CHAPTER 10: The Ally

"Can we talk? Privately?"

I'm sorting herbs when Octavia slips into the healing room like a ghost.

My hands freeze over the dried lavender I've been separating into bundles. The scent is sharp and clean in the air, almost medicinal. I've been working in here for two hours, grateful for the quiet, for the familiar routine of organizing supplies that nobody's bothered to organize properly in weeks.

Octavia stands in the doorway, half in shadow. Damon's other half-sister. The one who doesn't talk much. The one I've seen at pack gatherings sitting in corners, watching everything with those dark, careful eyes.

We've barely spoken in three years. Maybe ten words total. She keeps to herself, lives in a small house on the edge of pack territory, works in the pack library cataloging records. She's as close to invisible as I am.

Was. Past tense. I'm not invisible anymore. I'm the Luna who defied the Alpha. The one everyone's been whispering about for the past three days.

"Octavia." I set down the lavender carefully. My heart rate kicks up without my permission. "Is everything okay?"

She glances behind her into the hallway. Empty. The other healers are out on calls. It's just us in the building.

"Can we talk?" she asks again. "Somewhere private?"

Every instinct I have screams caution. She's Damon's family. She could be here to persuade me. To threaten me. To do whatever Clarissa can't do with witnesses around.

But there's something in her face. Something urgent and afraid that makes me nod.

"Storage room," I say. "In the back."

She follows me through the main workspace into the cramped storage area where we keep the overflow supplies. Shelves line three walls, packed with bottles and dried plants and bandages. It smells like dust and old paper and the particular must of a room that doesn't get aired out enough.

I close the door behind us. The space is barely big enough for two people.

"What's this about?"

"You're in danger." She says it fast. Like she's been holding the words in and they're burning her mouth.

My stomach drops. "I know. Damon and Clarissa want me to abort the baby. I've already refused."

"It's worse than that." Octavia's hands twist together at her waist. "Clarissa... she's planning something."

The way she says it. The fear in her voice. This isn't about persuasion.

"Planning what?"

"I overheard them. Her and Dr. Kemp. The pack doctor." She speaks quietly, each word chosen with care. "They were in Clarissa's room two nights ago. I was walking past and I heard my name so I stopped outside the door."

"What did they say?"

"They're going to stage an accident." Her voice drops even lower. "To make you miscarry. They're planning to make it look natural. Like you tripped or fell or... something that can't be traced back to them."

The storage room suddenly feels too small. The walls too close. I reach out and grip the shelf beside me, my fingers closing around cold metal.

"When?"

"Soon. Within the week, she said. Before you start showing. Before anyone outside the pack knows you're pregnant." Octavia's dark eyes are steady on mine. Serious. "She said it would be a kindness. That you'd be free to move on. That the pack would forget this whole embarrassing situation."

My blood runs cold. Actually cold, like ice water in my veins.

"Why are you telling me this?" The question comes out sharper than I mean it to. "You're Damon's sister. Why would you warn me?"

"Because I helped her." The words burst out of Octavia like a confession. Like something she's been carrying and can't hold anymore. "At first. When she first came to Silverpine. I was angry at Damon. At Father. At everyone. Father had two illegitimate daughters and he only acknowledged one. Only brought one into the pack. I wanted Damon to suffer the way I'd suffered."

Tears slide down her cheeks. She doesn't wipe them away.

"I helped Clarissa get close to him. Encouraged the affair. Made sure they had time alone together. I thought..." She stops. Swallows. "I thought I was getting revenge. But this. Hurting an innocent baby. Planning to hurt you. This isn't revenge. This is evil."

"I'm sorry." The words feel inadequate. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologize to me." She shakes her head hard. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. I set this in motion. I helped create this situation. And now I'm trying to fix it but I don't know if I can."

"What else did you do?" I need to know. Need to understand how deep this goes.

"I introduced them. Clarissa and Damon. Made sure they kept running into each other. Told Damon she needed family support after her mother died. I knew he felt guilty about her. About how Father treated her versus how he treated me. I used that." She wipes her face with the back of her hand. "I didn't know she'd fall in love with him. I didn't know she'd become... this."

The storage room is quiet except for our breathing.

"Last year," I say slowly. "When Clarissa said she had a miscarriage. Was she really pregnant?"

"No." Octavia's voice is flat. Certain. "That was a test. To see how Damon would react. To see if he'd choose her over you if she was carrying his child. When he chose her, she knew she could push further."

The timeline clicks into place. The plan was always bigger than I thought. More calculated.

"And this pregnancy?" I touch my stomach without meaning to. "Is it really Damon's?"

"I don't think so." Octavia glances at the door like she's afraid someone might hear. "There's a witch. A man named Lucian. I've seen him with Clarissa three times in the past six months. They meet in the forest at night. I followed once. I saw them together. Really together."

The name lands strange in my ear. Lucian. I've never heard it before.

"Who is he?"

"I don't know exactly. But he practices dark magic. I saw the marks on the trees where they meet. Symbols carved into the bark. And Clarissa comes back from those meetings different. More confident. More certain. Like she's been given permission for something terrible."

My mouth has gone dry. This is bigger than an affair. Bigger than Damon choosing Clarissa. There's something else happening here. Something I don't understand yet but can feel pressing against the edges of this conversation.

"Why should I trust you?" I ask. Need to ask. "You said yourself you helped her. You wanted Damon to suffer. How do I know this isn't part of the plan?"

"You shouldn't trust me." Octavia meets my eyes straight on. "I haven't earned it. I don't deserve it. But you don't have anyone else, Iris. No friends. No family. No one in this pack who will stand with you against Damon and Clarissa. Except me. And I know that's not much. But it's what you have."

The truth of that sits heavy in the space between us.

"What do I do?" The question comes out smaller than I want it to. More desperate.

Octavia's expression is grim. Certain. Terrified.

"Run. Before it's too late."