011: Heavy Words

Kiera's POV

"Sarah. Leave us."

Darius's voice carried the full weight of alpha command, rolling across the compound like thunder. The dominance in his tone was absolute, the kind of order that brooked no argument, no hesitation, no defiance.

Sarah's spine stiffened, her newly-turned wolf responding to the authority even as her human side bristled with indignation. "Darius, I don't think…"

"Now." The single word cracked like a whip, and I saw several pack members in the distance take involuntary steps backward. This was the alpha I remembered, the one who could bend entire rooms to his will with nothing more than his voice.

For a moment, Sarah looked like she might argue. Her jaw clenched, her hands curled into fists, and I caught a whiff of the anger radiating off her in waves. But even a newly-turned wolf knew better than to challenge an alpha's direct command in front of his pack.

"Fine," she said through gritted teeth. But as she passed close to me, she leaned in and whispered just loud enough for my enhanced hearing to catch: "You're not the only Luna anymore."

The words hit like acid, but I kept my face carefully neutral as she stalked away, her newly-turned wolf making her movements awkward, and unpracticed. She was still learning how to be what she'd become, still adapting to a transformation that should have killed her but somehow hadn't.

When the sound of her footsteps faded, Darius and I stood alone in the circle of light cast by the compound's floods. Five years of separation stretched between us like a chasm, filled with all the words we'd never said and all the choices we couldn't take back.

"Well," he said finally, his voice softer now but no less dangerous. "This is unexpected."

I forced myself to meet his gaze directly, to show no weakness, or fear. "Is it? You've been hunting me for years. Did you think I'd just keep running forever?"

"I hoped you'd come to your senses and return voluntarily." His dark eyes swept over me, taking in the changes five years had wrought. "You look different. I didn't even get to see you up-close at steel vultures."

"I had to be. You made sure of that."

Something flickered across his features, regret, maybe, or pain. But it was gone so quickly I might have imagined it. "What gave you the courage to step into my territory, Kiera? Don't you fear that I might lock you up and go collect my son myself?"

The threat was delivered casually, almost conversationally, but I could hear the steel underneath. He was testing me, trying to gauge whether the broken girl who'd fled in the night still lived somewhere inside the woman standing before him.

I laughed, and the sound was sharp enough to cut glass. "You can try. But we both know that's not why you're here, playing games and sending your wolves to rattle cages."

His eyebrows rose slightly. "Enlighten me."

"If you could have just taken Eli by force, you would have done it already." I stepped closer, close enough to smell the familiar scent of leather and danger that had once meant safety. "But you can't, can you? Because he doesn't know you. Because he's not some prize to be claimed, he's a little boy who's spent his entire life thinking his father abandoned him."

Darius's jaw tightened, and I knew my words had found their mark. "That's your fault."

"Is it?" I let my own anger bleed into my voice. "Or is it yours for giving me reason to run in the first place?"

We stared at each other for a long moment, two wolves circling, looking for weakness, for advantage. The mate bond pulled at me, trying to close the distance between us, but I held my ground.

"I came here to make you an offer," I said finally.

"An offer?" He sounded genuinely surprised. "You're hardly in a position to negotiate."

"Leave us alone." The words came out flat, final. "Stop hunting us… stop threatening the Steel Vultures… stop trying to drag me back into a life I chose to leave."

"In exchange for what?"

"I don't burn your entire pack to the ground."

The silence that followed was deafening. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear the normal sounds of pack life, conversations, laughter, the clink of bottles. But between Darius and me, the air was thick with tension.

Then he laughed, rich and deep and genuinely amused. "You always did have more courage than sense."

"I'm not the same woman who ran from you five years ago," I said quietly. "I've learned things. Made alliances. Built something worth fighting for."

"Have you?" His voice went softer, more dangerous. "Because from where I stand, you look like someone who's spent five years running from her own nature. Who's so afraid of being hurt again that she'd rather hide among humans than face the truth."

"What truth?"

"That you belong here… with me… with the pack." He stepped closer, and my wolf whimpered at his proximity. "That no matter how far you run or how many humans you surround yourself with, you'll never be anything but what you are, a Luna without her pack."

"I have a pack." The words came out fiercer than I'd intended. "The Steel Vultures are my family."

"Humans," he said dismissively. "They can't give you what you need, can't understand what you are. How long before their fear outweighs their loyalty? How long before they realize keeping you means war with creatures they can't hope to defeat?"

The questions hit closer to home than I wanted to admit. I'd seen the doubt in some of the Vultures' faces, smelled the fear when Sable watched Eli's partial shift. Not everyone was as loyal as Jack and Sable.

"They've stood by me for five years," I said.

"Because they didn't know what you really were. Now they do. Now they know what keeping you costs." His voice was hypnotically reasonable, the same tone he'd used to convince me of so many things when we were together. "How many of them will die for your pride, Kiera?"

"How many of yours will die for yours?"

The counter-thrust hit home. I saw his face harden, saw the calculation in his eyes as he weighed the cost of the war we were both threatening.

"I didn't come here to negotiate," I said, pressing my advantage. "I came to warn you. I'm done running. If you want Eli, if you want me, you'll have to come through everyone I care about to get us. And I promise you, Darius, the cost will be higher than you're willing to pay."

"You're threatening me. In my own territory."

"I'm making you a promise." I took a step back, putting distance between us before the mate bond could weaken my resolve. "Leave us alone, and we'll leave you alone. Keep pushing, and I'll show you exactly what five years of survival has taught me."

Without waiting for his response, I turned and walked away. Every instinct screamed at me to run, shift and disappear into the forest before his pack could react. But I forced myself to move at a steady pace, show no fear, or weakness.

I made it to the edge of the compound before his voice stopped me.

"This isn't over, Kiera."

I didn't turn around. "It is if you're smart."

Then I was in the shadows, moving through the trees toward where I'd hidden my bike. My hands shook as I pulled on my helmet, adrenaline and mate-bond withdrawal making my movements clumsy.

I'd done it. I'd faced him down, made my position clear, drawn a line in the sand. Whether it would be enough remained to be seen, but at least…

Voices drifted through the trees, low and conversational. Pack members heading toward the residential quarters, probably changing shifts or grabbing late-night snacks. I wouldn't have paid attention, except that one phrase caught my ear.

"...don't know why the Alpha keeps pretending Marcus is his son."

I froze, my helmet halfway on.

"Shhh," another voice hissed. "You want to get us both killed?"

"I'm just saying, look at the kid. He's got none of Darius's markers, none of his scent. Hell, he barely smells like wolf at all."

"Sarah's human."

"Was human. And even half-breeds carry more wolf than that boy does. I'm telling you, something's not right."

Their voices faded as they moved away, but the words echoed in my head like thunder. Marcus wasn't Darius's son. The child Sarah had carried, the heir that had destroyed my life, wasn't actually Darius's blood.

Which meant...what? That Sarah had been unfaithful? That she'd lied about the paternity? That Darius had been manipulated just as surely as I had?

My hands were steady now as I started the bike, my mind racing with possibilities. If Marcus wasn't Darius's son, then everything changed. The choice he'd made, the reason he'd given for replacing me, the foundation of their entire relationship, all of it built on a lie.

I needed to know the truth, to understand what had really happened five years ago, and what Sarah's game really was. Even if it meant infiltrating Darius's pack again.

Even if it meant tearing his whole world apart to find the answers.

The engine roared to life beneath me, and I shot off into the night, my mind already working on how to uncover Sarah's secrets. The confrontation with Darius hadn't gone as planned, but it had given me something more valuable than negotiation.

It had given me a weapon.

Now I just had to figure out how to use it.