Chapter 5 Cloaked in Death

Elora

I straighten immediately when Master Corbin returns to where I’m waiting to speak with Alpha Leoric. 

“The Alpha will see you now,” he says.

I nod and rise to follow him. I’m nervous to speak with the Alpha, but it’s unavoidable. Master Corbin stops in front of a heavy wooden door and knocks once before pushing it open.

The Alpha’s study is large and elegant. Shelves of books line the walls, and maps are spread across a wide desk beneath a single lamp. Alpha Leoric sits behind the desk, composed, his posture rigid. 

He looks up at me as I approach. His gaze is sharp, assessing, like he is weighing my worth before I’ve even spoken.

“You may sit,” Leoric says, motioning to the chair across from him.

I obey quickly, lowering myself into it and immediately wishing I could disappear into it instead. 

I look back at Corbin as he bows to the king. “I will leave you,” he says quietly.

The door closes behind him, and the Alpha studies me for a moment longer. “I’m sorry, have we met?”

I swallow, forcing my voice to stay calm. “No, sir. I’m Elora Ferdinand. I am… merely a warrior of the northern patrol.”

His eyes narrow. “Ah, you were the one who found them. Gia told me you found the unconscious bodies.”

“Yes, Alpha,” I say.”They were lying unconscious in the woods when I came upon them.”

“And Leah,” he continues, his tone sharpening, “my son’s mate. You discovered she was missing as well?”

My chest tightens. “Yes, Alpha. She and her sister Rebecca were not with them. They’re missing.”

“Well, what is it that you want from me, Elora?” 

I gather what courage I have left and take a deep breath. “I ask permission to travel to Roseveil,” I say quickly, before I lose my nerve. “I believe I can help reverse the spell and that the dead will rise with Lunar Requiem. I can take a small group. We would move fast and quietly—”

“No.”

The word cuts through me. 

Leoric leans back in his chair, his expression hardening. “It is far too dangerous to send more warriors while war is already unfolding in LotusMoon. My sons are not even at home to oversee the military. I will not weaken my forces further.”

“Alpha, please,” I say, the words coming out before I can stop them. “These people’s lives matter. If we delay—”

“I said no.” His voice rises now, controlled but laced with anger. “You will not risk my pack on uncertain rescue missions while we are already stretched thin.”

I open my mouth again, but he raises a hand, cutting me off. “This conversation is over. You are dismissed.”

The finality in his tone leaves no room for argument. I rise slowly, my stomach sinking as I realize there is nothing more I can say.

“Understood, Alpha,” I manage.

Then I bow, turn, and leave the study with my request still burning uselessly in my chest.

I leave the Alpha’s study with my hands clenched so tightly my nails dig into my palms. The corridor feels longer on the way out than it did on the way in, as if the castle itself is stretching to keep me inside. Master Corbin is nowhere in sight now, and I am grateful for it. I don’t think I could manage another polite bow or another pair of eyes watching me fall apart.

By the time I reach the infirmary wing, my vision is already blurring at the edges. The smell hits me first: herbs, antiseptic, and death. I push through the doors anyway, forcing my legs to keep moving even as my heart breaks. 

My pack mates, most of them still so young they haven’t even had their first shift, lie motionless in beds. They were breathing before, but now they are completely still. I stare at their faces, still in disbelief. Who could have done this? And why? 

“Elora.” Gia’s voice pulls me back to reality.

She is standing near the far end of the room, her sleeves rolled up and her hands stained with SilverRoot tonic. She takes one look at my face and immediately steps toward me.

“What happened? What did he say?” she asks.

“He refused.”

The words feel crueler spoken aloud.

Her jaw clenches. “I thought he might. Damn war.”

I nod. “He said it is too dangerous, that he will not weaken his forces while the situation in LotusMoon is unstable and his sons are away.”

Gia exhales sharply through her nose and looks away for a moment, as if trying to contain her frustration. “We need that Lunaris Requiem.”

I glance toward the rows of bodies again, and then back at her. “There has to be something we can do,” I whisper. 

Gia studies me for a long moment, then turns and walks to a nearby cabinet. She pulls it open and begins sorting through bundles of dried herbs.

“Mallow flower and SilverRoot,” she murmurs. She looks over her shoulder. “If you are serious about going, you’ll need them. Roseveil can’t grow them, and you can use them to trade.” 

My stomach tightens. “Gia, I can’t ask you to help me disobey the Alpha.”

“You’re not asking me, and I’m not asking you,” she says simply. “I’m telling you what you will need if you are going anyway. Elora, I’ve known you your whole life. I was there when you were born. You were stubborn then, and you’re stubborn now.”

She sets the bundles down and moves closer, lowering her voice. “Take your sister. And two others. People you trust. I will cover for you all. If anyone asks, you were assigned to another SilverRoot run for me.”

“No,” I say immediately.

Gia looks up at me, shocked. 

I shake my head harder. “I’ll go myself. I won’t drag anyone else into this. If something goes wrong, it stops with me, and no one else will get in trouble.”

Her expression hardens. “Going alone is something you’d pull.”

I nod as silence settles between us, heavy and stubborn.

Finally she exhales, defeated but not willing to argue further. “You’re impossible,” she says, pulling out the tonic she made while I was meeting with the Alpha. “This is a tonic mixture of the Mallow and the Silver. It’ll heal any wound you pour it on.” 

I stare at the violet-silver water in the bottle as it sparkles in the light, and then she slides it into the bag. Then she puts the herbs, roots, and petals in the bag too. 

“All right, you better shift here,” she whispers. “You’ll get out of Nightwing faster that way.” 

When I shift, my body folds into wolf form in a rush of heat and instinct. Seconds later, fur replaces skin, and Gia fastens the satchel across my back. 

She leans in close. “Be careful, Elora.”

I look her in the eye, and she guides me to the infirmary door that leads outside of the castle. 

I slip out of the castle and run, keeping to the shadows and staying out of sight. I head through the back garden gate, knowing it won’t be guarded or locked during the day. I don’t slow down as the castle walls fall behind me. The farther I get, the easier it is to breathe because at least I haven’t been caught disobeying the Alpha. 

Yet. 

The village gives way to trees, and I push into the woods as fast as I can run. I follow the Silver Stream as it cuts through the forest because I know it will carry me north toward the river, then LotusMoon, and eventually Roseveil. The water runs bright indigo between stone and root, and I try to keep my focus locked on it. 

But then thoughts of my sister Stevie pop into my mind. She’ll notice I’m gone in a couple of hours. She’ll be waiting in our little house, wondering where I went, and I hate that I can’t tell her anything. I can’t risk it. If she knows even a piece of this, she’ll be pulled into it, and she will get in trouble too. 

I won’t let that happen.

The stream bends ahead, and then the wind shifts. That’s when I smell him: a male wolf—definitely Nightwing—but he could still be dangerous. He could try to stop me, slow me down, or even turn me in for disobeying the Alpha King.

As I creep forward, I realize this wolf’s scent is wrong. It’s not healthy, but sharp and bitter, like something tainted. I smell venom as I slowly round the bend, scanning the grass and stones until I see him just off the water. He’s lying on his back, half in the brush, breathing but unconscious, and his body too still. 

I reach for him through the link, instinctively trying to find even the faintest trace of consciousness. He’s definitely still there, but he’s too weak to respond. 

I step closer and lower myself beside him, my gaze scanning his body as I think through what I have with me. and what I can use to save this stranger who is fighting death in a land that feels like it’s cloaked in it.