Chapter 5: Ghost From the Past

I stopped at the tunnel exit. The artifact glowed hot against my side like it knew trouble waited ahead. A man stepped out from the shadows between the trees. Older now. Face like mine but carved harder by time. Eyes I thought I’d buried years ago in a grave that never existed.

He smiled. Slow. Familiar.

“Miss me?”

“Brother?" I said in a low voice.

I dropped the artifact on the soft ground and closed the distance in three steps. My arms went around him tight. He hugged me back just as hard. We stood there in the woods like that, two grown men holding on like kids again.

“Rylan,” I whispered. My voice cracked. “You’re alive.”

He patted my back rough. “Yeah, Jax. I’m here.”

Tears stung my eyes. I didn’t care. I hadn’t cried in years, but this broke something open. We pulled apart just enough to look at each other. His hair had gray at the temples. Scars marked his arms. Life hadn’t been kind, but he stood solid.

“How?” I asked. “I looked for you. For years. I thought the whole pack got wiped out that night.”

Rylan kept one hand on my shoulder like he needed to make sure I was real. “It’s a long story. Come on, let’s walk while we talk. We are too close to Shadowfang walls here, we need to leave this place immediately."

We started moving through the trees. I picked up the artifact again and tucked it safe. “Been surviving,” Rylan said after a minute. “Moved around a lot at first. Different territories. Worked odd jobs. Security for smaller packs who didn’t ask questions. I learned to keep my head down.”

I glanced sideways. “You look strong. Like you’ve been fighting.”

He gave a short laugh. “More than I wanted. Lost friends. Made a few. But mostly kept moving so the past wouldn’t catch up. What about you? Lone wolf life treating you okay?”

I shrugged. “Rough. Always looking over my shoulder. The curse made it worse. Nightmares. Weakness when the moon got full. Thought it came from losing everyone.”

Rylan nodded slowly. We walked deeper into the woods. Sunlight broke through the leaves in patches. It felt peaceful, but my heart still raced from the shock.

“You weren’t the only one who made it,” he said finally.

I stopped walking. “What?”

He turned to face me. “The day they attacked. Chaos everywhere. Fire. Screams. I grabbed our sister. She was tiny then. Just six years old. Found a narrow gap in the back wall. The old drainage pipe was barely big enough for us. I pushed her through first, then squeezed after. We ran until our legs gave out.”

Tears welled up again. I didn’t wipe them. “Lila? She’s alive too?”

Rylan smiled softly. “Yeah. Lila. She’s grown now. Tough as nails. We have been stucked together all these years. I raised her best I could. Moved towns when questions got too close. She’s back at our current camp. Helps with supplies. You’d be proud.”

I pulled him into another hug. Tighter this time. My chest hurt with how full it felt. “All this time I thought I was alone. Carrying their ghosts. And you two were out here.”

“We looked for you too,” he said against my shoulder. “Heard rumors of a black wolf causing trouble. Never dared hope it was you.”

We stood like that for a long while. When we finally separated I felt lighter. Like part of me came back.

Rylan’s eyes dropped to the artifact I carried. “What’s that? Looks important.”

I shifted it in my hands. The carvings caught the light. “This is why I went to Shadowfang in the first place. Stole it from their warehouse. It’s supposed to lift a curse. The one that hit me after I thought the whole family and pack died. Weakness. Pain on full moons. Nightmares that felt too real. I figured if I broke it, maybe I could finally live my normal life.”

Rylan listened close as we started walking again. I told him the rest. How I planned the heist carefully. Got in clean but alarms caught me on the way out. The chase through the woods. The fight. Getting captured by Eli.

“He took me back to their compound,” I said. “Kept me in his quarters. We talked some. I was trying to find a way out.”

I almost mentioned the night we shared. The heat. The bond. The way it felt like more than hate. But I held back. That part still felt too raw. Too confusing.

Rylan’s face changed when I said the name. “Elias Crowe? Shadowfang?”

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s him.”

His expression shifted fast. Rage filled his eyes. They glowed bright gold. Wolf close to the surface. He stopped walking and grabbed my arm. “That bastard.”

I put my hand over his. “Hey. Easy. What’s the matter? Talk to me.”

Rylan took a deep breath. His grip loosened but the anger stayed. “Eli convinced his father to wipe us out. Back then he wasn’t Alpha yet, but he had the old man’s ear. Whispered about threats. Said our pack was getting too strong. Convinced them we’d turn on Shadowfang soon. Pushed for the raid. Made sure it happened fast and dirty. No survivors planned.”

I listened. Every word landed like a stone in my gut. He went on. Details about messages intercepted years later. How Eli had been ambitious. Wanted to prove himself. Used fear to climb higher in the pack. How our family got labeled enemies on his word.

The forest around us felt colder suddenly.

Hearing it, hatred rose from deep in my mind. It started small then flooded everything. Eli. The man who pinned me in the SUV. Who touched me like I mattered. Who I let inside me last night. He was the reason. The one who set the fire that took my parents. The reason I grew up alone thinking I had no one.

My hands shook around the artifact. The bond twisted inside me now. Pulling one way. Burning hate the other. I thought of his voice in the dark. His hands. The way he said my name.

All lies?

Rylan watched me close. “You okay?”

I didn’t answer right away. The woods stretched quiet ahead. Freedom waited. But behind me the compound still stood. Eli inside it. My mate. My enemy.

Everything I thought I knew cracked wide open.

And I didn’t know which way to run.