The scout's words hung in the air like smoke. Silver collars for the pups?? I felt the flutter in my belly kick hard, like my unborn baby had heard it too. My hand pressed tighter against the small bump that was only just starting to show. The witch's mark on my chest flared so hot I had to bite down hard on my teeth to keep myself from gasping out of pain.
Darius's arm locked around my waist like iron. Kane's knife was already out. Rylan's axe came off his shoulder with a low scrape.
"Say that again," Darius said to the scout, voice flat and deadly.
The scout swallowed. "Gamma Voss says… if the traitor isn't delivered by tomorrow night, he starts with the children. He will put silver collars on them and he already has has them ready."
The hall went dead quiet. I became so tensed I started sweating and I could hear my own heart throbbing in my chest. The bond screamed in my head. Three wolves slamming against their cages at once. Darius's cold rage, Kane's silent vow to kill every last Shadowpine wolf, Rylan's reckless hunger turning into something darker.
I stepped forward before any of them could speak. My legs still felt shaky from the morning sickness, but the latent alpha blood pushed back hard. "Tell my father I'm coming for him myself. Tell him if he puts one silver collar on a single pup in this pack, I will burn Shadowpine to the ground with him inside it."
The scout backed away fast, eyes wide. He turned and ran.
The hall stayed silent for three long heartbeats. Then the beta who'd questioned me yesterday cleared his throat. "My queen… the children. If we keep fighting —"
I turned on him so fast my cloak flared. "If we hand me over, the witch takes the child anyway. Then she comes for yours. You want to bet your pups' lives on my father's mercy? Because I've seen it. It doesn't exist."
The beta looked at the floor. A couple of the older wolves nodded. The rest stayed quiet, but I felt the crack widening.
Darius spoke loud enough for everyone. "Double the watch on the pups. Silver collars on our own if we have to. No one sleeps tonight. We hit them at midnight. Hard. We end this before the full moon."
No cheers this time. Just grim nods and the sound of boots moving.
We went straight to the war room. Maps spread across the table. My stomach rolled again, but I swallowed it down and pointed at the ridge where my father's camp sat. "Here. He'll expect us to come from the front again. We go around the east flank, through the narrow pass. Small team. Me, you three, and twenty of our best."
Kane's jaw tightened. "You're carrying our child. The sickness is getting worse and the mark is spreading."
"I know." I met his eyes. "And I'm still going. Because if I hide in here while he puts silver on the pups, I'm no better than the man who threw me away in chains."
Rylan's grin came back, slow and mean. "That's my girl."
Darius stared at me for a long second. The bond pushed his fear straight into my chest, but underneath it I felt the same cold resolve I carried. "You stay in the middle the whole time. If it goes bad, you ride back. That's not a request."
I nodded. I wasn't stupid. The flutter in my belly kicked again, like the baby was agreeing.
The rest of the day passed in a blur of weapons checks and quiet tension. I trained lightly in the small yard, swings slower because of the nausea, but the latent alpha blood made them heavier. When I finally lowered the blade, sweat stinging the claw marks on my shoulder, Darius caught me by the waist and kissed me right there in front of the guards. Hard. Possessive. The pack watching from the walls cheered low this time.
Night fell fast. We left after midnight, cloaks dark, horses' hooves wrapped in cloth so we move clandestinely. Snow fell soft and silent. The bond wrapped around all four of us like iron, feeding me Darius's cold focus, Kane's quiet readiness, Rylan's reckless hunger. My hand never left my belly.
We reached the east flank just after the moon climbed high. The Shadowpine camp sprawled below us, fires low, sentries moving lazy. My father's tent sat dead center, his banner limp in the snow.
Darius gave the signal. We moved down like shadows.
The fight was fast and ugly. No full charge. Just blades in the dark. I stayed in the middle like I promised, knife out, dropping two sentries who got too close. The mark on my chest burned, but the latent alpha blood burned hotter. I felt the child kick hard when I drove my blade into the third guard's throat.
We reached the tent.
My father wasn't there.
Only a single silver collar lay on the table, engraved with my name and a smaller one beside it: no name yet, just the word "bastard."
A note sat under it in my father's handwriting.
"Four days left. Choose or you regret."
The bond exploded in my head. Darius growled low. Kane's knife was out. Rylan's claws punched through his fingertips ready for action.
I picked up the collar. The metal was cold. The mark on my chest flared so hot I gasped.
Four days.
My father had just made it very, very personal.
And the witch was still watching from the east, waiting for the full moon to collect what was owed to her.