LOGIN“Three weeks,” Kael said. “Maybe less. My contact reports that Crimson Moon has stepped up their search. They found something. He is not sure what, but they are getting close to the entrance.”
“Then we go sooner,” Martin replied. He was up and moving now, though he still favored his injured side. “Two weeks. Hit them before they can get organized.”
“We are not ready,” Helena p
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
“Three weeks,” Kael said. “Maybe less. My contact reports that Crimson Moon has stepped up their search. They found something. He is not sure what, but they are getting close to the entrance.”“Then we go sooner,” Martin replied. He was up and moving now, though he still favored his injured side. “Two weeks. Hit them before they can get organized.”“We are not ready,” Helena protested. “Half our fighters are still healing from the node missions. You are still hurt. The king and Luna's connection to their wolves is damaged—”“We will never be fully ready,” I cut in. “But Martin is right. We cannot wait for perfect conditions. If we wait too long, Crimson Moon will find Alaric before we do.”“Then we need a solid plan,” Theron said, stepping up to the map. “The Black
We arrive back at Black River two days later.Word of what happened spreads faster than any messenger. In the wolf world, news always moves quickly. We destroyed all three nodes. We shattered Seraphine’s network. We handed her the first real defeat she has suffered in more than a hundred years.The kingdom explodes into celebration.But inside our private chambers, there is no joy. Only deep exhaustion and worry.“Erica’s sight is really gone?” I ask after Helena finishes a full examination.“Completely,” Helena confirms. “Whatever she did at that node burned out the connection. It might be permanent.”“Might?” I grab onto that small word. “So it could still come back?”“Maybe,” Helena says again, but her voice does not sound hopeful.
The extraction was a masterpiece of controlled chaos.Three hundred and twelve rescued souls, twenty wounded warriors, and five we had to leave behind, their pyres lit with swift, sorrowful efficiency as the mountain complex shuddered and began to collapse behind us.We had turned Seraphine’s larde
It was a sound of pure, undiluted emotion—mourning, love, tribute, and defiance all woven together. It rose from six hundred throats, a visceral song that shook the dew from the grass and echoed off the distant mountains. I tipped my head back and joined them, my howl a release of the sorro
She smiled, the girl shining through again. “I had relentlessly brave role models.”Later, under a tapestry of emerging stars, I found Kael on the eastern ridge.His silhouette was rigid, his gaze fixed on the dark line of the forest as if he could see through it for miles.“It’s Aldric, isn’t it?”
The training yard thrummed with unfamiliar energy that afternoon. Black River warriors moved among newcomers bearing the oak tree sigil, the two groups initially separated by invisible lines of old prejudice and fresh desperation. I stood at the front with my core instructors—Erica, her face seriou







