Chapter 14

Damon

They were already speaking before I stepped in.

Their voices didn’t carry far, but I didn’t need volume to taste betrayal.

I stood outside the chamber door for a full five seconds. I could’ve walked in. I could’ve slammed the doors off their hinges and demanded silence. But I wanted to hear it. I wanted to know how far they’d fallen while I was out cleaning their mess.

Another patrol lost. Another breach. A child found dead with his stomach hollowed out and his eyes missing. And in the middle of it all, my name sat on their tongues like poison.

Bronn’s voice came sharp and bitter, chewing the air between them.

“He’s done nothing. We’re dying, and our Alpha is fucking invisible.”

Ryven responded, voice lower but no less accusing.

“We lost three more last night. The rogues didn’t just kill them. They strung them up. Left them twitching. That’s not an attack. That’s a message.”

Then Marin, that smug bastard, hissed like