Chapter 34: Chapter 34: You Thought Chains Could Hold Me
The guard gasped when he saw us and managed to murmur. "It was... one of our own. The beta... he had the keys. Said the queen would understand... gold for the children..."
Darius dropped to one knee beside the wounded man. Kane moved past him, knife out, checking the cell. Rylan stood guard at the entrance, axe raised, eyes scanning the corridor for any movement.
I held Lila tighter, her small body tense against me. She made a small, frightened sound but didn’t cry. The twins kicked hard in my belly, as if they felt the sudden spike in tension through the bond.
Darius’s voice was ice. "Which beta?"
"The one who took over after the last traitor," the guard wheezed. "He said... the prisoner promised safety for his family. Said the children would bring the curse back anyway."
Kane stepped out of the empty cell, face grim. "No blood inside. They planned this. He’s been working with your father for weeks."
The bond exploded in my head. Darius’s claws were fully out. Kane’s eyes flashed gold. Rylan’s breathing turned into a low growl. The curse wasn’t even at its peak yet, but the night had already pushed them to the edge.
I looked at the open cell door and the broken chains on the floor. My father was out there again. Someone inside these walls had helped him escape. Someone who had already taken gold once and was willing to take it again.
The keep was waking up. Footsteps pounded in the halls above us. Voices rose. The pack would know soon. The traitor was still inside, and my father was free.
Darius stood, claws retracting with effort. "We seal the keep. No one leaves. No one enters. We check every wolf who has been near the cells in the last month."
Kane nodded. "I’ll start with the guard rosters. Rylan, take the outer wall. If anyone tries to run, stop them."
Rylan’s grin was gone. He looked at Lila in my arms, then at me. "I’ll find the beta who did this. And when I do, I’ll make sure he regrets every coin he took."
I pressed my hand to the curve of my belly where the twins kicked again. The scar on my chest prickled, a reminder that the curse was still waiting for its next test. My father was out there now, regrouping with whatever allies he had left. The gold he had already paid was still working inside our walls.
The pack began to gather at the end of the corridor, faces pale in the torchlight. Some carried weapons. Others looked ready to run. The doubt I had fought so hard to bury was rising again, sharp and fast.
I stepped forward with Lila in my arms, the brothers closing in around us.
"Listen to me," I said, voice carrying down the stone corridor. "My father is free, but he is alone. He has no army inside these walls. He has only the cowards who took his gold. We find them tonight. We end this tonight. And when we do, the pack will see what happens to anyone who chooses him over us."
The words landed heavy. The pack didn’t cheer, but they didn’t scatter either. The beta who had taken charge after the first traitor stepped forward. His face was grim. "We’ll search the keep. Every room. Every guard."
I nodded. "Do it. And bring me anyone who even looks like they knew."
The search began immediately. Doors were thrown open. Guards were questioned. The keep turned into a hive of controlled chaos. I stayed in the war room with Lila, the brothers moving in and out with reports. The traitor beta was nowhere to be found. He had slipped away in the confusion, taking a horse and disappearing into the night.
By dawn we knew the truth. He had helped my father escape. He had opened the cell, broken the chains, and covered their tracks. And now both of them were gone.
Darius slammed a fist on the table. "Six weeks until the next full moon. He’ll use that time to regroup. He’ll call in every favor he has left."
Kane’s knife rested on the map, pointing south. "We hunt him. We hunt the beta. We don’t stop until they’re both dead."
Rylan looked at Lila in my arms, then at the curve of my belly. "And if he comes back with an army?"
I looked at the three of them, then at my daughter, then at the twins I carried. The bond hummed between us, fierce and unbreakable, but the shadow at the edges was thicker now.
"Then we make sure he never gets the chance," I said. "We find the traitor. We find my father. And when we do, I will be the one who ends him."
The sun rose over the ridges, pale and cold.
My father was out there.
The traitor was still inside.
And the next full moon was coming.
The hunt had begun.
By the time the first gray light of dawn crept over the ridges, the keep was already tearing itself apart from the inside.
Guards pounded down corridors, doors were thrown open, and every wolf who had ever stood near the cells was dragged into the bailey for questioning.
The air smelled of blood and wet stone and fear. I stood on the steps with Lila strapped tight to my chest, the twins kicking hard in my belly as if they could feel the chaos around us. The cut on my arm from the night before had been cleaned and wrapped, but it still burned.
Darius stood to my right, claws half out, his eyes scanning every face. Kane moved through the crowd like a shadow, knife ready, stopping to question guards and gammas alike. Rylan had taken a horse and ridden out with a small team to check the eastern trails before the snow melted completely and the tracks disappeared.
The beta who had helped my father escape was nowhere to be found. His quarters were empty, his weapons gone, his mate and pups missing too. He had planned this. He had opened the cell, broken the chains, and slipped away with my father under cover of the night’s confusion.
I watched the pack mill in the bailey, faces pale and angry. Some looked at me with the old doubt creeping back. Others looked ready to tear the keep apart with their bare hands. The bond between the four of us was tight and raw, the curse still simmering just beneath the surface even though the full moon had passed.
Darius spoke without looking at me. "We’ll find them. Both of them."
"I know," I said. My hand rested on the curve of my belly where the twins moved again. "But we do it smart. No one leaves the walls alone. No one talks to anyone outside this room without me knowing. And we start with the guards who were on duty last night."
Kane returned from the crowd, wiping blood from his knife. "The guard who was wounded is dead. He bled out before he could say anything more. But one of the others remembered seeing the beta near the cells two nights ago. He was carrying a pouch. Gold, most likely."
Rylan rode back through the gates an hour later, horse lathered, axe still strapped to his back. He swung down and came straight to us. "Tracks head south. Two horses. They’re moving fast. The beta knew the hidden trails. He’s been planning this for weeks."
I looked out over the bailey. The pack was watching us now, waiting. The escape had shaken them. The traitor had been one of their own, someone they had trusted. The doubt I had fought so hard to bury was rising again, sharp and fast.
"We don’t let it break us," I said loud enough for the nearest wolves to hear. "My father is out there because one coward took gold. We find him. We find the beta. And when we do, the pack will watch what happens to anyone who chooses him over us."
The words landed. Some wolves nodded. Others looked away, but the fear was turning into something harder. Anger. Resolve.
The days that followed were a blur of search parties and locked doors. We changed the guard rotation every night. No one outside the four of us knew the real pattern. The women and older pups trained harder in the yard, blades flashing in the pale spring sun.
I moved through the keep with Lila in the sling and my hand on my belly, the twins kicking more every day as my stomach rounded further. The nausea had eased, but the tiredness sat heavy in my bones.
The brothers stayed close. Darius rarely left my side during council. Kane doubled the guard on the nursery. Rylan took to riding the outer trails himself, axe on his back, eyes scanning for any sign of the beta or my father.
Two weeks passed. The snow was almost gone. Green shoots pushed through the mud, and the first wildflowers bloomed along the southern wall. Lila was crawling faster now, pulling herself up on furniture and babbling at everything. The twins kicked so hard some nights that I couldn’t sleep.
The pack was holding, but the whispers had started again. Someone had helped my father escape. Someone was still out there.
Then the first message arrived.
A scout found it pinned to a tree on the southern trail. A piece of Shadowpine cloth wrapped around a small bone. The note inside was written in my father’s hand.
"You thought chains could hold me. I will take what is mine. The children will never sit on any throne. The curse will finish what I started."
