~Kade~
We reached the pack only to find out that Nathaniel hadn’t arrived. Everyone was preparing for the fight. The elderly, children, and those unable to fight were guided to the pack house for safety. It all seemed to be rolling smoothly, so I walked over to Layla’s house and knocked on the door. Her mother opened it. Behind her, I could see Tracey on the phone with someone while taking out blueprints and scanning them. Layla’s father was drinking tea in the kitchen; he was calm and collected, and I could tell that he was prepared to fight.
“Kade,” he said as I was let in and stepped into the kitchen.
“Sir, I believe you’ve heard.” He nodded and stood to come and greet me.
“What I haven’t heard is how my other daughter is doing,” he said grudgingly as he pulled back his hand. I raised my head and remained somewhat emotionless.
“I’m sorry to say that I don’t know much more than you do,” I said. “But I do know that once Nathaniel is taken down, she will come back.”
“Let’s kill the son of a bitch then.” He walked out of the house, ready to join the warriors.
I liked what I saw when I stepped out. Everyone was chiming in, training and getting into formation. Tracey brought the blueprints to the pack house, and the grounds were filled with warriors.
Samira, Layla’s mother, helped bring everyone else into the pack house to keep them safe during the fight, but as I looked around, something still felt off. We shouldn’t have arrived before him.
“You five, get over here!” one of my warriors shouted.
A group of young men walked over to him; they looked scared and out of shape. They clearly didn’t train everyone here. Werewolves always had good physics. It was a trade of our species, but that didn’t mean you could fight. They tried whipping them into shape to somewhat prepare them for what would come.
“Alpha.” Her high-pitched voice caused my veins to contract.
I held back a groan as I turned around to greet one of Layla’s former tormentors and Sebastian’s plaything.
“Missy,” I said and watched as she pulled her shirt down to expose the top of her pink bra.
“I was wondering if I could have a word with you.” She stepped closer and bit down on her lip. “In private,” she added.
Was she being serious? How could anyone be this dumb?
“Right now isn’t a good time. We’re preparing for a fight that will be extremely hard for you to fight in with that short skirt, so go change and then join the warriors.” I turned around to leave, but her petite fingers circled my arm to stop me. “Please, it’ll only be a minute. It’s about the fight,” she purred.
In her head, she probably thought that sounded seductive, but to me, it was like nails on a chalkboard. The sooner she stopped talking, the better. Though if she did have information about the fight, I wanted to hear it.
“Follow me.” Mason threw me a look as I walked Missy into the pack house. He raised his hands as if to say what the fuck. I couldn’t blame him, but I also couldn’t dismiss the information until I heard it.
We walked into Sebastian’s former office, and I closed the door. Missy stood by the desk, her hands graced over the surface on the right corner. It looked like she was remembering something.
She giggled and turned back to me. Her tongue slid over her lips, and she pulled the skirt higher up.
“What was it you wanted to say?” I asked and put my hands in my pockets.
She jumped up on the desk and put one leg over the other.
“I heard he’s coming, the Emberclaw. Is that true?”
This pack had all the information that my own did. It was, after all, my pack now too. A decision I sometimes regretted.
“It is why I need to be out there preparing for it.” I walked slowly toward her.
Her chest rose and fell, and her breath grew louder the closer I got.
“I get that, I do. It’s just how are we going to fight him if he’s as strong as everyone says?” she asked, lowering her voice to sound small and fragile.
“You said you had information.”
She nodded and chewed on her lip.
I was standing inches away from her. Missy’s eyes lowered down my body and then up to meet mine.
“You can’t trust the people here. They’re not all on your side,” she said.
The office was dark. Little rays broke through the curtain enough for me to see her legs moving over and spreading on the desk.
“Is that so?” I asked and stepped closer. I walked up between her legs and put my hands down on either side of her.
“Yes,” she breathed. Her hand came up to my neck.
“What’s your evidence?”
Missy leaned in, and I pulled back my head an inch.
“They met Nathaniel. He never came to attack. He came to deliver a message. The guys who were watching him lied. They want you gone. They struck a deal with him: their survival in exchange for delivering the message and letting him go. They knew they couldn’t take him anyways,” she murmured.
I moved my hand closer to her thigh. My fingers graced her skin and moved up her hip as she hitched a breath.
“Is that so?” I asked lowly.
“Yes,” she moaned as my hand traced her skin up the side of her body.
“Who told you this?” I asked. I brushed the hair away from her chest, my fingers moving across the edge of her exposed bra.
“They did. They think I’m with them, but I’m not. You and I can rule together; I can be your Luna. I’ll be a much better fit than that cunt who left you.”
A dark chuckle left my lips. My hand was on the back of her neck, and I leaned in, my lips hovering over hers.
“What else do you know?” I asked and pressed my lips slowly against hers.
“That they’re planning to side with him when the fight starts.”
My other hand came around her thigh, spreading her legs further apart as I straightened myself in front of her and cupped her cheek. I held her neck tightly in my hand, applying a little pressure and watching as her eyes rolled back.
“Their names,” I said.
“It’s the guys that he called over when I came to find you. It’s Greyson, Adam, Stuart, Mitchell, and Carlos,” she moaned and tried leaning forward, but my hand wouldn’t let her.
She smiled at the tease.
“Good girl, now tell me how Sebastian is doing.”
“He’s getting ready—” She stopped and gasped. Her eyes widened when she realized what she’d done.
Her jaw dropped, her eyes filled with pain, and her head was so still she looked like a doll as my claws penetrated her skin and stabbed into her throat.
The blood slid down her neck and her shirt, staining her pale skin. A single tear escaped down her cheek.
“I could’ve forgiven the disloyalty. You would’ve been banished…” I whispered and leaned in. “But you disrespected my Luna, and for that, you will pay with your life.”
