Free Web NovelChapter 29: Chapter 29: The Traitor
The beta who had questioned me twice; the same man who had doubled the guard on the nursery after the collar threat was found in the lower storerooms with a pouch of gold coins and a fresh Shadowpine message hidden in his boot.
He didn’t deny it when we dragged him into the bailey in front of the entire pack. He just looked at me with tired eyes.
"I did it for my pups," his voicing shaking from fear. "Voss promised they would live if I helped him get the child. He said the curse would take the kings anyway. That keeping her here would get us all killed."
The pack was silent. Some faces showed shock. Others showed shame. A few looked away.
I stood in front of him with Lila strapped to my chest. She was awake, watching everything with those dark eyes that missed nothing. I kept my voice steady.
"You chose to protect your own by putting a knife in the back of everyone else’s. That’s not protection. That’s betrayal."
The beta swallowed. "You don’t know what it’s like to be scared for them every day."
"I do," I said. "I wake up scared for her every single day. And I still choose to fight instead of selling her out."
Darius stepped forward. "The punishment for treason is death. But your mate and pups will live. They will be watched, but they will live. That is more mercy than you gave us."
The execution was quick. Rylan did it himself, one clean swing. The pack watched in silence. When it was done, no one cheered. But no one looked away either.
"This is exactly what you get for betraying the pack. Any traitor caught will go through this same date." Rylan said, wiping his axe.
That night the full moon was six days away.
I lay in the chambers with Lila between us, the brothers close. The bond was tighter than ever, the wolves restless under their skin. I could feel the curse testing them already, pressing against the edges of control.
I pressed a kiss to Lila’s forehead and closed my eyes.
Six days. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
We had six days until the moon rose full again.
And somewhere out there, my father was still smiling in the dark, waiting for the next knife to find its mark.
The wind howled again outside the window.
This time, two wolves answered.
* * * * * * * *
I stood at the glass long after the brothers had gone quiet, Lila’s small body warm against my chest. The sound of those distant howls lingered in my ears, low and wrong, like they knew exactly where the nursery was. I pressed my lips to the top of her head and held her tighter, the faint scar on my chest prickling under my tunic. The curse was supposed to be weaker. The witch had said so. But the bond felt heavier tonight, the wolves closer to the surface in all three of my kings.
Darius lay on his back beside us, one arm over his eyes. Kane sat on the edge of the bed, knife still in his hand even though he wasn’t sharpening it anymore. Rylan paced near the hearth, his boots soft on the stone, but his shoulders were tight. None of them were sleeping. The execution in the bailey had left a silence that followed us all the way up here.
Lila made a small, contented sound and nuzzled closer. I rocked her gently, the motion automatic now. Four months old and she already felt like the center of everything. Her dark hair was starting to curl at the ends, and when she smiled it was the only thing that could cut through the weight in the room.
"They’re getting bolder," I said quietly. "The traitor was just the first. If my father is offering gold, more will listen."
Darius lowered his arm. His ice-blue eyes were sharp in the firelight. "We doubled the guard on the nursery. Changed the rotation twice today. No one outside this room knows the real pattern."
Kane slid the knife into its sheath. "I’ll take the next watch myself. The pups’ quarters too. If anyone so much as looks wrong at a child, they answer to me."
Rylan stopped pacing and dropped onto the bench by the fire. "I can feel it already. The wolf is closer tonight. Six days until the full moon. It’s pushing harder than last month." freёwebnovel.com
I felt it too. The bond was tight, almost painful, the three of them feeding me their restlessness in waves. Darius’s wolf was cold and controlled, Kane’s was silent and lethal, Rylan’s was reckless and hungry. The birth had anchored them, but the curse was still there, waiting for the moon to test how strong that anchor really was.
I climbed into the bed with Lila and lay down between them. Darius curled around us, his hand resting on my hip. Kane took the other side, his scarred fingers brushing my arm. Rylan stretched out at the foot of the bed, close enough that his leg pressed against mine. The four of us fit together like pieces that had finally found their place, but the shadow at the edge of the bond made it feel fragile.
Sleep came in fragments. Lila woke twice to nurse. Each time I held her close and felt the brothers shift closer, their bodies a wall between her and the world. By the time the sky lightened, I was already dressed and ready.
The bailey was busy when we went down. The execution had left its mark. Wolves moved with purpose, eyes sharper, conversations lower. A few nodded at me as I passed with Lila in the sling. Others looked away, but not in fear. In thought. The beta’s death had made something clear: betrayal had a price, and the queen was willing to collect it.
I spent the morning in the training yard behind the keep. The women and older pups I had started training weeks ago were waiting. Twenty of them now, some still hesitant, others already moving with purpose. I showed them how to hold a knife the way Kane had shown me, how to use the weight of their own bodies instead of brute strength. Lila sat in a basket at the edge of the yard, bundled in furs, watching with wide eyes.
One of the younger mothers, a woman named Mara, wiped sweat from her brow after a drill and looked at me. "My mate says the old ways kept us safe. But after last night... I don’t want my son growing up thinking silver collars are the only way to protect him."
I handed her the practice blade. "Then teach him the new way. Strength isn’t just in the men. It’s in all of us."
The session ran long. By the time we finished, the women were breathing hard but standing taller. I picked up Lila and felt her grab at my tunic, her small laugh cutting through the cold air. The bond hummed warmer for a moment, the brothers watching from the wall above. Darius gave me a short nod. Kane’s expression was steady. Rylan’s grin was real this time.
That afternoon the scouts returned from the south. Kane met them first, then came straight to the chambers where I was nursing Lila by the fire.
"They found two more supply caches," he said. "They burned them. But Voss is moving faster than we expected. He’s pulling in wolves from the outer packs. Not a full army yet, but enough to make a push when the moon rises."
Darius looked up from the map he had spread on the table. "Six days. If he times it right, the curse could make us weak at the worst moment."
Rylan leaned in the doorway. "Then we don’t let him time it right. We hit him before the moon peaks. Small team. We go for his command tent. Make him bleed enough that he can’t organize anything when the curse hits."
I looked at Lila, her small mouth still working at my breast. She was so tiny. So new. And my father wanted her dead because she existed. The rage that rose in me was quiet this time, cold and steady.
"I ride with you," I said.
Darius started to speak, but I cut him off.
"I’m not staying behind. The pack needs to see me out there. Lila stays here with the best guards we have. Mara and the other mothers will watch her. But I ride."
The bond tightened. I felt their fear, their protectiveness, and underneath it their understanding. They knew I wasn’t asking.
Rylan nodded first. "Then we ride together. All of us. Like always."
* * * * * * * * * *
The next three days blurred into preparation. We trained harder. The women and pups drilled until their hands bled. The guard rotations changed every few hours.
I spent the evenings in the chambers with Lila between us, the brothers close, the bond humming with the weight of what was coming.
The curse pushed harder each night. Darius woke once with claws halfway out, his eyes glowing in the dark. Kane’s hands shook when he thought no one was looking. Rylan paced more than he slept.
On the fifth night, the full moon was only one day away.
We were in the war room when the final scout arrived, bloodied and breathing hard. He didn’t even make it to the table before he spoke.
"Gamma Voss is moving tonight. Not a raid. A full push. He’s bringing everything he has left. And he’s not alone. He has wolves from three other packs with him. They believe the child is cursed. They believe killing her will end the witch’s wrath."
