#13 Treason in the Dark

Luna Danika POV

The knock came at my door like a timid whisper. Soft. Too soft. Like the poor bastard on the other side already knew I was going to skin them alive. “Enter,” I snapped, voice like a blade.

A trembling maid pushed the door open with wide eyes and shaking hands. She held a scroll, sealed in red wax and trembling slightly as if the parchment itself feared me.

“My Lady… it’s urgent. From Commander Velst.”

I snatched it from her fingers. She didn’t even wait for dismissal, smart girl. She ran. I broke the seal. Read the first line. And froze.

“Five thousand?” I whispered.

“No… no, that’s impossible!”

My hand clenched around the parchment. Crack.

I felt my claws pierce through the paper.

"Five thousand wolves defected during the night and were last seen heading northwest in formation. Witnesses confirm they were former Bloodmark soldiers. Destination unknown, but believed to be Seralyn territory."

CLANG. My wine glass exploded against the wall in a rain of red and crystal. I screamed.

“MARIK!”

I didn’t wait. I stomped through the door to our chambers, throwing it open so hard it nearly shattered.

“MARIK, YOU USELESS SON OF A WHORE, GET IN HERE!”

He appeared in the doorway a second later, shirtless, eyes burning. “What the fuck are you shrieking about...”

I hurled the scroll at his chest.“Five. Thousand. Wolves. GONE.”

He caught it. Read it. His jaw locked. “What the fuck…”

“Yes. What the fuck. While you were sleeping like a drunk bear, half our fucking army just walked out!”

I paced like a caged beast, claws dragging down the velvet wall panels.

“They’ve gone to her,” I hissed. “To that white furred bitch.”

“How do you know?” he growled, already storming across the room.

“WHERE ELSE WOULD THEY GO?!” I screeched. “She has the keep. The land. The power. And now? Our warriors.”

His fist punched the wall so hard stone cracked behind the plaster. “FUCK!”

“YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW THAT?!”

The magic in the air twisted. My fury boiled over, and with a single shriek I lifted both hands and released a wave of black magic so dark it snuffed out the torches.

The mirror shattered. The chandelier exploded. Bookshelves ignited. Marik snarled and threw his own fistful of corrupted energy at the wall, blasting a crater into the marble fireplace.

I turned and flung a bolt of pure agony light at him, he blocked it with a shield of shadow, and the whole damn room shook.

“You stupid, power drunk man!” I screamed. “You were supposed to control them! You were supposed to keep them loyal!”

“I’m not the one who let the white wolf live!” he bellowed back, eyes glowing red. “You were the one who insisted on making her suffer instead of killing her outright!”

“BECAUSE HER BLOOD HAS POWER!” I roared, arms raised. “Because her death must be done right, or it could trigger a divine surge! Selene watches her, you idiot! We have to break her slowly!”

The furniture lifted off the ground with the sheer force of our magic clashing. A bolt of red hot energy shot from his hands, slamming into the wardrobe and exploding it into splinters.

I screamed and launched a scream-forged spear of darkness straight at his head, he deflected it, barely, and it ripped through the wall, blowing apart the stone and exposing the cold mountain air.

A group of maids screamed and scattered from the hall, one of them limping as her dress caught fire. The warding runes flared, struggling to contain us.

“We look like fools,” I spat. “She made us look like fools.”

Marik stood breathing hard, chest heaving, hair disheveled, eyes wild.

“Then we will burn her fucking kingdom down.”

I straightened my spine and drew my magic back in slowly, curling around my fingers like a serpent.

“No,” I said softly, dangerously. “We will do worse. We’ll go to the Council. We’ll blacklist her. Declare her a rogue. Paint her as a threat to werewolf civilization.”

Marik’s lips twisted into a cruel grin. “And then we send Roach.”

I smiled coldly. “Roach… and the others. Every shadow we have. And we starve them. Starve her people. Sabotage their trade. Poison their water. Infect their allies.”

Marik stepped close.“No war yet. Bleed them first.”

“Then we burn them.”

We stood in the ruins of our chambers, surrounded by fire, smoke, and broken magic.

And I smiled like the devil’s favorite daughter.

“Let her believe she’s safe,” I whispered. “Let her believe she’s loved. It’ll only make it hurt more when we tear it all away.”

Roach the Assassin POV

I stood in the hall just outside the war room, shrouded in shadow. It clung to me like a second skin, silk woven from sin and silence.

Inside, I could hear them. Danika and Marik. Screaming.

Again. Pathetic. Their voices thundered through the stone walls like a pair of drunken demons clawing at each other in the dark. Power flared wildly, sloppy, uncontrolled. They tore their own quarters apart like feral animals.

So much rage, I thought, smiling to myself. So little discipline. Kade was beside me, back pressed against the wall, jaw tight. He listened to every word in silence.

His hands were fists. His eyes were dark. But more than anything? He looked… disgusted.

“You hear them?” I murmured, my voice like poison laced with silk. “This is what rules the Bloodmark Pack? These are the ones who demand loyalty?”

He didn’t answer. Just clenched his fists tighter.

“They scream and claw at each other like feral mutts,” I continued, “while your enemies multiply. While your wolves defect. While the White Wolf builds an empire.”

I leaned closer, smiling. “I think, my boy… it’s time you took your place as Alpha.”

That got his attention. He turned his head slightly, eyes locking on mine.

“They’re fools,” I whispered. “They’re crumbling. And when a kingdom rots from the inside, someone has to cut out the infection.”

Kade’s lip curled. “You really think I should challenge him?”

I let the silence breathe for just a second, just enough to sink the hook.

Then I smiled wider.

“I think the pack needs someone younger. Smarter. Hungrier. Someone who doesn’t burn rooms to feel powerful, someone who knows how to strike when it matters.”

He exhaled slowly, like he was releasing years of pent up fury. “Maybe you’re right, Roach.”

“Of course I’m right,” I said calmly. “The only question is, do you want to be remembered as only their son…”

I leaned in until I could see the pulse in his throat.

“Or their successor?”

Kade didn’t answer. Not with words. But the fire in his eyes?

That was answer enough.

We turned and walked down the corridor together, my cloak whispering behind me, shadows dancing in my wake.

And as we went, I whispered in his ear, soft, slow and venomous.

“Here’s what you’ll do…”