LOGINGerald dodged a shadow wolf's attack and the creature's claws whistled past his face close enough that he felt the displaced air. Before he could recover another wolf slammed into his back and pain exploded across his shoulders as claws ripped through leather and skin.He snarled and twisted his body, feeling warm blood running down his spine, but one of his warriors slid a spear into the wolf's heart through its back. The creature roared and dissolved into black smoke while Gerald jumped on the back of the one that had attacked him first.He drove his sword down with both hands and the blade punched through fur and muscle until it found the heart. The wolf bucked once, twice, then collapsed beneath him and turned into a black puddle that soaked into the ground.Gerald stood up and his boots squelched in the dissolving remains as he watched his men fighting the horde. Frustration burned in his chest hotter than the pain in his back because a horde this size had never happened before.
Lyralei woke to screaming.Her heart slammed against her ribs before her eyes even opened and confusion flooded through her as she tried to make sense of what was happening. She'd just left Gerald at the stream to come back to her quarters and sleep when the sounds of children screaming tore through the night air.She bolted upright and threw herself out of the furs she'd been sleeping on, her feet hitting the cold stone floor as she rushed outside in nothing but the thin sleeping shift someone had given her. Sharp stones bit into her bare soles but she barely registered the pain as adrenaline flooded her system.The settlement was chaos.Fires burned throughout the area but these weren't the controlled cooking fires she'd seen earlier, these were buildings ablaze with flames licking up wooden walls and sending sparks into the night sky. Shadows moved through the smoke and at first Lyralei thought they were pack members running to safety.Then she saw the void eyes.Shadow wolves.Six
Lyralei walked away from everyone and her emotions were suddenly a mess after her outburst. For some reason she felt shaken after challenging that stupid Elder and she couldn't for the life of her understand why the pack let him get away with assaulting little children. And why someone like Gerald would allow it.Had she misjudged him?What did she expect from him anyway? All he considered her was a conquest and nothing more, just something to prove to those other three Alphas. Remembering those assholes made her mood sour even further, especially that prick Malachai who never seemed to want to get her name right. She could swear with everything in her that he was doing it on purpose and honestly it was infuriating. She hated him the most amongst the other Alphas and that was saying something, seeing as she should hate Vale the most since she knew exactly what he saw her as.An object.A tool for whatever the Moon Goddess wanted them to do.She looked at the sky and saw it was already
I fucking love this fierce wolf.The thought hit Gerald square in the chest as he watched Lyralei stare down at Rienna with that defiant look in her eyes, chin raised and shoulders back like she owned the entire training grounds. He'd doubled back after telling everyone he was going to wash up, curiosity getting the better of him because he wanted to see if he'd get a show.She hadn't disappointed him.The moment he'd arrived he'd seen the three little followers of Rienna on the floor, beaten and groaning, and had seen Lyralei facing Rienna herself. When he'd caught snippets of conversation from the warriors who were watching, he'd realized she'd faced all three of them at once.That had sent a rush of blood straight to his dick and made his wolf rise up howling with approval.He'd watched her take down Rienna with slaps instead of punches and that had filled him with satisfaction so great he'd sworn right then and there that he was going to fuck her the first chance he got. He'd use
Rienna stumbled backward and her hand flew to her cheek, eyes wide with shock. Her face had gone bright red where Lyralei's palm had connected and her mouth opened and closed like she couldn't quite process what had just happened.The crowd went dead silent.No one moved, no one spoke, everyone just stared at the two of them in the ring like they couldn't believe what they'd just witnessed.Then Rienna turned back to Lyralei with a shriek that was more rage than pain, her face twisted into something ugly as tears of humiliation gathered in her eyes."You bitch!" she screamed and went on the offensive, throwing punches and kicks with no strategy behind them anymore, just pure emotion driving her movements.But emotion made you sloppy and Lyralei had been counting on that.She dodged the first punch easily, ducked under the second, and when Rienna overextended on a wild kick Lyralei grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked hard. Rienna's head snapped back with the force of it and before
Lyralei watched Rienna approach and the way the girl moved made something in her chest tighten with anticipation. This wasn't going to be like fighting her friends at all.Rienna got into her stance and Lyralei studied it carefully, taking in every detail she could. The positioning of her feet, the way she held her weight, the angle of her shoulders. Everything about it screamed competence and years of proper training.Lyralei shifted into her own stance and Rienna adjusted almost immediately, her body flowing into a counter-position without hesitation. It was smooth, practiced, the kind of reaction that only came from having good teachers and actually paying attention during training.Lyralei smirked despite herself because Rienna was good, she could see that clearly now, but she could also see something else in the way the girl positioned herself.She tried to protect everywhere.Her vital areas were covered like they should be but she'd also set herself in a way that let her react







