Chapter Five

Damien's piercing stare settled on me with hungry intensity. "That this naive little illiterate isn't our long-lost Luna at all. Just an unwitting stand-in, haplessly caught in the crosshairs of Fate's cruel games."

The bottom dropped out of my stomach as their sinister intimations coalesced into a horrifying reality. They knew I wasn't the real Luna. Which meant...

"You two tried to kill her," I gasped, sickened realization crashing over me. "The actual Luna, your brother's mate. You're the ones responsible for her disappearance!"

Valerie asked unsympathetically. "Don't look so betrayed, little one. That pathetic excuse for a Luna had far too strong a grip over my Alphas. I merely...removed an inconvenient obstacle to ensure they could reach their full potential under my guidance."

"You're both certifiable!" I spat, every hard-won instinct screaming at me to flee from their poisonous presence. "Zane, Caleb and Ryder would never..."

"What? Fall under the depraved sway of a usurping bitch like yourself?" Damien cut in with a low, mocking chuckle. "You'd be surprised what depravities an Alpha can be driven to when the dark forces of fate are amassed against him."

He circled me slowly, dark eyes glittering with sinister intent as his gaze raked over me in a way that made my skin crawl.

"But now that the gods have delivered us a...stand-in for our dearly departed Luna, perhaps my brother and his degenerate mutts will be more inclined to see reason. With you at our side as an...unwitting accomplice."

My breath caught in my throat as the full extent of their twisted machinations became devastatingly clear.  

These two vile, power-mad monsters had disposed of the real Luna, then used me - some hapless pawn - as a stand-in to infiltrate the pack and bring down their sworn enemies from within.

"You're both out of your goddamn minds if you think I'll help destroy anyone," I spat, refusing to show them an ounce of the bone-deep terror spiraling through me. "I don't give a fuck about your little psychotic pack politics."

Damien's hand shot out, calloused fingers closing around my throat in a bruising grip as he hauled me against his rock-solid form.

I choked on a scream of surprise, scrabbling futilely against his implacable strength.

"You'll do exactly as I say," he hissed, hot breath fanning across my face as his obsidian eyes bored into mine. "Fate has marked you with the Luna's scent, pet -and my idiot brother and his loyal imbeciles are blind to your true identity."

He leaned closer, lips brushing against the frantic pulse thundering in my throat.

"You're our inside woman now...our instrument for tearing their wretched world asunder from within. Play your part, or I'll slaughter your former life and loved ones as retribution for your defiance."

Bile rose in my throat, choking me as the realization of my total and utter helplessness cemented in my psyche.

 I was a mere pawn, a sacrificial lamb caught in the sadistic crossfire of these unhinged tyrants' quest for dominance.

There was no escaping their clutches. Not when they used my own family and loved ones as leverage to ensure my obedience.

Help them infiltrate and sabotage the pack from within...or suffer the consequences of my refusal.

My options were dwindling faster than grains through the merciless hourglass.

And as Damien's bruising grip tightened with ruthless promise, the last remnants of hope curdled to bitter ashes inside my hollow chest.

For several endless moments, all I could comprehend was Damien's bruising grip constricting my airway and the keening wail of sheer terror echoing through my mind.

 Me - an insignificant human pawn drafted into this sadistic game of wolf politics through sheer cruel circumstance.

Valerie watched the display with cold calculation glittering in her sharp gaze. "Well, little one? What's your answer?"

Damien's palm scored burning brands across my flesh as his fingers tightened another cruel notch.

Dark spots sparked in my vision as the indisputable truth slammed home: they wouldn't hesitate to dispose of me just as callously as they'd eliminated the real Luna.

Except I wasn't some disposable casualty in their lust for power.

I was their secret weapon - their inside source to infiltrate and destroy their sworn enemies from within.

My family, my friends...their lives now dangled by a tenuous thread, to be snapped on a whim if I refused to play my role in this twisted game.

Panic and indignant defiance welled up in a choking surge, but I viciously stamped them down.

I was a dead woman either way - the only difference lay in whether my death would be a meaningless, fruitless one or a sacrificial play to save those I loved most.

Tears burned in my eyes as resignation's bitter sediment settled, cold and leaden, in the pit of my hollow chest. I couldn't defeat the forces marshaled against me...

...but perhaps I could undermine them from the inside.

Damien's calloused thumb stroked over the wildly fluttering pulse in my throat, his lips quirking in a sinister smirk of triumph as I sagged in tacit surrender. "A wise choice, pet."

Valerie's low chuckle grated like nails over scorched flesh. "Now the real fun begins."

Air wheezed past my bruised windpipe as Damien released me, leaving me to crumple in a gasping, trembling heap at his feet.

Rage and loathing for my tormentors blazed through me even as dread's icy tendrils encased my shattered psyche.

I was the sacrificial virgin, the Judas lamb sent willingly into the wolves' den as a harbinger of brutal, inescapable destruction.

There were no allies in this macabre game, only a winding trail of blood and heartbreak destined to be my ultimate demise.

 And as the visions that had been haunting me resurged with visceral clarity - of howling beasts, splintered bones and spilled crimson beneath a bleeding hunter's moon - a terrible truth slammed home with cold, brutal finality.

I was never meant to rise victorious from this brutal power struggle.

 My role was to be the spark that ignited an all-consuming blaze of violence, death and ruination.

Whatever entities presided over this arcane supernatural realm had delivered me to their door marked for sacrifice upon the blackened altars of vengeance and domination.

My ordinary human existence was erased, unceremoniously ushered into literal nightmare's foul womb to play a part my rational mind could scarcely fathom.

But as Damien's harsh chuckle joined Valerie's mocking scorn, I clung to the flicker of strength still burning stubbornly in my core.

Play their game I would.

But not as the willing executioner they envisioned.

 My role would be that of a wolf among the jackals, a sleeper agent who feigned obedience while seeking a path to bring the whole rotten edifice crumbling down from within.

If I was fated to ignite a blaze that consumed us all, I'd be damned if I went down as the helpless victim they craved.

This was war.

And like any good tactical campaign...it began with deception.