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CHAPTER 33

last update Last Updated: 2025-09-24 06:12:20

The stairwell pitched and shook under their boots. Dust rained from the ceiling as they descended, the roar of the pack below rising into a single furious sound. Silas’s silver flare still burned at the base of the stairs, a sheet of blinding light that forced the first wave of trackers back, but it wouldn’t last.

“Keep moving!” Lyra shouted over her shoulder. Her blade dripped silver sparks from the flare’s residue.

Caleb’s shoulder slammed into the stone as he wrestled Eron Vey down the last flight. The bound Alpha laughed once — low and breathless — as if he were watching some ancient prophecy finally unfold.

Ava stumbled but kept her grip on the token. Her arm burned with silver light, every step syncing with the pulse in her palm. She felt the ward like a weight behind her, tugging, but she forced herself forward. “North,” she whispered again.

They burst out of the stairwell into the tower’s ground floor. The runes on the archway had shattered completely, leaving only splintered
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  • MOON OF ASHES   CHAPTER 66

    The cave still smelled of burnt wood and fear. Smoke curled along the ceiling in thin ribbons, carrying the sour tang of scorched stone and charred skin. The fractured ones had retreated into corners, huddling together like animals after a storm. Their eyes glittered in the firelight, wary, calculating, half-wild.Silas stood near the mouth of the cave, hands clenched at his sides, his shadow stretched long across the walls. His silence weighed heavier than his roar had minutes earlier. Caleb stood with him, spear planted like a banner, his body still humming with the thrill of violence denied. Mara, as always, watched without a flicker of emotion, her arrowhead glinting as she ran a whetstone over it with slow, deliberate strokes.Ava knelt beside the boy, her blistered hands wrapped in a strip of cloth she’d torn from her own tunic. His small fingers clung to her arm as though letting go would mean drowning. She murmured comfort to him, but her eyes were fixed on Silas.“You didn’t

  • MOON OF ASHES   CHAPTER 65

    Morning came slow and gray, the kind of dawn that seeped through stone instead of breaking it. The cave smelled of damp earth and smoke, and the silence was restless—broken by the occasional whimper, the scrape of claws, or the low grumble of a wolf repositioning itself.Ava woke with the boy still pressed against her side. His breathing was shallow but steady, his face slack in exhausted sleep. She studied him for a long time, memorizing the lines of his too-thin frame, the bruises blooming along his arms. He looked younger when he wasn’t trembling, younger and unbearably fragile.She eased her arm free and rose carefully, pulling the blanket over him. The others—the rescued fractured ones—shifted as she moved. Their eyes tracked her warily, animal and human all at once.Ava crouched near them, keeping her voice soft. “You’re safe here. No one will hurt you.”The bramble-haired woman tilted her head, her lips moving without sound. Ava leaned closer. “What is it?”The whisper came cra

  • MOON OF ASHES   CHAPTER 64

    The forest was too quiet. After the chaos of the meadow, the silence pressed heavy against their ears, broken only by the uneven breaths of the rescued fractured ones trailing behind Ava like ghosts.She kept glancing back at them. A handful—no more than seven—moved with hesitant steps, their bodies stiff as if unsure whether they still belonged to themselves. Their eyes flickered wildly, sometimes sharp with recognition, sometimes clouded with the same animal terror that had ruled them in the meadow.They were not whole. But they were alive.The bramble-haired woman clung to Ava’s side, whispering under her breath, words Ava couldn’t always catch—half prayers, half apologies. Ava tightened her grip on the woman’s arm, grounding her.“We’ll be safe when we reach the ridge,” Mara said, walking ahead. Her bow was slung across her shoulder, but her fingers twitched near the string, restless, suspicious. Her gaze kept flicking back at the rescued, as if expecting them to lunge at any mome

  • MOON OF ASHES   CHAPTER 63

    They left the clearing before the sun had fully risen, their shadows long and stretched thin against the forest floor. The air still carried the iron tang of blood, but Ava didn’t look back. To linger there would only feed the weight already crushing her chest.The wolves moved ahead, their silver-flecked coats flickering in the half-light. They formed a vanguard, ears twitching at every sound, as if daring the forest to test them again. Behind them, Mara walked in silence, bow slung across her back, her jaw set like stone. Caleb followed, his spear tapping a steady rhythm against the earth, each step restless. Silas stayed close to Ava, though his arm was still bound with strips of cloth, the stain of his wound darkening with each hour.For a time, the only sound was the hush of the wind through the trees. But Ava could feel the hum of the bond, stronger now than ever. It stretched outward in every direction, threads weaving like a web across the world. Most of the voices beyond were

  • MOON OF ASHES   CHAPTER 62

    By morning, the clearing no longer felt like sanctuary.The fire had burned down to cold ash, and with it, the fragile calm of the night. The wolves circled the perimeter, restless, their hackles bristling at every sound from the forest. Ava could feel it in the bond—a constant undercurrent of agitation, like static sparking through her veins.No one spoke at first. The silence was thicker than sleep, as though each of them feared to be the one who broke it. Finally, Caleb rose, shoulders tight, and kicked dirt over the embers. “We can’t stay here,” he said. “They’ll be back.”“They?” Mara asked. Her tone was sharp, her eyes rimmed red from lack of rest.Caleb’s jaw hardened. “Whoever they were. Whoever else wakes up next. If the bond stretched this far, then what’s stopping it from spreading further? Cities, packs, places we’ve never even heard of—”“Nothing,” Silas cut in, his voice grim. “Nothing at all. That’s the problem.”Ava hugged her knees to her chest, her stomach knotted. S

  • MOON OF ASHES   CHAPTER 61

    The cavern no longer roared. No shadows stirred, no tremor shook the stone. Only the slow, rhythmic pulse of the silver veins remained, like a giant heart gradually returning to rest.Ava lay on her back, staring at the ceiling streaked with fading light. Every muscle throbbed, her chest rising in shallow, uneven breaths. Her skin still glowed faintly, cracks of silver spiderwebbing her arms and fading with each heartbeat.She was alive. Barely.The wolves pressed around her, their warmth seeping into her bones. She could feel them in the bond—calmer now, steadier, no longer twisted by the Exile’s chains. The hum was softer, clearer, like a song played in tune for the first time.Silas sank down beside her. He was bleeding from his temple, his sword broken at the hilt, but his gaze never left her. “Breathe,” he whispered. “Just keep breathing.”“I am,” she rasped, her lips curling into the ghost of a smile.Mara stumbled closer, clutching an empty quiver. Her eyes were wide, dazed, as

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