LOGINThe first blade missed my throat by a breath.I twisted just in time, but the force behind it knocked me back hard into the snow.“Move!” someone shouted.I rolled, barely avoiding the next strike.These weren’t the same creatures.Not the ones from before.Faster.Smarter.And this time, they came without warning.No signal.No leader in sight.Just chaos.I pushed up, heart racing, scanning the treeline.We weren’t at Frostveil.This was the northern ridge.A patrol mission.Routine.Or so we thought.“Fall back!” Rowan’s voice rang out.“Too late!” Darian shouted, already deep in the fight.I shifted partially, claws out, senses sharp.There were too many.“They tracked us,” one of the warriors yelled.“No,” I said under my breath.“They hunted us.”A creature lunged.I slashed across its chest, felt the resistance, then the tear.It dropped.Another came from the side.I blocked, but the impact pushed me off balance.“Stay focused!” Rowan called.“I am!” I snapped back.But someth
I almost destroyed them all.The force rose fast, sharp and wild, ready to tear through everything in front of me, enemy and ally alike.“Elara!” Kael’s voice cut through the noise. “Pull back!”I froze for half a second.That was all it took to see it.My power wasn’t just pushing the creatures.It was cracking the ground beneath our own warriors.Rowan stumbled. “Watch it!”Mira grabbed a falling soldier. “Careful!”The realization hit hard.If I kept going like this, I wouldn’t just win.I would wipe everything out.Including us.I clenched my fist.Forced the surge back.Pain shot through me, sharp and deep.“Don’t lose control,” Kael said, closer now.“I’m not,” I replied through gritted teeth.But it wasn’t that simple.The creatures didn’t stop.They pressed harder, faster, sensing the shift.“They’re pushing again!” Darian shouted.“Hold the line!” Rowan ordered.The formation tightened, but cracks showed.Too many angles.Too much pressure.Mira moved beside me. “If you don’t
The first scream came from the east tower.It cut through the air sharp and wrong, the kind that didn’t warn, it confirmed.“They’re inside!”Everything moved at once.Steel rang. Boots hit stone. Orders overlapped.Kael turned fast. “East wall breach. Move!”Rowan was already running. “Archers to the ridge! Don’t let them climb!”Darian drew his blade with a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “About time they stopped watching.”I didn’t move.Not yet.Because I felt it.Two forces.Not one.“Elara,” Mira said, voice tight, “they’re attacking from both sides.”I turned.West.The original line still stood there.Still waiting.Still watching.But the east?That was different.That was chaos.“They split,” Kael said, reading it fast. “One holds us. One breaks us.”“Smart,” Rowan muttered.“Too smart,” I replied.Because that meant something else.Something worse.“They’re learning,” Mira whispered.A second horn blasted.Closer.Louder.“They’re through the outer gate!” someone shouted.
I heard them before I saw them.Their voices carried through the hall, low but sharp, like something trying not to break and failing anyway.“You should stay behind the second line.”“That’s not your call anymore.”I stopped at the corner.Didn’t move.Didn’t step in.Just listened.Kael and Elara.Of course.“I’m not giving an order,” Kael said. “I’m asking.”“And I’m saying no,” Elara replied.Her voice was calm.Too calm.The kind that didn’t bend.“You’re walking into something we don’t understand,” he pushed.“So are you.”“That’s different.”“How?”Silence.Then Kael said, quieter, “Because if something happens to you—”“Elara.”My voice came out before I could stop it.They both turned.I stepped into view.“Say it properly,” I added.Elara’s gaze softened slightly.Kael’s didn’t.Not yet.“Mira,” he said, “we’re in the middle of—”“I know,” I cut in. “That’s why I’m here.”Elara tilted her head. “What is it?”I hesitated.For the first time in a long time.“I need to understan
They all looked at me, and I hated it.Not the fear.Not the doubt.The distance.It spread through the room like a quiet wall, even though we stood only a few steps apart.“Say something,” Darian muttered under his breath.I heard him.Of course I did.But I didn’t answer right away.Because every word I spoke now carried weight.Too much weight.“They’re not attacking yet,” Rowan said, trying to steady the room.“Not yet,” Mira added.That word sat heavy.Not yet.Kael stood beside me, close enough to feel, far enough to respect the space I had chosen.“They’re waiting for her,” someone whispered from the back.Not quietly enough.Not far enough.I turned slightly.“Say it louder.”The elder froze.Then straightened.“They’re waiting for you,” he repeated.“Why?” another voice cut in. “What does she have that calls them?”More whispers.More eyes.All on me.Always on me.I stepped forward.The room shifted.Not back.But not closer either.“I don’t know,” I said.Truth.Clear.No c
The blade slipped from his grip, and the younger warrior knocked him flat.A few laughs broke out around the training ring.Kael hit the ground hard, breath pushed from his chest. Dust clung to his clothes as he stared up at the sky for a second.He didn’t move.Didn’t snap.Didn’t command.“Get up,” the young warrior said, offering a hand. “Or are you done already?”Kael took the hand.Pulled himself up.“I’m not done.”The circle tightened.Eyes watched him.Not as an Alpha.Not as a leader.Just another fighter.Rowan leaned against the fence, arms crossed. “You’re slower today.”Kael rolled his shoulder. “I noticed.”Darian chuckled. “You used to bark orders instead of taking hits.”“I deserved that one,” Kael said.The young warrior smirked. “Then come again.”Kael nodded.No pride.No anger.Just focus.They circled.This time, Kael moved first.Faster.Cleaner.He blocked, stepped in, and struck low.The young warrior stumbled but recovered quickly.“Better,” Rowan muttered.Dar
The night bled.Elara knew it before she stepped outside. Before she saw the sky. Before the wolves began to stir uneasily in their dens.Something ancient had woken.She pushed the door open, and the cold hit her first. Then the light.The moon hung low and swollen, stained a deep, violent red.A
The book screamed when Elder Thorne opened it.Not with sound, but with the dry crack of a spine that had not been touched in decades.Dust rose into the thin beam of candlelight, swirling like restless spirits. He paused, listening to the quiet halls beyond the archive chamber. Frostveil slept, un
Kael dropped to his knees.No warning. No attempt to steady himself. One moment, he stood like the unbreakable Alpha every wolf feared, and the next, his body simply gave way, crashing into the snow as if the earth had claimed him.Silence swallowed the ridge.Even the wind seemed to pause.“Elara…
The birds fled first.Elara noticed it at dawn, standing near the frost-lined ridge where the forest usually woke in layers of sound. No wings. No morning calls. Just a strange, hollow stillness pressing against the land.Her wolf stirred uneasily beneath her skin.Something was coming.She did not







