Chapter 31 Kaden's POV
The attack came in the middle of the night.
I was in my office, going over security protocols for the hundredth time, when the alarm sounded. Not the standard border alert, this was the emergency signal. The one we only used when wolves were dying.
My phone rang before I could move.
"Alpha, we are under attack!" It was Marcus, one of my border patrol leaders.
His voice was strained, panicked. "Eastern border multiple hostiles we need backup now!"
I was already running. "How many?"
"I don't know! They came out of nowhere. We've got wolves down. Three confirmed dead. More injured. They're-" His voice cut off into a scream.
"Marcus? Marcus!"
The line went dead.
I burst out of my office and nearly collided with Ethan, who was running down the hallway.
"I heard the alarm," he said. "What's happening?”
"Attack on the eastern border, get every available warrior and meet me there. Now!"
We split up. Ethan went to gather the warriors while I shifted and ran. My wolf was faster than any vehicle, and right now, speed was everything.
The eastern border was fifteen minutes away at full sprint. I pushed myself harder, my paws pounding against the earth, my heart racing with fear and fury.
My wolves were dying and my pack was under attack. I could smell it before I saw blood smoke death.
The border patrol station was chaotic when I arrived. Wolves were scattered across the clearing, some fighting, some on the ground, some not moving at all.
The attackers were dressed in dark clothing, their faces covered, moving with a coordination that spoke of training and experience.
Rogues but not normal rogues, these were organized and disciplined deadly.
I shifted mid-leap and slammed into the nearest attacker, taking him to the ground. My claws tore through his chest before he could react.
"Alpha!" One of my warriors, a young wolf named Derek, was fighting off two attackers at once. Blood streamed down his face from a gash across his forehead.
I grabbed one of his attackers by the throat and snapped his neck. Derek dispatched the other with a vicious strike to the heart.
"How many are there?" I demanded.
"At least twenty, maybe more, they are not fighting like normal rogues. They are working together coordinating."
That confirmed my suspicion. These weren't random attackers. This was planned.
More of my warriors arrived, streaming into the clearing. Ethan was at the front, already shifted, his wolf form massive and powerful.
"Take the left flank!" I shouted. "Drive them back toward the forest!"
My warriors obeyed immediately, forming a line and pushing forward. The attackers began to fall back, but they didn't flee. They retreated in an organized formation, covering each other, dragging their wounded with them.
The professional military was bad.
We fought for what felt like hours but was probably only twenty minutes. The attackers finally broke and ran, disappearing into the forest beyond our borders. Some of my wolves wanted to pursue, but I called them back.
"Let them go! Tend to the wounded!"
The clearing fell quiet except for the sounds of groaning and crying. I looked around and felt sick.
Bodies everywhere, my wolves young and old. Warriors and patrol members. All dead or dying.
"Get the healers here now!" I ordered.
"And I want a perimeter established. Double guards on every border. If they come back, I want a warning."
Ethan shifted back to human form, his body covered in blood and cuts. "We lost at least ten, maybe more and there are twice that many injured."
Ten dead In a single attack.
I moved through the clearing, checking on my wolves. Some were being tended to by pack members who knew basic first aid. Others were beyond help.
I found Marcus near the border station. He was alive but badly hurt. A deep gash ran from his shoulder to his ribs, and his left arm hung at an unnatural angle.
"Marcus." I knelt beside him. "Help is coming. Just hold on."
"Alpha." He grabbed my arm with his good hand.
"They weren't trying to breach the border. They were sending a message."
"What do you mean?"
"They could have pushed through and could have kept coming. But they stopped. I fell back deliberately."
He coughed, blood flecking his lips. "They wanted us to see something."
"See what?"
Marcus's eyes drifted to the bodies of the fallen attackers. "Check them you will understand."
I stood and moved to the nearest dead attacker. I rolled him over and pulled down the mask covering his face.
Young, maybe twenty-five. Unfamiliar. But his chest bore something that made my blood run cold.
A brand burned into his skin over his heart.
Three symbols arranged in a triangle.
Erebus's mark.
"No," I whispered.
"No, it can't be."
I moved to another body, the same mark, another same mark. Every single attacker bore Erebus's symbol burned into their chest.
"Ethan!" I called.
He came immediately. "What is it?"
I showed him the mark and watched his face go pale.
"It's them," He said quietly.
"It is really them. Erebus's followers are real, they are here."
"This was a scouting mission," I said, the pieces falling into place. "They wanted to test our defenses. See how we respond. How many warriors we have. How quickly we can mobilize."
"They're planning something bigger."
"Yes."
I stood and looked out at the forest where the attackers had disappeared. Somewhere out there, in the darkness, they were regrouping. Planning. Preparing for whatever came next.
And we'd just given them exactly what they wanted, information about our capabilities.
The healers arrived and began tending to the wounded. I helped where I could, moving bodies, applying pressure to wounds, offering what comfort I could to the dying.
Erebus's followers had done this. Had killed my wolves. Had turned my border into a slaughterhouse.
And this was just the beginning.
"Alpha." One of my warriors approached, his expression grim. "You need to see this."
He led me to the edge of the clearing, where three bodies had been arranged in a deliberate pattern. My wolves are all dead, all positioned carefully.
And carved into the tree behind them were the symbols. The same three marks, carved deep into the bark, still fresh enough that sap bled from the cuts.
But there were some other words carved beneath the symbols.
‘The old ways return. The false Alphas will fall. Erebus rises.’
"They left a message," the warrior said unnecessarily.
I stared at the words, feeling ice spread through my veins.
This wasn't just an attack. It was a declaration of war.
"Get everyone back to the pack house," I ordered. "Now. I want all non-essential personnel behind secure walls. Warriors on rotation, four-hour shifts. No one goes anywhere alone."
"What about the other borders?"
"Triple the patrols. If they hit the east, they might hit the others too. I want eyes everywhere."
The warrior nodded and ran to relay the orders.
Ethan came to stand beside me, looking at the message carved into the tree.
"This is really happening," he said.
"Everything we read about everything we thought was just history. It's happening again."
"Yes."
"What do we do?"
"We prepare for war," I said. "We strengthen our defenses. We reach out to allied packs. And we find out everything we can about Erebus and his followers."
"And Elara?"
The mention of her name made my chest tighten. She was safe in the pack house. Protected. But for how long?
"She stays under maximum security. No one gets near her except people I personally approve of. If Erebus's followers are back, if they're targeting Alphas and their packs, then Elara and the baby are in more danger than ever."
"Because of the lunar pulse."
"Yes. A child blessed by the Moon Goddess? Erebus's followers would either want to control it or destroy it maybe both."
We stood in silence for a moment, looking at the carnage around us.
Then Ethan spoke quietly. "The pack is going to be terrified. Ten dead in a single night. A message from a group we thought was extinct. What do we tell them?"
"The truth. They deserve to know what we're facing."
"That might cause panic."
"Panic is better than ignorance. They need to understand the threat so they can protect themselves."
The sun was beginning to rise by the time we finished securing the area and transporting the wounded back to the pack house. The bodies of the fallen were handled with care and respect, each one wrapped and carried by their packmates.
I stayed until the last body was removed. Until the last drop of blood was documented. Until I'd memorized every detail of this massacre.
Because I would not forget. Would not let this go unpunished.
Erebus's followers thought they could terrorize my pack. Thought they could send their message and walk away.
They were wrong.