Chapter 4:The Traitor

*Chapter 4: The Traitor*

Dawn came with sirens.

I woke up to banging on the cabin door.

“Luna! Kade! Open up!” It was Elder Mara.

Kade was already on his feet, gun in hand. When did he get a gun?

He opened the door.

Mara looked panicked. “It’s bad. 3 more wolves collapsed last night. And the lake... someone drained it.”

My stomach dropped.

We ran back to the pack house. The rain had stopped but everything was mud and chaos.

Warriors were guarding the water supply. Healers were running.

And in the great hall, lying on a stretcher, was Beta Damon.

Kade’s best friend. His second.

He was pale. Lips blue. Black veins up to his neck.

“Is he—” I started.

“Alive. Barely,” Mara said. “He was the one who found the lake drained. He must’ve confronted whoever did it.”

Kade knelt beside Damon. His fists were clenched. “Who did this?”

Damon coughed. Blood on his lips. “D-didn’t see... mask...”

Then he passed out.

Kade stood. His whole body was vibrating with rage.

“Seal the pack. No one in or out. Search every house. Now.”

The Alpha order went out instantly. 50 warriors scattered.

Kade turned to me. “Can you save him?”

I was already pulling out supplies. “I’ll try. But I need clean water and the lab results from yesterday.”

We worked for 2 hours. Me, Kade, and Mara.

Damon stabilized. But he wasn’t waking up.

My lab kit results finally came back on my laptop.

“Got it,” I said. “The toxin is Wolfsbane + Nightshade + a chemical used in human pesticides. Whoever did this knows about both human and wolf biology.”

Kade’s eyes narrowed. “Only 3 people in this pack have that knowledge. Me. Elder Mara. And...”

He didn’t finish.

But I knew.

Dr. Elise.

The pack’s previous healer. She left 6 months ago. Said she was moving to the city.

She and I went to medical school together. Human medical school.

“Kade,” I said slowly. “Elise knew I was a doctor. She knew I’d come back if the pack was dying.”

Kade’s jaw ticked. “You think she’s behind this?”

“I think she wanted me here.”

Before he could answer, a warrior burst in.

“Alpha! We found something at the lake!”

We followed him.

Near the drained lake, buried under rocks, was a backpack.

Inside: empty vials, a mask, and a note.

Kade picked up the note. His face went white.

He handed it to me.

_“You took her from me, Kade. Now I’ll take everything from you. Starting with your pack. - E”_

E.

Elise.

“She’s been planning this for months,” I whispered. “The rejection. My leaving. All of it.”

Kade crushed the note in his hand. “She was my fiancée 4 years ago. Before you.”

The world stopped.

Fiancée?

Kade had a fiancée?

I stepped back. “You never told me.”

“It was arranged. Political. I called it off when I met you,” he said quickly. “I didn’t think it mattered.”

Mattered?

The woman who tried to kill the pack was his ex-fiancée and she did it because of me?

Lyra whimpered. _Betrayal._

“I need air,” I said and walked away.

I made it to the training field before my knees gave out.

This was my fault.

If I had never come back, Elise wouldn’t have done this.

If Kade had never rejected me, maybe she wouldn’t be so angry.

“Don’t.”

Kade’s voice behind me.

I didn’t turn. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t blame yourself.” He came and stood next to me. Close but not touching. “This is on her. And on me for not seeing it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about her?”

“Because it was over. Because I thought the past should stay there.” He sighed. “I was wrong.”

The silence between us was heavy.

Then my phone buzzed.

Unknown number again.

A photo.

It was Elise. Standing outside my apartment in the city.

From 3 days ago.

Before the texts.

Before I came back.

She’d been watching me.

Another text came through:

_“Come to the old mill at midnight, Luna. Alone. Or I finish what I started with your pack. You have 12 hours.”_

I showed Kade.

His eyes went black. “You’re not going.”

“She’ll kill them,” I said. “Damon. Maya. All of them.”

“Then I’ll go with you.”

“No. She said alone. If she sees you, she’ll hurt them faster.”

Kade grabbed my shoulders. “Luna. Look at me.”

I did.

“I lost you once because I was stupid. I’m not losing you again. Not to her.”

His hands were warm. His scent was everywhere.

The bond pulled tight. _Mate. Protect. Ours._

“I have to go,” I whispered.

“Then I’ll be 5 minutes behind you,” he said. “And if anything happens to you, I burn this whole forest down.”

For the first time in 3 years, I believed him.

Night fell fast.

At 11:55pm, I walked to the old mill on the edge of pack territory.

Abandoned. Rotting.

Elise was there.

She looked the same. Blonde hair. Green eyes. Doctor’s coat.

But her smile was wrong. Cruel.

“Well well,” she said. “The omega’s daughter returns. Right on time.”

“Where’s the antidote?” I asked, keeping my voice steady.

Elise laughed. “There isn’t one. Not yet. But I can make it. If you do something for me.”

“What?”

“Leave. Forever. And tell Kade it was your choice this time. Break him like he broke me.”

My heart sank.

Footsteps behind me.

Kade.

He couldn’t wait 5 minutes.

“Elise,” he said, voice deadly calm. “Let her go.”

Elise’s smile dropped. “You brought him? I said ALONE!”

She pulled out a syringe. Filled with black liquid.

“This is enough to kill the whole pack in 10 minutes,” she hissed. “One more step and I inject it into the water tank.”

Kade froze.

And in that second, I moved.

I tackled her.

We hit the ground. The syringe flew.

Glass shattered.

Both of us went still.

Elise started laughing. Hysterical. “Too late! It’s in the air now! Everyone’s going to die!”

Kade pulled me off her. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. But my eyes were on the broken glass.

The liquid was evaporating. Into the air.

Elise was right.

Kade looked at me. Really looked.

And then he made a choice.

He cut his palm with his claws. Blood welled.

He grabbed my wrist and dragged the cut across it.

Our blood mixed.

“What are you doing?” I gasped.

“If we’re going to die,” he said, “we die as mates.”

The bond snapped back into place. Full force.

Power flooded me. His strength. His wolf. His love.

Pain. Fire. Light.

And then... silence.

When I opened my eyes, Elise was on the ground. Unconscious.

The air was clear.

Kade was holding me. Shaking.

“It worked,” he whispered. “The mate bond. It burned the toxin out.”

I stared at him. “What?”

“Our bond is stronger than the poison,” he said. “Because it’s real.”

Outside, the first wolves started waking up.

The sickness was gone.

I looked at Kade. Blood on both our hands. Bond glowing between us.

“I hate you,” I said.

“I know,” he said.

“I don’t,” I whispered.

And I kissed him.

*To be continued...*

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