A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

With Emily and the fake Elora's addition to the field, Frostfang paused his advance toward Erik and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Erik, still in his formidable wolf form, turned to them and faked surprised outrage as best he could. "Elora! Emily! What the hell are you two doing?!" he barked, his voice laden with desperation.

"We refuse to let you get hurt for our sake," 'Elora' yelled angrily. "What's the point, anyway? It's not like you're going to defeat a third rank!"

Astrid felt disgusted saying such defeatist words. As soon as Erik wanted to settle this matter in a fight, she'd gladly stand by his side, come what may. Even so, she knew the value of strategy and did her best to make it sound convincing.

Emily and 'Elora' soon ended up flanking Erik on either side in a show of unity and support. They took defiant stances while glaring at Frostfang and Victor.

"You want us, right?!" Emily shouted. "Well, here we are! Erik has nothing to do with this!"

Emily still half-suspected a betrayal from behind, not to mention that she didn't really think this would all work out anyway, but she managed to hide her anxiety well. In fact, being in Erik's proximity somehow increased her confidence that it would all work out in the end.

"Idiot girls!" Erik cursed, as he panned his gaze between the two women on his side. "Why couldn't you just trust me to take care of this!"

Luckily, it appeared like the fact that much of what they were doing was fake, went unnoticed by the most dangerous person here. So, while Erik, Emily, and 'Elora' continued to show their comradery and care for each other, Frostfang turned to Victor. "Well? Are these the two you've been looking for?"

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Victor nodded with an evil smirk. "Their descriptions match, and they are in the company of this Erik, who also fits the right description. Supposedly, they left by boat from London, and the time of their arrival here fits more or less."

"So, yes," he finished, greed shining in his eyes. "These are the girls the council has been looking for."

Victor knew there was supposed to be a little sister too, but he didn't care about her, and neither did the council. Of course, that was only because they had no idea about her double light and nature affinities.

With Victor's admission, Frostfang nodded, and said, "Good. They've been found then. Now, before anything else happens, you're going to tell me who betrayed the Enclave by informing for you."

Silence descended on the group as they all had different reactions.

Victor, the target of Frostfang's attention, scoffed and defiantly met the third-rank Runebound's gaze with one of his own, intending to see if Frostfang would back down.

Erik, Emily, and 'Elora,' all revealed expressions of angry curiosity. They weren't faked, as they, too, wanted to know who caused Frostfang and the council to show up here today.

After all, the Enclave had no easily portable methods of contacting each other over long distances, which was exactly why Erik and Elora hadn't been worried about Frostfang showing up here.

Unfortunately, they hadn't counted on a council informer who had likely gotten his hands on a communication sigil, and perhaps they had also put a little too much trust into the covenant.

On the inside, however, Erik was grinning. The angry curiosity may be real, but he was also happy he didn't need to prompt this revelation himself. After all, not only did he want to know, but the revelation might also bring opportunity.

Meanwhile, the other shapeshifters in the group all looked astonished. This was the first time they had heard about something like this. They had known each other for seven years, some of them even longer than that, from before the awakening.

Yet, now they learned that one of them was a traitor? They couldn't believe it! Their gazes panned between each other in disbelief, and to see if anyone looked distressed or guilty. Yet, none of them did.

Finally, Viljar was the first to speak up. He turned to Frostfang with a frown, "What are you talking about, Jonas? None of us would betray you, the Enclave, or Runa."

"I wish that were true, Viljar," Frostfang said gravely, without moving his intimidating glare away from Victor. "But the only way Victor here could have known not only your location but also that his council's fugitives were here, is if one of you told him."

None of them could think of a way to refute Frostfang's statement, so they went back to looking at each other, now with more suspicion than before.

Meanwhile, Frostfang still wanted an answer from Victor. "We can stare at each other all day, Victor," he growled menacingly. "But the only way you'll get your hands on those girls is after you honor the first part of our deal, and tell me what I want to know…"

After another moment of silence, Victor finally realized Frostfang wouldn't budge this time, so he grumbled, "Fine."

'I would have preferred if he simply forgot about it, but whatever. It's not like I'm losing my only informant in the Enclave,' he thought to himself.

Yet, despite Victor's acceptance, none of the shapeshifters reacted negatively. Clearly, whoever the informant was, they were still hoping Victor would point to someone else.

Meanwhile, Emily and 'Elora' had their gazes firmly pointed in the direction of Anne and Olaf, sure of the assumption that it would be one of those two.

As for Erik and Elora, the only person they were absolutely sure was not the traitor was Nora, as they would have known about it by now. As for Viljar, Erik had no doubts about him, but Elora was naturally skeptical of everyone.

Yet, there was one person in Elora's mind who she considered the most likely traitor, and her suspicions only got stronger when she noticed the shapeshifters' reactions to the lead-up of this reveal.

Soon, her suspicions proved to be correct, when Victor pointed to that exact person. "Björn was my informant," he revealed with a shrug. "Deal with him as you like, and then let's get this over with."