Chapter 337: Chapter 337

Sharp and relentless, the pain jolted me from sleep in the dead of night, as if my body was being ripped apart from within. The poison still burned through my veins, defying the partial relief the physicians‘ cure had provided. She was the first to come into my mind, Aurora.

I struggled to sit up, every movement sending shocks of agony through my limbs. A knock at the door pulled me from my thoughts. It was Trajan, his face grim.

“She went to Orion’s pack,” he said baldly, the words slicing through the fog in my brain.

I froze, anger sparking deep inside me even through the haze of my weakness. “She went alone?”

“She didn’t want you to worry,” Trajan said, but there was no comfort in his voice.

“That’s not her call to make,” I growled, struggling to my feet. “This is about our pack, our survival. And she’s making decisions without me?”

Trajan set a steadying hand on my shoulder. “You’re not strong enough to face this yet. She’s trying to protect you.”

I flung him off, the pain little more than a sting against my surging anger. “Protect me? By leaving me in the dark? No,

I shoved him aside and disregarded his protests as I staggered to the chamber of the council. A place that pretended a great omen of murmuring with tension when finally I reached there, wolves whispered amongst themselves, their eyes full of doubts.

The murmurs died off as I came in. Piper and Warrick were at the back; their faces a turmoil. Aurora stepped in immediately as I did, her eyes wide with surprise.

“You shouldn’t be here,” she began, her body a step closer to mine.

“I have every right to be here,” I returned, hoarse but resolute. “You went to Orion without me. What for?” I ran my eyes over her, and they lingered on her body; I noticed a bruise on her arm. I stepped closer with my hands on the table to steady myself.

“What did they do to you?” I whispered, my voice low enough for only her to hear. She met my gaze.

I took a deep breath, clenching my jaw. “I am fine… I escaped but this ends now.”

A shift of uneasy eyes between council members preceded my uttering even a word, and I continued onward, “We are wasting our time negotiating. Orion doesn’t want peace; he wants to dominate. We should have struck first and shown him the strength of this pack instead of begging for mercy.”

Aurora’s eyes narrowed further. “Beg? I didn’t go to beg… I want to make sure there is no unnecessary bloodshed.”

“Unnecessary?” I shot back. “This isn’t about not spilling blood,

danger.”

Trajan stepped between us, his voice low but firm. “Enough. This isn’t helping. We need unity, not division.”

“Unity?” I scoffed. “There’s no unity in keeping the Alpha in

the dark. If we’re divided, it’s because decisions are being made. behind closed doors.”

Aurora’s voice rose high and sharp as a blade. “And if you

weren’t so reckless, maybe we wouldn’t be in this position in the first place.”

The room had fallen silent, heavy with her words. I could only stare at her as frustration and guilt rivaled in my stomach.

The moment I entered my quarters, the exhaustion hit me like a wave. Every single muscle in my body protested the remains of the poison eating at my strength.

A knock on the door finally shocked me from my thoughts. “Dane?” Warrick called.

“In,” I growled, flopping hard onto the bed.

Warrick stepped forward, his features set in apprehension. His gaze drifted down to the crumpled note in my hand, where it lingered as he nodded. “There is a spy in this pack… I’ve suspected for a while but I…”

I arched an eyebrow at him. “Why didn’t you bring this up before? A spy in the pack? That’s not something you just… sit

on.”

information. How else would they know our weak spots?”

I pressed a hand over my forehead. The pain that throbbed there increased with every passing minute. “And you think it’s with this letter of power?”

He faltered. “I cannot be positive, but whoever wrote that knew too much. It could be somebody Orion’s been working with all this time.”

His words fell heavy in my chest, the weight of them crushing. A mole. One of us was a traitor.

“What are you insinuating, Warrick?” My voice came out low and even.

Warrick caught my gaze once more, his face grim. “I say we fish ‘em out. Before it is too late.”

I leaned back, closing my eyes for a second. “And what about Aurora? She’s out there trying to negotiate with someone who more than likely already knows our every move.”

“She needs to know,” Warrick said matter–of–factly.

I shook my head. “She’s already carrying enough. I just can’t pile this on her right now.”

The room was silent, as if the weight of our predicament was choking us. Finally, I muttered, “We’ll deal with this. But we can’t let it divide us.”

Warrick nodded and pivoted to leave. The minute the door shut behind him, my head returned to Kaida, who’d poisoned me. A