CHAPTER 6 When the Forest Fought Back

The warning howl tore through the trees just after sunset.

Not a training call. Not a patrol signal.

Alarm.

Lena felt it before she understood it — her body snapping alert, heart slamming hard enough to hurt. Conversations in the pack house died mid-word. Chairs scraped. Boots pounded against wood floors.

Kael was already moving.

“Inside. Now,” he ordered, voice carrying command that brooked no argument.

“I’m not hiding,” Lena shot back, adrenaline buzzing through her veins like live wire.

His eyes flashed — not anger. Fear. “You’re not ready.”

A second howl cut through the air, closer this time. Answered by another.

Ronan came down the stairs fast. “North ridge. At least five.”

Kael swore under his breath. “They’re testing us.”

“They’re hunting,” Ronan corrected grimly.

Lena stepped forward. “Tell me what to do.”

Both men turned to her.

“Stay with me,” Kael said immediately.

“Stay where you can see everything,” Ronan said at the same time.

They glared at each other.

Lena threw her hands up. “Cool, love the unity. Super inspiring.”

Another distant snarl echoed through the trees — followed by the unmistakable sound of something big crashing through brush.

Decision made itself.

Kael grabbed her hand. “Don’t run unless I tell you.”

The contact sent strength flooding through her limbs, steadying the panic clawing at her ribs.

They moved fast into the tree line, other wolves flanking them, bodies shifting mid-stride into massive forms that blurred between human and beast.

Lena’s senses roared awake.

Every scent sharp. Every sound layered. The forest no longer looked dark — it looked alive.

Then she saw them.

Shadows moving low between the trees ahead. Eyes catching the last of the light. Too thin. Too wild.

A snarl ripped from Kael’s chest — deep, primal.

It answered something inside her.

The rogues lunged from the brush.

Chaos exploded.

Wolves collided in a frenzy of teeth and fur. The air filled with snarls, snapping jaws, the heavy thud of bodies hitting earth.

Lena stumbled back — then froze.

One of the rogues broke through.

Straight toward her.

She didn’t think.

Didn’t plan.

She moved.

A growl tore out of her throat — raw, shocked, real. Heat surged through her veins, not the burning agony from before but a controlled blaze. Her vision sharpened. Muscles coiled.

The rogue leapt.

She met it halfway.

They hit the ground hard, rolling. Instinct took over where fear tried to rise. She shoved, twisted, drove her weight the way Kael had shown her that morning.

The wolf yelped as she flipped it off balance.

A gray blur slammed into the rogue from the side — Kael, massive and furious. He drove the attacker back with a snap of jaws that promised death if it tried again.

Another rogue rushed from her blind side—

—and was tackled midair by a dark wolf with burning amber eyes.

Ronan.

He landed between her and the threat, teeth bared, body a living shield.

The two men fought on either side of her now, movements sharp and lethal, perfectly aware of each other’s positions without looking.

Not rivals in that moment.

Pack.

The remaining rogues faltered, then scattered back into the trees with retreating snarls.

Silence fell in broken breaths and the copper scent of blood.

Lena stood shaking, heart hammering.

Kael shifted back first, crossing the distance to her in three strides. His hands framed her face, eyes scanning wildly. “Are you hurt?”

“I— I don’t think so,” she panted.

Ronan shifted behind him, breathing hard, a shallow cut along his shoulder already healing. His gaze raked over her just as intensely. “You moved like you’d done that before.”

“I haven’t!” she said. “I think my survival instinct just clocked in.”

Kael’s hands were still on her, thumbs brushing her cheeks like he needed to feel she was real.

Ronan watched that touch. Something unreadable flickered across his face.

“They came for the edge,” Ronan said quietly. “Next time they won’t stop there.”

Kael nodded grimly. “They’re getting bolder.”

Lena looked between them, adrenaline fading into a deep, bone-level understanding.

This wasn’t over.

This was the beginning.

And as the forest settled around them once more, one truth echoed louder than the rest:

The rogues weren’t just testing pack borders.

They were testing hers.