rumble escaped my chest.

Then I stood. Slowly.

“Do you know,” I said, circling the table, “what it means to carry a pack on your back? To bleed for it? To bury your dead while the moon mocks you with light you can’t stand to look at?”

No one answered.

I slammed my hand down on the table, the wood cracking beneath my palm. “You think my Luna’s illness weakens me? You think grief breaks me?” I bared my teeth in something between a snarl and a smile. “You’ve mistaken pain for surrender.”

No one dared meet my gaze.

I leaned forward, letting my voice drop to a whisper that carried through the hall. “The day I lose control, you’ll know. Because the walls of this hall will be painted with the blood of those who doubted me.”

When I straightened, the tension snapped like a wire pulled too tight. I turned and walked away, leaving silence in my wake.

Paul was waiting by the doorway when I stepped out. His eyes followed me warily, loyal but cautious.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said under his breath.

“I should’ve done worse,” I replied.

He followed as I strode down the corridor. “The council’s rattled enough. But you’re right, something’s off. I saw the healer last night near the eastern border. He wasn’t alone.”

I stopped. “Who was with him?”

Paul’s jaw flexed. “Laura.”

The name landed like a strike to the ribs.

I exhaled slowly, the sound turning into a growl halfway through. Laura. I should’ve known she wouldn’t stay quiet. The woman had always been dangerous, the kind who thrived in the shadow between devotion and deceit.

“She said she was collecting herbs,” Paul added, though his tone said he didn’t believe it.

“At night?”

He didn’t answer. He didn’t have to.

My pulse pounded. “Keep an eye on them,” I said finally. “If they move again, I want to know where. And Paul…” I met his gaze. “If she’s involved in anything concerning Hellen, I’ll handle it personally.”

He nodded once. “Understood.”

When I reached my quarters, the storm brewing inside me refused to settle. I poured a drink I didn’t taste, pacing the length of the room. My thoughts were knives sharp, turning, slicing through fragments of memory.

Laura’s words from days ago echoed back.
“Even an Alpha needs rest.”
“You can’t lead while chained to the past.”

She’d known exactly what to say to plant doubt. The healer knew what to say to feed it. And I’d been too blinded by control to see it clearly.

I turned toward the small table where one of Hellen’s robes lay folded, the one she’d worn the night she collapsed. It still carried her scent, faint, soft, grounding. But beneath it… something else.

I froze.

The tang of ashroot.

A rare herb that one has never used for healing. It belonged to binding spells, enchantments that clouded a wolf’s senses, that drained the body from within. Poison disguised as a remedy.

The realization hit like lightning.

I grabbed the robe and crushed it in my hand, my heart thundering. They’d been feeding her poison. Slowly. Quietly. Keeping her weak, trapped between life and death while pretending to care.

The healer. Laura.

And I’d let them.

The next time I saw Laura, it was almost dawn. The corridors were empty, the silence thick. She stood near the Luna’s chamber, her hands folded, her expression serene, too serene.

“Up early?” I said, voice flat.

She turned, startled for a moment before her mask slipped back on. “Couldn’t sleep. I wanted to check on her.”

“Without the healer?”

Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “He’ll arrive soon.”

I stepped closer, close enough to smell the faint spice of her perfume, the same she’d worn the night she tried to get under my skin. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with him.”

She blinked slowly. “Is that jealousy, Alpha?”

I laughed, cold and humorless. “You wouldn’t live long enough to find out.”

Her confidence faltered for just a heartbeat. “You’re tired, Matt. Paranoid. You’ve been running on guilt and anger for too long...”

“Funny,” I cut in, “that the only ones who ever call me paranoid are the ones with something to hide.”

She tried to hold my gaze, but I saw the flicker of fear. The truth she couldn’t bury fast enough.

I leaned close. “If I find out you’ve been anywhere near the Luna’s medicine again…” My voice dropped to a growl. “You won’t make it to see another sunrise.”

I walked away before she could respond, but I could feel her stare burning into my back, not of love or remorse, but of a predator caught and cornered.

That night, a storm rolled across the mountains. Thunder shook the walls of the fortress. I stood by the window, watching lightning split the sky. My thoughts were a whirlwind of pieces of a puzzle snapping together.

Every time Hellen had been close to recovery, the healer had changed her prescription. Every time I’d tried to visit, Laura had conveniently intercepted me. And when Hellen finally woke stronger, brighter, the healer had claimed she was “regressing.”

They’d been working together. But why? What did they want?

Power? The throne? Or something far darker?

A knock broke through my thoughts.

“Come in,” I said.

A messenger wolf entered, head bowed, holding a small sealed envelope. “Found near the east tower, Alpha. No scent on it.”

I took it. The seal was plain, no mark of origin. But the moment I saw the handwriting, my pulse stopped.

Hellen’s.

I tore it open. The note was short, barely a whisper on paper.

They think I’m dying. I’m not.

For a long moment, I couldn’t breathe. My grip tightened, crumpling the edge.

She was alive, truly alive, and she knew. She’d seen what I’d only begun to suspect.

I stared out into the storm, the fire in my chest reigniting. All the doubt, the pain, and the guilt are gone. What replaced it was pure, unyielding fury.

I could feel her through the bond, faint, like a flicker of light underwater, but it was there. Alive. A heartbeat syncing with mine.

My claws itched beneath my skin.

“Paul,” I said through the link, my voice a command carried by instinct and bond.

His answer came quickly. Alpha.

“Gather the inner circle. Quietly. We move before dawn.”

For what purpose?

“To remind the traitors what happens,” I said, my voice turning low and cold, “when they play with an Alpha’s heart.”

Outside, thunder cracked again.

Inside, I folded the note, slipped it into my jacket, and stared into the storm as if I could see her on the other side of it.

“Hold on, Hellen,” I whispered. “I’m coming.”

And this time, I wasn’t saving her.
I was burning down everything that ever dared touch her.