Kieran's POV
My fist slammed into the wall hard enough to crack stone.
"She rejected me!" I yelled at Morgana. "In front of everyone! She picked that masked bastard over me!"
We'd fled to a private tent at the edge of the Moon Dance grounds. My pack members stood guard outside while I tried not to destroy everything in reach.
Morgana watched me calmly from her seat, like my rage was slightly entertaining. "I warned you something felt different."
"Different?" I spun on her. "She knew, Morgana! Elara knew exactly what I was going to say. She had her rejection planned before I even spoke!"
In the original timeline, Elara said yes instantly. She was grateful, honored, nearly glowing with happiness. That naive girl let me control every part of her life for seven years.
But tonight, she looked at me like I was poison.
"How?" I asked. "How did she know?"
Morgana's green eyes gleamed with something dangerous. "There's only one answer. She remembers the other timeline."
"That's impossible." But even as I said it, I knew it wasn't. I remembered. Why couldn't she?
"The Moon Goddess doesn't give second chances lightly," Morgana said. "Perhaps she gave one to Elara too."
My stomach twisted with anger and fear. If Elara remembered everything I did to her, she'd never come near me freely. She'd know about the ceremony, the curse on her wolf, the poison.
She'd know I killed her.
"Then the plan is ruined," I growled. "Without her, I can't finish the ritual. Without the ritual, I can't reach the ancient power locked in her wolf."
"The plan isn't ruined." Morgana stood smoothly. "It's just become more complicated."
"She's under the Lycan King's care now! I can't touch her!"
"Not directly, no." Morgana smiled, cold and calculating. "But there are other ways to get what we want."
I forced myself to breathe, to think past the rage burning through me. "The Moon Temple examination."
"Exactly." Morgana moved closer. "I've already handled the priests who would have examined her truly. Their replacements will say whatever we need them to say."
"They'll declare her corrupted by dark magic," I said slowly, understanding dawning. "They'll say the Lycan King bewitched her."
"And the law is clear." Morgana's smile widened. "Anyone corrupted by dark magic must be cleansed through ritual cleansing. Which requires her to be removed from the Lycan King's protection and put in the custody of..."
"The Moon Temple," I finished. "Where we control the priests."
It wasn't as clean as having her freely mate with me. But it would work. Once she was in the temple's care, I could perform the ritual anyway. The old magic didn't care if she was willing or not.
It just needed her blood and her locked wolf.
"There's one problem," I said. "Lucian Nightborne isn't stupid. He'll see through this."
"Let him see through it." Morgana waved her hand dismissively. "What can he do? Challenge the Moon Temple's authority? That would make him look like the guilty one."
She was right. The Moon Temple was holy. Even the Lycan King couldn't publicly defy their judgment without losing support from the other packs.
"We need to move fast," I said. "Before Lucian has time to prepare a defense."
"Already done." Morgana pulled out a sealed letter. "The test is tomorrow at dawn. Not tomorrow afternoon like we agreed. The 'mistake' in scheduling will be found too late."
Clever. Elara and Lucian wouldn't have time to prepare. They'd walk into the temple tired and off-balance.
"What about the Lycan King himself?" I asked. "He'll fight for her."
"Let him try." Morgana's eyes glowed brighter. "I've planned a distraction. By dawn tomorrow, Lucian will be dealing with an attack on the Celestial City. He won't be able to attend the test."
My wolf growled with satisfaction. "What kind of attack?"
"The kind that requires the Lycan King's personal attention." Morgana's smile turned nasty. "Shadow creatures breaching the eastern line. Nasty things that only royal blood can banish."
Shadow animals. Dark power at its worst. Using them was dangerous and illegal, but I was past caring about rules.
"Won't that point suspicion at us?" I asked.
"Not if we're clever." Morgana pulled out another letter. "This is a warning I'll send to Lucian tonight, alerting him to suspicious dark magic behavior. I'll present myself as a concerned ally trying to help."
I stared at her with grudging respect. "You've thought of everything."
"I've had weeks to plan, Kieran. Unlike you, I don't let feelings cloud my judgment."
The jab stung, but she was right. I'd let my rage at Elara's refusal control me. That was a mistake.
"What do we do about her brother?" I asked. "Cassian went with them. He'll be suspicious."
"Cassian Silvermoon is a soldier, not a strategist." Morgana rejected him with a wave. "He won't figure out what's happening until it's too late."
"And the father?"
Morgana's face turned cold. "That's already being handled. By midnight tonight, we'll have power over Elara she can't ignore."
A knock on the tent entrance stopped us. My second-in-command, Drake, stepped inside. His face was grim.
"Alpha, we have a situation."
"What now?" I snapped.
"It's about the shadow portal." Drake glanced nervously at Morgana. "The one we're using to hit the Silvermoon home. Something went wrong."
My blood ran cold. "Wrong how?"
"The portal opened correctly," Drake said. "But the shadow things aren't following orders. They're not taking Elara's father like we planned."
"Then what are they doing?" Morgana demanded, standing quickly.
Drake's voice shook. "They're trying to pull him through the opening. Into the shadow world. " No. No, that wasn't meant to happen. The shadow creatures were meant to grab the father and bring him to our location. Not pull him into their realm.
"Stop them!" I ordered.
"We can't." Drake looked scared. "They're not reacting to the control spell anymore. It's like something else is directing them now."
Morgana's face went pale. "That's impossible. I cast the control spell myself."
"Unless someone stronger broke your control," I said slowly. "Someone with more powerful dark magic than you."
We stared at each other as the realization hit.
Someone else was playing this game. Someone we didn't know about.
"Who?" Morgana whispered.
Before anyone could answer, another pack member burst into the tent.
"Alpha! The Lycan King's troops just changed direction! They're not going to the Celestial City anymore!"
My stomach dropped. "Where are they going?"
"Back toward the Silvermoon territory," the messenger gasped. "They're riding hard. Like they know about the attack."
"How?" I snarled. "We didn't leak the plan!"
But someone had. Someone told Lucian exactly where to go and when.
Someone was sabotaging us from the inside.
"We need to leave," Morgana said quickly. "If Lucian catches us here—"
"Too late," Drake said, his face white. "Lycan scouts already have the area surrounded. They'll be here in minutes."
I was stuck. The Lycan King was coming, my plan was falling apart, and someone—someone unknown—was playing puppet master with all of us.
Morgana grabbed my arm. "There's one way out. But you're not going to like it."
"What?"
She pulled out a small tube of black liquid. "Shadow poison. It will fake your death long enough for my friends to smuggle your body out. When you wake up, you'll be safe in the Northern Territories."
"Fake my death?" I stared at the vial. "That's insane!"
"It's survival." Morgana's eyes burned into mine. "Lucian will kill you on sight for what we've done tonight. This is your only chance."
She was right. I'd used illegal dark magic, attacked a royal family, and tried to steal the Lycan King's mate.
I was a dead man if I stayed.
I grabbed the vial and drank it in one gulp.
The poison hit instantly. My view blurred. My heart slowed. I fell to the ground, gasping.
The last thing I heard before everything went black was Morgana's voice, cold and satisfied: "Sleep well, Alpha. When you wake, everything will be different. The real game is just beginning."
And I realized with fear that Morgana had been planning this all along.
She wanted me out of the way.