BLOOD FOR BLOOD-draven'pov

The rain wouldn’t stop.  

Not the normal kind. This was the kind of rain that crawled into your bones, turned the earth to mud, and made the smell of blood ten times worse.

I was perched on the highest branch by the river. Twenty meters up. From here I could see everything.  

The wind carried the stench up to me. A stench that had been stuck in my nose for three nights straight.

Three nights.  

Three nights since I’d slept more than ten minutes at a time.  

Three nights since I wrapped the last bandage around Alina’s shoulder.  

Three nights since I watched her lie there, biting back pain, while I bit my own lip so hard I tasted iron just to keep from screaming.

My eyes burned. My head felt heavy. But one second of carelessness and we were all dead.

Below, by the riverbank, were four young wolves.  

You could see their ribs. Their fur was matted. Their eyes were dull.  

These weren’t warriors. These were kids forced to hunt because the pack was already starving.

Bait. Perfect bait.

My hand tightened around the dagger. Cold. Heavy.  

My heart wasn’t pounding. It was numb. All I had left was calculation.

One breath.  

One soft whistle between my lips. Barely audible under the rain.

From the bushes on the left, an arrow flew. Silent.  

_Whoosh._  

Straight through the throat of the wolf in front. He didn’t even get a sound out. His body just dropped into the water.

From the right, two spears at once.  

_Thud. Thud._  

Two more bodies hit the ground. Blood sprayed and was swallowed by the mud.

The last one tried to run. But Seno was already there. One swipe. Throat gone.

All of it took less than five seconds.

I dropped down. My boots slipped on the slick ground. And the first thing I felt when I landed wasn’t cold.  

It was wet. Sticky. Red.

The puddle at my feet had turned dark crimson.

Two shadow soldiers stepped out from behind the trees. Faces blank. Used to this.  

“Take them back,” I said. My voice was hoarse from no sleep. “Don’t bury them. Don’t burn them. Hang them at the border. Let them see.”

“Yes, My King.”

They lifted the bodies like firewood. No pity in their eyes. In this forest, pity was a luxury we couldn’t afford.

I wiped the dagger on my thigh. The blood wouldn’t come off completely. Like it had already soaked into the steel.  

This was only phase two of the plan. Starve them. Break them. Force them to come to the place we’d chosen.

But in my chest, there was something else.  

Not satisfaction.  

More like... emptiness.

---

The walk back to the den felt longer than usual.

Our stone cave was carved into the cliff. High walls. Only one entrance. Eight guards on rotation, every four hours.  

The moment I stepped inside, the cold hit me. But not like outside. In here there was fire. The smell of herbs.

Alina was there.

She sat by the fire. Back too straight, like she was forcing it. Her hair was still damp from steam. Her right shoulder was wrapped in fresh bandages. White. Clean. 

The second wound. In the exact same place as the first.

My chest tightened again.

“King.”  

Bayu appeared from the corridor. He looked exhausted, but he still bowed.  

“Come in,” I said.

He came in carrying a wooden tray. Roasted meat. Still steaming.  

“Eat, My Queen,” Bayu said quietly. He set the tray in front of Alina.

She didn’t move. She just stared at the fire. Unblinking. Like a statue.

I sat across from her. Two steps away.  

“Draven.” Her voice was soft. But it cut. “How many?”

I could’ve lied. Said two. Said no one died.  

But what was the point? She was the Queen. She’d smell it on me anyway.

“Four,” I answered. “Young. Skin and bones. A distraction.”

Alina finally glanced at me. Just for a second, then back at the fire.  

But then a sound came from her lips. A laugh. Small. Dry. No joy in it at all.

“Good,” she said. “Start with the weak. Let the Wolf King feel what it’s like to lose something.”

Her fist clenched on her knee. So tight her knuckles turned white.

Then she stood. Slow. Limping.  

“I’m coming tomorrow.”

Blood rushed to my head.  

“NO!” I barked. On reflex. It was so loud two torches on the wall went out. “You’re wounded! You can’t walk that far!”

Alina stopped. Didn’t turn around.  

“And whose fault is the wound?” Her voice rose. The first time she’d yelled in three days.

She turned. Her eyes were red. Not from crying. From rage.  

“Twice, Draven. DO YOU HEAR ME? TWICE!”

She walked to me. Every step hurt. I could tell by how she held her breath.  

“Twice he touched me. Twice his hands were on me. Twice I had him, I was about to end him... and TWICE THE WOLVES SAVED HIM!”

Her last words cracked. Echoed off the stone walls.

The cave went silent. Outside, none of the guards dared to breathe.

Alina stopped right in front of me. Her chest rose and fell.  

“You think I’m begging for him? Huh? You think I still care?”

She shoved my chest. Once. Didn’t hurt.  

Twice. Harder.  

“I want him dead. By my own hands. With this dagger.”

She pointed to the dagger at her waist. The one with the worn handle. The same one from back then.

It felt like I’d been hit with a hammer.  

This was Alina. The Alina I knew before all of this. Hard. Cold. Never asked for pity.  

But for the last three days she’d been too quiet. So quiet I thought the fire in her had gone out.

It hadn’t. It was just buried under ash. And now it exploded again.

I stepped forward. Took her wrist in my hand. Gently. Carefully. Like holding glass.

“I know,” I whispered.

“Let go.”  

“I won’t.” I moved closer to her. “Because if I let go now, the only thing I’ll find tomorrow is your body.”

She closed her eyes. A tear fell. One. Landed on the back of my hand. Hot.  

Not a weak tear. This was a tear of fury. From someone who’d held it in too long.

“Then don’t stop me,” she said. Her voice shook. “Don’t do what you did before. Don’t show up late. Don’t...”

She didn’t finish.

I stayed quiet for a long time. Thinking. My head said it was dangerous. My heart said it was more dangerous to stop her.  

Finally, I nodded. Once.

“...Fine. You come. But one condition.”

Alina opened her eyes.  

“You stay behind me. Not one step ahead. If I say fall back, you fall back. Understand?”

She stared at me for a long time. Weighing it.  

Then she nodded too.

A deal.

---

Meanwhile, across the forest.

Raka crouched in the bushes. Vomiting.  

There was nothing left but bile. He hadn’t eaten since yesterday.

In front of him lay four bodies. Kids he’d trained with just days ago.

His hands were shaking. Not from fear. From grief.

“COWARD!”  

A kick slammed into his back. He hit the dirt.  

The Wolf King stood over him. Teeth bared. Spit dripping. “That’s the tigers’ work! Look at the claws! Deep. Clean. That’s Draven!”

The Wolf King circled the bodies. “He wants to starve us. Weaken us. Then he’ll come when we can’t even stand.”

He stopped. Kicked Raka’s ribs again. “And you? You just stood there?”

Raka lifted his head. Rain ran down his face, mixing with vomit.  

“Tomorrow you’re on the front line,” the Wolf King snarled. “If you don’t kill, you die. Understand?”

Raka didn’t answer. Just nodded.

In his head there was only one image.  

Alina. The last time he saw her. The way she looked at him. Not scared. Not sad.  

Hatred. Pure hatred.

Tomorrow he’d see her again.  

And this time, no wolf would save him. Because this time, the wolves were the ones sending him forward.

---

Midnight.

I left the den. Alone.

The moon above was red. Like it had already been soaked in blood.  

The air was heavy. Smelled like rain, dirt, and iron.

From the southwest, a howl rose. Long. Hoarse. A challenge.

The Wolf King.

I drew in a breath. Then I answered.  

A roar. Deep. Low. It shook the ground down to the roots.

“They’re baiting us, King,” Bayu said, suddenly beside me. “They’re starving. A starving animal is the most dangerous. They’ll do anything.”

I smiled. Thin. No happiness in it.  

“Good. Let them all come. Then we end it at once.”

I raised my hand. Pointed into the dark forest.  

“At dawn. We wait at the eastern border post. In the ravine. Narrow ground. They can’t surround us.”

“And then?”  

“Kill them all.” My voice was flat. “Except one.”

Bayu looked at me. “Who?”  

“Raka.”  

My fist clenched. “That’s the Queen’s business.”

Bayu didn’t ask again. He was an old soldier. He knew when to shut up.

I turned back inside. Before I went in, I looked one last time toward the southwest.

The war couldn’t be delayed anymore.  

This wasn’t about territory anymore. Or food. Or dominance.

This was about blood.

Alina’s blood. Spilled by my hands twice.  

And that debt had to be paid. In full.

And tomorrow, payment begins.

_TO BE CONTINUED_