C6 Shadows and oath

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Vashti did not sleep. The message Eighty-four days carved into flesh was seared into her mind. Every instinct screamed this was not just a warning — it was a declaration of war.

By dawn, she summoned her most trusted warriors, the ones who had stood beside her since before her coronation.

“No one outside this circle hears of the carving,” she ordered, her voice steel. “Fear is the poison our enemies want. We will not drink it.”

But when her eyes swept the room, she saw doubt flicker. Even among her loyalists, whispers churned. Some questioned her rule. Others wondered if she had enemies within her walls.

And worse — she caught a few glances cast toward Lucas.

---

Later that day, Lucas found himself dragged into the shadows of the forest, away from Paxton eyes. Gravelmoon men waited, cloaked in darkness.

The Beta sneered at him. “Our Alpha grows impatient. He says you bleed for her, you guard her like she’s your queen. He wants proof, Lucas. Proof your loyalty is still to him.”

Lucas’s stomach twisted. “What proof?”

The Beta tossed a dagger at his feet. The blade gleamed cruelly in the moonlight. “Tomorrow night, you’ll slip into the Paxton armory. Bring us the Luna’s war map. Her defenses, her patrols. Do this, and your daughter lives another day.”

Lucas bent slowly, picking up the dagger. His hand trembled as his reflection stared back at him in the steel.

“And if I don’t?” His voice was hoarse.

The Beta’s grin widened. “Then perhaps Zoe will learn what it feels like to bleed.”

---

That night, Lucas sat in his chamber, the dagger heavy in his lap. His wolf paced furiously inside him, torn between obedience and rebellion. Every instinct screamed to protect Zoe. But the thought of betraying Vashti — his mate — hollowed him out.

He pressed his forehead into his hands, whispering, “Goddess, what do you want from me? How do I choose between my daughter’s life… and hers?”

---

Meanwhile, Vashti prowled the halls of her packhouse, restless. She had ordered discreet investigations into the supposed “rogue” attack. But the more she studied the movements of the enemy, the clearer the truth became.

They weren’t rogues at all. They were trained. Disciplined. Wolves who followed orders.

And that meant only one thing: a rival Alpha was orchestrating these strikes.

Her thoughts circled back to Lucas, to the way he’d fought, the way he seemed to know too much, the way his eyes blazed when she looked at him.

Something inside her wolf whispered, He is yours.

But another voice in her mind warned, He is your enemy.

---

As midnight neared, Lucas crept toward the Paxton armory with the dagger hidden in his cloak, his heart a battlefield.

But when he pushed the door open, he froze.

Vashti was already inside — standing over the war map.

Her eyes lifted slowly to his, her dagger gleaming in her hand.

“Looking for something?” she asked.

******************

The air in the armory was thick with smoke from the lanterns, shadows stretching long across the walls where racks of steel gleamed.

Vashti stood with her back straight, the war map spread before her on the table. A dagger glinted in her hand, but her gaze was fixed on Lucas.

He froze in the doorway, the Gravelmoon dagger hidden beneath his cloak suddenly burning like it was dipped in fire.

“Looking for something?” Her voice was quiet, but it carried the weight of command, of suspicion sharpened to a point.

Lucas’s pulse hammered in his ears. He could feel the Alpha’s leash yanking tight, Zoe’s terrified face flashing before him. Yet his wolf strained toward Vashti, howling with desperate longing.

“I—” he began, but the words tangled in his throat.

Vashti circled the table slowly, her eyes never leaving his. “Strange, isn’t it? The so-called rogue, sneaking into my armory in the dead of night. Tell me, Kade or whatever your real name is…” Her voice dropped, cutting sharp as her blade. “…which Alpha sent you?”

The question struck like lightning. His chest squeezed, his wolf snarled, and he almost crumbled then and there.

Instead, he forced a laugh, low and shaky. “I couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d… study the defenses.”

Vashti stopped inches from him, the dagger at her side trembling with her grip. Her eyes searched his face, searching for cracks. “You bleed for me in battle, then skulk through my walls in darkness. Which side are you on?”

Lucas’s throat tightened. The mate-bond was pulsing between them, hot and insistent, making every heartbeat louder. He wanted to tell her everything. He wanted to fall to his knees and beg her to save Zoe, to save him.

But the image of his daughter’s small wrists bound in rope held him back like chains.

He whispered instead, “I’m on your side.”

Vashti’s breath hitched — for just a moment, her hard mask cracked. But then her dagger pressed lightly to his chest, just above his heart.

“Swear it,” she said, her voice shaking with something that wasn’t quite anger. “Swear it by the Moon Goddess.”

Lucas froze. To swear falsely under the Goddess was to damn himself — body, wolf, and soul. His skin prickled with sweat, his lungs burning as he stood on the edge of ruin.

And then — salvation or damnation — the sound of a horn split the silence. Urgent. A Paxton warrior burst into the armory, panting, blood streaked across his face.

“My queen,” he gasped. “There’s been a breach — in the dungeons. Someone’s freed the prisoners.”

Vashti’s head snapped toward the door, dagger lowering. Lucas’s chest heaved with relief and dread all at once.

She looked back at him, suspicion still sharp in her eyes. “This isn’t over.”

Then she swept past him, cloak snapping behind her, leaving him in the flickering shadows with the dagger still hidden under his cloak — and the unbearable weight of the oath he couldn’t make.

As Lucas stumbled after her, a whisper brushed his ear, though no one was near.

His Alpha’s voice.

“Tick-tock, Lucas. Seventy-nine days.”