CHAPTER 20

Chapter 20

I walked down to the holding cells as soon as the sun rose. Julius sat on the narrow bench, his head in his hands. When he heard my footsteps, he looked up.

"Alpha."

"I'm sorry." The words felt inadequate. "The security footage proved you were innocent. The servant lied. You were set up."

Julius stood slowly, his jaw tight. "You believed I would betray you. That I would touch your mate."

"I know. And I was wrong." I unlocked the cell door myself. "I let someone manipulate me into doubting you. That's on me."

He stepped out, rubbing his wrists where the silver cuffs had been. "Who did this?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." I gestured for him to follow me. "But I need your help."

We walked in silence until we reached my office. Once inside, Julius finally spoke.

"The day after the ceremony, something weird happened." He leaned against the wall. "I always charge my phone on my left nightstand. Always. But when I got back from helping with cleanup, I found it on the right side."

"Someone moved it."

"Someone was in my room." Julius's eyes hardened. "I thought maybe I was being paranoid after everything with the poisoning. But now..."

"Now we know someone planted Violet's underwear there." I pulled up the master key log on my computer. "Only three people have keys to all quarters. Me, the head housekeeper Mrs. Dana, and…"

"Elena," Julius finished quietly.

I didn't want to believe it. Elena had been part of my life since we were children. But the evidence kept pointing in her direction.

"I need to question that servant again," I said. "The one who claimed she saw Violet at your quarters."

We found the young wolf, Sarah, working in the kitchens. When she saw me, her face went pale.

"Sarah, I need the truth," I said firmly. "Did you really see Luna Violet at Beta Julius's quarters that night?"

Her hands shook as she set down the dish she was holding. "Alpha, I…"

"The truth."

Tears filled her eyes. "No. I never saw her. Elena paid me to say I did. She said it was a test of loyalty, that she'd tell you afterward it was just to see if I could be trusted with sensitive information."

My blood ran cold. "She paid you?"

"Yes. But then she came back the next day and said if I told anyone, she'd make sure my family lost their housing in the pack." Sarah's voice broke. "My mother is sick. We can't afford to leave. I'm so sorry, Alpha. I was scared."

Julius cursed under his breath.

"You did the right thing by telling me now," I said, though fury burned through my veins. "You and your family are under my protection. Elena won't touch you."

After Sarah left, I stood there trying to process what I'd just learned. Elena. The woman I'd trusted my entire life. The woman who'd held me when my first mate died.

A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. Thomas, one of my younger warriors, stepped inside hesitantly.

"Alpha? Can I speak with you privately?"

"Of course."

Thomas glanced at Julius, then back at me. "It's about Luna Violet. And Beta Julius."

"Go on."

"After the medical supplies kept going missing from the healer's office, I installed a backup camera. I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want whoever was stealing to know they were being watched." He pulled out his phone. "But I think you need to see this footage. It's from the day you... the day you found them together."

He played the video. I watched as Julius entered the healer's office where Violet was resting. They talked for a moment, then Violet lay face down on the bed. Julius's hands moved to her shoulders, clearly working on the muscle tension in her back.

It was completely professional. Clinical, even.

But then I saw movement in the doorway. Elena appeared, watching them. She stood there for several minutes, her face calculating. Then she left.

The timestamp showed she returned twenty minutes later—with me.

"She knew," I breathed. "She saw it was innocent and still…"

"There's more," Thomas said quietly. "I asked the healer about it. He said he was supposed to help Luna Violet with her back pain that day, but Elena told him she was busy and suggested Julius instead."

Julius's eyes widened. "She set the whole thing up."

My wolf snarled, pushing against my control. Elena had orchestrated everything. The massage. The discovery. The planted evidence. All of it.

"Why would she do this?" I asked, though part of me already knew the answer.

Before anyone could respond, alarms blared throughout the packhouse.

I ran to the window. In the distance, smoke rose from the eastern border.

My phone rang. It was Axel, one of the guards I'd assigned to Violet.

"Alpha! Rogues attacking the eastern border. At least fifty of them, organized and armed."

Fifty rogues didn't just gather randomly. This was planned.

"Julius, take command of the eastern defense," I ordered. "Thomas, gather the warriors."

"Yes, Alpha!"

They ran out, and I stood there for a moment, my instincts screaming. The timing was too convenient. Elena's plan falls apart, and suddenly we're under attack?

Elena appeared in my doorway, slightly out of breath. "Damian! I heard the alarms. I can help coordinate evacuations, get the elderly and children to the safe houses…"

"No." I kept my voice level. "I need you at the command center. Help coordinate supply lines and communication."

Her smile faltered. "But I'm better with people. I should…"

"Command center, Elena. That's an order."

For just a second, her mask slipped. Frustration flashed in her eyes, sharp and cold. Then she smoothed it away, nodding with a tight smile.

"Of course, Alpha."

She left, and I immediately called Axel. "Where's Violet?"

"In her room with Ryan. We haven't left her side."

"Good. Lock down that floor. No one gets up there without my direct authorization. I don't care who they are or what they say."

"Understood."

I pulled up the security feeds, watching the chaos unfold at the eastern border. The rogues were organized, hitting our weakest points with precision. Someone had given them information about our defenses.

Someone who knew our patrol rotations. Our blind spots. Our vulnerabilities.

I switched cameras to the command center where Elena was supposed to be coordinating supplies. The room was full of pack members working frantically—but Elena's station was empty.

I checked the timestamp. She'd been gone for ten minutes.

I pulled up more feeds, scanning for her location. Kitchen—no. Training grounds—no. Healer's wing—no.

Then I found her. Eastern corridor, near the archives. Walking quickly, checking over her shoulder.

She stopped at a door I recognized—the old records room that connected to the underground tunnels. Tunnels that led outside pack territory.

Elena pulled out her phone, typed something quickly, then slipped through the door.

I was already moving, running down the stairs. My mind raced with questions. Was she fleeing? Meeting someone?

When I reached the corridor, the door to the records room stood slightly ajar.

I pushed it open slowly. The room was dark except for the emergency lights. Rows of old filing cabinets cast long shadows.

"Elena?" I called out.

Silence.

I moved deeper into the room, toward the tunnel entrance at the back. That's when I saw it—her phone, lying face-up on the floor. The screen was still lit with an unsent message.

I picked it up and read the words: "He knows. Get me out of here!"

A sound behind me made me spin around.

The door slammed shut. The lock clicked.

And somewhere in the darkness, I heard footsteps running away through the tunnels.