CHAPTER 4

The forest was quiet but alive, whispering under the fragile dawn. The air bit at my lungs as I crawled over charred roots, my body screaming, aching, yet alive. Every inch of me still smelled of smoke and ash, the pyre’s heat lingering beneath my skin like a secret pulse. The fire was still there—low, ancient, alive. I flexed my fingers, feeling the tremor in the air, the subtle curl of heat, the whisper I’d grown used to.

They thought I was gone.

The thought made a laugh tremble through me, dry and ragged. Gone. Burned to nothing. But I was more than flesh. I was flame, bone, blood sharpened by pain. And I would survive.

I forced myself upright, legs trembling under the weight of hunger and exhaustion. Every breath was sharp, every movement a potential spark. My senses screamed at me: the rustle of leaves, the distant cry of a bird, the faint scent of damp soil mixing with the tang of smoke. I closed my eyes, focusing, centering. One wrong move could ignite the world.

And I didn’t care.

A snapping twig drew me forward, heart hammering. I crouched low, moving silently. Figures emerged between the trees—three scouts from Bluemoon Pack. Their faces were sharp, young, confident, armed with short blades and reckless certainty. They didn’t know I’d survived. They didn’t know fire could live in a girl’s veins and rise to punish the world.

I stayed hidden, breath shallow. My pulse thrummed in rhythm with the fire, my hands glowing faintly beneath the shadows of my sleeves. Panic and rage collided in a storm behind my ribs. Then instinct took over.

They spoke quietly, unaware. “If she’s gone, this mission is wasted,” one muttered. “The pyre was clean. There’s nothing left.”

I shifted, small flame licking at my palms. A thought—why not see what happens when they find me?—flashed and left as quickly as it came. And then, one of them stepped on a root, snapping it underfoot.

It was enough.

I surged forward, faster than they could blink. Flames burst around my hands, searing through the air like liquid light. Their screams cut the morning air, sharp and wild. Panic gave me clarity. Fury made my muscles obey me in ways they hadn’t before. I struck with precision, heat and strength, feeling their bodies stumble and falter under the power I had barely begun to control.

When it was over, the forest was quiet again. Smoke coiled around broken branches, and the bodies of the scouts lay twisted and charred. My chest heaved, limbs trembling, but I felt… something else too. Exhilaration.

I was alive. I was dangerous. And I was not finished.

Movement caught my attention, distant but deliberate. A flicker of light, the faint murmur of voices carried by the wind. I froze. Through the veil of trees, I glimpsed them—two figures walking confidently towards Bluemoon territory. I didn’t know them yet, but their presence burned in my chest like another flare of awareness.

He was tall, lean, careful, a controlled energy in his steps. His eyes swept the forest, alert but restrained, like a predator not yet hungry. And the other… the one beside him… arrogant, sharp, venomous. The way she laughed, flicking a strand of hair, sent ice down my spine.

Damien and Lucia.

They didn’t see me, didn’t know I was alive. Yet just knowing they existed, breathing in my world, fanned the fire inside me. Rage surged—not raw, not chaotic, but focused. This was the beginning. Not now, not here, but the spark had been lit.

I melted back into the shadows, letting the smoke and shadow cling to me. My senses flared, every nerve alive to the subtle shifts of the forest. Hunger gnawed at me, but I forced it aside. There would be time to eat, to heal. Now, survival was enough.

I moved again, testing my legs, my body, the fire. A broken branch crunched underfoot, and I flinched at the sound. The flames within responded instinctively, a low roar, licking along my veins. I closed my eyes, breathing slowly, focusing. Control. Precision. Patience. The fire could obey me if I asked, if I commanded.

Hours passed, marked only by the shifting sun and the ache in my muscles. I found water in a shallow stream, drinking carefully, letting the coolness soothe the burn inside. Hunger drove me to scavenge, to eat small roots, berries, whatever would sustain me without giving away my presence. Every movement was deliberate, calculated. Every breath was measured.

And through it all, I felt it—the pull, the faint, unyielding pull. Not Kael. Not yet. Something else, distant, watching. My instincts twitched with it, a recognition too faint to name. I pushed it aside. There was no one here yet I could trust, no one to share this hunger with.

Night fell quickly, the forest a shadowed labyrinth. I climbed a ridge, looking down at the forest below. Smoke curled in faint streams from my earlier confrontation. The smell of burning, faint but unmistakable, clung to the trees. My body shivered in the cold, my fingers still glowing faintly, fire hungry and impatient.

Lucia’s laughter echoed faintly in my mind, a memory sharper than any wound. She had stolen everything—my family, my home, my future. Damien… lost, unaware of what had survived. My jaw tightened. I let my nails dig into the dirt, sparks flickering at my touch.

I would rise. I would burn. But not yet.

I let the forest hold me, the darkness teach me. I discovered the limits of my strength, the edges of my fire, the small victories of stealth and control. Each breath, each movement, each flicker of flame was a lesson. I was learning.

And then, silence. Deep, complete, bone-deep silence. The kind that settles just before the storm.

I closed my eyes and listened. Somewhere, far beyond the ridge, a shadow moved. Not human, not like the patrols. Something vast, something patient. I felt it more than saw it, a ripple through the air, through the pulse of the fire inside me.

Kael.

A single heartbeat of recognition, distant but undeniable. I opened my eyes. My hands flared again, a warning to the world, to the forest, to anyone foolish enough to stumble upon me.

I was here. I had survived. I was fire incarnate. And soon, they would all know.

I crouched atop the ridge, shadows curling around me, my body trembling with hunger, exhaustion, and the raw thrill of power. The forest below smoldered faintly, silent witnesses to my rebirth. My lips curved into a faint, defiant smile.

They will burn.

Not now. Not yet. But one day, all of them would feel the fire.

And somewhere, far away, Kael moved towards the pulse he could not ignore, drawn by the same whisper that had awakened me in the ashes.