Chapter 23:

POV: AVA

By late evening, Hollow Fang had become a moving line of headlights, engines, and torches.

Cars rolled out through the main gates first, followed by motorcycles carrying scouts and messengers. Warriors from Hollow Fang filled the vehicles behind them, while the allied packs formed their own groups instead of mixing completely. There was still too much uncertainty between them for anyone to pretend they were one army yet.

Darius had chosen the longer road to Silvercrest rather than taking the eastern border route. The shortcut would have saved them several hours, but it also passed through territory Gareth had attacked before, and none of them could be certain what was waiting there.

“If Gareth knows we’re coming, thaw eastern road is the obvious place to trap us,” Darius had told the commanders before they left. “We lose time taking the longer route. We could lose the entire army by taking the wrong shortcut.”

No one had argued with him after that.

I rode in the passenger seat beside Darius while two motorcycles moved ahead of us and several more followed behind. The road stretched into darkness, broken only by headlights and the occasional torch held by warriors traveling outside the vehicles.

I had expected the journey to feel different after everything that happened at the gathering, but the farther we moved from Hollow Fang, the more the weight of what we were doing settled over me. We were no longer preparing for war. We were on our way to it.

Darius drove without saying much. He kept one hand on the wheel while the other rested near the gearshift, his attention fixed on the road ahead.

I had been quiet long enough that he eventually looked in my direction.

“You’re unusually silent.”

“I’ve been thinking.”

“About?”

I rested my head against the seat and watched the darkness beyond the window. “How far we still have to go.”

His eyes returned to the road. “You’re tired.”

“I’m fine.”

“You don't look fine."

I almost smiled at that. “I'm fine.”

“Do you want us to stop?”

I shook my head. “No. We can keep going.”

Darius didn’t answer immediately. He knew I would not willingly stop when the rest of the army was still moving, especially after claiming my place as Queen Ava Lunar. Asking everyone else to push forward while I rested would make me feel like a fraud.

He eventually nodded and kept driving.

The journey continued through the night, with the army maintaining a steady pace along the longer road. We stopped only when the scouts needed to check the route ahead, then continued once they confirmed the road was clear.

By the time we finally stopped to camp before dawn, everyone looked exhausted.

The vehicles pulled off the road in groups, and warriors began setting up temporary camps. What should have been a simple arrangement quickly became an argument.

“We’re taking the area near the stream,” one of the allied Alphas said. “Our warriors need water.”

A Hollow Fang commander immediately objected. “That ground is easier to defend. Your people can’t take it simply because you’re here first.”

“We arrived before your convoy.”

“And our scouts marked that area hours ago.”

The argument spread before anyone could settle it. Another allied Alpha complained that Hollow Fang was giving its own warriors the safer positions, while one of Darius’s commanders accused the allied packs of treating every decision like a competition.

I stayed near the vehicles, listening as the voices grew louder.

Darius eventually stepped away from the car.

“Enough.”

The single word carried across the camp.

The arguing stopped, although several Alphas still looked ready to continue.

Darius walked toward them and listened to each side before making his decision. The packs closest to the stream would share access to the water, while the safest ground would be divided between the different groups rather than handed entirely to Hollow Fang. Guards would rotate between the camps so no pack was left responsible for its own protection.

One of the allied Alphas frowned. “Your warriors have been fighting beside you longer. Surely they deserve priority.”

Darius shook his head. “They deserve the same consideration as everyone else.”

“But you’re their king.”

“And that is exactly why I won’t give them an advantage just because they’re mine.”

The Alpha had no answer to that.

Darius looked across the camp, making sure every leader heard what came next.

“We came here to fight Gareth. If we start deciding whose lives matter more before we even reach Silvercrest, we’re already giving him what he wants.”

No one spoke.

Darius’s expression hardened as he looked from one Alpha to another.

“We are going to fight Gareth together. We can’t start by tearing ourselves down.”

The words settled over the camp with more force than the shouting had. Warriors began returning to their vehicles and tents, and the pack leaders slowly moved away to organize their people.

I watched Darius for a few seconds before joining him.

He looked exhausted, but there was no hesitation in the way he had handled them. He understood something I was only beginning to learn.

Winning the war would require more than defeating Gareth.

We had to make sure we didn’t destroy our own alliance first.