Chapter 7: A Blindspot
Mira opened her mouth to stop her, but Rhea was already gone.
The omega pressed a hand anxiously to her forehead before hurrying after her, soft footsteps echoing through the dim corridor.
Rhea moved quickly through the pack house, keeping close to the shadows despite the fury driving her forward.
Torches flickered against the stone walls, their firelight stretching long shapes across the floor as distant patrols moved somewhere deeper inside the halls.
Finally, she stopped outside a large wooden door reinforced with iron. The war room.
A strange ache twisted through her chest at the sight of it. Without hesitation, Rhea pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The scent hit her immediately. Aged parchment, ink, cedarwood, and the faint lingering musk of wolves who had spent countless nights planning battles inside these walls.
Her eyes drifted toward the large strategy table at the center of the room. Everything was still there. The maps. The carved battle pieces. The markings she had drawn herself before Blackridge.
Her breath slowed painfully. That war had changed everything.
One decision. One moment. One arrow. And her entire life had shattered afterward.
Rhea stepped closer to the table, her fingers brushing lightly against its edge as memories flooded her mind.
Sleepless nights planning troop movement. Hours spent studying enemy behavior. Kaleb standing beside her while she mapped out the strategy that would save Ironfang from destruction.
Back then, she had believed they were a team. A bitter laugh almost escaped her. She leaned over the maps carefully, her eyes narrowing as she retraced the battle lines.
River stirred beneath her skin, instincts sharpening as she searched for the exact moment everything had gone wrong.
Then suddenly, Rhea froze. Her gaze locked onto one section of the map near the eastern ridge. A blind spot. No. Her pulse quickened.
That wasn’t a blind spot. That route had been sealed in her original plan. Someone had moved the defense markers afterward.
Her jaw tightened sharply. "Damn it," she muttered under her breath. "How did we miss that?"
Then another thought hit harder. Or someone sold them out. Cold anger slid down her spine.
Rhea stared at the altered strategy for another second before making her decision. If Ironfang wanted her dead, then they could protect themselves without her.
Without hesitation, she gathered the war plans from the table and rolled them tightly together. Then she moved swiftly toward the shelves lining the walls, grabbing every defensive strategy she had ever created for the pack.
Border security. Patrol routes. Emergency protocols. Hidden escape tunnels. Years of her work. Years of protecting people who had turned on her without remorse.
If they wanted to survive now, they could do it themselves.
Rhea reached for the final scroll resting high on the top shelf when a voice sliced through the air.
"What are you doing here?" Kat’s voice drifted in sharply from the hallway outside.
Rhea froze instantly.
"I-I’m sorry, Luna," Mira stammered loudly, her voice unnaturally strained. "I was just—"
Then silence, dangerous silence.
Rhea’s pulse slammed violently against her ribs. She’d been discovered.
For one tense second, she stood perfectly still, her mind racing. Her eyes darted toward the pile of scrolls stacked across the table.
No. She would die before leaving them behind.
Quickly, she shoved every scroll together and grabbed an empty leather carrying case from beside the shelves. Her hands moved fast despite the adrenaline shaking through her body as she forced the plans inside.
Outside the door, footsteps approached, slow and confident. Kat was coming.
Rhea’s pulse thundered loudly in her ears as the shadow beneath the door grew closer. She slung the strap across her shoulder quickly and pressed herself flat against the wall beside the entrance.
Then realization hit hard.
She couldn’t let Kat recognize her. She couldn’t let her know she was alive. Not yet. Not before she was ready.
Without hesitation, Rhea grabbed the hem of her skirt and tore off a long strip of fabric. The ripping sound sliced through the quiet room.
Quickly, she wrapped the cloth around the lower half of her face, covering her mouth and nose. Then she twisted her silver hair into a rough knot at the back of her head, messy enough to hide its familiar length and shape.
Just as the doorknob began to turn, her wolf growled low beneath her skin, ready.
Rhea pressed herself tightly against the wall behind the door, every muscle in her body locked with tension. The leather strap of the scroll case dug into her shoulder as she forced herself to stay still, breathing shallowly through the cloth wrapped around her face.
Then she heard it. The sharp metallic scrape of a knife being unsheathed.
Her pulse pounded instantly. Rhea’s fingers flew to the blade at her side, pulling it free in one swift movement. Kaleb’s knife gleamed faintly beneath the torchlight, cold against her trembling grip.
Her breathing turned sharp and uneven. River paced violently beneath her skin, ready to attack.
The doorknob twisted slowly, then the door swung open. Kat stepped inside cautiously, knife raised slightly as her eyes scanned the darkened room.
Rhea moved before she could react.
In one brutal motion, she slammed into Kat from behind and shoved her hard into the room. Kat cried out as her body stumbled forward. Before she could regain balance, Rhea struck the back of her head with the hilt of the knife.
Kat gasped sharply and collapsed onto the floor with a painful grunt. Before she could fully process what had happened, Rhea bolted from the room.
Behind her, Kat groaned and pushed herself up shakily, one hand gripping the back of her head while the other flew protectively to her swollen stomach.
Fear flashed across her face. "There’s an intruder," she whispered at first, stunned.
Then panic surged through her. "Intruder!" she screamed, her voice echoing violently through the halls. "Sound the horns! Someone help!"
The cry ripped through the pack house instantly.
Rhea didn’t look back. She sprinted through the corridors, her boots striking sharply against stone floors as alarms erupted in the distance. Wolves shouted, doors slammed open, the entire pack house began waking like a disturbed beast.
Then footsteps thundered somewhere ahead. Too many.
Rhea immediately darted into the shadows beside a stone pillar, pressing herself flat against the wall as guards rushed past.
"Kat!" Kaleb’s voice echoed through the hallway.
The sound hit something raw inside her chest, twisting painfully for a split second. Instinct screamed at her to turn toward him, to look, but she crushed it instantly.
That man had murdered her.
Rhea clenched her jaw and forced herself deeper into the darkness instead. She needed to move. Now.
