16. Fragile Alliance

Shadow lets out a low, guttural growl that reverberates through the air like a warning. It’s clear that Caleb and Mara didn’t come here to talk, and I can feel the tension thrumming in the space between us.

“What do you want, Caleb?” Shadow asks again, his jaw clenched.

Caleb toys with a branch between his fingers, as if all of this were nothing more than a game to him.

“I want justice, brother.” The word brother drips with mockery more than affection. “And I want what’s mine.”

“You have no claim to anything here.”

“Oh, no?” Caleb arches an eyebrow and tosses the branch to the ground, his eyes flashing with predatory light. “Then explain this to me, Shadow—why is the pack divided? Why are some willing to fight you instead of follow you?”

His words strike deep, and I see the tension in Shadow’s frame tighten. He doesn’t have to say it; what Caleb is implying is a truth Shadow already knows.

“Because there are cowards who’d rather take your easy way out,” Shadow says, his voice sharp as a blade. “I don’t fight for power. I fight to protect what’s right.”

“And what is right, exactly? Bringing a human into our territory?” Caleb’s gaze locks on me like I’m prey.

I instinctively take a step back, but Shadow extends an arm in front of me, as if that simple gesture could shield me from anything.

“Don’t say her name again,” Shadow growls. “She has nothing to do with this.”

“Oh, but she has everything to do with this, Shadow.” Caleb chuckles, and Mara beside him smiles like she’s enjoying the show. “You can’t keep two worlds apart forever. Sooner or later, they’ll collide. And when they do, they’ll crush you.”

“That’s not for you to decide.”

Caleb shakes his head, feigning disappointment.

“What a shame, brother. I thought maybe you’d come to your senses. But you’re just as blind as ever.”

The tension snaps, taut as wire. Shadow steps forward, but Mara blocks him, her body moving with unnatural fluidity.

“No more fighting tonight, boys.” Her voice is smooth, almost seductive, but there’s something razor-sharp beneath it—something that raises the hairs on my arms. “Caleb, let’s go. We have more important things to do.”

Caleb holds still for a moment, studying Shadow with a stare that could cut steel.

“This isn’t over,” he says at last, his voice cold enough to frost the clearing.

And then, like shadows dissolving at dawn, Caleb and Mara vanish into the trees.

Back in the cabin, the silence between Shadow and me is deafening. His expression is grim, his hands trembling slightly as he runs one through his hair—a nervous gesture I’ve rarely seen from him.

“What does all this mean?” I finally break the silence, my voice firm but laced with questions. “Why is Caleb so obsessed with you?”

Shadow collapses into a worn wooden chair, his eyes staring at the floor.

“Caleb always wanted what he couldn’t have,” he says with a heavy sigh. “Power. Respect. The leadership of the pack.”

“And Mara? Who is she?”

Shadow presses his lips together, and for a moment I think he won’t answer.

“A sorceress,” he says at last, his voice weighted with centuries of weariness. “Lycans don’t usually dabble in magic. But Caleb… he has no limits. If Mara’s with him, it means he’ll stop at nothing.”

A chill slides down my spine. The idea of facing not just Caleb, but someone with supernatural powers, makes the air inside the cabin feel even heavier.

“Do you think they’ll come after me directly?”

Shadow meets my gaze, his golden eyes blazing with intensity.

“Yes. And I won’t let that happen.”

His words should comfort me. Instead, they only deepen the anxiety twisting in my gut.

“Shadow…” My voice cracks slightly. “You can’t protect me from everything.”

“You don’t understand, Eve.” He rises, stepping toward me with slow, deliberate movements. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

“Even if it means going against your own pack?”

“Even if it means going against the entire world.”

The intensity of his words steals my breath. There’s something in the way he looks at me—like I’m his reason to fight, his reason to keep going—that makes me want to step closer to him.

But at the same time, there’s an invisible wall between us, a distance built from all the things left unspoken.

“You don’t have to do this alone,” I say at last, with a strength I didn’t know I had. “If this is who we are—if we’re going to fight for us—then let me be part of it.”

Shadow watches me, his face a mask of emotions I can’t read. Finally, he nods.

“Alright. But promise me one thing, Eve.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t trust anyone else.”

I nod, though his warning only deepens the sense that we’re stepping into something far more dangerous than I ever imagined.

That night, while Shadow patrols outside the cabin, I’m left alone with my thoughts, turning over everything that’s happened. There are so many things I don’t understand, so many secrets Shadow still keeps. And I wonder if I’ll ever truly know everything behind those golden eyes.

But one thing is clear:

We’re caught in a war against something far bigger than ourselves.

And if we’re going to survive it, we’ll need more than strength and resolve.

We’ll need to trust each other—even when the world gives us every reason not to.