Rhea’s POVThe growls outside sharpened into roars, each one vibrating through the fragile wooden walls of the cottage. The air thickened with dread, heavy enough to choke me. Kael’s hand found mine for the briefest moment before he let go, his voice a low command that brooked no argument.“Stay inside. Don’t open that door until I say.”Before I could answer, the door shuddered beneath a brutal impact — something massive slamming against it hard enough to splinter the frame. My breath caught as the hinges squealed in protest.Kael was already moving. His body blurred into motion, muscles stretching and twisting, bones cracking in the terrifying, mesmerizing shift. His growl deepened into the full-throated snarl of the Alpha wolf, filling the room until I could feel it in my bones.Through the window, silver streaks burst into the night — Draven wolves, Kael’s pack, throwing themselves into the fray. The darkness outside exploded with movement: wolves colliding, claws tearing, teeth s
The forest was not the same after the battle.Violet’s boots pressed into damp soil, each step whispering in echoes of violence. She could still sense the residual energy lingering in the air—ashes of fury and blood, the metallic tang of wounds, the raw heat of unleashed power. The place where Kael and Marek had nearly torn each other apart, where the Watcher had descended, carried a silence too heavy for ordinary woods. It was the silence of something watching.Her fingers brushed the silver chain around her neck, feeling the cold pendant pulsing faintly against her skin. A reminder of Rhea, of why she was here. She crouched near the spot where the earth was clawed open from Kael’s strikes, where mud had mixed with blood, and whispered under her breath:“Show me.”Scooping a handful of soil, she flung it upward. The dirt scattered into the night air, drifting like dark sparks. For a moment, nothing answered. No sign. No whisper. Just the breath of trees swaying above her.Then came t
The world outside Elara’s cottage was silent. Too silent. Not even the wind dared stir the thick trees that surrounded us. I sat on the edge of the couch, my hands trembling only slightly now—not from fear, but from exhaustion. The smell of blood still lingered in the air, faint yet metallic, a reminder of the chaos that had unfolded only hours ago.Kael stood in the center of the room, shirtless, his chest streaked with drying blood, though none of it was fresh anymore. I couldn’t help but stare at him. His wounds—deep, ragged gashes across his shoulder and ribs—were already knitting themselves closed. The sight was both terrifying and awe-inspiring. The speed of his healing wasn’t human. Even for a werewolf, it was extraordinary.“Are you… alright?” My voice came out steadier than I expected.Kael glanced at me, his expression unreadable. “I will be. I’m not easy to kill.”I knew that already. I’d seen him fight tonight—seen the sheer force behind every strike, the feral power that
The Hollow pulsed with an eerie, living darkness as the Watcher crawled back through its jagged entrance, its monstrous form shuddering. The creature’s breathing came in harsh, guttural growls; deep gashes carved into its scaled hide dripped with black ichor, steaming where it met the cold earth. Its talons scraped against the stone floor, leaving deep grooves as it slumped before its masters.Nyxara crouched low, her pale fingers curling beneath its massive jaw, lifting its head to meet her glowing silver gaze. The creature’s eyes burned faintly red but flickered, dimmed by exhaustion.“Hold still,” she whispered, voice like a hiss of wind through dead trees. Her other hand traced runes in the air, threads of black and violet magic snaking around the Watcher’s wounds. The gashes hissed and smoked as the magic sealed them, stopping the blood flow but leaving scars that glimmered faintly in the Hollow’s dim light.Behind her, Mirelda knelt with a bowl carved from bone, scooping thick,
The moonlight barely pierced through the towering pines, but the clearing was alive with a sinister hum of power. Three figures stood in a perfect triangle, cloaked in deep forest-green and black, their faces pale as bone beneath the hooded shadows.Nyxara stepped forward, her long, talon-like nails grazing the shaft of the ancient bow slung over her back. Her voice was cold, commanding, and sharp enough to cut the silence.“Summon him,” she hissed. “The Watcher. The girl cannot be allowed to wander free any longer.”Mirelda raised her hand without hesitation, her amber eyes glowing faintly as the ground beneath them trembled. “The Huntsman’s oath binds him to us. He will obey.”A low growl reverberated through the clearing as a towering silhouette formed between the trees. The Watcher stepped into view—an armored beast cloaked in shadows, eyes glowing like coals beneath his mask of bone. His breath was heavy, his very presence bending the branches around him as though the forest fear
Rhea’s POVThe cottage smelled faintly of cedarwood and dried herbs, a scent that clung to every rafter and curtain as though Elara herself still lingered here. I sat on the edge of the bed in my sister’s old room, fingers curling into the soft quilt she once slept beneath. My body still felt heavy, like it remembered every drop of fear from the night Varek’s wolves descended on us. The nightmares hadn’t left either—they clawed into my mind, unrelenting.But I wasn’t weak anymore. I couldn’t be.I glanced at the journal on my nightstand, Elara’s careful script sprawled across the yellowed pages. She had written about these woods, about wolves that were more than wolves, about power that ran thicker than blood. I had dismissed it all once. Not anymore.Somewhere in the house, I heard pages turning—a soft whisper of paper that could only belong to Violet. She had taken the armchair in the cottage’s lounge, nose buried in one of her spellbooks. She was always reading, her brows furrowed,