Scarlett’s POV
It was already 9 p.m. and still no news from Leo and Leonard.
The silence was eating me alive. I tried opening the mind link again, desperate to feel them, but a cold wall of static slammed into me. They had blocked me completely. I knew why — they didn’t want me sensing their pain, fear, or exhaustion if things went wrong. But their protection only made my terror worse.
"Scar, they are fine. Trust me," Liam spoke from beside me on the bed.
I was wrapped tightly against his chest, his large arms holding me like an anchor, but I couldn’t find peace. I looked up at him, my eyes wide with fear. "Can you mind link them? Please, Liam. Just try."
He let out a rough sigh, his thumb brushing over my knuckles. "No, love. They blocked me too. It’s standard battlefield protocol so the Alphas can stay perfectly locked into the pack mind without outside distractions. But if anything goes wrong, they will link me instantly. Don’t worry."
I couldn’t trust his words. We stayed like that for hours, the night dragging on in an agonizing crawl. I couldn’t sleep. Liam practically begged me to eat something, but my throat was completely tight; I couldn’t swallow a single bite. My wolf was pacing back and forth inside my head, troubled and snarling at the walls. I was terrified.
Then, suddenly, loud victory roars erupted outside — howls, cheers, the thunder of returning warriors.
I jumped up from the bed, my heart exploding in my chest. "They’re back!"
I sprinted out barefoot, Liam right behind me. I flew down the grand staircase and burst through the mansion doors into the chaotic courtyard. Warriors were streaming in, bloodied but triumphant. My eyes frantically searched until I found them — Leo and Leonard marching through the gates, covered in dirt and blood but alive.
Relief crashed over me. "Leo! Leonard!"
I ran straight to them, arms open. But they stepped back sharply, avoiding my touch. Their faces were cold, their eyes burning with fury.
Before I could speak, Leo stormed past me and drove his fist into Liam’s face with a sickening crack. Liam staggered back, blood spraying from his lip. Leonard immediately shoved him hard against the stone pillar.
"What the hell is this?!" I screamed, sprinting over and throwing my body directly between them, blocking Leo and Leonard from striking Liam again. I glared at them, my voice shaking with anger and confusion. "What is happening?!"
Leo’s sea-blue eyes were completely bloodshot, wild with an aggressive heat I had never seen before. He pointed a trembling, blood-stained finger at the brother behind me.
"Ask him, Scar," Leo snarled, his voice a deep, demonic rumble that vibrated through the entire packhouse. "Ask this wolf in sheep’s clothing what he did to us!"
"Leo, talk to me!" I begged. "What happened?!"
"We were set up, Scar!" Leo roared, the sheer volume of his voice making several warriors step back in fear. "The Shadow Pack warriors knew our exact battle tactics. They knew every single move we were going to make before we even made them. It was a complete trap!"
I shook my head, my mind spinning. "But how? Maybe they just guessed your moves—"
"No, they didn’t guess," Leonard cut in, his usually calm voice completely dark, dripping with cold fury. "Right before we left this bedroom at dawn, we changed our strategy at the last second. It was a brand new plan. And we told only Liam before we walked out that door."
Leonard stepped closer, his eyes locking onto a pale Liam. "When we won the battle, we captured one of the Shadow Pack’s top warriors alive. We tortured him and asked him how they got their hands on our secret tactics. Do you know what he said, Scar? He looked us right in the eye and said our own brother told their Alpha."
The words felt like a physical blow. The accusation was so perfectly tied together, so terrifyingly logical, that the entire courtyard went dead silent. Every single warrior turned their gaze to Liam, the heavy weight of suspicion settling over the pack.
"Liam wanted us dead out there, Scar. He wanted us gone so he could have you all to himself. No more sharing. No more competition."
Leo’s fists were clenched so tight his knuckles were white. "His plan was for us to never come back. While we were bleeding on that battlefield, he was here playing the perfect, caring mate. He set us up to die."
I slowly turned to look at Liam. Blood dripped from his split lip, his green eyes wide with shock and disbelief. He looked genuinely devastated... but the evidence sounded so damning. The last-minute plan. The private information. The captured warrior’s confession. It all pointed straight at him.
"Liam..." My voice trembled. "Tell me this isn’t true."
"What nonsense!" Liam roared, stepping out from behind me, his hands shaking with pure shock. "It is not true! That warrior lied to you. It’s a complete lie!"
He looked at me, his green eyes begging me to believe him, but the rest of the crowd was completely silent. Nobody was moving.
"Why would a dying warrior lie about who gave them the plan?" Leo snarled, taking a step forward, his chest heaving. "And if you didn’t tell them, Liam, how did they get our exact movements? Explain that! If Leonard wasn’t a master strategist, and if our wolves weren’t smart enough to change tactics in the middle of a bloodbath, we would have died out there! We would be corpses right now!"
"I didn’t do it!" Liam screamed back, his voice cracking with emotion. "I would never betray my own blood!"
Around the courtyard, the whispers started. The warriors were murmuring among themselves, looking at Liam with deep suspicion. The pack’s trust was breaking apart right in front of my eyes.
"Stop it!" a commanding, booming voice cut through the noise.
The entire courtyard instantly went dead silent as Sir Lennox, their father, walked out onto the porch. His old Alpha presence was heavy and suffocating as his eyes swept over his three sons. He looked at the blood on Liam’s face, and then at the dirt and rage on Leo and Leonard.
"Do not wash your dirty linen in public," Sir Lennox ordered, his face hard as stone. "We are not going to air pack secrets and family drama in front of the entire vanguard. Inside. Now."
He didn’t wait for a response. He turned around and walked back into the mansion, leaving the heavy front doors wide open.
Leo threw one last hateful glare at Liam before storming inside, with Leonard following closely behind him. Liam stood frozen for a split second, looking completely broken, before he sucked in a sharp breath and walked in after them.