Chapter 40
Zayron sat in his office, the overhead light casting a pale glow over the stacks of parchment spread across his desk.
Each letter bore the seal of a pack he had sworn to protect, packs that now wanted nothing to do with him. The scent of old ink and betrayal clung to the air.
He tossed the final scroll aside. His fingers trembled as he stared at the door.
"Axel!" Zayron roared.
The office door opened instantly. Beta Axel stepped in, his expression taut, his movements slow. He kept his distance, measured and careful, as if one wrong step could set Alpha Zayron off.
"Yes, Alpha?"
Zayron stood slowly, his tall frame unsteady with rage. "Do you have any idea why every single pack under my protection is pulling out? They’ve all terminated their contracts. Every. Last. One."
Axel hesitated. He had seen Zayron furious before, but this was different. There was something fractured beneath the surface, something raw and dangerous.
"Alpha, I... I don’t know."
"You don’t know?" Zayron’s voice lowered into something far more terrifying than a shout.
"You’re my Beta, Axel. The closest man to me. You expect me to believe that you don’t know why they’re all turning their backs on me?"
Axel looked down. The truth was a blade he didn’t know how to hold.
"Since the Moon Lord’s announcement last week, the packs are scared, Alpha. They see you as unstable. They also see being close to you as a risk."
"Unstable," Zayron repeated, the word sour in his mouth. He gave a bitter laugh and pushed away from the desk.
"Of course. Because the truth is too damn frightening. Because they have used me to send a message to the Asian wolf, suddenly I’m the problem. If I hadn't embarked on that mission, I wouldn't have lost myself!"
Zayron paced the room like a storm barely held at bay. "Now, they think I’m just some Vyrekin, a dangerous shadow, not a real Alpha. A ghost. A monster."
The moment shattered as a loud clatter echoed from the courtyard.
Zayron’s head snapped toward the window. A low growl rumbled from his throat.
He quickly burst through the door, Axel rushing behind him.
Three black utility vans and four SUVs lined the courtyard, their doors swung open.
Uniformed figures stepped out, marked with the silver insignia of the Sentinels of Order, an elite secret force created by the Great Southern Council.
They were not bred for strength, but precision. They were known as Silvershots, trained to hit with calculated precision. They were wolves who never missed their targets.
Zayron stood in the center of the stone pavement and his eyes narrowed.
The Silvershots stepped forward, spreading out in formation. Their leader, a man with silver-threaded hair and a hawk’s gaze, stepped out last.
"Alpha Zayron of Azure Moon," the leader said. "By the decree of the Great Southern Council, you are to be taken into protective custody."
Zayron’s lips curled and he frowned.
"Protective custody?" He murmured.
"We’ve received multiple reports from your own pack that you’ve become a danger to them and yourself."
Zayron’s eyes glinted and he folded his arms. "Who sent the reports?"
"Your brother, Richard."
"Well, you can’t take me away," Zayron said, stepping forward. "You think you can just come into my territory and drag me away like some rabid dog?"
"This isn’t a humble request, Alpha Zayron. It’s a containment order. You’ve already killed countless innocent wolves. If we don’t act now, the next bloodbath could be the capital," the leader of the Silvershots snapped.
"They had a hand in my mate’s death! What I did was justice!" Alpha Zayron roared, his voice echoing through the courtyard.
"To the Council, it’s murder! You must come with us!"
Another Sentinel stepped forward and spoke.
"Alpha Zayron, you have shown signs of volatile mental instability, and we have reason to believe your actions will soon escalate to a full massacre. We are here to take you to a classified location, where your condition will be evaluated."
"I don’t need evaluation," Zayron growled. "I need vengeance!"
The Sentinel ignored the outburst. "This is not a negotiation. If you resist, we will subdue you. We are not authorized to kill, but..."
"And if I don’t come?" Zayron interrupted.
"Then we’ll drag you. And trust me, Alpha or not, you won’t make it past the third one of us before you bleed."
Zayron’s laugh was low and cruel. "Then try me."
Ten figures stepped out of the cars. Dressed in gray combat suits with no insignia. Their faces were marked with crimson tattoos under the eyes.
"Stop!" a familiar voice cried.
Seraphina rushed forward and dropped to her knees in front of the Silvershots.
"Please! Please, just give us more time to do the evaluation ourselves! He’s my son. We’re close to helping him. He’s not well, but he’s not lost."
The leader turned to her with a flicker of sympathy in his eyes. "Woman, with all due respect, your son is beyond your help. He’s spiraling."
"Just a little more time!" Seraphina begged, her voice cracking.
"We can’t. The risk is too high."
"Tell them, Richard!" Seraphina shouted.
From the shadows, Richard stepped forward. The scar Zayron had left across his face still glistened like a permanent wound.
"Tell them it was a mistake," Seraphina said.
Richard’s eyes flamed with vengeance. "No. I won’t lie. The report wasn't a mistake. Alpha Zayron killed my mate. My future Luna. I watched her blood spill because of his madness."
Zayron’s voice came like thunder. "Emma was one of them! One of the traitors who set my mate up!"
"You have no proof!" Richard screamed.
"And even if she was, you had no right to kill a pack member without a trial! She has two innocent pups!"
"I had every right," Zayron snarled. "I am Alpha. I deliver justice."
"No," Richard spat. "You’re just a beast in a crown. You must go with these men!"
Seraphina turned to Richard again, tears streaming down her face.
"Please. If you ever cared for this pack, if you ever respected me, please withdraw the..."
Richard stepped back. "Take him."
Seraphina lunged forward, grabbing the arm of the nearest Silvershot. "No! Wait... please..."
The Silvershot shoved her back and she fell hard. Her cry echoed in the courtyard and chaos erupted.
Zayron’s eyes went blood-red. His body trembled with rage as his bones cracked and morphed.
He leapt from the pavement in one impossible motion, landing beside Seraphina and driving his claws through the Silvershot who pushed her.
The man didn’t even scream. He exploded into chunks of flesh as Zayron’s roar shook the very ground. Blood sprayed across the courtyard.
The other Silvershots moved fast, but they were not fast enough.
Zayron turned on the next, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him into the courtyard wall so hard.
Another came up from behind, injecting something into his back, but Zayron didn’t even flinch.
He twisted around and broke the man’s wrist, then threw him straight into the SUV windshield.
Blood painted the earth as Seraphina screamed in horror, backing away from the chaos.
"Restrain him!" the leader of the Silvershots bellowed.
The Silvershots closed in, their weapons drawn, not guns, but suppression rods laced with mystic silver.
Zayron dodged the first strike, grabbed the rod, and snapped it like a twig. His fist collided with another man’s jaw, sending him spinning into the wall.
Three more surrounded him. One of them shot a dart into his shoulder. The dart hissed as it sank deep, but Zayron didn’t stop.
He ripped it out and threw it back with enough force to embed it in the shooter’s leg.
"Zayron!" Seraphina screamed his name, crawling toward him.
"Zayron, stop! You’ll get yourself killed! They are silver shooters! They are trained to shoot without missing a target! You can't beat them! Go with them. I will come and get you out!"
"They laid hands on you, Seraphina!" Zayron growled. His eyes were no longer human. They were storm clouds.
The Silvershot leader roared to his men. "Form Delta! Drop him now!"
They circled. One launched a flare, a disorienting burst of sound and light, but Zayron was already moving. He vaulted over him, landed behind another, and drove his claws through his back.
Blood soaked the courtyard.
Gamma Cross appeared in the courtyard and froze. He was torn between duty and horror.
More Silvershots fell, but they couldn't take Alpha Zayron down.
The leader of the Silvershot team reached for the relic on his chest, a talisman of old magic.
But Zayron was already in front of him.
He grabbed the man by the throat, lifting him off the ground.
"I won't kill you because I want you to go back to the Great Southern Council and deliver my message to them!"
"Zayron, no! You can't challenge the Great Southern Council!" Seraphina screamed.
Alpha Zayron ignored his mother and continued talking to the man he was holding.
"Tell the Council that I’m not done. I won’t be done until every last one of the traitors pays for what they did to my mate."
The leader coughed blood. "Then you damn yourself."
Zayron’s grip tightened. He flung him aside like garbage.
The Silvershot leader raised his hand to ask for help, but his fingers trembled.
Then, from the back of the SUV, a larger man stepped out. He was taller than the rest, with dark skin and a scar across his jaw.
"Stand down," the man said to all the men who surrounded Alpha Zayron.
"Sir..."
"I said stand down," the man shouted.
They obeyed immediately.
He walked toward Zayron and spoke with a low tone. "You don’t remember me, do you?"
Zayron narrowed his eyes.
"I’m Jared. Council enforcer. I watched your trials when you were fifteen.
I watched you break through three full-blooded rogues with your bare hands.
I told the Council you weren’t like the rest. I told them back then you were powerful.
Now you are dangerous. Which is why you need to come with us before it’s too late. "
"You want me to sit in a cage while my mate's killers sleep peacefully?"
"The Great Southern Council wants to save the part of you that’s still worth saving, Alpha Zayron."
"There’s nothing left to save!" Zayron growled. "Only fire."
Jared took a step closer.
"Zayron," Seraphina whispered. "Please... don’t make them your enemy. They’ll never stop coming here."
Zayron looked at her. One of the Silvershots seized the opportunity and moved too soon. He tried to shackle Zayron from the side.
Zayron's instinct took over. He spun around and grabbed him by the neck.
"Take him down! Now!" the squad leader shouted from the ground.
All the men moved at once. They fired needles, threw chains, and launched darts filled with wolfsbane and sedatives.
The sound of metal hitting stone and darts cutting through air filled the courtyard.
Zayron let out a furious roar. He dodged the first few darts and ripped through the chains with his claws.
He pushed one man down and kicked another away. But then a dart hit his neck. He flinched.
Another dart struck his shoulder. Then a third hit his thigh.
Zayron stumbled. His breathing became rough and his steps slowed. The poison was already working through his blood.
His head felt heavy and the world around him started spinning. He dropped to one knee.
Still, he looked up at them.
His voice was low but full of rage. "Tell the Moon Lord... I, Alpha Zayron Roland, can never be dragged away like a rabid dog."
Then he collapsed face-first onto the ground. His body was still, and blood soaked his clothes. Everyone thought he was down for good.
The squad leader gave a signal. Two Silvershots walked forward with chains. But before they could touch him, a deep growl came from Zayron’s chest.
His body began to move again. His bones cracked, his skin shifted, and thick black fur began to cover him.
Right in front of them, Zayron turned into his wolf form, huge, dark, and terrifying. His eyes were glowing red, and he looked stronger than ever. The darts had weakened him, but not enough to stop him.
With one jump, he knocked a Silvershot into the wall. He bit through the chains and charged forward.
He was faster than the others and too strong to stop. He ran past them all and leapt into the forest.
"After him!" the leader yelled. "Don’t let him get away!"
The Silvershots chased after him, but Zayron was already far ahead. He jumped over fallen trees and ran through thick bushes.
The forest was dark, but he knew the paths. Even though the sedatives were still in his system, he kept running.
He didn’t stop. And soon, the forest swallowed him. Zayron had escaped.
"Find him!" The leader of the group roared, his voice echoing through the forest.