Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 246

246 The First Strike 3

Arya’s POVO

Ê། ྃ་

I did not just want to wound Silverfang. I wanted to take it. I wanted to stand in the heart of what had sheltered the Rainhorns and make it mine. I wanted to rip their certainty from the roots and plant my own flag in the soil they thought would always answer to them. It was not just about hurting them. It was about replacing them. About making sure the territory they used for power no longer fed them again.

Daniel did not sound shocked. If anything, he sounded more interested.

“That would make you very difficult to ignore,” he said.

I almost smiled at the understatement.

“Good,” I replied.

He was silent a moment longer, then said,

“I can gather wolves quickly. Faster now than before. There are many who would move for land if they

believed the claim could hold.”

“I know.”

“You understand that once we move, there is no easing back from it.”

“I know.”

“You understand that some will die.”

The words should have hit harder than they did. Maybe that said something ugly about me now. Or maybe it just said I was no longer a child about war.

“I know,” I said again.

Daniel went quiet. I could feel him deciding. When he finally spoke, his tone had changed completely. The last of the casual wariness was gone. What remained was command. Readiness. A man already shifting pieces on a board.

“I’ll speak to my lieutenants,” he said. “I’ll test numbers. Routes. Watchers. If Silverfang truly stands open, I won’t let the chance rot.”

“You shouldn’t,” I said.

“Arya.”

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“Yes?”

“If I do this, I do it to win.”

I almost laughed, but there was no humour in me.

(a:G4ན།།

1 Meas

“Daniel,” I said, “if we do this, we are not going there to scare them. We are going there to take what

they no longer deserve to hold.”

His answer came without hesitation.

“Good.”

Something dark and fierce moved through me at that. Finally. Finally, I was speaking to someone who

understood the language of what needed to happen. Not soft caution. Not moral dressing. Not empty

sympathy. Action. Real action.

Still, I needed one more thing clear.

“When you have the day, you tell me first,” I said. “Not after. Not while you are on the move. Before.”

Daniel gave a low grunt.

“You still don’t trust easily.”

“Should I?”

“No,” he said, and I could hear the almost-smile in his voice. “Probably not.”

“I mean it.”

“I know you do.”

“I will lead.”

He paused.

“You will fight?”

“Yes.”

“Front line?”

“If necessary.”

There was a longer silence at that. Not disapproval exactly. More like reassessment. He was

measuring the woman he once knew against the one hearing his voice now.

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Finally he said,

“You sound different.”

That made my mouth tighten.

“People change.”

“They do.”

= Meri

He did not ask what changed me. Good. I did not want to explain it to him. Not the betrayal. Not the

humiliation. Not the child I carried. Not the years I had lost to people who took my loyalty and tried to

turn it into a leash around my throat. I did not need Daniel to know all that. He only needed to know

that the woman calling him was serious and that Silverfang’s weakness was real.

Still, after a moment, he added,

“You always were dangerous when you were calm.”

I looked down at my free hand. Calm. That was what this was, wasn’t it? Not the wild blind fury I had

expected revenge to carry. Not screaming. Not breaking things in a room. Not tears and vows and knives in the dark. Just calm. Cold purpose. A steadiness that felt more frightening than rage ever

had.

“Then you know I’m serious,” I said.

“I do.”

Another pause settled between us. Not empty. Full of implications. Movement. Blood. Territory.

Change.

Then Daniel said,

“If this works, Silverfang won’t look the same again.”

“Good,” I said.

Because that was the point. I wanted them changed. I wanted them marked. I wanted everyone who had ever looked at Marcel and Rebecca with awe to understand that power could be stripped. That names could fall. That women they dismissed could come back with fire in their hands and take everything. I wanted Rebecca to know that being an Alpha’s daughter did not make her untouchable. I wanted Marcel to understand that every little political move he made, every hand he shook, every manipulation he dressed up as strategy, had built towards this. Towards the day he stood exposed and nobody came to save him.

Maybe Lev was right. Maybe death was too easy. But fear? Loss? Public ruin? That would last.

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GiGets

E Mart

I leaned my shoulder lightly against the window frame and let myself imagine the first sounds of it. Wolves at Silverfang’s borders. Confusion. Commands shouted too late. The house waking to chaos. Rebecca’s voice sharp with panic for the first time in her life. Marcel barking orders and realising they no longer carried weight. That image settled something inside me that had been raw for too long.

Daniel broke into my thoughts.

“When the call comes,” he said, “be ready to move fast.”

“I will.”

“No hesitation.”

“There won’t be any.”

“You’re certain.”

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