Chapter 4 – The Blood Moon Battle

The lodge shook with the force of the howls outside.

Aria’s heart hammered as shadows streaked past the windows, figures moving too fast, too wild, to be human. Snarls split the night, followed by the sickening crunch of teeth on flesh.

She clutched the wall, frozen. Every part of her screamed to stay inside, to hide, to survive. But every crash, every scream, dragged her closer to the door.

Kael is out there.

Her hand hovered over the latch before the door blasted open.

A wolf lunged inside—its fur matted, its eyes wild with bloodlust. Its size was monstrous, larger than any wolf should be, its maw dripping crimson.

Aria stumbled back with a strangled cry. The beast’s gaze locked on her, and in that instant she knew: she wasn’t prey to be ignored. She was the target.

The rogue wolf sprang.

Aria threw herself to the ground, the beast’s claws raking across the wood where she had stood. Pain ripped up her arm where splinters cut her skin. She scrambled, her breath ragged, her body trembling so hard she could barely crawl.

The wolf snarled, hot saliva dripping onto the floor as it stalked toward her.

Then a blur of black thundered through the doorway.

Kael.

He hit the rogue mid-lunge, his massive jaws locking onto the beast’s throat. They crashed into the wall, shaking the entire lodge. Blood sprayed, a hot metallic scent that made Aria gag.

The two wolves tore at each other in a frenzy of claws and teeth. Kael’s growls reverberated through the room, deeper, stronger, commanding. The rogue fought with feral desperation, snapping at Kael’s flank, but the Alpha was faster, deadlier.

Aria scrambled to her feet, her back pressed against the far wall, wide-eyed as the battle unfolded only feet away.

Kael slammed the rogue to the ground, his fangs sinking deeper. The beast shrieked, a sound that curdled Aria’s blood, before it went limp.

Silence fell, broken only by Kael’s ragged breaths.

His golden eyes swung toward her. For one terrifying heartbeat, they burned with the same wild ferocity, so sharp it felt like he might tear her apart too. But then they softened, recognition flickering back.

Before Aria could speak, a new howl split the night—closer, angrier, multiplied by others.

Kael spun, his fur bristling, and bolted out the door.

Against every instinct screaming at her to stay hidden, Aria followed.

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The village clearing had transformed into a battlefield. Wolves clashed in a storm of fur and blood, their snarls tearing through the night. Pack wolves, their eyes glowing amber, fought tooth and claw against the rogues—wolves with madness in their gaze, foam flecking their muzzles, their movements erratic but vicious.

The air was thick with smoke and the coppery tang of blood.

Aria stumbled to the edge of the chaos, unable to look away. She saw Lyra, half-shifted, claws ripping through a rogue’s flank. She saw the gray-eyed wolf—powerful, merciless—as he snapped a rogue’s neck like a twig.

But it was Kael who drew her eyes.

The Alpha tore through the rogues like shadow and lightning, every movement brutal grace. His black fur gleamed under the moon, his golden eyes burning with a fire that held the pack together. Wherever he went, the others followed, emboldened, stronger.

And still, more rogues poured from the tree line.

One broke free of the fray, barreling straight toward Aria.

Her scream ripped through the night. She stumbled back, tripping over a stone, falling hard onto the dirt. The rogue loomed above her, its jaws gaping.

In that split second, she thought it was the end.

But Kael was there.

He collided with the rogue mid-air, knocking it away from her. They rolled across the ground in a blur of snapping teeth. Kael rose, his muzzle dripping blood, his body battered but unyielding.

The rogue lunged again. Kael met it head-on, his jaws closing around its skull with a sickening crack.

The beast collapsed, lifeless.

Aria’s chest heaved, her eyes locked on Kael. He turned toward her, and something in his gaze made her heart stutter. Possession. Protection. Claim.

You belong to me. His earlier words echoed in her mind, more terrifying now than ever.

But before she could move, before she could even breathe, the gray-eyed wolf’s voice rang out over the battlefield.

“Alpha! Look!”

All heads snapped toward the tree line.

A new figure emerged—towering, broad, his fur silver as moonlight. His presence radiated power so immense that even the rogues faltered. His eyes glowed a deep, burning red.

The pack wolves whimpered, some lowering their heads in instinctive submission.

Kael growled, every hair on his body bristling.

The silver wolf stepped forward, his gaze locking on Aria.

“She doesn’t belong here,” he said, his voice a guttural growl that seemed to shake the earth itself. “Give her to me, Kael… or watch your pack burn.”

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Cliffhanger (Chapter End):

Aria’s blood ran cold. Whoever this silver wolf was, he wasn’t just a rogue. He was something worse. Something that wanted her.