Chapter 15

Zaiden’s POV

I stood at the head of the table, pacing. My wolf clawed beneath my skin, restless, snarling to be let loose. But this wasn’t a battle of claws and fangs. This was a hunt and the prey was hiding among us.

Cole sat stiffly at my right, shoulders tense, eyes following me as I moved. Across from him, my top warriors shifted uneasily, the scrape of chairs on stone echoing like growls. None of them dared speak first. Good. Let them stew in the weight of my silence.

Finally, I stopped pacing and leaned forward, planting my hands on the table. My claws half-shifted, biting into the wood.

“No one,” I said, my voice low, sharp as a blade. “No one was supposed to know about her. Not her even being my Luna”

A ripple went through the room. One of the warriors swallowed hard, the sound loud in the silence.

“And yet,” I continued, gaze sweeping the chamber, “the rogues came for her. They knew what even most of you did not.”

I let the weight of the truth sink in. My wolf pressed against the surface, eyes threatening to glow gold.

“That means there was betrayal from rom inside.” 

One of the younger guards shifted in his seat, unable to meet my eyes. Another warrior glanced toward Cole, then quickly away. Suspicion crawled across the table like a living thing.

A deep growl rumbled in my chest. “Look at me when I speak of treachery,” I snarled, and the wolves jerked upright, eyes wide.

Cole’s jaw tightened. “Alpha, if there’s a snake in our den, I’ll root them out. I swear it on my life.”

His loyalty rang true, but my wolf wasn’t satisfied. Words were wind.

My gaze burned into each face, one by one. “Swears and promises won’t keep my Luna safe,” I said. “I want answers.” 

And then her scent. Sweet. Fragile. Trembling, yet steadying me even through my fury. My chest clenched.

The door creaked open, and Karen stepped inside.

**********

Karen’s POV

The chamber was suffocating when I entered, but it wasn’t the torch smoke that made it so. It was the tension. The distrust rolling off wolves who had once bled together.

Zaiden turned at once, his golden eyes flashing as if he’d tear me apart for being there until his expression softened, almost imperceptibly.

“Karen,” he said, his voice edged with both relief and warning. “You shouldn’t be here.”

I steadied myself against the doorway, my legs still weak, but I refused to let them see that. My wolf rose inside me, calm and certain, whispering truths beneath the fear.

“I needed to be here,” I said, walking forward. Every step was a battle, but I held my chin high. “Because you won’t find the traitor if you only listen to their words.”

The room shifted. Eyes turned to me, some wary, others doubtful. I ignored them.

“You’ll only find them if you watch their fear,” I said softly. “Wolves can lie with their mouths, but not with their hearts. Not with their scent.”

Zaiden studied me, his expression unreadable, though the bond thrummed between us, heavy with unspoken emotion.

My wolf’s voice hummed clearer now, a sharp instinct I hadn’t felt before. It was as if every heartbeat in the room carried meaning. The Beta’s pulse was strong, steady. A warrior near the end of the table drummed nervous fingers against his knee, his scent sharp with unease. Another avoided my eyes entirely.

They weren’t all guilty. But someone… someone was hiding something.

Zaiden broke the silence first. “Then let us test them.”

He straightened, towering above the council, his presence pressing down on everyone like a storm. “At dawn, half of you will march east. We’ve had reports of movement near the ridge. I want eyes everywhere.”

A murmur swept the room low, uncertain.

But Zaiden’s gaze flicked toward Cole, so fast no one else noticed. “If that information spreads,” he said, voice carrying like thunder, “we’ll know where the snake hides.”

Cole inclined his head slightly, understanding it was a false plan.

I exhaled slowly, feeling the coil of tension in my chest loosen just a fraction. Zaiden was ruthless, but his ruthlessness was the shield between me and death.

He dismissed the council, his voice final. The warriors marched out after the meeting. Some whispered among themselves, some glanced back at me. But no one dared speak aloud what they all thought that the Alpha’s mate was leading them toward something unnatural.

When the door shut behind the last wolf, I sagged against the table, my strength fraying.

Zaiden was at my side instantly, one hand steady on my arm. “You shouldn’t have pushed yourself.” His voice was gruff, but his touch was careful, grounding.

“I couldn’t stay away,” I whispered. My throat ached. “They think I’m a curse, Zaiden. I heard them. And maybe they’re right. But if I’m going to stay here, if I'm going to stay yours, I need to fight for it too.”

His eyes burned into mine, fierce and unyielding. “You are mine. Nothing else matters.”

I wanted to believe him, to drown in that certainty. But before I could speak…

A sharp, searing pain lanced through my chest.

I gasped, clutching at my heart, the bond between us flaring with blinding heat. My knees buckled, and Zaiden caught me before I hit the floor.

“Karen!” His voice thundered, panic breaking through his control.

But it wasn’t physical pain. My wolf was screaming, howling a warning that reverberated in my skull. My breaths came fast and ragged, but I forced the words out.

“It’s not me,” I choked. “It’s her, it’s my wolf. She says the traitor is closer than we think.”

Zaiden’s arms tightened around me, his eyes narrowing, dangerous. The fury I felt through the bond was molten, volcanic.