POWER PLAY

AUTHOR'S POV

Victor didn’t answer Klaus’s question, instead, he smirked in a slow, infuriating curl of his lips and began a lazy stroll around the vast empty hall with his boots echoing on the stone floor.

“It’s a very simple question, Klaus,” Victor said, his voice came out as a low, mocking hum. “I just heard some interesting chatter in the wind... Word is, your Luna is… no longer in residence, I was wondering, as her concerned brother-in-law, if she’s okay.”

Klaus’s hands clenched into fists at his sides. 

“Your concern is as fake as your charm, Victor, I know you very well, I’ve always known you.... You’ve been eyeing this Alpha title since we were younglings. You think showing up now, at a… delicate time, will help you? You won’t succeed... This is my pack.”

Victor stopped his pacing and turned, his expression one of exaggerated hurt. 

“You wound me, honestly, I’ve always liked Isabella. She’s got more spine than most in this pack, I’d just hate to think something bad happened to her.” He took a step closer, his smirk returning, sharper this time. “Besides, it would be so… demoralizing for the ranks. The great Alpha Klaus, held in such high esteem, fucking whores in his marital bed.... Doesn’t exactly inspire loyalty, does it?”

Before Klaus could unleash the fury boiling inside him, Victor gave a casual two-fingered salute. 

“Anyway.... Good talk, brother.”

He turned and strode out, leaving the doors swinging in his wake. Klaus stood alone in the silent hall, the truth of his brother’s words hanging like poison.

Victor’s smirk didn’t fade as he walked down the corridor and his assistant, Den, fell into step beside him immediately.

“How did it go, sir?”

“As expected,” Victor said, his voice low. “My brother is an idiot, he’s not just cheating on his wife.. he’s actually fucking Alice Morningstar.”

Den’s eyes went wide. 

“The witch? Seriously?”

“Seriously,” Victor confirmed with a predatory gleam in his eye. “And he has no idea that whore is the key to his downfall.... This is the weakness I’ve been waiting for. His rule is fragile and all it needs is one good push and the Alpha title will be mine.”

They emerged into the afternoon light, heading towards a car parked ostentatiously in the driveway. The driver was standing stiffly outside it, looking anxious.

“Why are you not in the car?” Victor snapped.

“Sir, there’s… there’s someone here to see you in your car...”

Victor cut him off with a glare. 

“You let someone into my car? Are you utterly useless?”

He yanked the rear door open, ready to tear into the intruder but the words died in his throat.

Sitting in the plush interior, legs elegantly crossed was Alice Morningstar and she was smiling sweetly.

“Victor... Still having trouble with the help, I see.” Her voice was like honey laced with glass.

Victor recovered quickly, sliding into the seat opposite her and pulling the door shut. 

“Alice, I see you’ve made yourself at home.”

“It’s a lovely car.... Suits your ambition, too big for Klaus but just right for you.”

“What do you want?” Victor asked with his voice a low growl.

“I know what you want, Victor,” she purred, leaning forward slightly. “What you really want. To be Alpha, not just any Alpha, but the Alpha of the mighty Silvermoon Pack. It must just… eat you up that your little brother got it instead.”

Victor’s jaw tightened but he said nothing.

“I know how you can get it,” Alice continued, her silver eyes gleaming. “And I’m the one who can give it to you.... If we work together.”

Victor studied her, the wheels turning in his head, this was a dangerous game... playing with witches always was but the prize… the prize was everything.

He allowed a slow smile to spread across his face. 

“I’m listening.”

***

ISABELLA'S POV

The pickup felt like a relic from a simpler time which was exactly why I loved it. 

It didn’t belong to the pack.

I pulled up to the main gate of the Silvermoon pack house, my knuckles white on the steering wheel. 

Selene’s revelations about blueberries and magical sabotage were still fresh and screaming in my mind but right now all I could think about was Liam.

Two guards I’d known for years stepped forward. 

“Luna Isabella,” the first one said, dipping his head. 

He sounded polite but his posture was rigid and official.

“Carl, Mike,” I nodded, killing the engine. “I’m here to see my son.”

The two men exchanged a glance. 

“We… we can’t let you in, Luna,” Mike said, genuinely looking sorry about it. “Alpha’s orders.”

I got out of the truck, slamming the door a little harder than necessary. 

“Yeah, I figured... So how about you go tell the Alpha that I’m here, and that I’m not leaving until I see my kid.”

Carl reluctantly pulled out his comms device and turned away, murmuring into it. A moment later, he turned back, unable to meet my eyes. 

“He, uh… he reiterates his previous order... You are not to be admitted.”

A hot powerless anger surged through me, I was the Luna.. this was my home and I was being locked out by the man who’d burned it all down.

Frustrated, I looked up at the cold imposing facade of the pack house and then I saw him.

There, in a second-story window was Liam. His little face was pale, his expression blank and glazed like he was looking at a stranger.. or a ghost.

My heart leapt into my throat. 

“Liam!” I called out, waving. “Liam, baby, it’s mama!”

For a second there was nothing and then as if someone had pulled a string, my little boy jerked back from the window and slammed it shut with fierce energy.

I stumbled back a step with the fight draining out of me, replaced by a cold hard certainty.

Okay, I thought.... Okay, you bastards.... You wanna play it like this? You mess with a kid? You use magic to steal my son? Fine. Game on...!

I turned on my heel and stormed back to my truck with a new, and terrifying resolve solidifying in my chest. 

I was going to burn it all down if that’s what it took to get him back.

I was about to yank the door open when the hair on the back of my neck stood up. My wolf senses prickled with a low silent alarm. I was being watched and it wasn’t the guards...!

Casually, as if I’d just remembered something, I glanced over my shoulder back toward the tree line at the property where a man was standing, half-hidden in the trees. 

He wasn’t wearing pack guard gear. He was just… watching eeriely…