Chapter 3: Winter of Resolve

The snow fell in silence, blanketing Ironclaw in bitter stillness. Outside the keep, Ethan grunted through clenched teeth as he dragged a log twice his weight across the training yard.

“Again,” Grace said, standing at the far end, stopwatch in hand.

Ethan exhaled, bent low, and pushed forward.

A packmate passing by muttered under his breath, “Traitor’s penance.”

Another scoffed, loud enough to hear. “Should’ve banished him when we had the chance.”

Ethan didn’t flinch. He finished the lap and collapsed in front of Grace.

She knelt, offering him a flask of water. “Time’s better. But your left leg’s still dragging.”

“I’ll fix it.”

“You’ll fix it when you stop pretending you don’t care what they say.”

He wiped his mouth. “I don’t.”

Grace gave him a look.

“…Okay, I do. A little.”

She smiled faintly. “Then earn their respect. Not with speeches. With sweat.”

He looked at her, breath rising in clouds. “Why are you still helping me?”

“Because you’re not done yet.”

---

Nights were colder than the training yard. Grace sat at her desk, scribbling new defense routes by candlelight. Maps covered every inch of the table.

Ethan entered quietly, hand bandaged, shoulders stiff.

“Grace?”

“Hmm?” she didn’t look up.

He hovered by the doorway. “I… I think I got the south patrol wrong.”

Grace raised a brow. “You volunteered for it?”

He shrugged. “Figured they’d stop spitting if I started doing the dirty work.”

She gestured to the map. “Let’s see it.”

He crossed the room, unfolding a crumpled paper. “I routed them along the ridgeline.”

She studied it. “You’ll lose line of sight in a snowstorm.”

“I thought the tree cover—”

“Ethan.” She looked up. “Shadowhowl used that same path. It’s too risky.”

He groaned. “I’m never going to get this right.”

Grace softened. “You’re trying. That’s more than most.”

He slumped into a chair. “They’ll never trust me again.”

“They don’t need to trust you yet. They need to see you trying.”

He looked at her. “And you? Do you trust me?”

She was quiet.

Finally: “I believe in who you can be. Not who you’ve been.”

Ethan leaned back, watching the firelight flicker across her face. “You’re colder than the snow sometimes, you know that?”

Grace smirked. “Only when I have to be.”

---

Weeks passed.

Ethan carried supplies. Patrolled blind trails. Patched roofs in sleet.

He came home bruised and silent.

Grace tended his wounds without complaint.

One night, while she wrapped his wrist, Ethan whispered, “They stopped spitting today.”

Grace blinked. “Really?”

“They handed me a lantern and told me I missed a loose shingle.”

Grace smiled. “Congratulations. You’ve graduated from traitor to unpaid laborer.”

He laughed.

It was the first time in months she’d heard that sound.

---

The night of the raider attack came swift and brutal. Torches flashed at the north wall. Howls rang out as enemy wolves breached the outer gate.

Grace burst into the nursery and clutched Johnson.

Ethan was already grabbing his blade. “Stay inside. Lock the doors.”

She stared at him. “What are you doing?”

“Leading.”

He bolted into the storm.

Outside, chaos reigned. Screams. Steel. Fire.

And Ethan—slicing through attackers with the ferocity of an alpha reborn.

Grace watched from the tower, heart clenched.

He found three pups hiding behind a collapsed cart and shielded them with his body. He took a blade to the shoulder. Never faltered.

By dawn, the attackers fled. Ironclaw stood.

And Ethan, bloodied and limping, carried the smallest pup into the keep like a hero from a legend.

---

Later, in the infirmary, Grace sat beside his cot.

Ethan winced as she changed the bandage on his arm.

“Next time,” she murmured, “maybe don’t try to be a one-wolf army.”

He smirked. “Did it work?”

She rolled her eyes. “You scared them off.”

He studied her. “You’re not smiling.”

Grace paused, then met his gaze. “Because I don’t want this to be your only way back.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t want blood to be the only language you speak, Ethan.”

He was quiet.

Then: “You said you believed in who I could be. So tell me. Who is that man?”

Grace didn’t hesitate. “A leader who remembers mercy. A father who teaches his son to protect without hate. A mate who doesn’t lose himself to revenge.”

Ethan looked away. “I don’t know if I can be that man.”

“You already were,” she said softly. “The night you told me you loved me beneath those cherry trees.”

His eyes snapped to hers. “You remember?”

“I remember everything.”

He swallowed. “I meant it.”

“I know,” she whispered.

Their hands met.

“I want that man back, Ethan,” Grace murmured. “But not just for me. For Johnson. For Ironclaw.”

He gripped her hand tighter. “Then I’ll earn you both. Every single day.”

Outside the infirmary window, snowflakes danced.

Inside, a promise began to take root—one born not of power or pride, but of resolve forged in frost.