Chapter 31: Chapter 31: It’s Hitting Harder Tonight
I stood by the cradle, one hand on Lila’s back. She slept through it all, tiny chest rising and falling, her dark hair curling against the blanket. Five months old and she already trusted the world more than I did. The scar on my chest burned, not the old fire from the witch’s mark, but a warning that the partial breaking had only bought us time. The curse was weaker, but the full moon still tested us, still tried to pull the wolves out and let them run.
Darius spoke first, voice rough. "It’s hitting harder tonight. Like the birth only delayed it."
Kane sheathed his knife with a snap. "Mine wants out. Wants to run south and finish what we started with your father."
Rylan let go of the chair and flexed his fingers. "Same. If we don’t do something soon, I might not make it to dawn without shifting."
I looked at the three of them. The bond fed me their struggle in waves — Darius’s cold control cracking, Kane’s silent lethality turning restless, Rylan’s reckless hunger turning dangerous. The birth had anchored them, Lila had anchored them, but the curse was still there, waiting for the moon to push.
"We have him," I said. "The prisoner. We interrogate him tonight. Before the curse gets worse. We get every name, every route, every pack he’s been talking to. Then we decide what to do with him."
Darius nodded once. "The cells. Now."
We left the chambers together, Lila left in the nursery with Mara and the best guards we had. The keep was quiet except for the wind and the occasional low growl from wolves on the wall fighting the same pull we felt. The bond stretched between us as we walked the stone corridors, tight and alive, carrying their tension straight into my chest.
The cells were cold and damp, the air thick with the smell of iron and fear. My father sat on the stone floor, wrists chained to the wall, his shoulder still bandaged from the raid. He looked smaller in the torchlight, but his eyes were the same: hard, calculating, the same eyes that had watched my sister die and then pointed the finger at me.
He smiled when he saw me. "Elena. Come to gloat? Or have you finally come to your senses and brought the child to trade?"
I stopped in front of the bars. Darius stood to my right, Kane to my left, Rylan behind me with his axe ready. The bond thrummed with their rage, but I kept my voice steady.
"You’re going to tell us everything. Every pack you’ve spoken to. Every scout you have inside these walls. Every promise you made about my daughter."
My father laughed, low and ugly. "Or what? You’ll kill me? Go ahead. The witch will still come for the child when the next full moon rises. The curse isn’t gone. It’s just waiting. And my allies are already moving. They believe the child is the reason the North is falling apart."
Kane stepped closer to the bars. His voice was quiet, but the threat in it was clear. "We have ways of making you talk. Ways that don’t end quickly."
My father looked at him, then at Rylan, then at Darius. His smile faded a little. "You think you can hold this place? The packs are listening to me. They see what your human queen is doing. Changing laws. Weakening alliances. They’re scared. And fear makes men rich when someone offers gold."
Rylan’s axe scraped against the stone floor. "Keep talking. I’m listening."
The interrogation went on for hours. My father gave names, routes, even the locations of hidden caches he had been building. He did it with a smile, like he knew something we didn’t. The curse pushed harder as the moon climbed, the brothers fighting it with every word. Darius’s claws kept slipping out. Kane’s eyes flashed gold twice. Rylan paced the corridor outside the cell, axe in hand, his breathing ragged.
By the time we left the cells, we had what we needed. My father was left chained, still breathing, but the information was ours. We walked back to the chambers in silence, the bond heavy with the effort of holding the wolves back.
Lila was still asleep when we returned. Mara nodded to us and left the nursery. I lifted my daughter from the cradle and held her close, her small body warm and trusting. The brothers closed in around us, their presence a wall against the night.
Darius brushed a hand over Lila’s hair. "We have the names. We can cut the traitors out before the moon peaks."
Kane’s voice was low. "And your father?"
I looked at the three of them. The curse was pushing them hard tonight, but they were still here. Still mine. "He lives until we decide what to do with him. He’s more useful alive for now."
Rylan nodded, but his eyes were on the window. The moon was high now, red and heavy, casting long shadows across the floor. "The wolf is loud tonight. I can barely hear myself think."
I felt it too. The bond was straining, the curse testing the anchor Lila had given us. But it held. For now.
We stayed in the nursery the rest of the night. The brothers took turns watching the door and the window. I sat with Lila in my arms, nursing her when she woke, rocking her when she fussed. The bond hummed between us, fierce and protective, but the shadow at the edges grew thicker as the moon climbed higher.
Just before dawn, the first scream came from the lower halls.
I was on my feet before the sound faded. Lila stirred in my arms but didn’t cry. Darius was already moving, claws out. Kane had his knife ready. Rylan grabbed his axe.
The scream came again, closer this time. Then the sound of steel on stone.
We ran.
The nursery corridor was chaos. Two guards lay on the floor, blood pooling around them.
A third wolf, one of our own, stood over them with a blade in his hand and a Shadowpine pouch at his belt. His eyes were wide, the curse pushing him hard under the full moon.
He looked at me, at Lila in my arms, and lunged at me.
Darius hit him first, slamming him against the wall. Kane’s knife flashed. Rylan’s axe came down. The traitor dropped, but not before his blade nicked my arm, drawing blood.
The bond roared in my head. The curse surged, the brothers’ wolves rising close to the surface as the full moon peaked. Darius’s eyes glowed ice-blue. Kane’s claws were fully out. Rylan’s breathing turned into a growl.
I pressed my hand to the cut on my arm and looked down at Lila. She was awake now, eyes wide, but she didn’t cry. She just looked at me like she trusted me to fix this.
The traitor’s body lay still on the stone. The pouch spilled gold coins across the floor.
Darius turned to me, chest heaving. "More will come. The full moon is making them desperate."
Kane wiped his knife. "We end this tonight. All of it."
Rylan’s grin was gone. "And if the curse takes one of us before dawn?"
I held Lila tighter and looked at the three of them. The bond was straining, the wolves pushing hard, but they were still here. Still fighting for us.
"Then we fight it together," I said. "Like we always have."
The moon hung red and heavy outside the window.
The full moon was here.
And the night was far from over.
The traitor’s body lay crumpled on the stone, blood spreading slow and dark from the gash Rylan’s axe had left. I stood with Lila pressed tight to my chest, her small heart hammering against mine, her tiny fingers curled into my tunic like she knew exactly how close the blade had come. The cut on my arm burned, hot and shallow, but I barely felt it. All I felt was the bond roaring in my head, three wolves slamming against their cages as the full moon peaked.
Darius was on his knees beside the dead man, claws fully out, chest heaving as he fought the shift.
Kane stood over him, knife still, his storm-gray eyes locked on the corridor like he expected more to come.
Rylan gripped his axe so hard the wood groaned, his amber eyes glowing gold, breath coming in short, ragged bursts.
Lila let out a small, frightened sound. I rocked her without thinking, my free hand pressed to the back of her head. "Shh. I’ve got you."
The bond fed me their struggle in waves Darius’s cold control was cracking: the wolf inside him snarling to be let loose.
Kane’s silent lethality had turned restless. his hands shaking with the effort of staving human.
Rylan’s reckless hunger had become something darker: something that wanted to run south and tear my father apart piece by piece.
"More will come," Darius ground out. voice parely human. "The moon is making them desperate. The curse is pushing harder than it has since the birth."
