Chapter 2

Total silence fell from inside the camp.

It didn't last long before Emily's voice came through the mind-link. "Jason, I lost that brooch a while back. I never mentioned anything to you because I was afraid you'd be upset I lost the gift you gave me."

"When did you lose it?" Jason pressed.

"It was the day Lena warned me to stay away from the Luna's quarters."

I almost let out a bitter laugh. "When did I ever warn you about that?"

Emily drew in a shaky breath. "Lena, it sounds like you're calling me a liar."

Jason's Alpha aura pushed through the gate, heavy and oppressive. "Lena, hand over your weapon. Our members are opening the side gate for the wounded only. You stay outside and hold the line."

"I need medical treatment, too," I said.

"You're still standing on your feet, aren't you?"

"Wolfsbane stops my wounds from healing."

"You are the strongest warrior in Redwind Pack."

That phrase used to feel like praise. Now it was nothing more than an excuse to leave me stranded outside.

Carl stepped forward beside me. "Alpha, Lena is the one who got all of us out alive."

Jason's tone shifted sharply toward him. "Carl, do you still want to keep your pack rations?"

Carl froze in place instantly.

I lifted a hand to Carl's shoulder to calm him down. "Don't bother."

"But Lena—" he started.

"Get them inside." I turned to the guards inside.

A small crack opened in the side gate.

Two sets of hands reached out. They pulled the injured warriors inside and completely ignored me.

The young injured warrior was half-conscious. He grabbed tightly to my arm. "Lead Warrior, what about you?"

"I'll wait for the next group," I said.

Tears mixed with blood streamed down his face. "The Alpha won't let you in."

I gently pried his fingers loose from my arm. "Then you stay alive long enough to see the world for me."

Before Carl slipped through the gate, I leaned in close to his ear. "Keep that Moonlit Brooch in your mind. Three tiny star engravings sit under the crescent moon."

"I will," Carl murmured.

"The patrol map is still on me. I never handed it to anyone."

"Lena..."

"If I die out here, don't let them label me a traitor."

The side gate clicked shut.

My palm stayed pressed against the cold wood for a moment.

From behind the closed gate, Emily's soft voice carried through. "Jason, do you think Lena will hate me?"

"She was only following my orders," Jason reassured her.

"She looked so frightening earlier. I'm scared she'll come back and turn you against me."

"She won't get the chance."

"Can we lock up her room and secure her weapons then? What if the rogues track her scent into camp?"

I spoke up, my voice calm and low. "Jason, I'm still alive."

He fell silent for a short while before saying, "If you are innocent, you will hold the line until sunrise."

"What about my men?"

"They will receive proper care."

"What if I refuse your order?"

His Alpha command crashed over me all at once.

My knees nearly buckled under the heavy pressure.

"Then I will cut all supply access for your loyal warriors until you learn to respect the pack order," he snapped.

I bit my tongue hard and held myself upright through the sharp pain. "You're using my men to threaten me."

"I'm teaching you to know your place."

Low growls rolled through the air as more rogues gathered in the distance.

I turned and walked back toward the outer defense line.

A dead rogue was tangled in the bushes, having left his leather waist pouch behind when his fellow wolves fled.

I sliced the pouch open with my blade and pulled out a sealed paper envelope.

The familiar cherry scent that always stuck to Emily still lingered faintly on the envelope's inner surface.

I tucked the envelope inside my armor.

A single line of writing filled the paper's interior. [Do not let the Lead Warrior survive once the eastern front falls.]

Jason's final warning cut sharply through the mind-link. "Lena, stop stirring up trouble."

I watched the shadowy wolf figures closing in around me.

My voice came out flat and detached, nothing like my usual tone. "I'm not the one stirring up trouble this time."

*****

"All Redwind Pack wolves, listen up. Lead Warrior Lena is temporarily stripped of her duties for a serious battlefield misjudgment." Jason's voice boomed over the pack mind-link, reaching every wolf across the territory.

I was kneeling beside the dead rogue, tightening a small pouch filled with wolfsbane powder, and my fingers froze the second his announcement landed.

The pack instantly erupted with scattered, confused murmurs.

"Battlefield misjudgment?"

"So many warriors got injured defending the eastern front."

"Emily saw Lena let a rogue slip through the line earlier."

"Why isn't Lena saying anything to defend herself?"

I tried to open my channel on the public mind-link to defend myself. "I have proof. Someone altered the patrol map, and the enemy leader was carrying Emily's brooch—"

Jason cut my connection mid-sentence, silencing me completely.

I could only sit trapped in my own head, forced to listen to the endless wave of doubt and suspicion from every pack member.

Emily's voice drifted through the link, soft and sickly sweet. "Please don't blame Lena. She only acted out of a desperate need to prove herself."

One of the female warriors spoke up through the link. "Emily, how's your injured arm holding up?"

"I'm fine. It's nothing more than a small scrape," Emily replied.

She paused for a moment before continuing, "If I held the Luna position, I would never let the pack turn against each other in fear."

I ground my teeth together, tasting thick blood in my mouth.

That Luna throne was a position I had never once chased, even after seven straight years of defending Redwind Pack's borders.

Jason spoke again for the entire pack to hear, "Once the war's over, I'll reconsider who gets to be Luna."

Whispers of excitement rippled through the pack's shared mind-link.

"Emily's so kind. She's perfect for calming everyone down."

"Lena's way too tough. All she knows is how to fight."

Jason did nothing to quiet the negative comments.

His silence spoke louder than any direct insult, and it made exactly where he stood crystal clear.

The rogues' tracks turned north.

I grabbed onto a tree to stand up. My abdominal wound split open again, and the wolfsbane toxin burned through my body, shaking my wolf spirit to the core.

A badly injured rogue let out a mocking laugh. "Your Alpha abandoned you, didn't he?"

I pressed my blade against his throat. "Who messed with the patrol map?"

"Grovel at my feet and beg, and I'll tell you."

The blade cut into his skin. "I don't have time for your games."

He gasped for air and stared at the Redwind Crest on my chest. "A young Omega paid us off. She said you were standing in her way."

"Give me her name."

"She told us never to call her by her name."

"Then tell me what token she gave you."

He smirked. "She had that sweet cherry scent, a Moonlit Brooch, and a Redwind Pack Pass that unlocks the side gate."

I sliced through his belt, and a waterproof leather pouch tumbled out.

Inside were a map of the Redwind Pack territory, a pouch of wolfsbane powder, and a burnt-edged supply slip.

The warehouse stamp on the slip was from the inner camp supply room.

I stashed all the items in the hidden slot of my armor.