MasukThe council doors slammed open before anyone could announce me.Every voice in the room stopped.I walked straight to the head of the table.No hesitation.No permission.Rowan leaned back in his chair and muttered, “Well… this should be interesting.”Darian crossed his arms.“Looks serious.”Mira stood near the window, watching quietly.Kael remained near the far wall.Still present.Still distant.I placed both hands on the table.“We’re done reacting,” I said.Silence answered me.“From this moment, we plan long term.”Rowan raised an eyebrow.“Define long term.”“Beyond the hunters.”Darian frowned.“And the monsters under the ground?”“Both.”Mira nodded slightly.“Good.”I pointed to the map spread across the table.“We’ve been fighting battle by battle. That ends now.”Rowan leaned forward.“So what’s the new plan?”I took a breath.“We build something that lasts.”Darian let out a short laugh.“You mean a kingdom?”“No.”“What then?”“Structure.”Mira’s gaze sharpened.“Explai
The ground trembled beneath my boots.Not from hunters.From something deeper.I froze in the middle of the courtyard.Around me, warriors rushed toward the southern wall after Rowan’s warning. Snow scattered under their feet. Steel clanged. Voices rose in sharp orders.But the vibration under the stone floor lasted only a moment.Then it stopped.Darian noticed my pause.“You feel that?” he asked.“Yes.”Rowan turned.“What?”“The ground,” I said.He stomped once on the stone.“Feels normal to me.”Mira stepped beside me.Her eyes narrowed slightly.“No,” she murmured. “She’s right.”Rowan frowned.“You felt it too?”“Yes.”Kael moved closer to the wall, his gaze sweeping the mountains around the valley.“What kind of tremor?”“Short,” I replied. “But strong.”Darian shrugged.“Maybe one of the hunter wagons hit a rock.”“No,” Mira said.“That felt different.”The wind pushed through the courtyard gate, carrying the sharp scent of silver from the distant camps.Rowan sighed.“Great.
The hunter leader smiled.Even from the tower, I saw it.The man sat tall on his black horse halfway down the ridge, his army standing still behind him like dark shadows against the snow. Silver weapons caught the fading light. Rows of soldiers waited in silence.Rowan muttered beside me, “I don’t like him.”“No one does,” Darian said from behind us.Mira’s gaze stayed fixed on the rider.“That man carries control,” she said softly.Kael stood a step behind me on the tower stairs. He didn’t move closer. He didn’t speak.But I felt his presence anyway.The hunter leader raised one hand slowly.The army behind him moved again.Not forward.Sideways.They spread across the ridge like a dark curtain.Rowan cursed.“They’re surrounding the valley.”Darian leaned against the stone railing.“Not attacking yet.”“No,” Mira said. “They’re showing us something.”I watched the rider carefully.“What do you mean?”“They want us to feel pressure.”The horn from the tower sounded again.Wolves rush
The silver net burned the moment it touched the ground.Someone screamed.I rolled sideways in the snow just as the glowing threads crashed down where I had stood a second earlier. The net slammed into the frozen earth with a sharp metallic snap.The wolves scattered.Rowan grabbed Lian and dragged him clear as the edge of the net struck the ground beside them.“Move!” he shouted.The silver strands hissed against the snow.Anyone caught under that would not survive.Darian kicked a fallen branch toward the net. The wood struck the threads and instantly smoked.“Yeah,” he muttered grimly. “Definitely silver.”A shadow moved between the trees.Hunter.Kael reacted first.He dashed forward and tackled the man before the rest of us even saw him. The hunter slammed into the snow with a shout as Kael knocked the weapon from his hands.Two more figures appeared behind the trees.“Left!” Mira called.I lunged toward them.The first hunter raised a crossbow. The silver bolt flashed through th
The knife flew toward my throat before I even saw the hand that threw it.I twisted aside on instinct.The blade cut past my shoulder and struck the wooden post behind me with a sharp crack.Gasps rose from the watching warriors.I turned quickly.Mira stood ten steps away, calm as ever.Her hands rested loosely at her sides.Rowan laughed from the edge of the training ground.“Well,” he said, “that woke everyone up.”Snow covered the wide clearing inside Frostveil’s inner wall. Dozens of wolves had gathered in a loose circle. Some stood. Some crouched on the stone ledges.No one spoke.Everyone watched.Because Mira had just tried to kill me.Or so it looked.I pulled the knife from the wooden post and walked toward her.“You could have warned me,” I said.“You would have moved slower.”I handed her the blade.“You missed.”She smiled faintly.“No. You moved.”Darian leaned against a pillar nearby.“I like her methods already.”I shook my head.“This is training?”Mira turned toward
The horn sounded before sunrise.The long warning note echoed through Frostveil like a crack through ice.I woke instantly.Snowlight filtered through the tall windows of the chamber. Cold air pressed against the glass. The valley outside still slept under a pale sky.But the horn sounded again.Once. Twice.Danger.I threw on my coat and stepped into the corridor.Guards rushed past me toward the outer gate. Their boots struck the stone floor in fast rhythm.Rowan appeared at the stair landing.“You heard it too?”“Yes.”He rubbed the back of his neck.“Scouts returned during the night.”“That fast?”He nodded.“Something strange is happening near the eastern ridge.”I felt the weight of the previous night settle again.Hunters.Thousands.We moved quickly down the steps toward the courtyard.Snow crunched under our boots as we stepped outside.Warriors gathered around the central fire pit. Mira stood among them, calm as ever, her hands folded behind her back.Darian paced beside the
Kael turned away before she could speak.The movement was sharp enough to draw murmurs from both sides of the border. Frostveil wolves stiffened. His own pack shifted uneasily behind him. The bond screamed at the distance he forced between them, a living thing clawing at his ribs.Elara noticed eve
The first body hit the snow before the alarm finished ringing.Elara saw it from the watchtower. One of Frostveil’s outer scouts collapsed near the tree line, dark blood spreading fast beneath him.“Signal the warriors,” she ordered.The guard beside her didn’t hesitate.The horn thundered across t
The rumor arrived before the messenger.It slipped into Frostveil on the backs of traders and wandering wolves, quiet at first, almost harmless. A powerful she-wolf. No title. No banner. A child who calmed grown wolves with a look. A land that did not bend when Alphas pressed against its borders.E
The howl tore out of Kael before he realized it was his own.It echoed across the cliffs, raw and jagged, the kind that did not call a pack.It confessed something deeper.Loneliness.He stood at the edge of Silver Fang territory, staring into the dark stretch of forest where the messenger had vani







