Chapter 7 – The Rogue Wolf’s Reputation

Third person

Rumors spread fast like wildfire consuming dry grass.

And this one had teeth.

A group of Nightbane warriors stood around a war table. The air was thick with unease. Maps were spread before them marked with recent patrol routes. All of which had ended the samecway.

Blood.

Another voice scoffed lacking conviction. “It’s a rogue. Just one wolf. You’re all acting like she’s some kind of legend.”

“Then explain the bodies.”

Silence.

No one could.

Not properly.

Because the truth was worse than what people were saying .

Patrol after patrol had gone missing along the outer territories. The ones who returned… came back broken. Shaken. Changed.

Afraid.

One of the warriors said, “She moves like a shadow. You don’t see her until it’s too late.”

Another added, “They say her eyes glow. Not like a normal wolf. Something… else.”

“Enough.”

The room fell silent.

All heads turned.

Kael stood at the far end of the table, his presence alone enough to silence the murmurs.

Two years had carved him into something sharper, colder. The boy Lila once knew was gone and in his place stood an Alpha, hardened by war and responsibility.

He looked around the room and said

“Rumors don’t win battles, Facts do.”

But even as he spoke, deepdown he wasn't settled.

He had seen the reports.

He knew this wasn’t just rumors.

One of the warriors stepped forward, hesitantly. “With all due respect Alpha Kael… this isn’t normal. She is specifically targeting our patrols and picking them off one by one.”

Kael’s eyes squinted.

“Patterns?” he asked.

“Yes.”

A pause.

“Always at the edges of our territory. Always when numbers are small.”

Calculated.

Intentional.

Kael’s fingers tapped against the table in thought.

“Then she is not just a rogue,” he said quietly.

The room stilled.

“She’s hunting.”

Miles away, deep in the forest Selene stood at the edge of a cliff, the wind swaying her cloak.

Below the tress stretched endlessly. Thy looked dark and almost alive.

Nightbane wolves moved carefully now — with caution.

That was perfect.

Fear made people predictable.

Behind her, a figure approached.

“You are being reckless.” Ardan’s said calmly.

Selene didn’t turn around.

“They are being careless,” she replied. “It's not the same, there's difference.”

Ardan stopped beside her. His silver eyes scanning the horizon. “You’ve made your presence known. That was never part of the plan.”

“No,” she replied softly. “But it’s working.”

A pause.

“Their patrol patterns have changed. They’re nervous. Slower.”

“And you think that’s a good thing?” Ardan asked.

Now she turned.

Her eyes caught the light—

Silver. Bright. Unnatural.

“It means they’re afraid,” she said.

A faint smile touched her lips.

“And fear,” she added, “is the beginning of control.”

Ardan studied her for a long moment.

“You’re starting to enjoy this.”

Selene held his gaze.

“Maybe.”

The wind shifted.

For a brief second, something shifted beneath her skin—silver light, restless and unstable.

Ardan noticed.

His expression darkened slightly.

“Careful, Lila,” he said quietly. “Power like yours doesn’t just change the world.”

A beat.

“It changes you.”

Her jaw tightened.

“Good, let it” she said.

Then she turned back toward the forest.

“Because the girl they rejected is gone.”

Kael stood alone on the battlements of the Nightbane territory. The night wind cutting through the silence.

His gaze stretched far looking beyond the borders of his land, toward the forests where his patrols had begun to fall.

One rogue wolf.

That’s all it was.

And yet…

His jaw tightened.

This didn’t feel random.

It felt deliberate.

Calculated.

Like someone was testing them.

Studying them.

Waiting.

“Who are you?” he murmured into the dark.

The wind carried no answer.

Only silence.

And the faint sense…

That something far more dangerous than a rogue had stepped into his territory.