Chapter 6 It Might Be A Lie

Dax

The banquet hall was already alive with music and laughter by the time I reached the double doors, and for the first time in weeks, something in my chest loosened.

No, not entirely. I could still hear the cat’s voice at the back of my head. There was a desperation in there that snuck into my most vulnerable parts and stayed there. I shook my head again as if that would clear the fog in my head but it didn’t. 

Not that it mattered. 

It was over. 

Hawthorne had backed off their claims along the border, the treaty was as good as signed, and tonight the pack got to celebrate instead of brace for another blow. 

I let myself imagine three of us, away from Silvercrest for once with no reports, no border patrols, no council meetings. Just Zane complaining about paperwork he refused to delegate, Cassius pretending he didn’t enjoy any of it, and me making sure neither of them did anything stupid. 

After this, I’ll convince Zane to take a break. To let us live just like old times, before responsibilities sat so heavy on Zane’s head that none of us remembered what he looked like without it.Even if it was for a week. 

I was still holding onto that thought, stupidly warm, stupidly hopeful when I saw Cassius ahead of me in the hallway. 

“Cass.” I lifted a hand. “Wait up, we’re supposed to walk in together”

He didn’t stop. He didn’t even turn his head. He walked straight into the doorway and into the banquet hall like he hadn’t heard me at all. 

I frowned, letting my hand drop. 

Maybe he hadn’t heard me over the noise. Maybe his mind was still tangled up in whatever paperwork came with hunting Hawthorne informants for the better part of a month. But every excuse I told myself sounded forced. 

“Cassius is planning to kill Alpha Zane,”

The voice slid into my head before I could stop it. I shook it off. I was not doing this. I was not letting some sleep-deprived hallucination follow me into the one good night we’d had in months.

Ignoring the voice in my head, I stepped through the doors.

The hall had been transformed for the occasion: the high ceilings were strung with warm gold light, long tables dressed in white and silver, the pack’s crest hung above the dais. This was Silvercrest at its finest: the oldest and strongest pack in the territory, and every soul in this room owed their safety, their homes, their lives to the man who’d carry that title tonight. 

Betas and other distinguished Alphas moved between tables in their finest clothes, laughing, embracing, the kind of unguarded joy this pack hadn’t allowed itself in longer than I wanted to admit. Somewhere near the front, a quartet played a slow and celebratory song.

Zane was already seated when I reached the dais, and was in conversation with a councilman, his glossy hair catching the light every time he turned his head. Cassius sat at his right, so I dropped into the seat at his left. 

We were a picture of perfection Zane in the middle and two of his most trusted partners at his sides. It was the way we’d always been. So why did I feel uneasiness creeping up my spine? Why did my guy suddenly tighten as soon as I took my seat?

It was the cat, I surmised. If she was a spy… my knuckles clenched. I would wait until the banquet was over, then let Alpha Zane know about the cat, no matter how absurd a talking cat sounded. He’ll know what to do. He always knew what to do. 

I couldn’t disrupt this banquet for anything. 

“How are you feeling?” I said to Cassius, low enough that it wouldn’t carry past our end of the table. “I was calling out to you before but you didn’t seem to hear me. You have to be present, you know...”

He shook his head as was his nature when he was stretched and flashed a dry smile. “Did I? Sorry. My head’s been somewhere else all night.”

“You’ve been somewhere else for weeks.”

“I’m sure you can cut the guy some slack,” Zane laughed. “After all, he bought us our first major breakthrough in years.” 

Before I say anything, a pair of Alphas arrived at his elbow, offering congratulations on the Hawthorne resolution, and Cassius turned to them, readily answering their questions.

After that, he was swarmed. A councilman's wife claimed his attention, then one of the older Betas wanted to shake his hand, then a server refilled his cup. Every time I wanted to talk about something to bridge the gap I felt between us, something or someone slid neatly into the gap. 

By the fourth attempt I gave up and told myself it didn’t matter. Tonight was Cassius’s, after all. Everyone wanted a piece of him.

“That doesn’t make him a killer,” I’d told the cat. And it didn’t. Cassius had always been like this, contained, controlled, difficult to read even for those of us who’d grown up beside him. That wasn’t new. That wasn’t proof of anything.

Except something about him tonight sat wrong in a way I couldn’t name. Every now and then, my eyes would stray to where he sat. To his face as he talked about something with someone. To how painfully tight his smile was. 

Did he not want to be here? Did he 

“Stop it,” I told myself. “That thing got inside your head and now you’re seeing shadows everywhere.” I almost laughed at myself  disappointed, furious, that I’d let a cat rattle me so badly I was now studying my best friend like a spy.

I tried to relax after that, but try as I might, I couldn’t. The cat’s words wouldn’t leave me. It was as though the longer the party ran on, the louder her words rang in my head. 

I gritted my teeth, rubbing my head as an onslaught of headache attacked me. I shouldn’t be letting myself fall so low. So 

I opened my eyes just in time to catch Cassius’ fingers doing something suspicious. What was that? I was sure he put something in Zane’s drink. Had I imagined that? Or – I averted my gaze before he could see that I had seen what he did. 

Wait. Why was I looking away? Did I really believe that cat? Did I think Cassius could be up to something? Like trying to murder Zane? 

My stomach dropped straight through the floor.

No way. But before I could make sense of it, Zane rose to his feet and grabbed the cup and the hall quieted around him. “To Silvercrest,” he said, lifting the cup high, “and to every one of you who stood at our borders and refused to let this pack fall. Tonight, we drink to peace.”

A cheer rose up around the hall. My heart thundered against my ribcage. I watched as Zane brought the cup toward his mouth and I couldn’t hold it in anymore. 

“Wait.” I shot to my feet before my brain registered the action and wrenched the cup from his fingers. The eruption ceased. It was as though time paused and every eye in the room turned to me.

“Dax.” Zane’s voice dropped dangerously low. “What in the Goddess’s name”

“I can explain” Could I? If the cat was wrong  if I was wrong about all of this, then Zane wouldn’t mind that I was his best friend. I’d just insulted him in the presence of half the werewolves in our realm and I better have a good explanation for that. 

“I –” my eyes strayed to where Cassius stood. He didn’t look the least bit guilty. If anything, he looked curious and amused. I was doing it again. Making a fool of myself. I swallowed. “Can we talk somewhere…more private?” 

Zane’s jaw twitched. I could see the fight he was having with himself inside. In the end, his curiosity won. “You had better have a good reason for what you just did, Dax. Or else…” 

I didn’t need him to finish the sentence. Or else my head would roll. If I couldn’t prove anything, then he’d probably kill me for insubordination. But if – just if and I say this because a part of me still didn’t want to believe that Cassius could be capable of what that cat said. That me of all people could be doubting my very own best friend. 

But the price to be paid for doing nothing could be grave. 

Zane muttered an apology to the room, something about me being drunk or high or high and drunk. I wasn't really paying attention and ushered us to the adjoining private room. It was the room he was supposed to use after mingling during the banquet. 

If any Alpha still had business or pack issues to discuss, they’d meet him back here. 

As soon as the door closed behind us, both Cassius and Zane turned to me, they’re eyes glowing fury.

“What was the meaning of the stunt you pulled in front of half the territory’s nobility?!” Zane growled, his eyes flashing red. He was angry and on the verge of losing control. But I ignored him and turned to Cassius instead, holding out the cup to him. 

“Drink it.”

His jaw tightened. “Don’t be absurd. That’s the Alpha King’s cup.”

“Drink it,” I repeated, losing some of the confidence I had before. It wasn’t like I had much from the start. “If you don’t, then I will.” Without hesitating, I lifted the cup towards my own mouth.