Claimed by The Moon (previously titled Alpha Titus)

Chapter 24

TITUS ||

Eight hours earlier

There were too many questions to ask at once as I take one of the face masks offered by one of my nurses here in the pack hospital. The stench of wolfsbane laced dagger burning my nose and the silver chemical that it was made with forced me to take a few steps back as not to become a victim to it's effects.

Silver was deadly to shifters as much as wolfsbane burned every ounce of flesh that it dared to touch on wolves — and this dagger had both.

Something that even throughout my thirteen years of being Alpha and my experience with past wars, I'd never seen before.

As Malachi and Mathias carefully lay the dagger down in one of the chemical protective chambers here inside the Lab, I step closer to observe it.

The dagger itself was made of silver but the blade was unlike anything I'd ever seen. It had three spiral coils that wrapped around each other leaving enough space between them that if it were to pierce skin and be dragged out, it would take a chunk of flesh with it. The handle was some type of brass but had a branding on it that wasn't familiar with and at the point where the handle met the blades, it had a section where it was bulkier and had spikes on the very tips.

The wolfsbane that it was laced with was in a form that I hadn't come across in a while. It wasn't liquid or powder, but more so like a cloud of purple smoke that just seemed to exist between the three coils of the spiral blades and it moved as if it were truly alive.

The thing was repulsive and honestly. . . completely fucking terrifying.

And it wasn't the only dagger to be found in my territory. Enzo said that he found one on the borders stuck inside of one of the tree trunks and this one was found outside of my packhouse inside of the tree trunks, the impact of it slamming into the tree caused on the windows in my livingroom to shatter.

Someone or something left these on my territory and it scares me to think that whoever it is — is getting closer to home and could possibly harm or even kill one of my pack members.

What I don't understand is how they've shown up on my territory without me being aware that someone was on my territory to leave them there.

I hadn't sensed a single thing — no nausea, no vomiting, no gut feeling that something was wrong.

There was someone or something in my cells that was able to either impersonate me enough or to take control of someone's mind to where Bray actually thought he was having a conversation with me when he hadn't, that made Enzo think that he'd actually spoke to me through the link when he hadn't.

Someone or something is targeting my pack and I don't know why. . . but I wasn't going to just sit around and wait for something back to happen.

Everyone that knows me, knows how I operate and if there's a threat, I shut my entire pack down. Curfews during the night, buddy systems during the day, shifting only when absolutely necessary and you must be in a group of at least four when doing so.

And as I stand here, staring at these two daggers that had shown up literally at my doorstep — Kash, Reece, Reid, Chase and Lynx standing here, staring at the daggers that were left in their territories as well, one thing was for certain.

There was a War was coming.

And the fact that Winter was fast approaching wasn't making things any better as Winter signaled the time that our packs were the most vulnerable.

We couldn't drive through the thickest points of snow, we couldn't masks our scents, couldn't hide our tracks, our wolves need to hunt increases as the best prey comes out during the coldest months of the year which in turn puts them at greater risk of being seen by whoever or whatever this was that was waging war on all four of our packs.