The Merchant They All Betrayed , Now They're Begging

And even if there had been moon-coins left, it wouldn't have mattered. Edric had already decreed: one copper coin per wolf, per moon cycle.

Enough to kill any illusion that work here would ever pay.

The territory guards didn't truly try to stop the crowd.

After all, with no wages of their own, they could barely feed themselves.

Edric's voice cracked with fury:

"Is money all you people care about?!"

Someone pointed at the moonstone pendant hanging from his belt:

"That gold-inlaid moonstone alone could cover every last one of our back wages! What right do you have to lecture us?!"

"Pay us! Yeah! Pay us what we're owed!"

The crowd surged forward. Edric's face went white.

"These ungrateful wretches! That bastard Ashton must have spoiled them rotten!"

"Rush him! Strip the clothes off his back and sell them for what we're owed!"

"Go!"

"You wouldn't dare!"

Edric staggered as hands grabbed at him from every direction, barely keeping his footing. The cloying sweetness of his scent soured with panic, jasmine oil turning acrid.

"Decree from the Supreme Alpha!"

A column of pack soldiers marched through the gates, hauling chest after chest of royal tribute into the territory grounds.

It turned out that Supreme Alpha Wolfram Cindervane had visited the Crown Alpha's territory recently and taken a great liking to Edric's renovations.

These were his rewards.

Edric sank to his knees, trembling:

"I humbly thank the Supreme Alpha for this gracious bounty!"

The workers who had been seconds from rioting dropped to their knees as well, faces drained of color.

None of them had expected this.

The Supreme Alpha himself was backing Edric.

Edric reached into one of the chests and pulled out a gold ingot at random.

He tossed it at their feet:

"Take it. That's enough to cover several moon cycles of your wages.

"And if you don't get back to work and end up disrupting the territory's operations, don't be surprised when your heads roll!"

They had their money.

And the Supreme Alpha had made his position clear.

Everyone scrambled to bow their thanks and scattered.

Edric surveyed the chests of royal tribute filling the courtyard.

A cold smile spread across his face:

"Just as I thought. My approach was right all along.

"If that bastard Ashton hadn't thrown so much money at these ungrateful wretches before, they'd never have developed such an insatiable greed."

His handmaid kneaded his shoulders. "The Supreme Alpha himself admires your integrity, my lord.

"The Duskborne bloodline has always been a house of moon-singers. That Ashton is a disgrace to the family name!"

Edric's smile turned sharper:

"Starting today, one copper coin per moon cycle becomes one copper coin every two moon cycles."

The handmaid froze.

Edric's voice was ice. "Ashton spoiled these workers. I'll train it out of them."

It didn't take long. Within weeks, even more workers walked off the job.

Edric, furious, dragged several of them before the Pack Council magistrate.

He charged them with "willful negligence," "inciting unrest," and "disturbing the territory's order."

But even with wolves thrown in the silver cells, the rest still refused to lift a finger.

My side of things was a different story entirely.

Business grew by the day, profits climbing steadily, and I paid the highest wages in all of Moonhaven.

The wolves working for me were terrified of not doing enough.

Edric seemed to think he'd found the root of the problem.

I was directing my crew to hang the sign above our new trading post when Edric's men shoved their way forward.

One of them swung and knocked the signboard clean off its hooks.

It hit the ground and split in two.

The leader glanced at the moonstone bracelet on my temp worker's wrist and sneered:

"So it's true. You're the one corrupting wolves' hearts with money."

I stared at the shattered signboard. My voice was flat:

"What exactly do you think you're doing?"

"Take your wolves and get lost! Stop spreading this filth! It's because of coin-poisoned vermin like you that everyone's heads are full of nothing but profit!

"You call yourself a Duskborne? Our bloodline is a house of moon-singers! And you drag our name through the mud like this!"

I said nothing.

I just looked past him at the men he'd brought along.

My temp workers could afford moonstone bracelets.