Chapter 6 Six
CHAPTER SIX
Sara’s POV
The moment Xenon said I was coming with him, the courtyard seemed to pull inward. Eyes turned. Warriors paused mid-training. Conversations fell away like the world was waiting to see what the Alpha would do.
Xenon didn’t wait for my reaction. His hand closed around my wrist again, steady and warm, guiding me with a silent force that left no room for argument. Not dominance. Not aggression. Something else I couldn’t name.
Urgency.
Fear.
Possession.
Every step he took tightened the air between us. My pulse raced. My breath faltered. His hold wasn’t painful, but it was firm, as if letting go meant something dangerous.
“Xenon,” I whispered. “Where are we going?”
“To the council chamber,” he said. “There are things you need to hear.”
Before I could ask what he meant, Ryker appeared from the opposite hallway, tension etched across his face.
“Alpha. The council is assembled.”
Xenon gave a sharp nod. “Good.”
Ryker’s gaze landed on me then flicked to our linked hands. His brows lifted slightly, but he did not comment. Instead he stepped aside, allowing us to pass.
Xenon led me through the pack house, turning into a wing lined with tall carved doors. The air here felt older. Heavier. Sacred. A place where decisions were made. Where truths were swallowed before they could ruin the pack.
When we reached the last door, Xenon finally let go.
My skin tingled where his fingers had been.
“Stay behind me,” he said.
I nodded even though every part of me felt exposed.
Xenon pushed the door open.
The council chamber was circular, lit by a row of torches that cast long shadows against stone walls. Elders and high-ranked wolves sat in a ring around a central table. Their gazes sharpened the moment I stepped inside.
Adrian stood near the far end. Kael, the healer master, beside him.
The elder in the center, a man with a silver beard and eyes too sharp for comfort, leaned forward.
“Alpha,” he said. “You summoned us at dawn.”
Xenon stepped into the center of the room. “A rogue infiltrated the healer wing last night.”
Murmurs.
Fear.
Anger.
“And he left this.” Xenon placed the pendant on the table. The symbols glinted in the firelight.
One of the elders inhaled sharply. “That is not possible.”
“It is very possible,” Xenon replied.
My stomach tightened. “What is it?”
Kael turned toward me, his eyes filled with concern. “A sigil. From an ancient rogue faction.”
The same fear I heard nights ago when my father died whispered through my bones.
“But why leave it?” I asked.
“To deliver a message,” Kael said. “And to claim responsibility.”
Xenon’s gaze landed on me, voice rough. “The note we found confirms it.”
Adrian produced the crumpled piece of paper and unfolded it. The words stared back at me again.
We found her.
My breath hitched.
One of the elders looked at Xenon. “Her. You mean the girl?”
I stiffened at the word. Girl. Like I was a child who wandered into danger I did not understand.
Xenon’s expression darkened. “Her name is Sara.”
The room fell quiet.
Kael studied me again. “Child, has anything like this happened before? Anyone following you? Anything suspicious from your previous pack?”
I swallowed hard. “No.”
Xenon moved closer, his presence suddenly behind me, solid and grounding.
“Think carefully,” he said quietly.
I closed my eyes.
Think.
Faces. Memories. Broken moments.
The night my father died.
His last words.
The scent of smoke.
The shadow that pulled him away.
The warning he whispered before his breath stopped.
“Don’t trust them. They want what you carry.”
My breath turned shallow.
Xenon stepped in front of me. “Sara?”
My voice shook. “My father said something before he died.”
The room stilled.
“What did he say?” Xenon asked.
I forced the words out. “He said not to trust them. That someone wanted what I carried. But I don’t know what it meant.”
Adrian frowned. “What you carried? Did he give you anything?”
“No.”
“Did he hide something?” Ryker asked.
“I don’t know.”
Xenon looked at Adrian. “Search records from Eastwood. See if her father had contact with any rogue factions.”
Adrian nodded and left immediately.
The elder with the silver beard leaned forward. “Child, your presence here may not be coincidence.”
Xenon glared at him. “Her presence is under my command.”
“Even so,” the elder continued, “if the rogues are searching for her, then something she holds is valuable. Perhaps she is not aware of it.”
My hands trembled. “I don’t have anything.”
Xenon’s voice softened. “Maybe not something physical.”
My heart raced. “What else would there be?”
Kael exchanged a look with the council. A frightening one.
“There are bloodlines,” he said. “Rare ones. Old ones. There are abilities passed through families that are dormant until triggered.”
I shook my head. “No. That cannot be me.”
“Perhaps not,” Kael said gently. “But rogues do not target without purpose.”
Xenon stepped between me and the council. “That is enough speculation.”
“It is necessary,” the elder argued.
“No,” Xenon said. “What is necessary is finding out who entered my territory.”
Every wolf in the room lowered their eyes.
Authority poured off him like a rising wave.
Kael spoke again, quieter. “Alpha. The sigil the intruder left behind belongs to the Shadow Creed.”
The name chilled the room.
Ryker returned, tension clear in his jaw. “The archives confirm their symbol. They vanished years ago.”
“They did not vanish,” Xenon said. “They hid.”
Kael nodded. “And they retrieve only what they deem important. They do not waste time.”
The elder looked at me again. “Sara. Something in your past is tied to them.”
Xenon snapped. “Enough.”
He placed a hand on my shoulder. Warm. Firm. Protective.
The elder’s eyes narrowed. “Alpha, you cannot shield her forever.”
“I can shield her as long as I need to.”
The elder stood slowly. “Then you should be prepared for war.”
My breath caught. Xenon’s fingers tightened slightly on my shoulder.
“I always am,” he said quietly.
Minutes later we walked down the corridor in silence. Xenon’s steps were sharp and measured. Mine were quiet, my mind spiraling.
He finally stopped outside his private wing. He turned toward me.
“Do not panic,” he said.
I looked up at him. “They think I am part of something I don’t understand.”
“They think,” he replied, “not know.”
“And if they are right?”
“They are not.”
“How can you be sure?”
He looked at me with a seriousness that pulled me still.
“Because I would know if you carried darkness in you.”
My breath caught.
He took a step closer. “Sara. Listen to me. Whatever they want, whatever reason they are here, it is not going to touch you. I will not allow it.”
His voice was low. Heavy with something I shouldn’t feel from a man who rejected me.
My chest tightened painfully. “You cannot protect me from everything.”
He held my gaze. “I will protect you from this.”
“Why?”
His jaw clenched. His silence stretched.
Finally he said in a rough whisper, “Because I cannot lose you to something I don’t understand.”
My heart twisted.
Before I could reply, Ryker ran toward us from the far end of the hall.
“Alpha,” he said urgently. “We found something else.”
Xenon stepped forward. “What?”
Ryker hesitated before answering.
“A second message.”
Xenon’s eyes darkened. “Where?”
Ryker swallowed. “Outside your quarters.”
My blood ran cold.
Ryker handed him a folded piece of paper.
Xenon opened it.
His expression froze.
Then he turned the paper to me.
A single sentence.
She does not belong to you.
The world shifted beneath my feet.
Xenon crushed the note in his hand.
His voice dropped to something dark and dangerous.
“They are wrong.”
I swallowed. “Xenon…”
“They are wrong,” he repeated.
And as he pulled me behind him, his body radiating tension and fire, I realized something terrifying.
The rogues were not just hunting me.
They were claiming me.
And Xenon was about to start a war he had no intention of losing.