MasukCalla Itās been two days since the fight, though it still feels like itās happening in the back of my head. Every time I close my eyes, I can still see flashes of fire, hear the growls, smell the blood. But the quiet has finally returned. Saturday morning sunlight slides through the cracked blinds, spilling over the mess on my bedside table. Blaire sits cross-legged on the couch, eating cereal from the box like she owns the place. āYou realize youāre kind of famous now, right?ā I groan, rolling over to bury my face in the pillow. āPlease donāt start.ā āIām serious,ā she says, crunching loudly. āHalf the pack keeps talking about your wolf. They said she glowed. And that mark on her sideāsome healer leaf thing? You basically shut everyone up.ā I peek out from under the blanket. āYou mean the same people who wanted me gone a month ago?ā āExactly those people.ā She grins, clearly enjoying this too much. āGuess the universe likes proving people wrong.ā I push myself up slowly, muscle
RonanI think Iām dreaming. Thereās warmth spreading through my chest, gentle at first, then sharper, like something alive pushing its way back inside me. I gasp and air rushes in, thick with dust and iron. My body aches everywhere, and the ground feels cold beneath my palms. I blink, but my vision keeps swimming. The sky above me looks torn, gray clouds curling over whatās left of the battlefield.I hear a faint sound, steady breathing close to my ear. When I turn my head, I see her.Calla.Only sheās not how I remember. Her body is different, larger, coated in brown fur that glows faintly under the moonlight. Her paws are pressed against my chest, and thereās a strange light pulsing along her side, shaped like a leaf. It glows each time she exhales, spilling warmth through me. I can feel it moving inside my veins, spreading like a slow burn, knitting things together that I thought were already gone.My throat tightens. I try to move but she presses down, holding me there, eyes locke
Calla The pen slips from my fingers before I realize Iāve stopped breathing. One second Iām writing notes for the exam I probably wonāt pass, the next my chest tightens so hard I nearly fall out of my chair. The library is dead quiet, except for the sound of my pulse pounding in my ears.It feels like someone just drove a blade straight through my ribs. Not mine. His.I clutch the edge of the table, knuckles white, trying to steady the shaking in my hands. Every breath burns. My heart is racing too fast, too wild, like itās chasing something I canāt see.āRonan,ā I whisper before I even think. The name tastes like blood in my mouth.The lights flicker. A low ringing fills my ears, then a voice ā faint, broken ā drifts through the noise.āCallaā¦āI jerk my head up. āWhoās there?ā My voice sounds smaller than I expect. The rows of shelves stretch out around me, endless shadows between them. No one answers, but I feel something stir deep inside me, something that doesnāt belong to this
Ronan The clash around me grows louder, steel against claw, roars echoing through the woods. My breathing is uneven, ragged, each inhale scraping through my chest. I can feel the blood soaking through my shirt, sticky and warm, but I canāt stop now. Caius is on his knees, cornered by Gerald who looks far too calm for the chaos around him. He stands there, his coat fluttering in the wind, his face drawn into that smug expression that used to look harmless when I was younger.Now, all I see is the monster behind it.āGet away from him!ā I snarl, forcing my body to move though everything aches. The ground beneath my boots is muddy with blood, the scent sharp and raw in the air. My muscles tremble as I grab Caius by the arm, but he jerks away, eyes flashing black again.His growl cuts through the air, low and broken, like heās caught between pain and fury. I see the struggle in himāhis body wants to tear me apart, but his eyes, for a brief second, look like my brotherās. Thereās fear the
Ronan The field is thick with the smell of blood and smoke, the air hot against my fur. Every breath burns. Caius has me pinned beneath him, his claws digging into my chest hard enough to break skin, but not deep enough to kill. His teeth hover inches from my throat, saliva dripping down as his whole body trembles. He growls, a sound torn between rage and pain, and for a second, I think itās over.Then he hesitates.I can feel his body shaking above me, his claws twitching like heās fighting something I canāt see. His eyes flash red, then silver, then back to black again. Thereās a war going on inside him, and I can sense Darko pacing restlessly in my head, ready to tear free if Caius doesnāt stop.āCaius,ā I rasp, the taste of iron thick on my tongue. āYou can fight it. Youāre still in there.āHe lets out a low, strangled sound, half-snarl, half-whimper. His paw trembles where it hovers above my face, claws inches from tearing it open. I hold his gaze, refusing to flinch, even as bl
Ronan The air smells like blood and burnt wood. Every sound in the field is chaosāclaws tearing into flesh, growls echoing through the trees, warriors shouting commands that get swallowed by roars. I can barely see through the haze of smoke rising from the east gate. My fur is slick with blood, half of it not even mine.Darko pushes harder inside me, restless and furious, and I let him take more control as I rip through another Blackridge warrior trying to flank Casen. āKeep the east line steady!ā I snarl, my voice rough from yelling. Casen nods before diving into another fight, his blade flashing silver under the moonlight.Kael bursts through the flames to my right, dragging a wounded soldier to safety. āWeāre losing the south side, Alpha!ā he yells, his face smeared with dirt and sweat.I turn sharply, breathing hard. āPull the second line there! Tell Blaire to keep the pack members underground until I give the word. No one steps out!āHe nods once before shifting mid-run, his mas
CallaThat night, Iām jolted awake by the loud pounding on our apartment door. Itās the kind that makes you think the cops have shown up, or maybe the ceiling is about to collapse. I sit up so fast I nearly knock my phone off the nightstand.Before I can even move, I hear Ava groaning from across t
RonanMy body trembles on the bed, muscles twitching like theyāre trying to rip free from my skin. I can faintly hear Casenās voice somewhere close, low but firm, barking out orders I canāt follow. Feet shuffle across the room, the sharp scrape of wood, the rustle of fabric, the faint click of glas
RonanWord spreads faster than wildfire through the pack. The Alphaās wolf is gone.I hear it in the way warriors mutter when I pass. I see it in how some donāt even bother lowering their eyes anymore. They stand straighter, as if my presence no longer presses down on them the way it used to. The w
RonanI drag myself into the council chamber, shoulders squared even though every step feels heavier than the last. Since Darkoās death, itās like part of my chest refuses to fill with air. My lungs fight me, burning, my body weaker, slower. But I donāt let it show. At least, I try not to. I still







