Free Web NovelChapter 40: Is That Eli?
Rhea kept her movements smooth, sliding down the rough bark until her boots lightly touched the thick branches below. Her silver eyes darted through the gloom, counting the silhouettes slipping through the trees.
Twelve archers. Six heavy enforcers. She rapidly calculated the odds in her head, mapping out escape routes through the dense brush, weighing if there was any mathematical chance of leaving this valley alive.
Down on the damp earth, Kaleb tracked her descent with predatory eyes. When she finally locked gaze with him, she could smell the volatile mixture of suffocating anger and smug satisfaction warring within his scent.
Her boots sank into the mud as she met the ground. Instantly, a wall of snarling, hostile warriors tightened their perimeter around her, their fangs bared in the dark. Rhea simply smiled, forcing a calm into her posture. Her heart was battering under her ribs, but she would not die until she extracted the absolute truth about her son.
"I am here now, Kaleb," Rhea said, her voice cutting cleanly through the whistling wind. She looked him dead in the eye, tilting her head. "Are you going to slaughter me right here, or what exactly is the plan?"
Kaleb’s chest heaved, a low, savage growl ripping from his throat. "On your knees!" he commanded.
The full force of his dominant Alpha aura erupted from his frame, a crushing, invisible weight that slammed against her shoulders, demanding her submission.
River snarled violently in response, her claws tearing at Rhea’s consciousness. "In his wildest dreams!" the wolf spat. "Never again!"
"Be ready, River," Rhea whispered back through their telepathic bond, her eyes never wavering from Kaleb’s face. "We just might meet the ancestors tonight."
"I am entirely ready to tear his throat out and take him into the veil with us," River replied, her feral rage burning hot.
Rhea took a deliberate step toward Kaleb, ignoring the twitching bows of the archers around her. She glanced at the hostile faces of the vanguard, then shifted her gaze to the newly excavated pit just a few feet away.
She raised a hand, pointing directly at the exposed earth. "I looked inside the grave," she announced, her tone entirely conversational.
Kaleb’s amber eyes instinctively flicked toward the messy heap of wet sand and the small, dark cavity in the ground.
"I know my son is not in that dirt," Rhea continued, her silver eyes flashing in the moonlight. "It is nothing but the carcass of a spring lamb."
"Then be prepared to die with the useless truth you have just found," Kaleb shot back, his hand lowering toward the hilt of his blade.
"You are not going to kill me tonight, Kaleb. We both know that," Rhea said. Her voice remained steady, a stark contrast to the frantic, heavy pounding beneath her ribs. "You did not march your entire elite forces all the way here just to kill me."
"On your knees, Rhea! I will not repeat the command!" Kaleb snarled, his facial muscles contorting with rage.
Beta Daniel stepped forward, his massive hand reaching out to forcefully bend her to the earth, but Kaleb instantly shoved his arm back, stepping between them. "I will handle her myself," the Alpha King snapped.
"She is openly undermining your authority in front of the warriors, Alpha," Daniel murmured, his scent turning sour with frustration. "You cannot allow a rogue Luna to disrespect the crown."
"I am not allowing a goddamn thing," Kaleb shot back, his nostrils flaring. "Stand down, Beta."
Rhea watched the exchange, her sharp mind racing as she caught the subtle, conflicting scents wafting from the surrounding enforcers. She could smell the sudden, faint trace of doubt drifting from the younger wolves. It was a crack in his armor. A perfect psychological opportunity.
Kaleb whirled back to face her, his amber eyes darkening to a near-black hue. "I said kneel!" he roared, his feral wolf voice bleeding heavily into his words, vibrating the very air between them. frёewebηovel.cѳm
"You are no longer my Alpha, Kaleb. You lost that title when you put your blade through my stomach," Rhea shot back, her voice ringing out like iron striking stone. "I will never kneel before you again."
"Then it means you have chosen death!" he muttered through clenched fangs, his chest heaving violently. "You always took pleasure in making me look weak in front of my own pack. Tonight, I will finish exactly what I started, and there will be no mistakes this time."
"Touch me," Rhea whispered, leaning in until she could feel the heat of his ragged breath, "and you will never see your son alive again."
Kaleb paused, his entire body locking into rigid stone. His thick brows pulled together in a deep frown. He stepped closer, his scent spiking with desperation. "I will find my son with or without your help," he growled. "How could you sell your soul to my uncle? How could you betray the very pack that fed you?"
"You betrayed me first! Every single one of you!" Rhea shouted back, her silver eyes blazing with a brilliant, blinding light that made the nearest archers flinch. "I died to Ironfang that night. And now you know exactly where my loyalty stands."
Just as the final word left her lips, a sudden, heavy gust of wind swept through the clearing. A rich, deeply familiar scent of cedarwood, wild pine, and crushing mountain dominance hit her nostrils.
Rhea paused, her pulse skipping a beat, but she kept her gaze locked directly onto Kaleb’s face. He was here. She wasn’t standing alone in the dark anymore.
"I only came into these woods for one thing," Kaleb said, extending his hand toward her, palm up. "The war plans. Give back the defense blueprints you stole. If you refuse, my men will paint this mud with your blood right where you stand."
"Not if they find out who has truly been keeping them alive for the last decade," Rhea said, her voice dropping into a mocking register.
Around the semicircle, the warriors shifted uneasily, their boots sinking in the mud as they looked at one another.
Rhea tilted her head, her gaze raking over the elite guards before snapping back to her former mate. "Just tell me what happened to Eli and we can spare you the hassle of your men finding out the truth."
She took another step forward. "What do you think will happen to your fragile crown when these men find out that I was the master architect protecting their families, while you sat on the throne as a pathetic figurehead, fucking my sister behind my back?"
Kaleb’s head snapped around, his frantic gaze darting toward Daniel and the enforcers. The warriors were openly staring now, their expressions heavily conflicted, the scent of pack-wide confusion suffocating the clearing.
"Sooner or later, Kaleb, your warriors will realize they are bleeding for a coward," Rhea whispered. "They will leave you, and they will follow a true leader."
Kaleb’s jaw hardened into pure iron, a murderous frenzy completely consuming his amber eyes. "And who the hell is this true leader? You?"
Rhea met his gaze head-on, her chin lifted high. "Maybe. For now, I just need to know where or who has Eli, or I will begin to talk." fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
In one swift motion, Kaleb reached for his hunting knife and pressed the cold, blood-stained edge hard against her throat. "You will die in the dirt right now before that happens," he murmured through clenched teeth.
"Draw a single drop of blood from her skin, and you will receive your son in bloody pieces at your doorstep."
Adam’s tectonic roar shattered the night, the sheer, terrifying weight of a true Alpha King’s voice vibrating through the trees like a shockwave.
