The Silver Wolf (Diana and Talon) novel Chapter 61

Chapter Sixty One

Damon stood inside his office, the dim firelight casting long shadows across the walls. The room was quiet, but the air carried a heavy tension. He leaned back in his chair, one hand resting on the carved armrest while his other hand tapped slowly against the wood.

He was waiting.

Waiting for his rogues to return.

Waiting for them to bring him the one wolf he had ordered them to retrieve.

The former Beta of Crimson Fang.

The traitor Rafe.

Damon’s eyes drifted briefly toward the large window behind his desk, though there was little to see beyond the dark forest surrounding the rogue territory. His mind wandered back to the day he had slipped into Crimson Fang territory himself.

After meeting Diana in her cabin, Damon had not left immediately. Instead, he went deeper into the pack lands.

His scent was completely hidden.

He had used the same story he gave Diana when she caught him inside her cabin, pretending to be a displaced wolf waiting to be accepted into the pack. It was an excuse that worked surprisingly well.

Most packs had wolves waiting for acceptance, and the Crimson Fang pack had been no different.

With his charm and carefully crafted lies, Damon had managed to blend in among the lower-ranking pack members. A few curious she-wolves had been particularly willing to talk with him. Damon had played the part well-appearing humble, slightly lost, and eager to belong.

They believed him, and they talked.

Of course, the information they had was limited. Lower-ranked wolves rarely knew the full truth of what happened inside leadership circles. But what they knew was enough.

From the scattered conversations Damon pieced together the events that had shaken Crimson Fang to its core. According to the wolves he spoke with, the Alpha King of Black Howler had gathered the entire pack in front of the pack house shortly after everything unfolded.

There, before everyone, he revealed the truth.

Their Luna and their Beta had colluded with rogues to attack their own pack.

For one reason – to kill Diana.

Damon’s jaw tightened slightly as he recalled the story.

The first attack months ago, the one that killed Diana’s parents.

The pack members had been told that when the rogue attack began, the former Luna had issued a

9

< Chapter Suty One

command for Diana’s parents to leave the safety of the bunker.

It had sounded like an emergency order.

A command from the Luna herself.

Clam

So they obeyed, but when they ran for safety, they were intercepted and killed by rogues waiting outside.

Damon’s wolf stirred restlessly at the thought.

“How dare they attack my mate?” His wolf Ceberòs said inside their shared mind.

But the second attack was even more interesting. It happened during the grand ball the Luna had organized to welcome the Alpha King of Black Howler. The ball had been meant to help the visiting Alpha search for his mate among the attending wolves.

When the rogue attack began during the celebration, the Alpha King and Crimson Fang’s Alpha rushed to the borders to help defend the pack.

And that was when Talon found Diana, then he claimed her as his mate.

Damon clenched his jaw.

If those rogues had not attacked the pack that night, there was a real possibility that Talon and Diana would never have met.

The pack members Damon spoke to mentioned that Diana rarely left her cabin. She preferred solitude, and avoided the pack house whenever possible.

Which meant, without the chaos of that attack, the Alpha King might never have crossed paths with her.

Damon cursed the rogues who had attacked that night. Not because of anything related to Crimson Fang, but because their stupidity had handed Talon exactly what he wanted.

His mate.

The Silver Wolf.

Then came the third attack.

The final one.

The one that exposed everything.

According to the pack members Damon spoke with, that attack had been orchestrated by the former Luna and the Beta themselves.

They had discovered they were fated mates. The Beta had been trying to protect Hazel from Diana.

Apparently, Diana was immune to the Luna’s authority. She could ignore Hazel’s commands and could resist the Luna’s influence. That alone had made Hazel furious.

A Luna who could not control a pack member was a Luna whose authority could be questioned. Hazel could not tolerate that. So she tried to eliminate the threat.

2/64

Chapter Sixty C

Damon leaned back in his chair slowly

But the plan had backfired.

When Diana discovered that Hazel had been the reason her parents were attacked and killed by the rogues, she killed Hazel herself.

Damon’s lips curved slightly.

He would have loved to see that.

To witness Diana in battle.

To see the Silver Wolf unleashed.

His wolf, Cerberus, growled with approval inside his mind. “She would have been magnificent.”

Damon exhaled slowly.

The story ended with the former Beta Rafe being thrown into the dungeon.

Apparently, the Alpha King had wanted him executed immediately, but Crimson Fang’s Alpha had intervened.

Rafe had been imprisoned instead.

Clamp

The pack members Damon spoke with did not know what happened after that. All they knew was that the Alpha King left soon after.

Diana left with him.

Along with several of his warriors and his Beta.

And Crimson Fang was left behind to clean up the chaos.

Damon’s fingers drummed slowly against the desk.

Everything had fallen into place faster than he expected.

Talon had claimed Diana.

Crimson Fang had collapsed into internal conflict.

And the one wolf who might know the most about what happened the traitor Beta was now being delivered to him.

Just then, the doors to office creaked open.

Damon lifted his head immediately.

Conall stepped inside first, but Damon’s sharp eyes noticed something instantly.

He was alone.

There were no rogue warriors behind him.

3/64

< Chapter Sixty-One

No struggling prisoner.

No former Beta of Crimson Fang.

The room grew colder

Charm

“What happened?” Damon asked quietly, but the calm in his voice was far more dangerous than anger. His aura surged through the room like invisible pressure, thick and oppressive. The lights along the walls flickered violently as the power of the Rogue King filled the space.

He already knew, something he would not tolerate.

Conall bowed his head slightly before answering. “My King… the former Crimson Fang Beta has escaped.”

The words had barely left his mouth before Damon exploded.

“What?!” Damon roared. His fist slammed down onto the desk with such force that the thick wooden surface cracked down the middle.

At the same time, his wolf Cerberus surged forward inside his mind, enraged by the failure.

The aura of dominance that burst from Damon made the air feel suffocating. Several rogues standing outside the hall instinctively backed away.

Conall remained still, though even he felt the crushing weight of Damon’s fury.

“My King,” Conall said carefully, “the six warriors we sent were able to extract him from the Crimson Fang dungeon without resistance.”

Damon’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“They had to drag him out of the territory,” Conall continued. “He appeared extremely weak.”

Damon said nothing.

“He looked as if he had been tortured,” Conall added. “Barely able to stand. They believed Crimson Fang had left him in the dungeon to die.”

Damon’s fingers slowly tightened along the cracked desk.

“And yet,” Damon said slowly, his voice low and dangerous, “he escaped.”

Conall nodded once. “This report came from the two warriors who returned.”

“Explain.”

Conall straightened slightly. “According to them, the moment they crossed out of Crimson Fang territory” He paused briefly. “Rafe suddenly spoke the words rejecting his pack.”

Damon’s eyes flashed.

Pack rejection.

A wolf severing his ties, and then becoming rogue.

416

<Chapter Suly One.

Then what?” Damon demanded.

“The moment the bond snapped, he attacked.” Conall’s voice grew heavier. “He killed four of the six warriors immediately.”

Damon’s wolf snarled inside him.

Cerberus growled savagely.

Weak fools.

Clam

“The remaining two tried to pursue him, but Rafe was already gone,” Conall said, meeting Damon’s gaze directly. “Even in his weakened state… he was still a Beta.” He folded his hands behind his back. “Stronger than the warriors we sent.”

Silence filled the office.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify