Chapter 119

Elroy POV

It was great to see Sam truly back on his paws again.

“We still have several wolves in recovery,” he reported as we stood around the table in the war room, “but the casualties could have been so much higher.” He sent me a look of respect. “Their training saved many.”

“Frankly, the battle felt more like a slaughter of civilians than a proper fight,” I said with a growl. “And I’m not just talking about how greatly we outnumbered them.”

Sam nodded. “Many of Denis’s wolves were in a sorry state well before the battle.” He looked over the table and pointed to a district in Eclipse Territory. “This area would be suitable for the refuge camp you mentioned.”

I shook my head. “No, I’ve rethought that plan. It was an automatic reaction, and it’s part of the problem.”

Sam frowned at me then raised his eyebrows.

“Exiling Rogues is what caused this conflict, and segregating them in a camp is just a nice word for that practice. We need to integrate the wolves who seek shelter, not throw them behind a fence where it’s too easy to forget about them.”

Sam thought that over, nodding slightly. “How do you think we should begin that?”

“First, we need to talk to them.” I stopped talking.

Sam waited a moment, then asked, “Alpha?”

I held up a hand. “Olivia is reaching out to me.”

I can’t tell just how many there are, but they look half-starved. I think this is about revenge, not ransom, however.

Can you outrun them? I asked.

The coach driver is trying but—no, wait, that’s a broken axle. We almost tipped over. We’re going to have to confront them.

There’s not enough time for me to send reinforcements. I gathered myself and sent an image to her of her silver wolf standing guard at the entrance of Denis’s tent. But I trust you to deal with this as the Luna of Lunaris.

A wave of gratitude came back to me through our mindlink, and I knew with relief I had said the right thing.

Besides, it was true. I did trust her, even if there were something else keeping us from fully committing to each other.

Or rather, keeping me from committing to the woman I loved.

What was wrong with me?

Olivia POV

Iris and I stepped from the tilting carriage cautiously but without cowering. Our half-dozen guards had been subdued and were standing there with swords at their throats and looks of shame on their faces.

The Rogues walked out of the foliage from all around us, swords and knives out. There were almost twenty of them, and they looked at us with hatred.

“As Luna of Lunaris,” I said loudly, “I call on you to surrender yourselves and help us repair our carriage so we may be on our way.”

The Rogue stared at me. A few sneered, and some looked puzzled.

One of them stepped closer to me, his eyes cruel but also, I could see, full of pain.

“I believe it is you who is to surrender to us, Luna,” he scoffed.

“You attacked this carriage knowing who rode inside it?” I demanded.

“Of course we did. You and your Alpha routed an army of the righteous—”

“Righteous?” I looked around in a show of outrage. Inside, my heart beat calmly. “Your forces killed innocent civilians and terrorized the Pack.”

He made to respond with something doubtlessly threatening, but I held up an imperious hand.

“And now, in your defeat, you attack the Luna, the one to whom you owe the ultimate duty?”

“Fancy titles don’t impress us,” he said, and some of his fellow wolves grumbled in agreement.

“My title is unimportant,” I said. That obviously surprised them. “What matters is that I am the caretaker of our link to the Goddess. Through me, she speaks.”

There was some eye-rolling and laughter, but I went on in the same tone.

“Through me, she acts. Through me, she keeps the Pack close to her light and life spirit.”

This angered the leader. “What do you know about any such link? Lunas like that are folk tales to scare pups.”

Iris flinched in protest, but I sent her a gentling look before turning back to him.

“Folk tales? The Goddess is the source of all wolves’ strength, the power that binds a Pack together, the source of strength that guides us on the hunt. She defends our identity and guides us to our best future. To attack me is to attack the Goddess, and to attack the Goddess is to attack the very heart and soul of all wolves.”

“Like most bullshit, you use very pretty words, but it’s still bullshit,” he said.

I looked at him, seeing him through the Goddess’s eyes.

“You have overpowered my light company of guards. Did you not think to ask yourselves why I would travel so exposed only days after the battle? Now that you think you have me in your power, what is it you think you will get from my bones?

“Are you here for revenge, as the Alpha thinks? Are you here for ransom? What wealth could you gain from me that is more than what I can offer?”

He laughed. “If you’re offering to suck my cock, you—”

Iris stepped forward, her eyes flaming. “You will keep a civil tongue in your muzzle, or I will see you never speak again!”

“Patience, Iris,” I told her, then again turned back to the leader, who was laughing again. “Besides, he will not speak for long regardless.”

That shut him up, and several Rogues around us shifted uneasily.

“What’s that to mean?” he demanded.

“You’re dying,” I said. “The Goddess has told me you have stomach cancer.”

He stared at me almost without expression, but I saw the shock in his eyes joining that long-standing pain.

“You have only months, if that, before you draw your last breath in this world,” I continued. “You’ve already started to part from friends and family, and you’re leading this group because you feel you have nothing left to lose.”

All the Rogues were staring at me in amazement now, and Iris was nodding in satisfaction.

I smiled, and I felt the spirit of the Goddess fill me with compassion. “What you do not realize is that your death will not sever your connections to those you love or the ideals you care about. You fight because you know you and your fellow Rogues were treated unfairly, regardless of any crimes, by being separated from your Packs.

“You fight because it’s right that you do so, but I suggest that the way you are fighting only leads to defeat. You destroy where you should seek to create. You kill when you should nurture, and you mock the Goddess when she desires only to make you whole.”

I spread my arms. “She knows you will come to her embrace, and she knows you are frightened and bitter that your life should end so soon. But you need to realize that who and what you are will continue, just as your causes will continue, just as your Pack, by which I mean all wolves everywhere, will continue.

“I stand before you not with a fancy title but with a duty to speak for the Goddess, just as you all have a duty to listen.” I looked around at them all. “This is what I bring to you that is more precious than any treasure, more healing than any revenge. I bring to you the word that the Goddess sees you, knows you, and, when it is your time, will welcome you to the next stage of your life.”

I looked back at the leader; his pale face, more than his eyes, seemed to look back.

Then, without another word, he knelt.