The moon hung low over the training grounds, casting silver light across rows of sparring warriors. Cries, grunts and the ring of steel filled the night air. Alpha Anderson Maya stood at the ridge above them, arms folded behind her back, posture straight, face unreadable. To anyone watching, she looked carved from determination itself.
But beneath her composed exterior, a whisper of unease curled through her. Her wolf senses pricked at the air, too many glances exchanged between warriors, too much tension beneath their discipline. She had been feeling it for weeks. a shift, subtle but growing.
"Your mind is restless," came a deep voice at her side.
Maya didn't need to look. Rylan, her beta and childhood companion stepped forward, hands clasped behind him as if the position was molded into his bones. His golden brown eyes watched the warriors with a calm she used to trust.
"Just thinking," she murmured.
"You think too much. The pack respects you."
His words landed like pebbles in her stomach. Respect was not the same as loyalty. And loyalty was not the same as belief.
Before she could respond, a sharp clatter jolted her attention. One of the young warriors, a boy barely shifted for the first time, stumbled his grip faltering. His opponent lunged forward, blade raised for a blow that could maim if not kill.
"Enough!" Maya's voice cracked through the air.
Every wolf froze.
She descended into the arena with the controlled pace of someone who owned every inch of ground beneath her. The training warriors bowed their heads, but she felt it again. that thin layer of hesitation. Not outright disobedience… but doubt. And doubt was poison.
She picked up the fallen blade and tossed it back to the boy. "Your life is not a toy. Neither is my time," she said softly, the quiet anger in her tone making him tremble.
"Yes, Alpha," he whispered.
"Again, Slower. With your brain engaged."
As they resumed, Maya turned away, frustration simmering beneath her calm. She had fought for everything they took for granted. peace, stability, safety. Yet still, centuries of tradition whispered that a woman should not be alpha.
Still, she led. Still, she fought.
Or so she believed.
As she left the training grounds, something tugged at her senses. A scent, faint but wrong swept across the wind. Ash, Metal And something else… something burning beneath the surface.
Her wolf pressed against her skin. Warning.
Rylan noticed her tension. "Something there?"
"Stay alert," she muttered. "There's…"
A horn blast shattered the night.
The alarm tower.
Maya bolted toward the village, Rylan on her heels. Wolves spilled from their homes,parents scooping children into their arms, warriors grabbing weapons, fear flickering across faces.
But the danger wasn't coming from outside the walls.
The scent she'd caught earlier was stronger now, coming from the heart of the village.
As she reached the central square, the wrongness hit her like a wave. A crowd had gathered, forming a tight ring around something or someone at its center. Murmurs, harsh breaths, tension you could slice through.
Maya forced her way through the mass of bodies, her alpha aura pushing wolves aside.
Her breath froze.
Kade, her sworn protector, knelt on the ground, bleeding, bruised and bound in silver chains. His shirt was torn, his skin blistered where the silver touched. The sight twisted something inside her.
"Kade!" She dropped to her knees beside him.
He lifted his head weakly. "Maya… you shouldn't…" Pain cut him off as the chains burned deeper.
"Who did this to you?" Maya's voice shook with fury.
He opened his mouth to answer.
A cold voice sliced through the crowd.
"Alpha Anderson Maya is no longer fit to lead."
Silence crashed over the square.
Maya rose slowly and turned toward the voice she knew too well.
Rylan stood tall at the edge of the crowd, expression carved from ice. Warriors she had trained, trusted and defended flanked him. some she had known since childhood.
Her stomach dropped.
"Rylan" Maya said, her voice low. "What are you doing?"
"What must be done," he answered. "For the future of the pack."
Murmurs swelled behind him. Agreement, Fear, Shame And hatred.
Maya's wolf snarled. "Speak plainly."
Rylan stepped forward. "You've weakened us with your softness, Questioned traditions older than you. All because you believe you can lead like a man."
The words were a blade.
"I was chosen by the Moonstone" Maya growled. "It doesn't choose based on gender."
"Or perhaps the Moonstone was mistaken."
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
Maya stared at him, Hard. The ash-scented air. The burned metal. Kade's injuries.
The pieces clicked.
"You planned this," she whispered.
Rylan's jaw tightened but he didn't deny it.
She stepped forward, alpha power surging. Wolves flinched.
But Rylan held firm.
"Submit," he said. "Step down, Spare the pack bloodshed."
Maya let out a short, humorless laugh. "This is a coup. And you expect me to bow?"
"It's not a coup," Rylan said. "It's correction."
Her heart hammered. She scanned the faces of the wolves she had sacrificed for, Protected and Fought for.
Some looked away, Some looked ashamed,
Some looked ready to kill her.
Behind her, Kade coughed violently. "Maya… don't trust anyone. Not anymore…"
She knelt beside him again, fury burning within her.
"I won't abandon this pack."
"Then this pack," Rylan said, raising a hand, "will abandon you."
Warriors stepped forward, forming a circle this time not to train, but to contain her.
The betrayal had begun.
And it was only the beginning.