*Shadow Pack Borderlands — Night*Greenwood’s runners had returned with grim reports, and Shadow Pack’s scouts swore they saw Elira’s sigils burned into the snow.Luca tightened the straps on his bracers. Beside him, Thalia sharpened her twin blades on a whetstone. Sparks flickered in the dark between them.“You are grinding too fast,” he said without looking up.She didn’t pause. “Maybe you are too slow.”A few warriors nearby exchanged wary glances and drifted farther away. No one wanted to get caught between the Starblood Beta and Greenwood’s fiercest orphan warrior when they were in this mood.“You never listen,” Luca said. His voice was low, but the edge was there. “That charge you pulled in the last battle could have gotten you killed.”Thalia’s blade froze mid-stroke. Slowly, she lifted her gaze. “And if I hadn’t pulled that charge, Ryder and Crystal would have been flanked.”“There were other options.”“You mean your options.” She stood, sliding one blade into its sheath with
*Starblood Pack, Morning*Ryder stood at the head of the table, shoulders squared. Luca flanked him with arms crossed over his chest. Thalia stood nearby, her jaw tight, while Ethan and Alia lingered on the far side, their expressions grim. Crystal moved quietly among them.The evidence was laid out plainly… a patrol schedule that had gone missing, a false rumor planted, and another ambush by rogue scouts from Silver Fang that had been too precise to be coincidence. Someone had been feeding their enemies.Luca’s voice was low. “The leak is inside. No outsider could have known those movements.”Ryder’s gaze swept the room, landing briefly on each face before returning to the sealed silver emblem placed at the center of the table—the same sickle-shaped fang Kade had used to mark the message. His fingers flexed once against the wood. Aiden stirred restlessly inside him, a low, warning growl that vibrated in his chest. His wolf wanted blood.Alpha Thorne of Greenwood had sent word at dawn
*Moonlight Territory – The Southern Border*The Silver Fang pack had sneaked into Moonlight territory for an attack but were shocked to find the High Alpha and the Flame there. This wasn't what the spy had told them. Now, they had to face them head-on. Their war cries shattered the silence of the forest.Crystal’s boots sank into blackened soil as she landed beside Ryder, her flame wreathing her hands in a halo of light. Sparks hissed against her skin, bending toward her as if drawn by a magnetic pull. Ryder’s golden eyes cut through the chaos. “Hold the southern flank,” he commanded, voice clipped but calm. Aiden’s power rolled off him in waves, Alpha authority thrumming in the air. “Luca… take the east ridge! Ethan, with me.”The warriors obeyed without hesitation. Ethan and Alia darted toward the tree line, their movements swift. Luca and Thalia vanished uphill, the clash of steel and teeth already echoing where they met the enemy.A Silver Fang wolf lunged from the smoke, fangs b
*Starblood Pack – Dungeon, Deep Night*Lesley sat with her back to the wall, her silver chains still wrapped tight around her wrists. The metal had rubbed her skin raw over weeks of captivity.Above her, she could just barely hear distant sounds of the pack—guards exchanging shifts, the faint creak of gates. But down here, the world was small. Small enough that her memories and her hate could take up all the space they wanted.She stared at the ceiling, whispering under her breath. “Crystal… always her.” The name tasted like acid. “The rejected girl who became Flame, queen, mate. And me—Lesley of Starblood—forgotten.” Her laugh cracked, hollow. “But not for long.”The torch sputtered, its flame bending sideways as though a sudden breeze had slid through the stones. A shimmer moved through the corner shadows, first just a flicker, then a tall figure coalescing from the dark. Queen Elira.Lesley’s heart leapt even as she forced he
*Starblood Pack — Council Chamber, Evening*The day’s battles and travels had left dust on Ryder’s boots, but he stood unbowed at the head of the long table, shoulders squared, golden eyes shining with restrained fury.Crystal stood slightly behind him. Her fingers brushed the back of his arm once, a fleeting touch no one but him noticed—a promise of strength she gave without words.Around the table, murmurs flared. Warriors and elders—wolves who had followed Ryder into war, who had howled his name as High Alpha, now exchanged uneasy glances. Doubt whispered between them.“High Alpha,” one elder began, his voice cautious but firm. “The Flame’s power… it is not natural. It is dangerous.”Ryder’s jaw tightened. “Dangerous to whom?”The elder’s eyes flicked to Crystal. “To all of us. The gate’s sealing, the upheavals across the packs… Silver Fang’s provocations… wherever she walks, war follows.”A younger warrior spoke up, his voice rough with suppressed fear. “We have lost wolves, Alpha
*Starblood Borderlands – Dawn*The smell of smoke reached Crystal before the first scream.Ryder’s patrol was supposed to be routine—a sunrise sweep along the northern ridge, just inside Starblood’s border. But as the wind shifted, the acrid tang of burning wood and fur carried blood with it.Ryder’s wolf, Aiden, went rigid inside him. Too close, Aiden snarled. They dared.Crystal didn’t wait for orders. Aelira surged forward within her, claws raking at the edges of her control. The flame inside her had been restless for days, as if it sensed the coming storm. Now it roared awake, and hungry.They reached the ridge, and the land below them was on fire.The village, a simple cluster of cottages and trading posts nestled between the trees, was being consumed. Roofs collapsed inward, sparks leaping toward the treetops. Wolves scattered in every direction… mothers clutching pups, elders coughing through the smoke. And beyond the flames, half-shrouded in morning mist, Silver Fang banners r