Chapter 71
{Nox’s POV}
“I will make them see you for the monster you are, Aurelius.”
It was easy to say. But much harder to work on because I had no real trails to follow.
My eyes followed the various faces that filled the streets, maybe I'd see someone with a huge “I did it” sign on their back…
‘You've got to be kidding me…’
I spotted her again.
Same direction. Same look on her face.
I watched Kiara move toward the Snow Pack with that damn robe on again, head down.
I told her not to go to Ryanna.
I was off the wall before I even realized it, boots hitting the dirt with more force than necessary. She hadn’t made it far. One swift lunge, a little pull, and she was off the path and in the alley beside the old smithy.
Before she could howl, I placed my palms over her mouth.
“Didn’t I tell you not to go to her?” I asked pointedly.
Kiara blinked hard, her feet dragging slightly on the gravel as she stumbled to a stop. “I wasn’t—I wasn’t going to Ryanna.”
“No?” I arched a brow. “Because it sure looks like you were.”
She tugged her robe tighter. “I was going to pass something to one of the Council wolves.”
I didn’t budge. “What?”
“It’s not for you,” she snapped, eyes narrowing. “I don’t even know who you are.”
It was then she realised she wasn’t even supposed to say that. Smart girl.
I pondered over her words for a moment, thinking about how I would have acted in that situation. Then I replied:
“Fine.” I took a long deep breath and reached up, pulling my hood back, then pulled the scarf off my face.
Her eyes widened.
“You—” she blinked again, stepping back a little. “You’re Osiri’s bro—”
“Pipe down.” I cut her off with a sharp gesture.
“Now… give me whatever it is you planned on passing to the ‘Council’.”
She hesitated. “I don’t know if I can trust you.”
“And yet you were going to give it to someone in the Council?” I said, taking a step closer. “You think you know every member of the Council?”
“I—”
“Kiara.”
She moaned, then reached into the folds of her robe.
When she dragged her hand out, she held a small piece of cloth, singed around the edges like it was ripped off, and it reeked of blood.
“I was able to tear it off one of the rogues… or whoever they were,” she said. “Before I was knocked out.”
I took it gently from her hand, letting the scent hit me in full this time.
This was my trail.
“Thank you,” I said.
She stepped backward, her gaze on me like she wasn’t sure what came next. Then she turned, took a few more steps toward the road nd stopped.
“Please, avenge Casper.”
I nodded once. “I will.”
×××
It didn’t take long to catch a lifeline. The scent was buried under other things, like whoever it belonged to had layered their presence with too many other wolves to keep clean. But I knew what I was looking for now.
I moved quickly as the scent got stronger.
I kept thinking about Kiara’s face. How much she needed someone to tell her what she knew. But she was scared of her father. Aurelius wasn't the only terrible parent.
‘Like Alpha, like Beta.’ I scoffed.
When I find whoever wore this…
They’ll wish I’d handed them to Aurelius.
But then—
I froze.
The scent wasn’t getting stronger anymore.
It was gone. Well, not gone, it just shifted…
Just like that.
I followed the track down a slope, toward a broken thicket near the stream’s edge — It was then I realised just how far from the pack I'd gotten — just in time to see a body slump to the ground.
Three figures stood over it, cloaked fully and bearing no house sigils.
But I knew who they were.
Aurelius’s men.
They moved with that familiar sync. Not a word between them. The one on the left knelt, rifled through the dead wolf’s body, and held something up to the moonlight.
A seal fragment. It was a fake, but Aurelius wasn't the type to leave traces that would lead back to him.
Damn it.
They were cleaning house.
I squatted in the shadow of a low boulder, just close enough to hear.
“…that makes four,” one of them muttered. “Still a couple more left on the rotation. For tomorrow morning, and the dawn shift.”
“They sure about the pacing?” another one asked. “Seems risky keeping them alive this long.”
“Orders from you know who,” the third said, adjusting his gloves. “If we kill them all at once, it raises suspicion. So we spread it out, less noise and easier to cover up.”
“And this guy?” The second one gestured at the corpse. “Wasn’t he already dying from that Casper kid's attacks?”
“Doesn’t matter. Orders are orders. Nobody involved in the Casper hit lives.”
My hands balled into fists.
They weren’t just killing participants. They were tying up every loose end.
I couldn’t let that happen.
They were already moving again, starting toward the tree line. I didn’t give them the chance.
I launched out from the boulder, my body moving faster than thought as I caught the first one across the jaw with a sharp elbow. Next, I spun and ducked as the second one swung with his claws. His reaction time was good. But not good enough.
Bones crunched as I caught him in the ribs with a clean uppercut, then dropped him with a second blow to the back of his neck.
The third tried to bolt. I attacked him mid-step and slammed him hard into the dirt, then twisted his arm behind his back until he yelled.
“Where are the others?” I hissed.
He spat blood, tried to wriggle free. I slammed his head back down.
“Where?”
“We split the list,” he gasped. “I don’t—I don’t know who got which targets!”
“Then you’re useless.”
I got hold of his coat, ripping through the lining until I found what I needed. A list. Handwritten, with six targets total. Half scratched out. Two still circled.
‘Two targets as in people or two locations?’
I patted the other bodies, found another set of notes. Confirmed it.
They were killing the wolves involved in the Casper hit at intervals. Coordinated to look like accidents or disappearances. Before long, they’d all be gone.
I sat back for a second, the weight of it hitting harder than I expected.
This was a full cover-up. One must have failed to catch up on time. Each passing day only makes the cover-up cleaner.
I was still staring at the list when I heard a click behind me. A faint crunch of tooth on crystal.
I spun too late.
The man I’d knocked down, the one I’d searched already, had something clenched between his teeth.
“NO!”
A sharp blue glow burst from his mouth, crackling light rushing through his skull as his eyes rolled back.
Boom.
I hit the ground hard.
Flames licked the edge of my coat.
My ribs lit up with fire, and my shoulder was screaming.
The blast had blown the whole ridge back into the streambed.
My ears rang. My vision swam.
But I was still alive.
Barely.