Chapter 215 Blame

Chapter 215 Blame
The accusations started quietly.
At first, they were nothing more than whispers exchanged between patrols, small comments made during passing conversations that seemed harmless enough to ignore.
A Frostfang scout claiming that Crescent Moon had crossed too close to their borders two days ago.
A Crescent Moon warrior insisting that Frostfang had been watching their movements for days.
They were small disagreements, the kind that would have normally been handled privately between leaders before they had the chance to grow into something serious.
But this time, they did not disappear.
Instead, they spread.
The tension that had once been contained between a few individuals slowly moved through both territories, becoming something sharper and far more dangerous.
By the end of the week, neither side was willing to believe the other had simply made a mistake. The festival would be over in a few days, but the celebration was already being overshadowed by suspicion.
Piper stood near the edge of the training grounds, watching two groups of warriors argue across the field. She had barely seen Archie over the past few days, and after everything that had happened between them, she found herself thinking about how different things had felt before everything became complicated.
The tension between every pack was impossible to ignore.
Frostfang stood on one side, their expressions guarded and their voices filled with suspicion. Crescent Moon stood opposite them, their own patience wearing thin after days of constant accusations.
Neither group looked willing to listen.
They were too focused on proving the other side was wrong.
“This is exactly what they want,” Piper muttered beside Ember.
Ember glanced at her.
“What?”
Piper crossed her arms, keeping her eyes on the argument unfolding in front of them.
“Whatever is happening, it’s working. They aren’t even trying to find the person causing these problems anymore. They’re too busy trying to prove the other side is responsible.”
Ember remained silent.
Someone was pushing both sides toward the same outcome.
Distrust.
Anger.
Division.
The same things that had destroyed alliances before.
A Frostfang warrior stepped forward, his voice carrying across the training grounds.
“You expect us to ignore what happened near our territory? Your people were there.”
A Crescent Moon member immediately stepped forward, his expression hardening.
“And you expect us to believe your patrol wasn’t involved when the evidence keeps pointing directly toward you?”
“The evidence points toward whoever you want it to point toward.”
“That’s because every time something happens, Frostfang somehow ends up nearby.”
“And every time we investigate, Crescent Moon has another excuse.”
The argument continued, growing louder with every exchange.
Piper watched the faces surrounding them.
The fear.
The anger.
The absolute certainty that they were right.
That was the most dangerous part.
Nobody believed they were being manipulated.
A few days earlier, a missing supply shipment had been blamed on Crescent Moon.
Before that, a damaged boundary marker had been blamed on Frostfang.
A patrol route that had somehow been exposed became another reason for suspicion.
A warning message that reached the wrong person became another piece of evidence proving someone’s betrayal.
Each incident was added to an ever-growing list.
Each side collected their own proof.
And every new piece of proof only strengthened their belief that the other pack was responsible.
Piper eventually turned away from the crowd, unable to ignore the uneasy feeling settling in her chest.
“This feels familiar,” she said quietly.
Ember looked at her.
“Familiar how?”
Piper looked toward the distant forest beyond the territory.
“Like someone is recreating something.”
The words remained between them.
Because they both understood what she meant.
The disappearances.
The old conflicts.
The way fear had been used before to turn people against each other.
Someone had done this before.
Someone had taken old wounds and reopened them.
Ember’s expression changed as the realisation settled in.
“You think this is connected?”
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”
Piper looked back toward the arguing warriors.
“They aren’t just causing problems. They’re following a pattern.”
For the next several days, Piper and Ember focused on every incident that had pushed Frostfang and Crescent Moon further apart.
But they did not investigate the way the packs were investigating.
They were not searching for who was guilty.
They were searching for what connected everything.
They compared reports, questioned patrol members, and followed every detail that seemed too insignificant for everyone else to notice.
At first, there was nothing.
Only scattered problems.
Random conflicts.
Events that appeared unrelated.
But the longer they looked, the more familiar details began appearing.
A person who had been seen near an area shortly before something happened.
A message that had passed through too many hands before reaching its destination.
A warning that arrived just late enough to create suspicion but not early enough to stop anything.
Someone was not creating chaos directly.
They were guiding it.
“This is getting tiring and confusing,” Ember said one night, exhaling deeply as they studied the notes spread across the table. “They’re leaving a trail.”
Piper looked over the information carefully.
“Not intentionally.”
Ember raised an eyebrow.
“You think they’re careless?”
“No.”
Piper tapped one of the reports.
“I think they want people to follow the wrong trail.”
The realisation settled heavily between them.
The person behind everything was not simply hiding.
They were controlling where everyone looked.
They wanted Frostfang blaming Crescent Moon.
They wanted Crescent Moon blaming Frostfang.
They wanted both packs so focused on each other that nobody noticed the person manipulating them from the shadows.
Piper traced the connections again.
The locations.
The timing.
The names mentioned only briefly.
Then she stopped.
Ember noticed immediately.
“What?”
Piper did not answer.
Her eyes moved over the notes again, searching through every detail they had collected.
At the exact point where everything had started changing.
“Cecil,” Piper whispered.
Ember went still.
“Cecil?”
Piper slowly nodded.
“She was there.”
Cecil had disappeared from everyone’s attention for a reason.
While everyone else was searching for enemies, accusations, and traitors within the packs, someone had made sure nobody looked toward her.
Piper gathered the notes from the table.
“We need to find out what happened.”
Ember looked uncertain.
“You think Cecil is behind this?”
Piper shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
She looked toward the window, where the darkness covered the forest beyond.
“But I think someone wants us to believe she is.”
That was the part that frightened her.
Every time they thought they were getting closer to the truth, they discovered another layer of deception waiting beneath it.
And now the trail they had followed had led them to someone who had already vanished.
Cecil.
Piper held the notes tighter in her hands.
“Tomorrow, we follow the trail.”
Neither of them knew what they would find.
They only knew one thing.
Someone had spent years making sure history repeated itself.