Chapter 8

ALPHA TRISTAN

"The Moon Goddess has decided to finally bless me. Summon the war council immediately; I want this entire thing dealt with and finished before Alpha Rune, the Conqueror, decides to move her to the safety of Crescent Moon," I announced to the shadows, my voice echoing with a cold, renewed purpose. "Send for me the moment they are assembled and set," I paused to inform Yvonne, casting a sharp look back at her before I finally left the room to clear my head.

It took more than two long hours of pacing under the biting chill of the early morning breeze before the message finally reached me that the council was ready. The sky was still a bruised purple when I made my way back toward the heart of our stronghold.

The air inside the war room was thick, heavy with the scent of old parchment, stale coffee, and the metallic tang of sharpened steel. The gang was already gathered around the central table, each of them looking weary, as if they would rather be tucked back into their beds than facing the grim reality of a dawn raid. I ignored their fatigue. I had none of my own.

I took my place at the head of the large, scarred wooden table. Spread across it was a detailed topographical map of the borderlands. My fingers traced the jagged, hand-drawn lines that separated my territory from the neutral zones where Healer Mari’s clinic lay nestled in a valley.

"As you all know, a great and public injustice was done to me, and to this entire pack, when Alpha Rune trespassed and carried away the murderer responsible for the death of our future Luna. I’ve come to the sad and final realization that Claudia’s soul will never find rest until she is properly avenged," I announced, my voice serving as a grim welcome address.

The members of my council stirred, each offering suggestions on how we should prosecute this strike. It was a divided room. Some asked for more time, stressing that Alpha Rune might still be on-site and that a confrontation with the Conqueror was a death sentence for the pack. Others, fueled by the same wounded pride I felt, wanted a direct, bloody confrontation to prove Twilight Zone wasn't a pack of cowards.

"We move at the darkest hour of the night," I stated, slamming my hand onto the map with a finality that brooked no further argument. "The Moon Goddess gave her life; I am simply coming to collect the debt she owes."

Harlan leaned over the table, his sharp eyes scanning the perimeter of the clinic marked in red ink. "Tristan, if we do this, we need to be surgical. If we go in loud and messy, we risk a diplomatic nightmare with the neighboring packs. Worse, if Rune has left a detachment of guards behind—which he undoubtedly has—we’ll be walking straight into a hornet's nest."

"Then we smoke the hornets out," Yvonne countered instantly. Her hand rested on the hilt of a silver-encrusted dagger, her expression shifting into something almost predatory. "We don't need a legion for this. We need a shadow. Four of our best trackers, Harlan, and yourself, Tristan. If we move through the Blackwood ravine under the cover of the canopy, we can bypass the main sentry posts entirely."

"I think Yvonne is right for once," Kaelen, our best tracker, spoke up. He was a man of few words, capable of masking his scent so thoroughly that even an Alpha’s nose would struggle to find him in the brush. "Alpha Rune is intuitive. He might be able to detect a crowd moving through the woods, but a small cell of elites? We can slip right under his radar."

"In that case, we don't need to alert the entire pack. We have everything we need right here in this room," I stated, looking at the men gathered. Besides Kaelen, there was Vane, a specialist in silent takedowns who moved with the fluid grace of a ghost. And then there was Jaxon, a brute of a man with enough raw physical strength to hold a reinforced door against a charging wolf.

"That’s perfect, Alpha. With you, Harlan, Kaelen, Vane, and Jaxon, I am not convinced there is any force in this region that could stop the five of you," Yvonne stated, her eyes gleaming with a dark sort of pride.

I looked at each of them standing around the table. They were all elite fighters—warriors who had tasted blood during the Great War and had grown restless and irritable in the years of stagnant peace. They needed this as much as I did.

"I want all of you to gear up in dampened leather. No metal armor that clinks, no weapons that reflect the moonlight, nothing heavy or cumbersome. I want everyone light, fast, and able to move at the speed of light," I commanded. The determination in my voice was beyond measure. "We are not going there to challenge Rune to a formal duel; we are going there to reclaim stolen property."

"And if she resists?" Harlan asked, his voice dropping an octave. "She’s physically weak, Tristan. The wolfsbane is still in her system, ravaging her strength. If we handle her too roughly, she might not survive the journey back through the mountains."

I looked at him, my eyes flashing a dangerous, glowing shade of amber. "Then she dies on the road instead of a bed. Either way, she will not remain under Rune’s protection for another day. She belongs to the Twilight Zone. She belongs to me." I ran my eyes across everyone in the room, finally comfortable in the five I had chosen for this mission. "Take thirty minutes to say your prayers and sharpen your blades. We converge at the fountain."

"This is the first time anyone in this generation will openly come against the Alpha Conqueror," Harlan added, ever the voice of reason. "It would be best if we can grab her without him ever knowing who actually stole her. The alternative would mean that we’ve effectively brought an all-out war to our own doorstep."

His words were indeed words of wisdom, but war was a secondary concern to my pride. As we finalized the extraction route, a heavy, suffocating silence fell over the room. We all knew the risk. Stealing from under Alpha Rune’s nose was akin to pulling a tooth from the mouth of a live dragon. He was a man who didn't just forget insults; he systematically erased the people who delivered them. The All-Pack War was a testament to that fact. The odds had been stacked against him, yet little by little, brick by brick, he had pulled down every empire that stood in his way.

"Rune thinks I am a coward," I muttered, more to myself than to my advisors. "He thinks because I didn't strike him down in my own courtyard, I have no spine. He’s forgotten that a wolf is most dangerous when he’s been backed into a corner."

"He hasn’t just underestimated you, Tristan," Yvonne whispered, stepping closer to me until I could smell the spice of her perfume. Her voice was like silk sliding over a blade. "He’s disrespected the memory of Claudia. He’s treating her murderer like a prize to be protected. Every hour Sara breathes is a fresh slap to Claudia’s face."

Her words hit exactly where she intended. The grief, which had been a dull, throbbing ache, sharpened into a jagged spear of resolve. I looked down at the map, visualizing the layout of Mari’s clinic. I could almost see Sara lying there, breathing air she didn't deserve, while my Claudia lay in the cold, unyielding earth.

"Harlan, prepare the transport. I want a car waiting at the edge of the ravine. Once we have her, we don’t head straight back here. We take the long, winding route through the Gray Peaks to throw off any potential pursuit."

Harlan nodded, his expression remaining grim and stoic. "And if Rune is there? If he hasn't actually left for Crescent Moon yet?"

I gripped the edge of the wooden table so hard the grain began to splinter under my claws. "Then I’ll show him exactly how ruthless a 'weakling' can be when he has nothing left to lose."

"I like the sound of that," Yvonne smiled, her eyes glinting with the anticipation of the chaos to come.

Mari’s clinic was deathly quiet when we finally approached through the underbrush. Vane, the specialist, got us inside through a side entrance without making a single sound. We had all donned dark masks to hide our identities, moving like wraiths through the sterile corridors. As we approached the heavy oak door where Sara was being kept, we heard the muffled sound of voices from the other side. Everyone slowed down, drawing in a final, steadying breath of air before we kicked the door open—and all hell broke loose.