Chapter 13: The Campfire Confession

We didn't return to the stronghold. Niklas carried me through the forest, away from Milos's lair, the Council, and everything else. His arms were strong around me, his heartbeat a steady rhythm against my ear. The night air was cold, but he was warm.

"Where are we going?" I whispered.

"Somewhere safe."

"You said that before. Last time, you took me to a cave."

"This is a different cave."

I laughed, a weak, tired sound. "How many caves do you have?"

"Enough."

The cave was smaller than the last one, just a hollow in the cliffside, barely big enough for the two of us. But it was dry, hidden, and when Niklas set me down on a bed of dried leaves, I felt something I hadn't felt in days: safe.

He gathered wood from the forest floor and built a fire. The flames caught quickly, casting warm shadows across the stone walls. Outside, the wind howled. Inside, there was only us.

"Your wrists," he said, kneeling beside me. "Let me see."

I held out my arms. The silver chains had left deep burns—red, raw, and angry. Niklas's jaw tightened when he saw them.

"This will hurt," he said, tearing a strip of fabric from his already ruined shirt.

"I know."

He cleaned the wounds with water from his canteen. I bit my lip to keep from crying out. When he wrapped them in the fabric, his hands were gentle, careful.

"You've done this before," I said.

"My mother. She was human. My father used to…" He stopped. "Never mind."

"No," I grabbed his hand. "Tell me."

Niklas was quiet for a long time, staring into the fire, his face half-lit by the flames, half-hidden in shadow. The scars on his chest seemed darker in the flickering light.

"I was ten years old," he said finally. "My father was the leader of the Black Forest pack. He was a cruel man. A violent man. He believed that pain made you strong."

"What did he do to you?"

"He beat me. Burned me. Locked me in cages with starving wolves." Niklas's voice was flat, empty. "He said it was training. He said it would make me a great leader."

"That's not training. That's torture."

"I know." He picked up a stick and poked at the fire. "One night, I couldn't take it anymore. I ran. I shifted into my wolf form—the first time I had ever shifted fully—and I ran into the forest."

"Where did you go?"

"Nowhere. Everywhere. I ran until I couldn't run anymore. And then I collapsed." He looked at me. "And then I found you."

The memory returned in fragments: A hollow tree. A crying girl. A boy with honey-colored hair and eyes like storms. "Hey. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." "Go away." "I can't. You're hurt." "Everyone hurts me." "I won't."

"I remember," I whispered. "You were so skinny. Your ribs were showing."

"I hadn't eaten in days."

"You gave me your bread. The only food you had."

"You were hungrier."

I reached out and touched his face. His stubble was rough against my palm. His skin was warm.

"Why did you help me?" I asked. "You didn't know me."

"Because you were alone. And I knew what that felt like."

We stayed like that for a while—his face in my hand, my eyes on his. The fire crackled between us.

"After the Council took you," Niklas continued, "I went back to my father. I thought if I obeyed him, if I became what he wanted, I could find you again. I thought the Council would reward me."

"Did they?"

"No." His voice hardened. "They forgot about you. They forgot about me. I was just another pureblood pup, useful for breeding and fighting and nothing else."

"So you left."

"So I waited. I waited until I was strong enough to challenge my father. And then I killed him."

I blinked. "You killed your own father?"

"He was going to kill my mother. She was human, and he had grown tired of her. He was going to tear her throat out in front of me." Niklas's eyes were dark. "So I tore his out first."

I didn't know what to say. What could I say?

"I'm sorry," I whispered finally.

"Don't be. He deserved worse." Niklas looked at me. "After he was dead, I became the leader of the Black Forest pack. I spent years building alliances, gathering power, searching for you. And then you showed up at the Council, and I…"

"And you called me a dirty blood."

"I was scared." His voice broke. "I was so scared, Elif. Because I had spent ten years convincing myself that you were dead. That you were never coming back. That I had imagined everything."

"But I wasn't dead."

"No. You were alive. And you were more beautiful than I remembered." He took my hand. "And I didn't know what to do."

I squeezed his fingers.

"I remember now," I said. "Not everything. But enough."

"What do you remember?"

"The night they took me. You were holding my hand. You promised to come back for me."

"I did come back."

"I know." Tears filled my eyes. "I know you did."

Niklas pulled me into his arms. I buried my face in his chest and let myself cry. For my father. For Niklas. For the little girl who had been locked in a basement and the little boy who had been locked in a cage.

We cried together. And when the tears were gone, we held each other in the firelight.

"I'm not going to lose you again," Niklas said.

"You won't."

"I mean it, Elif. I don't care about the Council. I don't care about the Competition. I don't care about the relic or the First Wolf or any of it." He pulled back to look at me. "You are the only thing that matters."

"What about your pack? Your people?"

"They'll understand. Or they won't. I don't care."

"You should care. You're their leader."

"And you're my mate." He touched my cheek. "Nothing else matters."

I leaned into his touch.

"Seni asla bırakmayacağım," he said. I will never leave you.

My heart swelled. "Where did you learn that?"

"From you. Ten years ago. You made me promise."

"I did?"

"You made me promise to come back for you. And I did. And now I'm promising to never leave."

I opened my mouth to respond—

And then we heard it.

Howling.

Distant. Faint. But unmistakable.

Niklas's face went pale.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Anastasia." He stood up, his body tense, his eyes scanning the darkness outside the cave. "That's her pack's war call."

"War? Against who?"

"Against us."

I stood up too, my heart pounding. "Why?"

"Because I killed Milos's men. Because I challenged the Council's authority. Because I took you." He grabbed my hand. "We need to go. Now."

"Where?"

"Anywhere but here."

He pulled me toward the entrance of the cave. The howling grew louder. Closer.

We ran through the forest, hand in hand, the moon our only light. Branches whipped at our faces. Roots tripped our feet. But we didn't stop. We couldn't stop.

"They're gaining on us," Niklas said.

"How many?"

"Too many."

He pulled me behind a large boulder and pressed me against the stone, his body shielding mine.

"Elif, listen to me."

"I'm listening."

"If anything happens to me, you run. You don't look back. You don't stop. You run."

"Nothing's going to happen to you."

"Promise me."

"Niklas—"

"Promise me."

I looked into his eyes. His storm-gray eyes. The eyes of the boy who had saved me ten years ago and the man who was saving me now.

"I promise," I whispered.

He kissed me. Quick. Hard. Desperate. And then he turned to face the darkness.

The first wolves broke through the trees. Not in human form. Full wolf. Massive creatures with fur as white as snow and eyes as blue as ice. Anastasia's Siberians. There were at least twenty of them.

Niklas shifted. His bones cracked. His body grew. His fur sprouted—black as night, black as death. When he stood, he was bigger than any of them. Bigger than any wolf I had ever seen. He threw back his head and howled.

The Siberians stopped. For a moment, no one moved. Then Anastasia stepped out from between the trees. She was in human form, dressed in white furs, her ice-blonde hair glowing in the moonlight.

"Niklas Vollbrecht," she said. "You have violated Council law. You have killed without permission. You have taken what does not belong to you."

"She belongs to no one," Niklas growled.

"She belongs to the Council. And the Council demands her return."

"Then the Council will have to take her from my cold, dead body."

Anastasia smiled. "That," she said, "can be arranged."

She raised her hand. The wolves lunged.