Chapter 23: Aria

Chapter 23: Aria

I didn’t want to be afraid of what the dead shifters could mean. My life was on track to getting better, and I had everything I needed to recover: a pack that cared about me, a kind and loving and handsome Alpha who believed in me, and a purpose. I was ready to leave behind the trauma that nearly ended my life. But it seemed trauma was not prepared to give me up so easily.

“You should stay here,” Lucas told me softly, clutching my shoulders and kissing my temple.

I shook my head. “No. If I’m to be your future Alpha Female, I need to see what happened. I need to be part of this, Lucas.” Although fear threatened the volume of my voice, I met Lucas’ eyes with a firm, certain stare.

He sighed, searching my eyes for a way to convince me otherwise, but I suspected he knew I was right. “Okay, but stay close.”

Lucas looked to the scouts. “I don’t want to pre-emptively cancel the celebration without knowing what’s happened. You, find Scott and tell him what happened. And you, take us to the bodies,” he said to each scout in turn. Then he looked at me. “Let’s go.”

The three of us transformed back into our wolves, and though my body yearned to race alongside my new packmates and sing under the falling stars, duty gripped me once more. We ran in the opposite direction of the pack, diving into the forest toward the borders of the Silent Shadows Pack. It didn’t take long before the stomach-turning scent of blood filled the air. And with it, the repulsive stench of the culprits.

“Rogues,” I said to Lucas as we approached. He nodded, likely thinking the same.

The smell was bad enough, but the sight was downright horrifying. Bathed in the light of the moon, two bodies were strewn in the grass, their agouti and grey fur soaked with dark red blood looking black in the night. I was no stranger to fear now, but the way it welled up in my throat and chest made me queasy. Paired with aching compassion for the slain wolves, my entire body revolted against getting any closer. I hung back while Lucas padded closer to the bodies, lowering his head to sniff at them. The frown on his maw spoke what he didn’t. This was a terrible tragedy. Nobody should have to lose their life like this.

“Their throats have been ripped out,” Lucas said gravely. “Their eyes and tongues, too. I imagine this is what the Rogues intend to do to us. To me.”

“But why? What do they want?” I drew closer, staving off the anguish in my heart to search for clues on the bodies. All this time, the Rogues had been attacking us, and I didn’t even consider what motivated them. At the moment, it seemed like their only driving force was bloodlust, but this proved that there was something more at play. This attack was calculated.

Despite our investigation, the only scents we found belonged to the Rogues and that of the shifters, identifying them by the pack they belonged to. “These are Crescent Moon’s scouts,” said Lucas. “That territory is ten miles away from here. There’s no reason for them to be out this far.”

“Unless the Rogues dragged them here,” I suggested.

Lucas shook his head. “No. We’d see dirt and mud on the bodies. We’d smell all the vegetation they were dragged through. Besides, the wounds are still fresh. The bodies are still warm. They were killed here.”

Hearing that made a chill shear through my body. “That means two things,” I murmured. “The Crescent Moon Pack was trying to reach out to us, and... the Rogues might still be nearby.”

Lucas huffed. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said, gravitating protectively toward me. His voice softened in reassurance, but there remained a sturdy confidence beneath his words that promised Lucas meant what he said. His nose pressed against the lobe of my ear before he quickly nuzzled my cheek, reminding me that I was his highest priority. When he broke contact with me, it was only to return his attention to the morbid mystery before us. “Why didn’t Archer call or text me? Their lives could have been spared.”

“Archer Blood,” I echoed pensively. “The Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack.”

“Yes,” confirmed Lucas.

“Maybe he did try,” offered the other scout, lurking behind us among the trees. “Have you checked your phone?”

Lucas flicked an ear and grimaced in guilt. “No, I was too preoccupied with the celebration.”

“Let’s bring the bodies back and reach out to Archer to retrieve them,” I said.

Lucas nodded, gazing at the slain shifters. His shoulders fell with a sigh. “If the Rogues are close, we need to call off the celebration.”

“Everyone will understand,” I comforted him. “I’m sure they’d rather be safe than oblivious.”

“You’re right.” Lucas mustered a small smile, but it didn’t last long. Having to recover the bodies was going to be a labour both physically and emotionally exhausting.

Together, we loaded one body onto Lucas’ back and the other onto the scout’s. If I were bigger, I would have carried the body myself, but we were pressed for time, and I was still weak from my trials with the Grey Creek Pack. All I could do was help steady the bodies as I walked alongside Lucas and the scout. Our ears were up and our eyes alert as we traveled through the night, wary of the rogues invading our territory and attacking us when we were most vulnerable. Thankfully, we made it back to the village unscathed, but not unnoticed. When the scent of blood hit the air, those who had returned from the run swarmed us immediately.

“What happened?”

“Who are they?”

“Who did that?”

Their voices rose in trepidation, forming a chorus of terror that quickly roused the attention of Scott and Esther, who came running down the street to greet us.

“Oh no,” said Esther, grief gripping her voice even though they were mere strangers. She was like me, afflicted with compassion for everyone and everything. I met her eyes and shared her pain.

After Lucas and I shifted back into our human forms, he gestured at the slowly building crowd. “Get these wolves inside. Esther, gather everyone still out in the field and bring them into the hall. Scott, coordinate a patrol to search our borders for more Rogues. Bring twice as many scouts. I want to make sure there are no Rogues anywhere near our home, but if there are, be prepared for a fight. And call for me right away.”

“Yes, Alpha,” said Scott, resuming his wolf form in a fluid transformation and racing off to gather his scouts.

Lucas withdrew the phone from his pocket. The screen illuminated his face and the expression of revelation that promised the scout had been right. “I have five missed calls from Archer,” he told me. We walked side by side to the hall as he called Archer back, but there was no answer. “Damnit.”

“Try his packmates,” I offered.

“I am. I’m trying everyone, but there’s no answer.”

The sense of dread haunting me since discovering those bodies intensified. “Something must have happened there. They were trying to get a message to us, to warn us.”

“I’m willing to bet they found the Rogues. It was part of our strategy meeting, remember?” Lucas furrowed his eyebrows.

“Archer suggested we track the rogues to see where they’ve been coming from,” I recalled. “But we told him to wait.”

“Yes, well, Archer has a bad habit of firing first and asking questions later.”

So was that what happened? Archer found where the Rogues were coming from, got in too deep, and sent messengers to warn us? Now I saw the bigger picture. The missing eyes and tongue were to ensure Archer’s messengers couldn’t communicate what they’d discovered. The Rogues gave themselves away by mutilating the messengers.

“What if they need our help?”

Lucas snapped his eyes to me. “I can’t risk throwing my pack into the unknown.”

“No, but maybe someone else knows what to do. We can reach out to the Council of Seven.”

Now Lucas’ eyes widened. “You want to go to the Council after the claims Mara made about you?”

The reminder of Mara’s lies made my spirits fall. “It’s not true. We can ask the Council for help and prove my innocence at the same time.”

“No. I’m sorry, Aria, but we need to stay here and protect our pack.”

“Then let me go alone. It’s only a few hours’ run to Hale Stone. I’ll be safe as soon as I get to the highway.”

Lucas frowned again, this time the gesture directed straight at me. “I’m not risking your life, out of everyone’s, to address the Council of Seven alone. We’ll gather the pack in the hall and wait to hear from Archer.”

I knew Lucas was only trying to protect me, but the foreboding feeling in my gut told me that waiting would only result in more death. “They could be in serious danger,” I said.

“We don’t know that they are.”

“We don’t know that they aren’t.”

As we approached the hall, Lucas and I paused near the doors while our packmates began filing inside. He put his hands on my shoulders, softening his face into pleading care. “I understand you want to help, but Aria... if I let anything happen to you, I’d never be able to forgive myself. I...” His voice faltered in a way I’d never heard before. Like he wanted to say something but couldn’t. His hands squeezed my shoulders. “Please, just help Esther round up the pack. I’ll be in the hall, keeping everyone calm and organized. Come join me as soon as you can.”

The yearning in his eyes implored me to listen. To understand. And I did.

But if I was going to become his Alpha Female, I had to employ my training, trust my gut, and make the right choice. “Okay.”

Lucas managed another smile for me. His lips grazed my brow, kissing me softly before he headed into the hall.

My skin felt cold without him. My feet hesitated to move. With a deep breath in, I turned and walked past everyone entering the hall, looking out in the direction of the field beyond the village. Moonlight glimmered off Esther’s fur as she howled for our packmates, rounding up the last few enjoying the festivities. Such a beautiful night, and it was ruined by the malice of the Rogues.

I couldn’t let them hurt anyone else.

Resuming my wolf form, I ran into the field and then to the treeline beyond. It wouldn’t take long for Lucas to realize I was gone, but hopefully, by then, I’d have gained enough of a lead that I could outrun him or whoever he sent after me. It pained me to disobey him and leave him behind, but the Council needed to know. Someone needed to help the Crescent Moon Pack, and I would get them their help.

The night consumed me as I raced past the Silent Shadows’ border toward Hale Stone. I had only one thing on my mind: bitter vengeance toward the rogues. That was what fueled me, inspiring me to run as fast as I could.

I should have expected I wouldn’t be venturing into unclaimed land alone.

The howls of my pack cried for me to come back, but the paws beating the earth behind me didn’t belong to them.