The Alpha's Regret: Return Of The Betrayed Luna

Chapter 92: Chapter 92 The Bigger Picture

”Your Majesty, there are several discrepancies in the report,” Addison began, her tone measured but firm. ”We still don’t know the true motive behind these rogue attacks, but I don’t believe they are as simple as mere starvation or a shift in hunting grounds due to food scarcity.”

”Moreover, we haven’t detected any unusual movement from the vampires since they withdrew their forces from the frontlines. There’s no evidence to suggest they’re orchestrating these rogue attacks or deliberately pushing them toward our border packs. That possibility, while not impossible, seems unsupported for now.”

”But more importantly, I believe we must stop looking at each incident in isolation. There are too many ’coincidences’ occurring within our territory: a severe drought in the south, a locust infestation ravaging the west, a spreading plague in the north, and now these increasingly frequent rogue incursions at the borders.”

”When viewed together, doesn’t it strike you as suspicious, Your Majesty?” Addison pressed gently, meeting her father’s gaze. ”These are not isolated misfortunes. A drought, for example, could be an early sign of an El Niño event. If that’s the case, we could be facing 9 to 12 months of extreme heat and water shortages. The consequences would be devastating—crop failures, livestock deaths, wildlife migration, and ultimately, famine for half our population.”

She paused, letting the weight of her words settle. ”I believe we need to treat these events not as scattered incidents, but as interconnected signs of a larger, more dangerous scheme.”

And that wasn’t the only issue. The plague in the north posed a serious threat—not just to that region, but to the entire domain. If it spread, it could cripple their forces and destabilize their hold over the northern territories.

But that wasn’t what worried Addison the most.

What truly concerned her was the timing. Everything was happening too conveniently: a drought in the south, a locust infestation in the west, a plague in the north, and now rogue attacks at the borders. El Niño might be a natural disaster, yes—but what if someone was deliberately using it as a smokescreen? What if a faction, another race, or a hidden enemy was exploiting the chaos to destabilize the kingdom further?

The rogue attacks, in particular, felt off. Too frequent. Too coordinated. It didn’t look like aimless desperation—it felt like a calculated disruption. Addison couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was pulling strings from the shadows, escalating these events to weaken their defenses.

The worst part was that they couldn’t afford to treat each issue in isolation—but investigating all of them thoroughly would stretch their forces thin. Their intelligence network would be overburdened, and coordination between regions would suffer. In that confusion, it would be far too easy for infiltrators to slip through, maybe even into the royal palace itself.

And what if that was the true goal all along?

It was a delicate, dangerous balance—if they overlooked even one threat, it could escalate beyond control. But if they tried to respond to everything at once, they risked losing their grip entirely.

They also couldn’t ignore the locust infestation in the west. It had erupted without warning—no signs, no known origin. One day the fields were thriving, the next, swarms of locusts descended and began devouring everything in sight.

The western region had been poised for a bountiful harvest this year. Even with the south suffering from drought, the plan had been to redirect the grain tax collected from the west to aid the south—using it as emergency relief until the drought passed, hopefully by next year. But now, that plan was in shambles.

With crops being destroyed at an unprecedented rate, the royal family was forced to dispatch agricultural experts and mages to combat the infestation and uncover its source. But restoring the region wouldn’t be easy. The west wasn’t just another farming zone—it was the kingdom’s main grain reserve, the backbone of food distribution across the entire domain.

The implications were dire. A collapse in the west meant widespread food shortages that would ripple through every pack under their rule. And with the south already crippled by drought, their options were rapidly dwindling.

This wasn’t just a regional issue anymore. It was a kingdom-wide crisis—and the longer it went unresolved, the more devastating the consequences would be for all werewolves.

Many often assumed that werewolves relied solely on meat to fuel their strength, building muscle through sheer protein intake. But that was a misconception. As much as protein was essential, werewolves also needed carbohydrates to maintain their stamina and energy levels—especially during transformation or battle. Their diet had to be well-balanced with grains, vegetables, and essential vitamins, much of which came from crops and livestock raised in the west.

With the west as the kingdom’s agricultural heartland, it didn’t just supply grains—it also supported the livestock industry. The animals raised there depended on those very crops for sustenance. If the harvest failed, the livestock would starve, and the domain wouldn’t just face a shortage of grains but a catastrophic collapse in meat supply as well. For werewolves, meat wasn’t a luxury—it was critical for their strength and survival.

If one looked at the situation with a broader perspective, it began to feel less like coincidence and more like a calculated assault. A slow, insidious method to starve them, weaken them—strip the werewolves of their vitality before delivering a final blow.

Addison’s warning triggered something in the Alpha King. A realization. He recalled his initial suspicion when the vampires suddenly abducted Addison—how it felt deliberate, like a chess move rather than an act of desperation. He had pushed the thought aside when the vampires pulled back to their domain, but now, with all these crises converging, the pattern was slowly taking shape.

They weren’t just under attack.

They were being dismantled—slowly, methodically, from the inside out.

The Alpha King gritted his teeth, his jaw tensing as a heavy silence fell over the court. One by one, the officials and nobles began piecing the situation together, following Addison’s logic. Her words struck a chord—they couldn’t deny the truth in them.

Right now, their attention and resources were split between the west and the south. The west, being the kingdom’s primary source of food, was critical. But they couldn’t afford to abandon the south either. Initially, the plan had been to divert grain supplies from the west as emergency relief to support the drought-stricken south. But now that the west itself was under siege from the locust infestation, that plan had collapsed. They were no longer in a position to distribute emergency aid freely.

And then there was the north.

The northern region had long relied on the west for food supplies, as farming was near impossible there. The land was tainted, the soil dead and corrupted by the demonic energy leaking from the sealed demon realm. No crops grew in such poisoned ground. Worse, that same demonic energy had begun to corrupt the monsters of the region, turning them more aggressive and dangerous by the day.

The northern werewolves were constantly on high alert, dedicating most of their strength to defending the kingdom’s northern border. With their focus on survival, they had no time for agriculture or trade. In return for their protection, the Royal Capital had been supplying them with food and resources.