CHAPTER THREE — FERAL BLOOD

LENA'S POV

The walls of Frosthaven always felt too tight after a fight.

Even now, hours after the summit, I could still feel the bond pulsing under my skin like a bruise I couldn’t stop touching.

I kept walking. Long halls, stone walls, moonlight shining in through the high windows, everything too calm for the way my chest felt. I’d been pacing for so long that one of the guards outside my door had stopped pretending not to watch me.

“Alpha’s orders, Luna,” he said finally when I passed for the third time.

“I’m not Luna,” I muttered. “And tell my father he can shove his orders—”

“Lena.”

I froze. My father’s voice could slice through stone when he wanted it to. He stepped out from the shadows of the corridor, broad shoulders, and a cold expression, the weight of the pack pressing behind his every breath.

He looked tired, older than he had at sunrise. “You should be resting,” he said.

“I’m not tired.”

His eyes flicked over me. “Then at least stay put. The pack is tense enough without their Alpha’s daughter stomping through the halls like a trapped cub.”

I folded my arms. “Maybe they wouldn’t be tense if you hadn’t dragged me to that circus in the first place.”

His jaw tightened. “Watch your tone.”

I gave him my sweetest fake smile. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m watching it carefully.”

He sighed….the long, low kind that usually came before an argument. “You don’t understand what’s at stake.”

“No,” I said. “I understand perfectly. You’re embarrassed your daughter got cursed with a bond to the man you’ve been trying to kill for years. Must look great for the family reputation.”

The guard beside us stiffened like he wanted to disappear.

My father’s voice dropped low. “This is not a joke, Lena.”

“Then maybe stop treating me like a child, and I’ll stop acting like one.”

For a second, an expression like regret crossed his face. Then it vanished, replaced by the Alpha stance again, that icy unreadable demeanor.

“Enough,” he said. “You’ll stay here tonight. That’s final.”

He turned to leave, and I rolled my eyes so hard I thought they’d get stuck. I didn’t follow him. I just kept walking. Back and forth, back and forth, trying not to think about the sound of Adrian Holt’s voice still echoing in my head.

You feel it too.

Damn him.

I was halfway through another lap when the floor trembled under my feet.

At first, I thought I imagined it, maybe my nerves, maybe the wind. Then came the sound. A deep, heavy boom, like an earthquake that shook the glass panes and made the torches flicker.

I froze.

The second explosion hit closer. Dust rained from the ceiling. Shouts filled the corridors.

The guard outside my door cursed and grabbed his sword. “Stay here, Luna—”

“Don’t call me that!” I snapped, already running past him.

The air was chaos, wolves rushing through the halls, orders being shouted, the metallic tang of fear thick in my throat. My heart pounded with terror. The whole fortress seemed alive, and in tremor.

I sprinted toward the main hall. Smoke came out from somewhere deeper inside. People were yelling, reports of unidentified wolves closing in, a breach at the west gate, then at the southern wall.

I turned the corner and almost ran into my father. He caught me by the arm before I could dodge him.

“Lena!” His grip was iron. “What are you doing out here?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” I yanked my arm, but he didn’t let go. “We’re under attack! I can fight!”

“No.”

“Why not?”

He gave me that look…the one that always made me feel twelve again. “Because you’ve done enough damage for one day.”

My mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”

“You’re mated to an enemy Alpha,” he snapped. 

“That’s already one scandal too many. The last thing we need is the pack seeing you out here fighting while your bond is still fresh.”

I glared at him. “So what? I should just sit here and let everyone else fight?”

“You will do as you’re told,” he said, his voice hard as stone.

Two guards closed in behind me. One grabbed my shoulder, the other my arm, pulling me back as my father started forward. I kicked, thrashing against them.

“Get off me!” I shouted. “I’m not some fragile doll!”

“Lena!” His tone cracked through the noise like thunder. “Enough!”

The hall fell silent around us for half a heartbeat.

His voice lowered, but the anger stayed. “Go inside. Stay out of sight. That’s an order.”

I wanted to scream. I wanted to punch something. But mostly, I wanted to not care. Unfortunately, that was never one of my strengths.

“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “Go play hero. Don’t worry about the useless daughter you have locked up.”

He didn’t respond. He just turned away, already shouting orders to his warriors.

Before he vanished down the corridor, he paused. His shoulders straightened, his power rising off him like heat. “If Ironclaw is behind this,” he said, “I swear by the Moon itself, I’ll burn them to the ground.”

Then he was gone.

The guards released me, but only enough to push me back toward my room. I stood there for a moment, breathing hard, the air filled with the scent of smoke and silver.

The noise outside grew louder with growls, clashes, and the distant cry of wolves in pain.

I moved to the window, ignoring the guard’s warning shout.

The night beyond the glass was filled with chaos, burning torches, figures moving fast across the training yard. The moonlight shone on something dark on the stones below….blood.

My stomach twisted.

A third explosion tore through the air, louder than the rest, shaking the floor beneath me. The guards flinched.

And under the sound….something else.

A low, inhuman snarl that didn’t belong to any wolf I’d ever heard.

My chest went cold.

“Alpha!” one of the guards shouted down the hall. 

“They’ve breached the east wall!”

He didn’t get to finish. A crash drowned him out with the breaking of stones and clattering metal.

I backed away from the window, my heart slamming against my chest 

This wasn’t a raid. It wasn’t Ironclaw.

Whatever was out there, it was worse.

And before anyone could stop me, I whispered the only word that made sense —

“They’re rogues.”