CHAPTER FOUR: ASH ROAD

RAISA POV

We leave at ten but no one talks.

Engines rumble low, headlights cut thin paths through the dark. I rode in the back of the lead truck this time. No one argues, no one jokes. A few of them keep looking at me like they’re still deciding what I am.

The uncertainty keeps people sloppy.

The road to Moonveil hasn’t changed. Same cracked road, same dead stretch where the trees pull back like they don’t want to see what comes through.

I don’t even look at the forest…..I don’t need to. My body remembers every inch of it. Midnight stays quiet but she was alert. Jaxon rides up to the front. I feel his attention on me even when he’s not looking. He hasn’t said a word since we rolled out. That worries me more than threats.

We stop just past the old logging road.

“Spread out,” Jaxon orders.

They fan out, armed with different types of weapons but still, they seem nervous. The woods are silent.

Someone mutters, “Thought this place was supposed to be crawling with different abominations.”

“It was,” I say.

All heads turn towards me. I hop down from the truck and walk past them. I didn't take permission and I didn't hesitate. Jaxon lets me. I look up the trees where werewolf skulls are being hung as a reminder of the dead. It was a forbidden tradition but I did it anyway. The first skull hangs from a tree branch. It had been bleached, clean, and polished by time and weather.

It was a werewolf skull.

Someone whistles low. “Jesus.”

Another one hangs ten feet away, then another. My chest tightens. The council didn’t do this.

I did.

Back when rage was louder than reason, when the killing was still fresh on my mind. I wanted revenge more than anything else. And seeing the skull up in the trees was a form of motivation.

“These are not supposed to be here,” I say.ppp

Jaxon steps up beside me. “No?”

“They were warnings.” I continued because it was true.

“To whom?”

“To anyone stupid enough to come here.”

He studies the skulls. “Looks like it worked but that's for people who feared anything. Cut them down!” He ordered. His men start collecting them anyway. Cutting them down, tossing them into crates like salvage. Humans use these bones as a means for money and killing werewolves has always been about greed, not to protect humans.

My hands curl into fists but I say nothing. If I ppp a move to stop them, they might suspect me and I need to earn their trust before I can kill them.

We move deeper into the forest. There was an ambush, or even movement. The forest was still at night.

Someone laughs, high and shaky. “Guess thep stories were bullshit.”

I stop walking. The man behind me nearly runs into my back.

“Say that again,” I tell him.

He hesitates. “I……”

A loud blast of gunfire echoes through the forest and the man drops dead in front of me, making everyone gasp. We turned to see Jaxon his weapon calmly.

“No one jokes in kill zones.”

The rest of them stiffen but we keep moving. The clearing comes into view or what’s left of Moonveil. I could see the burn scars on the ground, broken ground, the stone foundations where homes used to stand. The ash that never quite settled.

They don’t see it and they don’t know what they are standing on. But I do.

Someone kicks at something half-buried. “Hey, boss. There’s more.”

It was a crate filled with guns and weapons, and it was marked with a symbol that I recognized instantly.

Those were hunter gear.

Inside the crates were silver-lined restraints, shock nets, and tranq darts strong enough to drop an Alpha

Jaxon crouches, pries one open. “So this is what the shipment was.”

I never understood what he meant. I was of the idea that we had been here to get skulls for he black market but I was wrong. They load the crates and the skulls.

Each skull they took feels like a nail driven somewhere deep.

We’re almost done when the ground hums. I feel midnight lift her head inside me. I could feel her worry.

Jaxon notices immediately. “You feel that?”

“Yes.”

Men raised weapons and I could hear someone whisper a prayer. The hum stops and silence slams back down.

Then the woods explode with lights. Floodlights snap on from all sides. It was blinding.

“CONTACT….”

Gunfire erupts through the air. I could see nets flying through the air, snapping shut around two Blackthorn men before they hit the ground. Before we go to help them, a bomb detonates in the air. Pain rips through my skull even without touching me.

“AMBUSH!!!!” Jaxon roars and his men scatter.

I move fast. I rip a net free before it fully deploys and throw it back. It catches a hunter mid-step, slams him into a tree. A bullet pierces through me as the shock clips my arm.

I grunt but keep moving.

Midnight surges, furious. She wants to help but she can’t. I take down three hunters without shifting. I used my dagger, going for their throat. One of them stares at me, eyes wide. “It’s her…..”

I broke his jaw before he could complete the statement. I looked at the man, and I knew him. He was in a rival group that was Blackthorn. They have both been trying to get the werewolf skulls for years but I have been safeguarding this area with all my strength.

I look up to see Jaxon fighting like a man who planned for this. He was efficient and ruthless. He moves toward the trucks.

“Grab what you can,” he shouts. “We’re pulling out.”

I nodded. I looked up but I was too late to stop him. A hunter was sprinting for the crate which was filled with the skull.

“No…..”

The ground erupts beneath us. As a containment seal slams down, glowing blue, snapping shut around Jaxon and me.

We were trapped.

The noise fades outside as Jaxon turns to me slowly. His eyes flick to the glowing lines at our feet, then to my face. “Well,” he says calmly. “That complicates things.”

The seal tightens. Midnight slams against the binding, screaming, and then I hear it……it was a voice over a loudspeaker.

It was clear.

“Target acquired,” it says. “Prepare extraction.”

Jaxon smiles like he’s enjoying himself but I don’t. Because the voice? I know it.

And I thought I killed him.