C4

"Your presence is suffocating, Sienna, and your scent profile is contaminating the entire sector," I said, putting down my metal flask as the alpha female stepped into our subterranean bunker, a glass of venom-extracted liquor balanced between her claws.

Sienna didn't take the hint, dropping her heavy frame into the leather seat directly next to Lucien. The physical proximity made my blood boil, my inner Lycan snarling at the boundary violation.

"Don't flatter yourself, Chika," Sienna purred, her eyes fixed entirely on Lucien’s stony profile. "I wore the specific scent profile Lucien liked when our bloodlines were allied. Or have you forgotten the scent of your master's preferences?"

I clenched my fists under the table, the skin over my knuckles stretching tight as my claws threatened to tear through. Sienna watched my jaw tighten, a look of malicious satisfaction crossing her features. She wanted the confrontation.

Lucien didn't even turn his head. "Your memory is as flawed as your positioning, Sienna. I never authorized that tribute, nor did I allow your clan near my perimeter."

Malik let out a loud, bark-like laugh from the corner of the war room, taking a massive rip from his vapor device. "The executioner doesn't mince words, does he? Brutal."

Sienna’s face hardened for a fraction of a second before she smoothed her expression back into a cold, lethal smirk. "So what is the operational purpose of this little gathering? Why are the top enforcers of the Afolayan Dominion hiding out in a secondary safehouse tonight?"

Malik wiped his mouth, his amber eyes gleaming with genuine satisfaction. "Chika just spearheaded the total eradication of the northern border syndicate. We are marking the ascension of the new Vanguard Commander."

I felt the heat rise to my neck as the pack brothers nodded toward me. Sienna’s gaze swung back to my frame, her teeth baring slightly. She had held the vanguard token for three winter campaigns before her bloodline was censured, and seeing me wear the black titanium commander plates was visibly eating her alive.

She studied my posture, looking for a structural weakness in my armor or a hesitation in my eyes. To her, I was just a lesser wolf from a broken bloodline, an alpha-born stray who had no right to command the execution squads. She couldn't comprehend how a dominant king like Lucien could tolerate my presence at the head of the war table, let alone choose me as his primary mate.

My tactical pad buzzed against my thigh, flashing an encrypted congratulatory sequence from my vanguard scouts. The small victory warmed my cold veins, and I leaned in toward Lucien, showing him the cleared sector maps. We spoke in low, rhythmic growls, completely shutting Sienna out of our operational radius.

Sienna slammed her glass onto the wood, her claws digging deep gouges into the finish. "The territory is changing too fast. I’ve survived seven assassination summits since the moon turned, and every single contract failed because the enforcers were incompetent." She locked her predatory gaze onto my eyes. "You look quite comfortable in that commander harness, Chika. Lucien never permitted me to lead the frontline charges when I carried his mark. Why is the stray allowed to bleed in the trenches?"

I looked at Lucien, waiting to see if his ancient bloodline instincts would defend my position or if he would let the female test my authority.

"Are you truly that desperate to die on our borders, Sienna?" Lucien asked, his voice dead and menacing.

Sienna leaned over the table, her scent flaring in a desperate bid for dominance. "Are you saying you wouldn't track my execution order if I crossed into the neutral zone?"

Lucien met her stare with the absolute emptiness of a apex killer. "I prefer it when my enemies die alone in the wild. It saves my enforcers the logistics of burying the carcasses."

The verbal execution left me feeling cold and isolated despite the victory. I sat back, nursing my drink while the pack politics swirled around me. Clive, who had been silent near the blast doors, glared at Sienna with undisguised hatred. "This strategic briefing was limited to active vanguard officers. You don't have a seat at this table, Sienna. Get out before I verify your security clearance with a blade."

Sienna rolled her shoulders, her alpha aura flaring to challenge his space. "I am a high-ranking member of the Moon Clan. I go where the blood flows."

I looked at Clive, whose eyes had completely turned to liquid gold, his muscles bunching beneath his combat uniform.

Malik stood up, stepping between them before the silver blades could clear their sheaths. "Your contract expired the moment your patriarch signed the northern concession papers, Sienna. Go back to your den."

Sienna remained planted, her stubbornness driven by a need to humiliate my bloodline in front of the dominion chiefs.

Malik sighed, knowing Clive’s deep-seated hatred for the female. Clive had lost an entire scout squad during the winter ambush because Sienna had delayed her reinforcement line.

Without a word of warning, Clive crossed the floor in a blur of motion, grabbed Sienna by the collar of her leather tactical coat, and dragged her bodily through the reinforced doorway.

The iron door slammed shut, cutting off her furious snarls. Malik turned back to the table, adjusting his weapons belt. "Clive’s restraint is entirely gone when that female breathes our air. My apologies."

Lucien’s brow furrowed, his fingers tapping a rhythmic war cadence against his knee. "Follow them to the perimeter gates, Malik. Ensure Clive doesn't leave a corpse on our primary transport routes."

Malik nodded and vanished into the corridor.

I turned to Lucien, my wolf pushing against my skin with a raw, unvarnished jealousy. "Do you still harbor an alliance contract for her clan?"

Lucien looked annoyed by the question. "Why are you tracking dead treaties?"

"You call them dead, but your focus shifted the moment her scent hit the room," I challenged, my voice dropping into a dangerous register. "Why do her movements matter to the Afolayan Dominion if she's truly an exile?"

Lucien’s jaw tightened, his alpha dominance vibrating through the small room. "It was an operational inquiry, Chika. Your wolf is hunting shadows."

The dismissal hit my chest like a silver round. "Shadows? She openly insulted my command in front of your vanguard enforcers, and you sat there calculating her clan's remaining assets. Did you even notice?"

Lucien remained silent, his expression turning into an impenetrable wall of tactical indifference. I pulled my daggers from the table slots, my heart heavy with a familiar, bitter resentment. "Forget it. The border lines are drawn anyway."

Every time I demanded transparency, my emotions were treated like low-level insubordination. He expected a commander in the field and a submissive wolf in the den, never realizing that the two couldn't coexist under the same moon.

Outside the secure room, the rank-and-file soldiers didn't notice the breakdown between their commanders. Clive hauled Sienna down the concrete stairs, ignoring her claws scraping against his iron gauntlets as he dragged her toward the outer checkpoint.

Sienna was a total wreck by the time they hit the gravel, her combat boots tearing as she fought against his grip. The second Clive released his hold, she scrambled to her feet, her fangs fully extended. "Have you completely lost your mind, Clive?"

Clive pulled a chemical wipe from his pouch, methodically cleaning her scent from his armor plates before dropping the soiled cloth into the mud. "You are filth, Sienna. Keep your syndicate away from our territory."

Sienna lunged, her claws aimed at his throat, but Clive anticipated the trajectory, stepping inside her guard and throwing her back against the chain-link perimeter fence. Malik arrived before the exchange could escalate further, his hand resting on his sidearm. "Break the engagement, both of you."

Sienna spat blood onto the gravel. "He touched a clan representative. I'll have his line hunted."

"A representative?" Clive sneered, his voice shaking with long-suppressed rage. "We all know you're just an apex parasite. Have you already forgotten what happened to Louis Walker?"

At the mention of that name, Sienna’s eyes didn't even flicker with remorse. She let out a sharp, mocking laugh. "Who? Am I supposed to keep a register of every low-grade soldier who dies on our wire?"

Clive’s veins bulked against his neck, his wolf completely taking over his posture. Malik’s smile vanished instantly; Louis had been his blood-brother before the border wars. "You just crossed the final boundary, Sienna," Malik whispered, his voice entirely devoid of its usual humor.

Sienna shrugged, adjusting her torn coat. "File a complaint with the High Council."

"You are a heartless beast," Clive growled, turning his back on her and marching back toward the bunker without looking back. Malik followed close behind, his posture stiff with a cold, unyielding hatred.

Sienna’s expression twisted into a bitter smile as she watched them retreat; she knew her performance had driven a wedge between Lucien and his new male mate. When Malik and Clive re-entered the dining hall, the silence between Lucien and me was absolute. They took their seats without uttering a single word.

"The meat is cold. Eat," I told the table, carving off a piece of the raw venison and forcing myself to swallow it. The others followed my lead, but the heavy, suffocating silence remained unbroken for the rest of the night.

When the moon hit its zenith, the gathering dissolved without a formal dismissal. Lucien and I returned to the main citadel in separate transports. Elder Cedric approached us in the grand courtyard, ready to review the vanguard logs, but as I walked past him toward the training quarters without providing a report, he noticed the cold anger radiating from my frame.

The old advisor looked at Lucien. "Alpha, what transpired at the safehouse? Did the Whitmore boy fail his first command?"

Lucien’s scent was bitter with frustration. "He chose to start a territorial dispute over an expired treaty."

Cedric sighed, his old eyes looking toward the dark corridors. "The bond between two alphas requires constant balancing, sir. Aren't you going to stabilize his wolf?"

"Stabilize him?" Lucien growled, his claws clicking against his belt. "He created the fracture out of nothing. I did nothing to compromise our position. He is simply letting his instincts override his tactical training."

Cedric remained silent, knowing better than to push a frustrated alpha king. "Should we delay the blood-moon ritual for his lineage?"

"No. Proceed with the preparations," Lucien commanded, his eyes flashing dangerous gold. "He claims I don't respect his authority as commander. I will show the entire High Council exactly what kind of power backs his title."

In the isolation of the training room, I stripped off my heavy titanium armor and drew my training blade. The weight of the steel felt grounding in my hands. I stepped onto the blood-stained concrete floor, took a deep breath, and began running through the lethal, aggressive movements of the ancient war-cadence, letting the violence of the rhythm drown out the sound of my own cracking heart.