Chapter seven

Draven's POV

The wind outside the encampment howled like something alive, dragging through the thin canvas walls and rattling the iron fixtures with restless fury.

Night had fallen hard over the territory, swallowing the land in a cold darkness that felt heavier than usual, as though the sky itself was pressing down in anticipation of something unsaid.

Even the fires outside burned low, their glow trembling against the shadows that moved between tents like wary ghosts. Nothing about the night felt safe. Nothing about it felt still.

And I knew, without needing anyone to tell me, that whatever had crossed into my borders tonight had already shifted the balance of everything I thought I controlled.

“We can’t take her in, Lord Draven. We can’t make that mistake,” Thor, my beta’s voice shot out the second I reached my private quarters.

I hadn’t even settled down when he began, nor had I thought of what to do with the girl.

She seemed loud mouthed. Yes. Loud mouthed and bold. Fearless even. For years I’ve watched people who were stronger than her and even in higher authority than she currently was cower at my feet, unable to talk back at me or even meet my gaze to my face. But she had broken that. She not only spoke to me but was disrespectful about it, showing not an atom of fear when she reminded me of harsh memories that could have made me kill her.

She didn’t fear for her life, nor even the fact that she was a wolf from Moonstone Pack and in the midst of rogues.

“Lord Draven, you can’t. Don’t forget what the rogues would say. She’s a lady from Moonstone Pack and from the men chasing her, she seems like their Luna. Taking her in is only going to make us be in bad blood with Moonstone. That is enough for them to wage war against us!”

“Should we keep on running, scared that they might wage a war against us then?” I snapped, hitting my hand on the table.

No longer acting disinterested like I had earlier, or pretending not to hear what he was saying.

Thor’s lips flew open as he stared at me, either in shock or confusion, I couldn’t tell which one it was.

He had always known me to be one who wanted to avoid war by all means. Hearing me speak against my previous plans suddenly didn’t sit well with him.

“Don’t tell me…” he began before his voice trailed off.

Thor was wise. Wise and advanced in age, not just skilled in combat. It was the reason I had made him my beta. So it wasn’t a surprise when he was very quick to catch up with what was happening.

“Has the young lady’s words gotten to you, Alpha? Is that why you’re suddenly relenting on the mantra we’ve always followed all these years? Please reconsider!” he shouted, throwing himself on the floor as he knelt before me.

“We’ve lost a lot of our brothers in the constant fights at the border with the wolves of Moonstone Pack. We’ve lost our families! We rogues decided to follow you because of your strong and unwavering leadership, are you going to throw it all away because a…” He paused, unable to finish what he wanted to say, scared that he might appear disrespectful.

The silence that followed was heavier than his words.

Because deep down, even I knew something had already shifted the moment she looked at me without fear.

“What if this were a ruse? Everyone of us knows how desperate your brother and his son are to go to war with you. We’ve only been able to prevent it all these years, scared of losing our men… what if this was a plan of theirs to make sure that there is a just reason for them to attack us?” he went on.

My gaze faltered for a while and I found myself staring at him.

I didn’t know what to believe either. If this was fate and Bella wasn’t in danger, if she had been sent here with the intention of making me believe that I needed to go to war, if it had all been planned to make me take her in, seeing her as helpless while Ronan would use the excuse that I had taken his mate to attack my rogues.

“She might even be a spy planted by them, to watch your movements and report back to them. Everyone knows how your reputation has spread all over their packs. It’s only understandable that they are scared that you would take actions against them, which is why they’re taking precautions to prevent that.”

I hadn’t even been given a moment to think when he went on with his explanations.

I was speechless and unsure of what to believe. He was making sense, but a part of my mind wanted me to believe that Bella was truly helpless. A part of me truly wanted to believe that she had come here with genuine intentions, and not as a spy.

The way I had seen her running, the way the guards of Moonstone Pack were even chasing her, it didn’t look as if she had been in their good books. That was a treatment given to wolves they were in bad blood with. How could someone in such a situation be a spy?

“The highest we can do right now is to hand her some tales of silver and send her away from the encampment. She’ll be able to survive the night with it. Away from us,” he went on.

“She’s only here to incite you into going into an unplanned war with Ronan so that he would finish you off with his wolves. Of course we shouldn’t fall for such a cheap trick.”

My mind was all over the place as I didn’t know what to believe. But just as I was thinking, a knock arrived at the door, jolting me out of my trance.

Who could it be? I wondered, and at such a time of the night.