Semua Bab Fated By War: Bab 31 - Bab 40

Three days had passed since Dante's defeat, and he had barely spoken ten words. I brought him breakfast that morning, a guard following me behind like a shadow. The room was sparse but clean, a single bed beneath a barred window, a chair, nothing else.Dante sat propped against pillows, staring out the window at nothing. He did not acknowledge my entrance."You need to eat," I said, setting the tray on the small table beside his bed. "Vera says you refused dinner again last night."Silence. His amber eyes remained fixed on the window, watching pack members move through morning routines outside."Dante, please." I pulled the chair closer. "Talk to me. Yell at me. Something. This silence is worse than your anger.""What do you want me to say?" His voice was hoarse from disuse. "That you were right? That I wasted eight years chasing ghosts? That everything I did, every wolf I hurt, accomplished nothing except proving I am exactly what they think I am?""You are not what they think you ar

Kael's POVI spent the afternoon reviewing guard schedules and patrol routes, looking for patterns that a saboteur might exploit. Silas worked beside me, his weathered face troubled."The fence damage happened during the shift change," he said, pointing to the timeline. "Guards rotating off duty, new ones taking position. Approximately seven minutes when that section was unwatched.""Someone knew the schedule." I traced the patrol route with my finger. "Who has access to this information?""Command staff. Senior warriors. Anyone who has been here long enough to observe patterns." Silas leaned back. "Which means half the pack.""Narrow it down. Who was not in the training yard when the sabotage occurred?"Silas pulled out another list. "Medical staff, kitchen workers, scouts on perimeter duty, maintenance crews. About thirty wolves total.""Cross reference with wolves whose names start with S." I remembered the note. "That might give us our saboteur.""Kael." Silas hesitated. "About th

Kael's POVThe hours before dawn passed like torture. I stood at the window of my office, watching guards patrol the compound, knowing somewhere beyond these walls Aria was captive. Knowing at sunrise I would fight Sarah while her forces attacked defenseless pack members.Unless we prepared."Defensive positions confirmed," Silas said behind me, reviewing our hasty battle plans. "Luna has warriors positioned at the southern perimeter. Mira is evacuating elders and children to the underground bunkers. We are as ready as we can be in six hours.""It will not be enough." I turned from the window. "Sarah has been planning this for months. We have had hours. She knows every weakness in our defenses because she helped build them.""Then we rely on what she does not know," Luna said, entering without knocking. "Our wolves. Their loyalty. Their willingness to fight for something they believe in rather than fear.""Will they fight for me?" The question had been eating at me all night. "Half th

Kael's POVThe compound looked like a battlefield. Smoke damage blackened the courtyard. Blood stained the southern perimeter. Bodies of fallen wolves, both Sarah's and ours, were being prepared for proper burial.I sat beside Aria's bed in the medical wing, watching her breath. Vera had spent hours treating her wounds, stitching the deep gash in her shoulder, flushing the remaining wolfsbane from her system. She would live. But she would carry scars."You should rest," Vera said, checking Aria's bandages. "You are wounded too.""Later." I could not leave her. Not after watching her nearly die for me."Stubborn Alpha." But Vera's tone was fond. "At least let me re-wrap your ribs. You are bleeding through the bandages."I allowed her to work, wincing as she tightened the wrappings around my broken ribs. If Aria had not interfered, if Dante had not provided the distraction with his thrown knife, I would be dead."Where is Dante?" I asked."His room, under guard again." Vera's expression

Two days after Dante's trial, I found myself in the training yard again. Luna had insisted I needed to rebuild strength after my injuries."Again," Luna commanded as I failed another defensive sequence. "You are dropping your guard on the left. That is how you got stabbed.""I got stabbed protecting Kael," I panted, resetting my stance."And you will get stabbed again if you do not fix your form." She lunged, her practice dagger stopping inches from my ribs. "Dead. Again."I groaned but reset. We had been at this for two hours, and my body was ready to collapse. But Luna was relentless, and I was determined to prove I belonged here through more than just the mate bond."Better," she said after I successfully blocked her next three strikes. "You are learning. Slowly, but learning.""High praise from you," I said dryly."Do not get used to it." But she smiled slightly. "Take five minutes. Hydrate. Then we work on offensive combinations."I collapsed on a bench near the fence, gulping wa