Chapter 8 – Kael
The Enemy Among Us
I could feel the tension in the war room thickening with every passing second. Alera's betas stood like sentinels around the table, their eyes flickering between me and the evidence I'd laid out. I didn't blame them. Hell, if I were in their place, I'd have thrown me in silver shackles already.
But they hadn't yet. Which meant I still had time to prove myself.
Alera didn't speak. She circled the table slowly, her fingers trailing along the edge of the carved wood, stopping briefly over the twin wolves etched into the center. Her wolf, just under her skin, pulsed with presence. I could feel it. See it in the shift of her eyes, the way her jaw clenched when she read the torn prophecy again.
I hadn't told her the full truth yet.
I wasn't sure she was ready.
Or maybe I wasn't.
"The witches aren't acting alone," I said, breaking the silence. "They've found a way to infect wolves—change them."
"Infect?" one of the betas—Rane—asked, frowning. "Like a curse?"
"Worse. Like possession."
Alera looked up sharply. "That's not possible."
"Not with ordinary witches, no. But these aren't hedge witches or forest covens. This is the old blood—warlocks who survived the last purge by going underground. They've been waiting, gathering strength, preparing."
Rane snorted. "Preparing for what? War?"
"No," I said grimly. "Genocide."
A low growl rippled through the room. Not from me. From one of the younger betas. Alera raised a hand, silencing him with a single glance.
"What do they want with me?" she asked.
I hesitated.
This was the part I'd been dreading.
I pulled another page from my jacket, crumpled and faded. The original prophecy scroll, stolen from a temple ruin deep in the Hollow Vale. I spread it beside the torn fragment already on the table.
It showed two figures—wolves with human eyes, standing on either side of a burning tree. One bore a scar over its heart. The other had a mark on its neck shaped like a crescent moon.
Alera stared at it.
Then slowly reached up and touched the base of her neck, just above her collarbone.
She hadn't known.
"Your mark," I said. "It's not just a birthmark. It's an ancestral seal. It ties you to the original line of moon-blood wolves—those created by the moon goddess herself. The witches believe if they kill you under a blood moon, it'll sever that connection forever. Break the goddess's hold over our kind."
"And you?" she asked, voice hollow.
I opened my shirt, just enough to reveal the thin scar across my chest. Faint but still there.
"They already tried with me."
Silence fell.
No one breathed.
Alera's face went pale.
"They carved symbols into my chest," I said, pulling the shirt closed again. "Tried to use me to lure out the others tied to the prophecy. It didn't work. I fought them off and ran. But they didn't need me anymore—not when they found you."
"Why didn't you tell me before?" she asked, and this time there was something raw in her voice.
"Because I thought I could protect you by staying away," I admitted. "But I was wrong."
I looked around the room. At her pack. Her family.
"You're not safe anymore. None of you are. They've already breached your borders once—I tracked the signs on my way in. You've got a traitor inside your ranks."
That hit harder than the prophecy.
The betas bristled, but Alera didn't speak. Her eyes narrowed, scanning the table, the maps, the room—calculating.
She believed me.
That was enough.
For now.
"If you're right," she said finally, "we need to act fast."
"I have a plan," I said. "But it's risky."
"Everything about this is risky," she replied. "Go on."
"We let them think they've won. We set a trap at the next full moon. You and I go to the clearing where the veil between realms is weakest. I'll bring the moonroot. We let the witches come—and we end this."
Alera folded her arms. "That sounds like a good way to die."
"Only if we fail."
She studied me for a long moment. Her eyes softened—not much, but enough.
"We train the pack," she said. "We prepare the grounds. But Kael—if this backfires, and anyone I love dies because of this—"
"I'll take the blame," I said without hesitation. "And I'll take the fall."
"You already did," she said coldly. "Five years ago."
I said nothing. I deserved that.
But I was here now. And I'd fight to the death to keep her safe.