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202-THE NEXT MOVE

Penulis: J L FLETCHER
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-12-24 18:06:18

They reached the Rogue Stronghold at dusk, and Xavier knew before the first gate came into view that something was wrong.

The outer ridge was lined with sentries. Not the half-drunk rabble he’d expected from rogues, not the scattered and desperate kind, but disciplined wolves spaced with purpose, each post overlapping the next. They didn’t pace or fidget. They watched. They signalled in clean hand signs. They moved like soldiers.

Ronan rode in beside Xavier, low voice. “They look trained.”

“They are,” Abel muttered from the other side, eyes scanning. “And they want us to see it.”

Merek’s scouts had peeled away back at the borderlands town. Grayfang would bury the dead and steady what was left. Here, it was only Xavier, Ronan, Abel, and the hard knot of wolves who followed them, running silent through the trees like shadows given fur.

Xavier raised a fist. The group stopped as one.

A horn sounded once from the ridge, not alarmed. Controlled. An announcement rather than a warning.

Then
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  • CHASING MONSTERS   235-CATCHING MONSTERS

    Abel had been there the whole time.Close enough to feel the shift in the air when Lucian’s madness sharpened into violence.He watched from the shadows above Lumden’s office, pressed into an old maintenance crawlspace that had once served a purpose before Wildbourne buried its sins beneath layers of stone and ceremony. Abel had learned long ago that places built by hunters always hid more than they admitted.Lucian hadn’t disappointed.Abel had tracked him cleanly to the academy, followed the twisted trail through forgotten corridors and sealed wings, listening, watching, memorizing. When Lucian slipped into Lumden’s office, Abel had already been there for several minutes, breathing slow, heart steady, instincts coiled tight.He heard everything.The voice Lucian spoke to.The name.Della.At first, Abel had thought another hunter had slipped in unseen, some remnant of the old guard lingering where they shouldn’t. His muscles had tensed, ready to strike.Then he realized.There was n

  • CHASING MONSTERS   234-WILDBOURNE WAITED

    The castle felt different when Xavier knew he was about to leave it.Not weaker. Not unsafe. But charged, like a held breath before impact.He stood in the private chambers with Sophie, fastening the final straps of his travel leathers while she checked the contents of a small satchel she would carry only part of the way. Practical things. Necessary things. Neither of them pretended this was just another mission.Kaon slept in his cradle near the window, wrapped in soft blue linen, his tiny chest rising and falling with the steady certainty of someone who had no idea the world was sharpening its edges again.Xavier crossed the room and stood over him.The Lycan stirred immediately, close enough now that Xavier could feel its awareness pressing against his ribs, protective, coiled, restrained only by will and love. It did not want distance. It did not want separation. It wanted Kaon guarded by blood and claw and bone.Sophie came to his side and rested her hand on his arm.“He’ll be sa

  • CHASING MONSTERS   233-OLD PAINS

    Xavier’s office felt smaller than it ever had.The walls were thick stone, ancient and reassuring, meant to hold the weight of kings and wars alike. Today, they pressed in, as if the very mortar between the blocks had turned to iron bars. Dust motes danced in the slanting afternoon light, but there was no warmth in it, only a cold reminder of the shadows lengthening outside. Sophie stood near the window, arms folded loosely, watching the courtyard below where guards moved with renewed urgency. The rhythm was wrong. Too fast. Too alert. Their boots echoed like war drums, a stark contrast to the usual lazy patrols. She could almost feel the pulse of the castle quickening, mirroring her own heartbeat.Xavier stood behind his desk, one hand braced against its surface, the other clenched at his side. He hadn’t sat since the runner left, his posture rigid as if movement might shatter the fragile control he clung to. The desk, carved from ancient oak and scarred by generations of rulers, see

  • CHASING MONSTERS   232-PUNISHMENT

    The garden was in full bloom, unapologetic in its beauty.Sophie noticed it as she stepped into the sunlight, warmth soaking into her skin. Green climbed the stone trellises, flowers spilled over low walls, and bees drifted lazily between blossoms, unconcerned with crowns, wars, or newborn children.She should have felt peace.Instead, she felt tired in a way that went deeper than muscle or bone.Kaon was with the nurse today, a break Sophie hadn’t wanted to take, but Xavier had insisted. Not because she was weak, but because she was human enough to need rest, even with a wolf inside her healing faster than seemed possible.The bullet wound was gone. No scar. No lingering ache. Her wolf had taken over the moment danger passed, mending flesh with ruthless efficiency.Motherhood, however, was another matter entirely.That kind of exhaustion didn’t obey commands.Shiloh was already there, seated beneath the old willow, hands wrapped around a cup of tea she hadn’t touched. She looked up w

  • CHASING MONSTERS   231-TOWARDS ENEMIES

    The pack was already failing when Abel arrived.He felt it before he saw it. The land itself carried the strain, an unsteady thrum beneath his paws, like a heartbeat out of rhythm. Wolves moved without cohesion, their patrols uneven, their borders slack. Too much noise in the wrong places. Too much silence where command should have been.An alpha-less pack never collapsed all at once.It unraveled.Abel slowed from a run to a powerful lope as he crossed into the heart of the territory, shifting back only when he reached the inner compound. He straightened, rolling tension from his shoulders, his gaze sweeping the space in a single, ruthless assessment. Structures still stood, banners still hung, but there was no order in the way wolves moved through the pack. No center of gravity. No authority anchoring instinct to discipline."I'm here for the prisoner, Lucian." He barked at the nearest guard who looked like he was in charge.The guard stuttered. "He, he killed a guard, and escaped."

  • CHASING MONSTERS   230-PROTECT WHATS OURS

    Ronan woke to the sound of panic.Not a scream. Not yet. Just the sharp intake of breath beside him, the kind that dragged him instantly from sleep to alertness.Shiloh was already sitting up, sheets tangled around her legs, eyes wild as they scanned the room.“They’re gone.”Her voice cracked on the last word.Ronan was moving before the fear could take root. He swung his legs off the bed and turned to her, hands already on her shoulders.“Hey,” he said firmly. “Shiloh. Look at me.”She didn’t. Her gaze was fixed on the empty bassinets, her breath coming too fast.“They were right there,” she whispered. “I only slept for a minute. I swear I only...”“They’re with the nannies,” Ronan said, steady and certain. “I took them for a walk. I let you sleep.”Her eyes snapped to his.“You what?”“You were exhausted,” he said softly. “You hadn’t slept properly since the birth. You were shaking in your sleep, love. I wasn’t waking you.”Her lips trembled. “I thought they’d been taken.”Ronan pu

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