LOGINThe rest of the day disappears in getting ready.
I watch Erica pack her things with the same quick, sure hands she’s used too many times now. She’s prepared for fights too often. Faced dangers that would crush most grown wolves.
“She’s tough,” Helena says, stepping up beside me. “Stronger than you think.”
“She’s still a kid,” I answer. “She shouldn&
The blanket does not smell like him anymore.I know this in my head—three days of holding it, breathing against the fabric, my scent slowly replacing his. Milk and honey fading into something else.Something that is not my son.But I keep it pressed to my face anyway.It is all I have left.Outside my door, Erica is crying again.She has been there for hours. Maybe days.Time moves strangely in this room, pooling in corners like water, refusing to flow properly.“Mom, please,” her voice cracks through the wood. Young. So young. My daughter is sixteen, and she sounds like a child begging for comfort I cannot give. “Mom, just say something. Anything. I need to know you are alive in there.”I am alive.Technically.My heart beats. My lungs draw air. Blood moves through veins, sustaining biological processes that seem increasingly pointless.But alive?No.I think I died in the Black Real
“There,” Giga pointed ahead. “I see it.”The refuge.Stone walls built into the side of a rocky outcrop, just as I remembered. Light glowed from within—warm, real light that cut through the Black Realm’s constant gloom.I did not wait for the others.I urged my horse faster, ignoring Kael’s shout to slow down.The curse pulled harder, sensing my desperation, but I did not care.Could not care about anything except reaching that light.Reaching Alaric.I dismounted before my horse fully stopped, stumbling on legs that had gone half-numb from the curse’s touch. The refuge door stood open—just a crack, as if someone had left rushing.“Alaric?” I called, pushing through the door. “Alaric, it is Mom! I am her
Week three started with something that felt almost like hope.Not the bright, burning hope I had before the war wore us all down.This was quieter. More fragile.It came from watching four hundred and thirty-seven wolves choose to stay when they could have run.From seeing them train together, eat together, and live together, without that tired drag at every step, like they were hauling the weight of their doubts.They were trying.That had to mean something.At dawn, I stood at the training field, watching Thorne run the defensive drills.The air still carried winter’s bite, cold enough to see your breath.My fingers, gripping the wooden rail, were numb. But I did not move.Every minute I stood here, watching the pack get ready for a fight that might kill them all, was a minute I was not thinking about the other timeline.The one where, in seven days, I would see my son again.“You are going to freeze out here.
“I’m sure.”My voice stayed steady. Controlled.“I need some time alone.”“Alright. But Sophia, if you need to talk, I’m here.”“I know. Thank you.”Her footsteps faded down the hall.I waited until the sound disappeared completely, then let my head fall into my hands.Four more weeks.I could do this. I had to. For Alaric. For the kingdom. For every wolf who had chosen to stay and fight.I just was not sure what it would cost me.That night I lay beside Kael and stared at the ceiling.“You are not sleeping,” he said quietly.“Neither are you.”“I am worried about you.” He rolled onto his side
Three days later, Black River was still recovering when Aldric appeared.“You did well,” he said, materializing in my temporary office. Our old command center had burned in the fire.“We survived,” I said tiredly. “I’m not sure if that counts as doing well.”“You did more than survive. You showed Seraphine something she had not seen in decades—real unified resistance. Not forced by magic or oaths, but chosen freely by hundreds of wolves.”He looked at me seriously.“That terrifies her more than any army could.”“She did not look terrified,” I said. “She looked angry.”“Anger is just fear with teeth,” Aldric replied. “She is afraid of what you are building. Afraid it might actually work. Afraid she might ha
“I want to be,” I admitted. “But I’m not sure if I remember how. Everything has been in survival mode for so long that I’ve forgotten what it feels like to just… be with you. Not plotting, not planning, not preparing for the next fight. Just being.”Kael moved over and sat beside me.“I miss that too,” he said. “I miss the simple days before crowns and heavy responsibilities and impossible choices.”“May we get it back?” I asked. “Or is it gone for good?”“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “But I’d like to try. After we bring Alaric home. After we deal with Seraphine. After the immediate crisis calms down, I'd like to find our way back to each other.”“And if we can’t?”“Then we build som
The council tent was packed. Twelve Alphas, their Betas, and key advisors—all crammed into a space meant for half. The air was thick with tension and the scent of wolves forced into close quarters.I took my seat at the head of the table, Kael beside me. Some Alphas didn’t bother hiding their displ
I called an emergency meeting at first light. Core team only: Kael, Marcus, Helena, Thea, and Erica. No Alphas, not yet. We needed to understand the threat ourselves first.“First Feeders?” Thea breathed the words like a curse when I finished explaining. Her face paled. “That’s… that’s a children’s
Seraphine’s magic descended.And someone stepped between us.Aldric.The dark energy meant for me struck him instead. It punched through his chest.“BROTHER!”Kael’s scream tore across the field. Aldric collapsed—but his hand shot out, locking around Seraphine’s wrist.“You forgot… one thing,” he r
We set it up carefully.False manifests showing a “critical shipment” of Moonbane crystals arriving in three days. Route details. Everything a cult spy would need to plan an ambush.Then we waited.I was on watch from a hidden spot overlooking the main depot. Kael is on my left. Marcus is on my rig







