Power

I didn't think. I didn't have time to find the 'power.' I just brought the kitchen knife up and buried it in the creature’s shoulder.

The wolf slammed into me, knocking me back into the muck. The weight was crushing, the smell of its rot filling my lungs. I scrambled in the mud, trying to find my footing as the Feral snapped at my face, its teeth clicking inches from my nose.

A flash of silver blurred past my vision.

Fen didn't use a knife. He didn't even seem to shift. He just grabbed the Feral by the back of the neck and ripped. There was a sickening sound of cartilage tearing, and the creature went limp, falling to the side like a discarded toy.

Fen stood over me, not a drop of blood on his tattooed skin. He looked down at me, sprawled in the mud, clutching a dull kitchen knife and shaking like a leaf.

"Lesson one," he said, reaching down and pulling me to my feet with one hand. "The Old Growth doesn't care about your trauma. It doesn't care about your mate bond. It only cares if you’re fast enough to survive the next ten seconds."

I wiped the mud from my face, my heart hammering against my ribs. "I killed it. I mean... I stabbed it."

"You annoyed it," Fen corrected. "I killed it. But points for effort."

He looked past me, his expression suddenly turning cold. The howling had stopped. The woods were dead silent. That was worse. Much worse.

"They're here," Fen whispered.

From the darkness of the trees we’d just left, a figure emerged. He wasn't shifted, but he didn't need to be. Kael Thornridge stood at the edge of the clearing, his black shirt torn, his eyes glowing a predatory gold. Behind him, four of his guard fanned out, their teeth bared.

"Lira," Kael said. His voice was thick with a strange mix of fury and something that sounded suspiciously like heartbreak. "Get away from him. Now."

Fen stepped in front of me, his silver eyes meeting Kael’s gold. The tension in the air was so thick I could taste it, a bitter, metallic tang that made my teeth ache.

"Out of bounds, Alpha," Fen mocked. "Old Growth ignores your borders and your claim, too. You ditched her; she’s not yours."

"She’s mine." Kael snarled, claws flashing. "The bond....."

"The bond is just a suggestion," I shot back, stepping out from behind Fen.

I looked at Kael, the man I’d loved since I was five, the man who’d just tried to erase me. He looked powerful. He looked like the hero of someone else’s story. But to me, he just looked like a liar.

"You told the pack I had no claim to you," I reminded him, my voice growing stronger with every word. "You told them Lira Vale was nothing. Well, congratulations, Kael. You got your wish. I’m nothing to you. So why are you still following me?"

"Lira, you don't understand what you're doing," Kael said, taking a tentative step forward. "That power... It’s dangerous. You’re coming home with me, where we can control it."

"Control it?" I laughed, and the sound echoed through the hollow trees. "You don't want to save me, Kael. You want to muzzle me. You want the girl who sat in the back of the room and took your scraps. She’s dead. You killed her."

I looked at Fen, then back at Kael.

"I'm staying here."

Kael’s face went dark, the Alpha in him finally snapping. "I wasn't asking."

He lunged.

But he didn't lunge at Fen. He lunged at me.

And as his hands reached for me, the world didn't go white. It went black.

The tattoos on Fen’s skin suddenly leapt from his arms, expanding into a wall of living shadow that hit Kael mid-air. There was a crack of energy, a scream of wind, and then...

Silence.

When my vision cleared, Kael was on the ground, and Fen was gone. And so was I.

I was standing on a high, jagged ridge I didn't recognize, the air cold and thin. Fen was standing a few feet away, looking exhausted.

"What did you do?" I gasped.

"I bought you a head start," Fen said, his tattoos slowly receding back into his skin. "But Kael is an Alpha. He’ll be back. And next time, he’s bringing the whole pack."

He looked at me, his silver eyes reflecting the moon.

"You have twenty-four hours to learn how to use that power, Lira. Because tomorrow, we’re going to war."

His words hung in the air, sharp as frost. War meant more than violence; it meant everything I knew was at risk. If I failed, Kael would claim me, the pack would remain shackled to the old ways, and the shadow rising in the forest would devour anyone too weak to stand. To win, I would have to master the wild force inside me and choose who I wanted to become before the moon rose again. Everything.....my freedom, the fate of Thornridge, maybe even Fen's life, would depend on what I did next.