LOGINThe 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
“The Luna you rejected is alive.”Kael did not look up from the war table.“Choose your next words carefully,” he said flatly.The messenger swallowed hard but held his ground.“That is what the traders are saying, Alpha. They claim a she-wolf is rising in Frostveil. Wolves bow to her.”Kael dragge
“Again.”Rowan’s command cut through the frozen air just as Elara lunged.Steel met steel with a sharp crack. The force of her strike pushed him back half a step before he twisted, knocking her blade aside.She pivoted fast and drove her elbow toward his ribs.He caught it.A faint smile touched hi
The bond stirred like a wound that refused to close.Kael felt it the moment Elara turned away.Not a pull. Not a call.A faint ache, low and sharp, buried under layers of denial he had built for years.He clenched his fists as the Frostveil gates shut behind her.The gathered Alphas began to dispe
“The first royal wolves didn’t rule because they wanted power,” Rowan said quietly. “They ruled because the world would have torn itself apart without them.”Elara stopped walking.They stood deep inside Frostveil’s oldest corridor, where the stone walls carried claw marks older than memory. Torche







