apter 69
Maya stood with her father deep in the woods. She hugged her cloak tighter around her shoulders, not so much from the chill as from the unease that had been eating her up ever
since she overheard the conversation.
Her father, Elder Gerald, stood tall beside her, his hands clasped behind his back. Though his hair was streaked with gray, there was nothing frail about him. His eyes were sharp and rested on her impatiently as though waiting for her to finish what she had started.
“I told you everything I could, Father,” Maya whispered, glancing nervously around the clearing. “I heard Alpha Alexander on the phone, and Beta Cole was right there beside him. The way he spoke… it wasn’t just pack matters. He sounded worried, more than I’ve ever heard him. Whatever it is, it isn’t just another enemy pack circling. It’s… something different. Something dangerous.”
Gerald’s gaze narrowed. “And you’re certain of this? You’re not exaggerating, child?”
“I wouldn’t dare exaggerate,” Maya said quickly, shaking her head. “I know what I heard. They spoke of a threat–an enemy none of us have faced before. At first, I thought it was an attack coming from a neighboring pack, but that wasn’t it. They’re not searching for a whole pack… they’re searching for one person. An individual.”
Her father’s brows drew together. “One person?”
“Yes,” Maya confirmed, her voice dropping even lower as if the trees themselves might betray her. “A person with a ring–something special, some design that means something. I didn’t catch everything, but Alexander said it had a wolf with three eyes.” She paused, recalling the way the alpha’s tone had sharpened. “I believe whoever he was speaking with had sent him a sketch of it. But I… I didn’t see it. I couldn’t. I don’t have access to his phone.”
Gerald muttered something under his breath and began pacing, boots crushing twigs as he walked. His chest rising and falling heavily. His daughter’s words carried weight–not because of the danger to the pack, but because of the leverage they might provide.
“Three eyes…” he murmured, tasting the words. “A wolf with three eyes. And a ring. Hm.”
Maya fidgeted, watching him. His silence unsettled her more than his questions. She finally broke it. “Father, why does it matter to you so much? You’ve had me sneaking around the Alpha’s wing, the Luna’s chambers, listening where I shouldn’t. Do you realize how dangerous this is for me? If anyone discovers what I’ve been doing, Alexander will have both our heads on spikes. And for what? Do we even know if this is worth the risk?”
Gerald stopped pacing and turned to her sharply. The impatience in his eyes was enough to
1/4
:
<Chapter 69
+25 Points >
make her step back. “Do you truly not understand, Maya? After all I have told you? You think I’m sending you into danger for nothing? Foolish child. Everything I ask of you is to make way for your future–for the brighter life you cannot yet see.”
Maya blinked. “What future? By risking my neck listening to conversations I shouldn’t? By spying on the Alpha and his Luna?”
Her father’s lips curled into a dry smile. “Not just spying. We’re preparing and positioning. You are blind, Maya. Blind to what stands before you.”
“I don’t follow,” she whispered, her chest tightening.
“You will,” Gerald said coldly. He stepped closer until his shadow loomed over her, his voice dropping to a hiss. “Everything I am doing, every risk I ask of you, is to place you where you belong–at Alexander’s side. As Luna of the pack.”
Maya’s eyes widened, her breath catching in her throat. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“No…” Maya shook her head frantically. “No, Father. That’s madness. Alexander already has a
Luna. His mate. And their bond-”
“—is not unbreakable,” Gerald interrupted sharply. “Do not speak to me of bonds. A bond is nothing if it is tainted. Nothing if the mate in question proves unworthy of the pack’s loyalty. You know as well as I do that the pack has not fully accepted her. They call her a replacement, a shadow of what should have been. That weakness can be turned into
opportunity.”
Maya’s heart pounded. She could hardly believe the words falling from her father’s lips. ” Father, that’s an abomination. Their bond was sealed before the Moon Goddess herself. Do you understand what you’re saying? To even think of such a thing—”
Gerald cut her off with a bitter laugh. “The Moon Goddess, child? Who told you she’s in support of the bond? Were you at the ceremony? And as for Alexander, he is Alpha, yes, but he is not unshakable. If his Luna falters, if whispers spread of her disloyalty, if she is seen as unworthy–then the bond matters little. The pack will reject her. And when the pack rejects, so too does the Alpha’s power weaken. That is when opportunity strikes.”
Maya’s stomach turned. She took a shaky step back, staring at her father as though seeing him for the first time. “You mean to ruin her. To destroy the Luna’s name.”
“I mean,” Gerald said, his tone dark and deliberate, “to secure your future. Do you think I raised you to be nothing more than another nameless she–wolf in the shadows? No. You have beauty, Maya. You have all it takes. And with the right maneuvering, you will have
2/4
Chapter 69
+25 Points
position. Luna’s position. You will stand beside the Alpha, not as some servant, but as his equal, his chosen, his strength.”
Maya’s throat tightened. “Chosen? He already chose. He has a mate, why are you ignoring that part? And if he ever discovers what you’re plotting, he’ll never forgive us. He’ll never forgive me.”
“He doesn’t have to forgive,” Gerald said coldly. “He only has to yield to what cannot be
denied.”
Maya hugged her cloak closer, shivering despite the warmth of her father’s conviction. She didn’t know what frightened her more–that Alexander might uncover her father’s schemes, or that her father truly believed them possible.
“Father,” she whispered, desperate now, “what if you’re wrong? What if none of this works? What if the Alpha stands by his Luna no matter what? Where does that leave us then? Where
does that leave me?”
Gerald’s eyes glinted in the half–light, cold. “Then we adjust. We find another path. But mark my words, Maya, this is not folly. I have watched Alexander closely. He is strong, yes, but even the strong falter when the ground beneath them is shaken. And I will be the one to
shake it.”
Maya shook her head, tears threatening at the corners of her eyes. “And what of the threat Alexander is so worried about? The wolf with three eyes, the ring, this enemy no one can name. Shouldn’t we be concerned about protecting the pack? About survival?”
Gerald’s lip curled. “The pack will survive. It always does. But we must do more than survive…we must rise. This…” he gestured vaguely toward the trees. “…is nothing but another storm, it will pass. But the question is, who will be standing strongest when it does? And I
intend that it be us.”
Maya closed her eyes briefly, the weight of his words pressing down on her chest. She wanted to argue, to scream at him that he was wrong, that she didn’t want this. But the look in his eyes silenced her–the fierce, immovable determination of a man who had long since chosen his path.
Maya swallowed hard, her voice breaking as she whispered, “I don’t know if I can do this.”
Gerald’s hand shot out and gripped her shoulder tightly, his fingers digging into her cloak.” You will do this,” he said with authority. “Because you are my daughter. And because I will not see you waste your life as something lesser than what you were meant to be.”
D
3/4
< Chapter 70
Chapter 70
