Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 251

251 Too Late to Fix It

James’ POVO

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My mind was made up. There was no point waiting any longer. Too much had happened in too little time, and Nightwind was hanging in a place I did not like. A place I had sworn I would never let it get to. Exposed. Uncertain. Angry. Bruised. My people had already suffered losses. They had already buried wolves. They had already watched outsiders descend on our lands and tear through what we built. I had spent too much time trying to balance too many things at once, trying to hold peace with one hand and power with the other, and somewhere in the middle of all that, I lost control of the story. That was the real problem now. Not just the attacks. Not just Marcel. Not just Leah. The story. What people believed. What they had been made to believe. What they had believed about Arya. That needed to be fixed, and it needed to be fixed fast.

I stood in my office staring out the window for a long time before I called for the assembly. The grounds outside looked calm enough, but I knew better than to be fooled by quiet. Quiet after bloodshed never meant safety. It only meant wolves were thinking. Whispering. Watching. Waiting to see whether their alpha still had a plan or whether everything was about to collapse under his feet.

I clenched my jaw. It would not collapse. Not while I was still breathing.

Dragonclaw was not the path I imagined for Nightwind. Not in the beginning. Not when Arya and I were building this place with our bare hands and anger and hunger and stupid faith in each other. Back then, I thought we would rise on our own terms. I thought we would hold our own name, our own territory, our own power. I thought I had more time to do things cleanly. I thought I could negotiate with men like Marcel without staining everything I touched. I thought wrong. Now I had to deal with the aftermath of those wrong choices, and that meant stepping in front of my people and giving them something solid to hold onto before fear turned into doubt and doubt turned into rebellion.

I turned from the window and headed out. By the time I reached the assembly grounds, most of the pack was already there. Men. Women. Elders. Warriors. Mothers with children on their hips. Faces I had known for years. Faces that had once looked at Arya and me like we were the future of Nightwind. Like together we were enough to drag this pack into a better life. That memory hit harder than it should

have.

I ignored it. This was not the time for that.

The platform at the front was waiting. So were my officers. A few of them gave me nods as I

approached. Supportive. Steady. But I could still see the strain on them too. They had felt it. All of it.

The attacks. The unrest. The shame that came after Arya left. The whispers about Leah. The

questions they did not dare ask me directly. The way Nightwind had started to feel like a place

standing on one leg.

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I stepped up in front of my people and looked out at them. The murmurs quieted gradually. Then

completely. Every eye was on me.

Good. This needed to land cleanly.

I exhaled once and let my voice carry.

“I called this assembly because there has been a new development,” I said.

A ripple moved through the crowd. Nothing loud. Just attention sharpening.

I kept my face calm.

“As all of you know,” I continued, “Nightwind has not yet been recognised by the Silverclaw Union. That left us in a dangerous position. It left us exposed. It left us vulnerable to further attacks, further losses, and more uncertainty than any pack should have to endure.”

That got some nods. Grim ones. Tired ones. Wolves who had seen too much blood lately and did not need me explaining the obvious to them.

I went on.

“I have taken steps to fix that.”

Now the air changed. Hope did that faster than fear sometimes. You could feel it move through a crowd. A stiffening. A silence that became expectant instead of tense. I let them sit in it for a second before I gave them the answer they wanted.

“Though we are not yet recognised by the Silverclaw Union as an independent pack,” I said, “I have placed Nightwind under Dragonclaw so that we can enjoy union benefits.”

The reaction was immediate. Gasps. Murmurs. Some stunned silence. Some obvious relief. I stood there and let it pass through them. Better to let them react first than cut it off and make it seem like I feared their thoughts.

When the noise rose a little too much, I lifted one hand and the sound began to settle.

“There will be no more attacks henceforth,” I said. “No one will suffer losses anymore because

Nightwind will no longer stand unshielded.”

That hit where I wanted it to. The fear. That was what had been living under all of this. Not just

confusion. Fear. Fear that the next raid would come before the last graves were even settled. Fear that

the children would not be safe. Fear that men and women who had chosen to trust me had trusted

wrong.

This answered that.

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I saw it in their faces. Not all of them, no. Some still looked unsure. Some looked too stunned to react. But many were already relaxing in tiny ways. A shoulder lowering. A jaw unclenching. A breath coming

easier.

I kept talking before the relief could break the structure of what I needed them to hear.

“The terms of the partnership have been approved,” I said. “For now, we will be Dragonclaw’s Nightwind pack. That means we carry their shield, their recognition, and the protection that comes with their standing while we wait out the remaining five-year period.”

There was more murmuring at that. Less alarmed this time. More practical. Wolves doing the math in their heads. Measuring what it meant to keep the Nightwind name while falling under Dragonclaw’s

banner for now.

I gave them the details because they needed them. They needed clarity. Confusion breeds unrest

faster than bad news.

“This is not Nightwind disappearing,” I said. “This is Nightwind surviving. We remain who we are. We remain on our lands. We remain under our own structure. But for union purposes, for certification, for protection, we are now recognised through Dragonclaw until we are eligible to apply independently.”

A male voice from the crowd called out,

“And the council approved this, Alpha?”

“They did,” I answered. “The council is aware and has approved the merger for now. Once the waiting period is over, we can officially apply and I can go to Blackbirth to receive certification for Nightwind.”

That caused another reaction. A stronger one this time. Not outrage. Relief. Real relief. The kind that

almost made wolves weak in the knees after too much strain.

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