Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 111

111 No Union Shield

James’s POVOD

If I moved now on names alone, people would call it retaliation. Pack war. Alpha pride. And if any of those packs had been pushed into this by men above them, I would do exactly what someone wanted, tear into smaller enemies while the real architects watched from behind paper and titles.

No.

I would not be used that way.

I turned back to the prisoner. “Why would those three attack me?”

He shook his head quickly. “I don’t know full terms. We weren’t told everything. Just that the strike had backing. That if we moved fast enough, there’d be no Union shield over you before it was done.”

Union shield.

The phrase hit hard.

No Union shield.

Almost-signing. Poisoned banquet. Delay. Chaos.

My chest tightened again.

I crouched once more, voice low. “Who coordinated the timing?”

He looked away.

I grabbed the bars, leaned in. “Who?”

“Boris relayed it!” he blurted. “But the timing came from higher up.”

“From where?”

“I don’t know!” He flinched before I even moved. “I swear. I don’t know names.”

Jasper pressed against my restraint, furious. He knows enough. Tear it out.

I shut him down and asked the next question instead.

“How did they know when to strike?”

The prisoner’s mouth worked soundlessly for a second.

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Men

Then he said, “They knew both of you would be gone.”

I stared at him.

“Say that again.”

He swallowed. “The order said you and Leah Rainhorn wouldn’t be around. That was the window. Hit before you returned. Wipe out the pack. Take the place before dawn. Hold it before you could get back and organise.”

The words landed one by one, each heavier than the last.

They knew I would be away.

They knew Leah would be away with me.

They knew the exact kind of opening that gave a takeover its best chance.

Not a random strike.

Not opportunistic aggression.

Timed. Planned. Fed.

And then the next realisation hit with brutal force.

“They didn’t expect resistance,” I said, half to myself.

The prisoner looked up, uncertain.

I barely saw him now.

I saw the night of the attack.

The chaos I’d returned to.

The blood

The bodies

The fact that the pack was still standing at all.

Arya.

Arya taking charge.

Arya coordinating defence while I was away.

Had she not taken command,

to do.

Had she not moved men, held lines, and kept the pack from splintering,

I would not have returned to a pack.

I would have returned to ruins.

No territory. No seat. No leverage. No home.

A rogue again.

A rogue once more with nothing but a name and rage.

My chest hurt so sharply I had to straighten just to breathe through it.

I had wronged her.

God, I had wronged her.

Not in some small private way I could hide behind grief and confusion.

I had wronged the woman who had held my territory together while men plotted around me and I stood in a banquet hall worrying about signatures and titles.

I had wronged the woman who saved what was mine.

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