CHAPTER 9: THE LUNA'S SHADOW
Daniel's POV
The mental link snapped shut with a finality that left a dull ache behind my eyes.
"Excuse me, Alpha," I had said, my voice as cold as the stone walls of the corridor.
I let out a long, heavy breath, leaning my head against the cool masonry for a split second. It wasn't that I enjoyed being at odds with Caleb, he was my Alpha, but he was also the man I'd grown up with. We were brothers in everything but blood. Yet, there were lines you didn't cross, and the way he was treating the situation...and by extension....us...felt like a betrayal of the very bond that held a pack together. He needed to apologize, to acknowledge the weight of what he was asking us to swallow, before I could bring myself to bridge that gap.
I pushed off the wall and began the walk toward his private quarters. My mind drifted back to his command. Why was he asking me to escort the Thornblood girl now? I was fairly certain he'd already sent Sophie to check on her. The inconsistency was grating, a sign of how frayed his own nerves were.
"Where are you headed, Dee?"
A heavy arm draped across my shoulders, the familiar weight nearly knocking me off balance. I didn't even have to look up to know it was Marcus; the scent of pine and old leather gave him away instantly.
I managed a small, tired smile. "To the Alpha's room. Duty calls."
The easy grin Marcus usually wore vanished instantly, replaced by a hard, jagged line. His arm slipped from my shoulder.
"Let me guess," he said, his voice dropping into a low growl. "To get "her" ? To get his mate?"
He spat the word 'mate' as if it were a curse, a piece of filth he couldn't wait to rinse out of his mouth. I flinched involuntarily at the sheer venom in his tone.
"Calm your horses, Marcus. What's got you so worked up? I thought you were in the strategy meeting. How did it go?"
Marcus scoffed, his pace quickening as we rounded the corner toward the residential wing. The hallway here was wider, lined with plush crimson carpets and silver sconces that flickered with a warm, artificial light, but the atmosphere felt freezing.
"It makes no sense, Dan," Marcus snapped, his hands curling into fists at his sides. "Him choosing the enemy. Someone he barely knows, someone who carries the blood of the people who butchered our families, over the safety of his own pack. I was sitting there in the meeting, staring at him, daring him to even meet my gaze. I was stunned. I mean, I get the instinct—I get wanting a mate and the relief of finally finding her—but the only reasonable, sensible thing to do was reject her immediately. Send her to the royals. End the threat. I know he wouldn't be able to kill her himself, but letting her stay? Letting her breathe our air?"
I sighed, the sound lost in the rhythm of our footsteps. I knew what I was about to say would likely set him off further, but someone had to be the voice of reason. Marcus didn't have a mate yet; he didn't understand that once that bond snaps into place, 'hating' isn't an emotion that's allowed to stay simple.
I understood his rage. We all did. We had all bled during the Thornblood raids. Caleb had lost his mother, and his father had been left in a magical coma that felt more like a slow death. I had lost both my parents in the North Siege. But Marcus… Marcus had been hollowed out. His parents, his elder siblings—his entire line had been wiped out in a single night of fire and silver. He had the most blunt edge of the sword pressed against his throat.
"He can't just flip a switch, Marcus," I said softly. "The bond isn't a choice."
"Like hell it's not. It's a stupid uselesd weakness, that we don't need or deserve." Marcus hissed.
We reached the heavy, double doors of Caleb's private chambers. Two guards were already there, and as the doors swung open, I saw them hoisting Hazel Alice Thorn up from the bed.
The moment I stepped into the room, a physical weight slammed into my chest. It was an instinctive, soul-deep pressure that made my knees want to buckle. Her wolf's presence was massive, radiating a regal, ancient authority that bypassed my brain and spoke directly to my animal half. *Luna.* The word echoed in the back of my mind, unbidden and terrifying.
Beside me, Marcus stiffened, his breath hitching. He was the first to recover from the shock, his face contorting into a mask of pure loathing. He took a predatory step forward, his eyes flashing amber.
I didn't trust the look on his face. I reached out and yanked him back by the crook of his elbow. He shot me a pointed, murderous look, but after a tense second, he forced his shoulders to relax. It was a silent promise: I won't do anything stupid. Let go.
I released him and nodded to the guards. "The Alpha wants her moved to the high-security wing. Level one."
The guards began dragging her toward the door. Hazel looked like a ghost—pale, sweating, and clearly barely conscious—yet she kept her head up.
As we walked down the stairs toward the dungeons, the transition from the luxury of the upper floors to the cold, damp stone of the lower levels was stark. Marcus couldn't keep his mouth shut. He hovered just a few inches from her, his voice a low, mocking drawl.
"Must be nice," Marcus sneered, looking around the damp stone hallway. "To be a murderer and still get the royal treatment. Most traitors would be in chains in a silver-lined cage by now, but you? You get a personal escort from the gamma and delta."
Hazel didn't even blink. She kept her gaze fixed straight ahead, her jaw set in a line of pure iron.
"What's the matter? Wolfsbane got your tongue?" Marcus continued, his face reddening as her silence stretched on. "Or are you just rehearsing your lies for when the royals come to take your head? I bet you think you're special. You think that because Caleb's wolf is weak for you, the rest of us will just forget the blood on your hands."
She completely ignored him. It was as if he were nothing more than a buzzing fly. The more she refused to acknowledge him, the more Marcus's control began to slip. His scent turned acrid with frustration.
"Look at me when I'm speaking to you, Thornblood!"
He reached out, his hand darting toward her shoulder to spin her around.
In a blur of movement that shouldn't have been possible for someone so sick, Hazel reacted. She didn't just pull away; she grabbed Marcus's wrist, used his own momentum against him, and with a sharp, fluid twist, she sent him flying over her shoulder.
*THUD.*
Marcus hit the stone floor flat on his back, the air rushing out of his lungs in a pained wheeze.
The guards froze, their hands flying to their weapons. I stood there, stunned. Her sheer physical strength, even while poisoned, was terrifying. But the person who looked the most shocked was Hazel herself. She stared at her own trembling hands, her breath coming in ragged gasps, as if she hadn't realized she was capable of that.
The guards quickly recovered, subduing her and pinning her arms behind her back with significantly more force than before.
I bit the inside of my cheek, desperately stifling a laugh. Seeing Marcus, one of our best fighters, flattened by a girl who could barely stand was a sight I'd cherish for years.
"Don't touch her again, Marcus," I said, my voice tight with suppressed amusement. "I think she made her point."
Marcus scrambled to his feet, his face a deep, humiliated purple. He didn't say another word, but the look he gave her back was pure ice.
We finally reached the high-security wing. The guards shoved her into the first cell—the one Caleb had specifically requested. I watched as she stumbled inside, falling onto the small cot.
Marcus stood by the iron bars, let out a loud, mocking scoff, and looked at me.
"High security? Give me a break," he muttered, gesturing to the clean linens, the small wooden table, and the fact that the cell was twice the size of any other. "This isn't a dungeon, Dan. This is a sorry excuse for a cell. It's practically a vacation bedroom. He's still coddling her."
He turned and stormed off, his pride clearly wounded. I stayed for a moment, looking at the girl huddled on the bed. She looked so small, yet the air in the cell still hummed with that Luna energy.
Caleb was playing a dangerous game, and with Miss Silver hade arriving at dawn, the board was about to get a lot more crowded.