Call to Arms
Call to Arms
###Chapter 50###
\### Call to Arms###
(Adelina’s POV)
The forest never slept again after Sylvia’s decree.
It was as if the Hollow Crescent itself had inhaled and refused to breathe out every branch stiff, every wolf wide-eyed and waiting for something terrible to arrive. Even the wind carried whispers that sounded like warnings.
And maybe they were.
The Blood Summit was two nights away. The moment Sylvia had been engineering since she branded me a traitor.
Two nights until the wolves of America decided whether I would be remembered as a heretic or a legend.
Mira’s voice cut through the dawn haze.
“Armory report, Alpha!”
Her tone was clipped, disciplined, but the exhaustion in her eyes betrayed her. She and Brin had worked through the night stocking iron blades, reforging stolen hunter weapons, organizing sentries.
I took the parchment from her and scanned it.
“Eighteen iron daggers, five long spears, three flint rifles.” I looked up. “That’s not enough.”
Mira’s jaw tightened. “We can send scavengers east, maybe find more silver rounds in the old outposts ”
“No,” I interrupted. “We’ll make do with what we have. No one leaves the perimeter until I return from Silver Keep.”
Brin, standing nearby with a bandaged arm, frowned. “You really mean to go alone?”
“That’s what she demanded,” I said, rolling the word she like venom on my tongue. “And I intend to give her exactly what she asked for. Alone doesn’t mean unarmed.”
Brin gave a humorless laugh. “Sylvia won’t expect you to come without blood on your teeth.”
“Good,” I said quietly. “Let her be surprised.”
The rogues gathered by the fire pit as the sun clawed its way over the ridge. I stood before them, hands trembling slightly behind my back.
They had followed me through fear and loss through betrayal, exile, and flame. They weren’t soldiers; they were survivors. Scarred, outcast, half-broken wolves who had chosen to stand beside me anyway.
And now I was asking them to face the most powerful wolf alive.
“Many of you know the decree,” I began. “Sylvia of Silver Keep has called for my head. But she hasn’t just declared war on me she’s declared war on all of us. On anyone who was ever told they were less because of their blood, their birth, their choices.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
“Every pack that kneels to her believes she’s preserving order. But what she’s really doing is killing evolution our right to grow, to change. She fears what doesn’t bow.”
Mira’s voice carried from the second row. “So what do we do when they come?”
I looked at her. “We remind them who we are.”
The Hollow Den transformed in a matter of hours.
Rogues became militia. The forest itself became a labyrinth of traps, alarms, and warding symbols carved into bark. Wolves with no pack name took on ranks.
I moved among them, offering what little guidance I could training a young she-wolf how to parry with iron, showing a pair of twins how to listen for a hunter’s step. But every so often, my hand would drift toward my stomach. Toward the faint, steady rhythm that pulsed within.
Lux.
Her presence had become stronger lately brighter somehow, like moonlight behind a cloud. There were moments when I swore I could feel her emotions brushing against mine: curiosity, calm, then a flicker of warmth that wasn’t entirely human.
“She’s listening,” I whispered as I tightened the strap of a scout’s armor.
Mira heard me. “The child?”
I nodded.
“She’ll have the Moon Matron’s strength,” Mira said softly. “You can feel it.”
“Yes,” I replied. “But power doesn’t come without cost. I just don’t know whose blood the Moon will ask for next.”
By midday, Caleb returned from the northern ridge, a layer of frost on his cloak. His expression told me everything before he spoke.
“They’ve begun moving,” he said.
“How many?”
“Too many. Sylvia’s Guard, the Silver Fang warriors, and half a dozen lesser Alphas who pledged allegiance last night. They’re marching toward Silver Keep. She means to present them as proof of unity at the Summit.”
A chill swept through me. “And Dax?”
“He’s under heavy guard, still confined to the manor. But I intercept
ed a healer leaving his wing. They’re still feeding him the suppressant.”