Chapter 5: Into the Fire

Dalton's POV

The smoke from the burning vehicles rose into the night sky as I stood at the pack border, watching the chaos unfold in the distance. My wolf paced restlessly inside me, wanting to run toward the fire. Toward her.

"What have we done?" I muttered.

"We didn't do anything," Jade said beside me, but her voice lacked its usual conviction. Blood still stained her lip where Tehila had hit her. "If there's an attack—"

"There's always an attack when rogues are involved," Alpha Thorne interrupted, joining us. "This is what happens when pack wolves forget their place."

But something felt wrong. The fire was too precise, too controlled. This wasn't random rogue violence.

"We should help," I said.

"Help?" Alpha Thorne laughed bitterly. "She chose them over us. Let her new friends handle it."

"She's still—" I stopped. Still what? My mate? I'd destroyed that. Pack? She'd been banished.

"Still Tehila," Jamie said, appearing with a group of omegas. "And we're going to help."

"You'll do no such thing," Alpha Thorne commanded.

But Jamie didn't back down. "With respect, Alpha, you can't stop all of us."

More wolves gathered. Not just omegas – betas, warriors, even some deltas. All the wolves Tehila had helped over the years.

"She was the only one who ever stood up for us," an older wolf said. "We won't abandon her now."

I felt shame burn through me. They were willing to risk everything for her, while I – her mate – had betrayed her for political gain.

"If you leave to help her, you're rogues too," Alpha Thorne threatened.

"Then we're rogues," Jamie said simply.

"This is insurrection!"

"No," I heard myself say. "This is conscience."

Everyone turned to stare at me.

"You can't be serious," Jade gasped.

"She saved his brother," I pointed at Jamie. "She took thirty lashes meant for Sara's daughter. She gave her food to the orphaned pups every winter." I looked around at the gathered wolves. "She protected all of you, even when it cost her. And how did we repay her?"

"We followed pack law," Alpha Thorne said.

"Pack law?" I laughed bitterly. "We followed our own selfish desires and called it law."

"Dalton," Jade grabbed my arm. "You're talking nonsense. You chose me, remember? You love me."

I looked at her – really looked at her. Beautiful, ambitious, cunning Jade. Everything an ambitious beta could want in a mate.

Everything except the one thing that mattered.

"I chose power," I admitted. "I chose the easy path. I chose wrong."

The words hung in the air like a confession.

"You're going after her," Jade said, not a question.

"I have to."

"Why? She's gone! She chose him!"

"Because if I don't, I'll never be able to live with myself."

"You seemed fine living with yourself while you were in my bed!"

The crude reminder made several wolves look away uncomfortably.

"I was dying inside," I admitted. "Every day, every moment I denied the bond, I was dying. I just convinced myself it was living."

"This is pathetic," Alpha Thorne spat. "All of you, pathetic. Mooning over one weak female—"

"She's not weak." The words came from my father, stepping out of the shadows. The former Beta, who'd trained me to be strong, to be ruthless. "She's the strongest wolf in this pack. Because she chose kindness in a world that rewarded cruelty."

"Et tu?" Alpha Thorne looked betrayed.

"I watched my son destroy his mate bond for politics," my father said. "I said nothing because I thought it was strength. But watching her stand up there tonight, facing all of you without flinching? That was a strength."

Another explosion echoed from the forest. The fire was spreading.

"We're wasting time," Jamie said. "Are we going or not?"

I made my decision. "I'm going."

"Then you're banished too," Alpha Thorne declared.

"So be it."

I started running toward the fire, shifting mid-stride. Behind me, I heard others following. Not everyone – but enough. 

The smoke grew thicker as we approached. Through the trees, I saw the overturned vehicles, the flames, the bodies. Rogues and pack wolves alike, scattered across the ground.

But no Tehila. No Zane.

I shifted back, searching. "Tehila!"

"Over here!" Jamie called.

I ran to him. He stood over a body, but it wasn't her. It was one of Zane's rogues, throat torn out.

"This wasn't us," Jamie said. "The wounds are wrong."

He was right. These weren't wolf wounds. They were too precise, too clinical.

"Hunters," my father said, joining us in human form. "Wolf hunters."

My blood ran cold. Hunters were every wolf's nightmare – humans who knew about us and killed us for sport or profit.

"But how did they know—" I stopped. The timing was too convenient. The location is too precise.

"Someone told them," my father finished. "Someone set this up."

A scream pierced the night. Tehila's scream.

I ran toward it without thinking, crashing through the underbrush. I burst into a clearing and stopped dead.

Tehila knelt on the ground, silver chains around her wrists. Zane lay beside her, unconscious and bleeding. And standing over them, holding a silver blade, was someone I never expected.

"Hello, son," my mother said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"Mother?" I couldn't process what I was seeing. "What are you—"

"Cleaning up your mess, as always." She pressed the blade against Tehila's throat. "You never could finish what you started."

"You're working with hunters?"

"Working with them? Oh, Dalton." She laughed. "I'm leading them."

The world tilted. My mother, the former Beta female, was a hunter?

"Surprised? You shouldn't be. How do you think your father became Beta? The previous one had an unfortunate encounter with hunters. So convenient."

"You killed—"

"I cleared the path. Just like I've been clearing it for you." Her eyes hardened. "Until you threw it all away for this pathetic bond."

"Let her go," I growled.

"No. She's ruined everything. You were supposed to mate with Jade, become Alpha when Thorne inevitably had an accident, and lead this pack to greatness."

"By betraying our own kind?"

"By being smart. The humans are coming, Dalton. More every year. We can either work with them or be exterminated by them."

"So you chose to be their pet?"

"I chose to survive." She pressed the blade deeper, drawing blood. Tehila gasped. "Something she won't do."

"Stop!" I stepped forward, but armed humans emerged from the trees, guns trained on me.

"Silver bullets," my mother said casually. "One shot and you're dead."

"Why?" Tehila asked through gritted teeth. "Why all this elaborate planning?"

"Because you were supposed to be weak. Broken. You were supposed to accept Dalton's rejection and disappear quietly. Instead, you had to make a scene. Had to be brave." She sneered. "And now the Rogue King knows about our operation."

"Your operation?"

"Selling rogue locations to hunters. Quite profitable, actually. Until he started protecting them."

Zane stirred, growling weakly.

"Ah, he's waking up." My mother smiled. "Good. I want him to watch."

"Mother, please—"

"Don't call me that. You're no son of mine. Not anymore." She raised the blade. "Say goodbye to your mate, Dalton."

Time slowed. I saw the blade descending, saw Tehila's eyes close in acceptance, saw my entire world about to end.

And I made the only choice that mattered.

I dove forward, shifting mid-leap. The guns fired, silver bullets tearing through me, but I didn't stop. My jaws closed on my mother's arm, yanking her away from Tehila.

We hit the ground hard. I felt the blade pierce my side, felt the silver burning through my veins. But I held on.

"Dalton!" Tehila screamed.

More gunfire. But not at us. The omega wolves burst into the clearing, attacking the hunters. My father tackled two of them, roaring with rage.

My mother struggled beneath me, but the silver was affecting her too. She'd been handling it too long, building up toxicity.

"You fool," she gasped. "You've doomed us all."

"No," I managed, my vision darkening. "I've saved us."

Zane was on his feet now, despite his injuries. He grabbed the nearest hunter, and I heard bones snap.

"The chains," Tehila begged someone. "Please!"

Jamie appeared with bolt cutters, freeing her. She immediately crawled to me, pulling me off my mother.

"Dalton, no, stay with me!"

I tried to speak, but blood filled my mouth. The silver was spreading, burning me from the inside.

"Why?" she asked, tears streaming down her face. "Why save me after everything?"

"Because," I managed, "you were right. About all of it."

My mother laughed wetly. "Touching. But it changes nothing. More hunters will come. They know about this pack now."

"Then we'll fight them," Zane said, standing over her. "All of them."

"You can't fight the inevitable."

"Watch us."

He picked up the silver blade, and for a moment, I thought he'd kill her. Instead, he threw it into the fire.

"Death's too easy," he said. "Living with what you've done? That's punishment."

Sirens wailed in the distance. Someone had called the human authorities.

"We need to go," my father said. "Now."

"He can't be moved," Tehila said, her hands pressed against my wounds. "The silver—"

"I can help," a new voice said.

We all turned. An elderly woman emerged from the trees, carrying a medical bag.

"Who—" Zane started.

"Dr. Lorett," she said. "I've been watching this pack for years. Waiting for someone to finally stand up to the corruption." She knelt beside me. "Silver poisoning. Bad, but not fatal. Yet."

She pulled out a syringe. "This will hurt."

She wasn't lying. The antidote felt like acid in my veins. I screamed.

"That's good," she said. "Means you're still fighting."

"The authorities—" someone said.

"Are being handled," Dr. Lorett said. "I have friends too. But you need to disappear. All of you who helped tonight."

"Come with us," Zane told the omega wolves. "My territory is open to all."

Most nodded, but some hesitated.

"What about the pack?" one asked.

"What pack?" Jamie said bitterly. "It died tonight."

As if in response, we heard howling from the direction of the pack lands. Alpha Thorne is calling his wolves home.

"Those who didn't come," my father said quietly. "They're choosing him."

"Then they've chosen wrong," Tehila said.

She looked down at me, something unreadable in her eyes.

"Can he travel?" she asked Dr. Lorett.

"With help. But he needs rest. Soon."

"Then we go." Zane made the decision. "All of us."

They lifted me carefully. The movement sent fresh agony through my body, but I bit back the scream.

As we moved through the forest, I heard my mother call out, "This isn't over! You hear me? This isn't over!"

But it was. At least, this part was.