Mag-log inLOGANLast night's attack had left everyone on edge, but Raven most of all. There was a certain chill over the whole castle that not even the sun could ward off.I found her standing in my study, with her arms crossed over her chest and tension radiating off her, visible in the way she held her shoulders and jaw as she stared out the open window.She didn't even seem to notice or mind that the light wind was tangling strands of her ruby hair across her cheek. “You look like you want to punch something,” I began as I came to a stop beside.Raven shrugged and answered without w even looking at me. “Maybe I should, I'm feeling a bit pesky anyways.”“Why? And what can I do to help?”“You could let me do what I want,” she answered softly.“You’re not doing it,” I stated before she could continue.Raven turned slowly, eyes narrowing. “You mean you still won't let me strengthen the wards?”I nodded, “that’s exactly what I mean.”She scoffed. “They’re weakened from the invasion. If I don’t r
RUNEThe chamber felt smaller every time I sat in it.Smoke curled around the ceiling beams, thick and bitter, making the heaviness in my chest even heavier. The men's voices blurred together as I half-tuned them out.I only half-listened, my mind wandering everywhere else but what they were saying.“...Blood Nest is fortifying its borders currently, I don't understand why you still want to do this, sir.” Garron said, his voice thick with disapproval. “You're leading the men into a possible death.” “That is true, Rune,” Egan supported calmly. “Their patrols have doubled since the last moon. I don't support your decision to invade them but if we wait any longer, Rune, we risk losing our element of…”“Patience is not weakness,” I cut in, my tone calm but clipped.“We strike when the threat is clear, not when pride itches for blood. Blood Nest obviously anticipates and expects an attack from us now and that is why we wait. We shall lunge when they least expect it.”Egan leaned forward,
RAVEN'S POV"Who's that?!” I asked in a sharp murmur as a knock jerked me awake.Then came another soft knock, followed by Aella's voice.“Raven?”“Aella?”Slight pause, “it's me.”I exhaled, yawning faintly as I swung my legs off the bed and padded towards the door. “Come in,” I murmured.The door creaked open as Aella made her way inside, then shut it. Moonlight caught the outline of her figure as she stepped inside, her braid loose over one shoulder.“You’re still awake,” she pointed out softly.“Barely,” I yawned again as I sat on the bed and tugged the blanket over my legs. “You should be sleeping too.”Aella smiled, or tried to. Something about it didn’t land right. The act seemed forced, and… stretched, almost like a grimace that didn't quite reach her eyes.“I couldn’t sleep,” she daid to me, moving closer to the cradle beside my bed. “Thought I’d check on the little one. I had a nightmare”I frowned slightly. “He’s fine. Slept most of the evening.”“Why's he in here with you
LILA’S POV Rumors were the sweetest currency in Oxen…in all the lands, in fact. It was a tool that'd been used to maime or make many.Mainly because they cost nothing, spread fast, and could sometimes work faster than any army.Slowly, I had made sure the right whispers were already running through the pack. Whispers about Rune. That he hadn’t slept in days, that he spoke to ghosts in the night, that his wolf no longer obeyed him.All half-truths, of course, but half-truths had a way of becoming gospel in the right mouths especially since Rune was doing a very good job of making some look like full truths.When I stepped into the council lodge, the men stopped talking. The air stilled and I was conciously aware that I was being watched with an intensity that could weaken the minds of many.Not mine though.Egan, the oldest Oxen wolf, looked up from his seat at the center table, his frosty white hair quivering like it had a mind of its own.He raised a veined hand to me in acknowled
RAVEN'S POV I had been sleeping well lately, better than I had in months.The moon was full, the pack was at peace…mostly and I was slowly beginning to relax and take things easier during the day.Nothing was perfect, but I honestly wasn't expecting it to be. Before crawling under the sheets, I'd checked in on the children first. Aurora slept curled against her toy wolf in the adjoining room, her breathing soft and even. The baby’s cradle was beside her bed, his tiny chest rising and falling in rhythm with the flicker of the candlelight. Everything was right as I yawned and slipped into a peaceful sleep.Until it wasn’t.I woke to silence that wasn’t silence, the kind that felt heavy and suffocating. The air had changed, cool but alive, threaded with something prickly. My pulse stuttered. For a moment, I thought I was dreaming. Then the light through the window pulsed once, like a magnetic heartbeat, pulling me.Calling me… “Come, Raven.”I rose, as if under a spell, careful not to
AELLA'S POV"Come on, boys! Try not to look too defeated that I outwalked you all.”The patrol yard rang with laughter as I stomped through the gates, boots caked in mud, hair sticking to my forehead from the morning wind. “Didn’t think you could handle all that mud, Aella,” the shortest of the group teased.“Didn’t think any of you could handle a woman who can actually aim straight, but here we are.”A chorus of “ohhh’s and whoa’s” filled the air, and it grew incredibly hard to keep back a laugh.A handful of men lounged near the stables, pretending to look exhausted when they’d done little more than complain the whole round.Zade was the next to speak, a wide grin splitting his handsome face as his brows quirked upwards.“You’re not bad,” he said, sparkling blue eyes holding mine hostage, “but you’re not field-tested.”“Tell that to the five Oxen wolves I took out last time. Alone.”“And nearly died doing it,” he sneered.I shrugged nonchalantly. “Almost. I’m practically impossible







