CHAPTER 7: HAZEL SHADOW

 Kayla 

Lucian was gone before dawn.

He hadn't offered a single word of explanation after that glass shattered on the dining room floor. He hadn't looked at me, hadn't called for his guards, and hadn't answered when I called out his name as he sprinted out the back entrance into the dark woods. By the time the morning sun began to creep over the mountains, his study was empty, his truck was gone from the driveway, and a cold, heavy silence had settled over the entire estate.

I didn't waste time looking for him. I didn't ask the elders where he went, because I already knew what kind of look they would give me—that tight, pitying stare that reminded me I was an outsider who didn't deserve answers.

Instead, I pulled my dark hair back into a tight braid, wrapped my hands tightly in coarse cotton strips, and walked down to the pack training grounds before the frost had even melted off the grass.

The training yard was a broad, dusty field bordered by high wooden fences and iron weight racks. At six in the morning, only the youngest recruits—a dozen young men and women in their early twenties—were out on the dirt, lazily throwing punches at heavy sandbags and yawning in the chilly air.

When I stepped onto the dirt ring, the quiet chatter died down instantly.

They looked at me with open confusion. To them, I was the stiff Alpha’s daughter who sat behind a desk all day counting sacks of grain. I was the girl in the long dress who stood quietly at Lucian’s side while he managed the pack.

"Who is running your combat drills today?" I asked, my voice carrying sharply across the open yard.

A tall, broad-shouldered recruit named Jax stepped forward, wiping sweat from his forehead. He gave me a cautious, respectful nod, though his eyes held a flicker of doubt. "Instructor Vance is on border duty until noon, Luna Kayla. We’re just working on basic striking."

"Basics won't save your life if a rogue catches you off guard on the perimeter," I said, unbuttoning my heavy coat and tossing it over the fence post. Underneath, I wore a simple black tank top and athletic pants. "Line up."

Jax blinked, looking at the other recruits. "Luna... with all respect, we don't want to hurt you. Alpha Lucian—"

"Alpha Lucian isn't here," I cut him off, stepping straight onto the center mat. "And if you can hurt me, Jax, then you deserve to take over my father’s guard unit. Step up."

A few recruits smirked behind their hands. Jax hesitated, then stepped into the ring, raising his fists into a standard guard position. He was bigger than me, broader, and full of raw young strength. But strength without speed is just an easy target.

He threw a testing jab toward my shoulder.

I didn't back away. I ducked beneath his arm, slammed my forearm hard against his ribcage to throw off his balance, and swept his front leg with my boot. Before he could react, he hit the hard dirt with a heavy thud, the wind knocked completely out of his lungs.

The smirk vanished from every recruit's face.

"Again," I said, stepping back and bouncing lightly on the balls of my feet.

Jax scrambled up, his face red with embarrassment. He lunged in with a low tackle, but I grabbed his shoulder material, used his own momentum against him, and drove my knee straight into his stomach before twisting him onto his back.

The sharp impact echoed across the quiet field.

Pain shot up my own leg, a dull, aching throb where my knee hit his armor plate, but I welcomed it. I craved it. The physical burning in my muscles, the sting of scraped skin, the gasping for air—it was simple. It was real. Physical pain made sense. It didn't twist your insides into knots like Lucian's cold words did. It didn't leave you staring at an empty bed in the middle of the night wondering why you weren't enough.

"Next," I called out, my chest heaving as sweat began to trickle down my neck.

For two straight hours, I didn't stop.

One by one, the young warriors stepped into the ring with me. I took them all on. When a sharp elbow caught me across the cheek, leaving a stinging red scrape, I didn't flinch. When a heavy punch slammed into my ribs, making my breath catch, I just hit back harder. I pushed my body to its absolute limit, striking, dodging, and throwing until my knuckles were bruised beneath the cloth wraps and my lungs felt like they were burning with fire.

By eight in the morning, the atmosphere on the field had completely changed.

There were no more pitying looks. There were no more smirks. The young recruits stood around the ring in absolute, stunned silence, watching me with wide eyes filled with something I hadn't seen since I arrived at Ravenwood.

Respect.

They didn't see a helpless bride or a cold machine anymore. They saw an Alpha's daughter who could bleed, fight, and stand her ground against anyone.

"Take a fifteen-minute rest," I breathed out, unwrapping my bloody hand bandages as I walked toward the wooden bench near the fence. My hands were shaking from pure exhaustion, my muscles screaming for relief, but inside my chest, the constant, dark ache had finally quieted down into a dull numbness.

I poured cold water from a metal jug over my head, letting it run down my face and neck, washing away the dirt and sweat.

"You fight like a veteran, Luna," a voice said softly beside me.

I wiped my eyes and looked up. It was Toby, a quiet, nineteen-year-old scout who had joined the southern border patrol just last month. He was holding a clean towel, looking at me with genuine awe.

"My father made sure I knew how to defend myself," I replied, taking the towel and pressing it against my scraped cheek. "Thank you, Toby."

Toby didn't leave. He stood near the fence, shifting his weight nervously from foot to foot, looking over his shoulder toward the main house before leaning down slightly closer to me.

"Is Alpha Lucian coming back today?" he asked in a low whisper.

My chest tightened slightly, but I kept my voice neutral. "He was called away on urgent business last night. Why?"

Toby swallowed hard, his hands tightening around his leather belt. "Because... because of what we found on the dawn patrol near the southern riverbed. We tried to report it to Beta Cole, but he told us to stay quiet until the Alpha returns."

A cold trickle of suspense ran down my spine, instantly cutting through my physical exhaustion. I sat up straight, holding Toby's gaze. "What did you find, Toby?"

Toby looked around the field once more to make sure none of the other recruits were listening.

"Not rogues, Luna," Toby whispered, his voice trembling slightly. "The tracks were light and deep in the mud. A single female wolf, walking north toward our territory from the old mountain trail."

He paused, his eyes wide with an emotion that looked suspiciously like fear.

"And the scent left on the pine bark along the trail..." Toby added, his voice dropping so low I had to strain my wolf hearing to catch it. "It wasn't a stranger. It was the exact scent of the former Luna. The scent of Hazel.”