Chapter twenty:Rage of the Rouge

Blood stained the forest floor where Jerik had fallen, and though his body had vanished into the dark, his fury remained like smoke in the air. The battle was over—for now—but no one believed the threat was gone.

Brian sat on the porch of the cabin, his shoulder freshly stitched, the sting of the bite still burning. Alex sat beside him, wrapped in a wool blanket, his eyes fixed on the trees.

“You should rest,” Brian said gently.

“I can’t,” Alex replied. “Every time I close my eyes, I see him. That… look. Like he knew something I didn’t.”

Brian frowned. “He was obsessed with you. With your bloodline.”

Alex turned to him, voice quiet. “What if he wasn’t lying? What if there’s something in me… that we don’t know?”

Brian took his hand. “Then we’ll figure it out together. But you’re not him, Alex. You’re you. And you’re mine.”

Alex smiled faintly, leaning into him.

Inside the council hall, Rachel, Donovan, and Daniel met in emergency session. The mood was grim.

“He’ll come back,” Daniel said. “Rogues don’t just disappear. Especially not someone like Jerik.”

Rachel nodded. “And he has help. Did you see the ones with him? Betas. Scared, but loyal. He’s building something.”

“A splinter pack,” Donovan muttered. “One with no code, no council, no mercy.”

Rachel looked at him, eyes heavy. “We need to prepare. If he comes again, he won’t just attack during a ceremony. He’ll come for blood. And not just for Brian or Alex—he’ll come for all of us.”

Meanwhile, deep within the ruins of an old temple outside the territory lines, Jerik raged.

He threw a torch across the room, shattering it against the stone. His pack crouched in silence, not daring to speak.

One brave Beta, a young girl with a scar down her cheek, finally asked, “What now, Alpha?”

Jerik’s black eyes gleamed. “Now? Now we remind them who the real bloodline belongs to.”

He turned to the far wall, where ancient carvings depicted the Moon Goddess’s first wolves—Alpha, Beta, and Omega, standing in balance. But one carving had been scratched over, ruined. Defaced.

Jerik traced it with his claws.

“They erased our legacy,” he hissed. “But the bond? The power inside that boy? That belongs to us. It’s old. Forgotten. Royal. And if he won’t give it willingly…”

He grinned, cruel and sharp.

“…then I’ll tear it out of him.”

Back in the pack’s territory, Alex woke from a nightmare—his body drenched in sweat, his heart pounding.

He saw flashes: fire, chains, Jerik’s face laughing over him.

He stumbled to the sink and splashed water on his face.

Then he saw it.

A faint mark glowing on his collarbone, visible only in the moonlight. Not the mate mark. Something older. Etched deep in his skin like a forgotten memory.

Alex gasped, clutching the counter.

Something inside him stirred—wild, ancient, untamed.

He didn’t know it yet, but the war hadn’t truly begun.

And his blood held more than just a bond.

It held a secret even the Goddess had buried.