Chapter 13: Suspicion and mistrust

Ethan’s POV

The sun was barely peeking over the treetops when I arrived back at the pack house. My mind was still racing after the conversation with Elena, her prophecy playing on a loop in my head: *a great sacrifice, a betrayal from within.* The heaviness of it was suffocating, but I couldn’t afford to show it. Not now, not ever.

As I walked through the front door, the smell of coffee hit me, and the usual chatter of the morning buzzed in the air. The pack wolves were already gathering, talking in low tones, but the tension was palpable. I could feel it—like an itch beneath the skin—something was off.

Marcus was at the center of it. His deep voice carried across the room, and I could hear the edge in it. He was pacing near the windows, arms crossed, his jaw tight as he spoke with one of the younger wolves, Cole. The two of them looked… heated.

I narrowed my eyes, my instincts bristling. Marcus had been acting strange lately, distant. More than once, I’d caught him staring off into the woods, lost in thought. He wasn’t his usual self—steadfast and reliable. Now, there was something else. A tension that was hard to place.

And then there was the prophecy.

I didn’t want to believe it could be Marcus. He was my brother in every way that mattered—my beta, my right hand, the wolf I trusted above all others. But Elena’s words echoed in my mind: *a betrayal from within.* Could she have meant him?

As I approached, Marcus turned, catching sight of me. His expression shifted, the hard line of his mouth easing into something resembling a smile, but I saw it—the flicker of something behind his eyes.

“Ethan,” he greeted, his voice still rough with whatever argument had just taken place.

“Marcus,” I replied, keeping my tone neutral. “Everything alright?”

He glanced at Cole, who nodded curtly before backing away, leaving us alone. Marcus ran a hand through his hair, clearly on edge. “Yeah. Just some pack business. Nothing major.”

“Doesn’t seem like nothing,” I said, watching him closely.

Marcus sighed, crossing his arms again. “It’s this illness. The wolves are getting antsy. The younger ones especially. They don’t understand what’s happening, and they’re starting to panic. They need direction.”

I nodded slowly, understanding where he was coming from. The illness had spread faster than we could handle, and with no clear solution, the pack was starting to feel the strain. It was enough to make anyone paranoid, even me.

“They’re looking to you for answers, Marcus,” I said, my voice firm. “You need to keep them calm.”

“I’m trying,” he replied, his tone a little too sharp. “But it’s hard when we don’t have any answers ourselves.”

The frustration in his voice was clear, and it mirrored my own. But there was something else there, something deeper. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Marcus was keeping something from me.

Before I could push further, the door to the pack house swung open, and Lila walked in. The moment I saw her, my chest tightened in a way that both exhilarated and terrified me. She was a vision of quiet strength, her long dark hair pulled back, her eyes scanning the room as if she was searching for something—or someone.

When her gaze landed on me, I felt that familiar pull, the one that had been growing stronger with every passing day. It was like a thread tying us together, even when I didn’t want to admit it.

She walked over, her steps purposeful. “Ethan, can we talk?”

I glanced at Marcus, who gave me a small nod before stepping away. There was something in the way he moved, the tension in his shoulders, that made me uneasy, but I pushed it aside as I turned to Lila.

“What’s going on?” I asked, noticing the slight furrow in her brow. She looked… worried.

She glanced around, making sure no one was close enough to overhear before speaking. “I found something.”

I frowned. “Found what?”

Lila hesitated, biting her lip. “This,” she said, pulling a folded piece of paper from her jacket pocket.

I took it from her, unfolding it carefully. The handwriting was unfamiliar, rough and uneven, like someone had scrawled it in a hurry. The message was short, but it sent a chill down my spine:

*Watch your back. Danger is closer than you think.*

My jaw clenched as I read it again. “Where did you get this?”

“I found it slipped under the door of the clinic this morning,” Lila said, her voice quiet. “It was waiting for me when I opened up.”

I looked up, meeting her eyes. “Did anyone else see it?”

She shook her head. “No. I came straight here.”

I cursed under my breath, folding the paper and slipping it into my pocket. A warning, but from who? And why? The timing couldn’t have been worse—Dominic’s threats, Elena’s prophecy, and now this.

“Do you think it’s Dominic?” Lila asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

I wanted to say yes. It would be easier to pin it on him, to chalk it up to his twisted games. But something about the message felt different—like it was personal. 

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But we need to be careful. Whoever wrote this knows more than they’re letting on.”

Lila nodded, her expression troubled. “I don’t like this, Ethan. It feels… wrong.”

I placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. “We’ll figure it out. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Her eyes softened, and for a moment, the tension between us eased. But it was short-lived. The weight of everything—Dominic, the prophecy, the illness—hung over us like a storm cloud, ready to break at any moment.

---

Later that afternoon, I called Marcus to the office. I couldn’t ignore the growing suspicions gnawing at the back of my mind, and I needed to know where he stood. If there was any chance that Elena’s prophecy pointed to him, I had to be sure.

When he walked in, he looked as tired as I felt. His usual confidence was strained, the lines on his face deeper than usual. 

“Something on your mind, Ethan?” he asked, sitting across from me.

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the desk. “I need to know where your head’s at, Marcus. With everything that’s been going on—the illness, Dominic, the pack—are you with me?”

His eyes narrowed slightly, a flicker of offense crossing his features. “Of course I’m with you. What kind of question is that?”

“It’s a question I need to ask,” I said, my tone hard. “You’ve been acting… different lately. And the pack is picking up on it. I need to know if there’s something going on that I don’t know about.”

Marcus stared at me for a long moment, his jaw clenched. “You think I’m betraying you?” he asked, his voice low and dangerous.

“I didn’t say that,” I replied evenly. “But there’s a lot at stake here, and I can’t afford any surprises. If something’s wrong, now’s the time to tell me.”

He shook his head, a bitter laugh escaping his lips. “Unbelievable. After everything we’ve been through, you think I’d turn on you? On the pack?”

“I don’t want to believe it,” I said, my voice quiet. “But there are things happening that we can’t ignore. Elena’s prophecy—”

“Prophecies,” he scoffed, cutting me off. “You’re letting that old mystic get in your head. We need to focus on real threats, Ethan. Not cryptic warnings.”

I felt the frustration bubbling up, but I forced it down. “You’re right about one thing—Dominic is a real threat. But if we’re going to face him, I need to know that we’re on the same page. No secrets.”

Marcus stood abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor. “I’ve got nothing to hide, Ethan. But if you’re questioning my loyalty, maybe you need to take a good look in the mirror.”

Before I could respond, he stormed out of the office, leaving me sitting there, the tension between us hanging like a knife in the air.