Chapter 55: Shadows of the Heart

The forest trail was cloaked in mist as Serena led the southern scouting team before dawn. Every crunch of underbrush beneath her boots sent a message to the earth: I’m watching. I’m listening. I’m ready.

Beside her, Cade moved silently, his nostrils flaring. “The scent trail ends near the river. Whoever they were, they’re good.”

Serena crouched low, fingers brushing the damp leaves. “Too good. Rogues don’t usually double back like this.”

She stood and glanced across the valley. Her instincts itched. Something was wrong—beyond the silence, beyond the faint metallic tang in the air. It wasn’t just danger—it was intent.

They were being watched.

Serena signaled the team to split. As they fanned out, her thoughts tugged toward last night. Elias’s words still echoed in her chest like a slow burn. And Theron… his concern, his restraint—it haunted her just as much.

You’re not just a warrior… You’re still allowed to feel.

But how could she feel anything clearly when her heart was being pulled in two opposite directions?

A sudden rustle yanked her focus back. Cade signaled from the treeline. Serena drew her dagger and crept closer, eyes scanning through the undergrowth.

They found tracks—fresh ones. Big. Heavy. Not wolf.

“Humanoid,” Cade muttered. “But not entirely.”

Before she could process that, a sharp whistle cut through the air—alarm. A flare from the east side of their perimeter shot up in red sparks.

“Intrusion,” she hissed. “Move!”

Serena bolted through the trees, shifting mid-stride into her wolf form. Her sleek silver fur cut through the fog like lightning. The scouts were under attack—ambushed by cloaked figures with gleaming weapons that shimmered unnaturally under moonlight.

These weren’t ordinary rogues.

They were trained. Silent. Deadly.

Serena leapt into the fray, claws slashing, instincts sharp. But it wasn’t just about fighting. She watched. She counted. These attackers weren’t trying to kill—they were trying to test them.

Why?

With a powerful growl, she tackled the last masked assailant and pinned him to the forest floor, blade at his throat. His mask slipped.

And Serena froze.

His eyes weren’t red like typical rogues. They were green. Familiar. And his scent—it wasn’t completely foreign.

It was mixed.

Part-wolf. Part-something else.

Before she could interrogate him, he grinned—and bit down on something in his mouth. Poison.

He was dead in seconds.

“Dammit,” she cursed, shifting back to human form. Blood dripped from her brow as she looked down at the stranger. “Who the hell are you people?”

Back at the pack infirmary, Serena watched the healers tend to two injured scouts. She debriefed Alpha Doran quickly, leaving out only the most dangerous detail: the attacker’s eyes. His scent.

She needed more information before she raised panic.

Later that evening, Serena stood alone on the training field, tossing a dagger from hand to hand. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this attack was connected to her. That these men weren’t after the pack—they were after her.

“You’ve been avoiding me again,” came Elias’s voice.

She didn’t turn. “Because every time I see you, I forget how to hate you.”

He stepped closer, just enough to make her heart twitch. “Maybe that’s because you never truly hated me.”

“I should,” she whispered.

“You don’t.”

She sighed and turned slowly. His eyes were softer than usual, lined with exhaustion. But there was something more behind them tonight.

Regret.

“I thought I was protecting you,” he said quietly. “That leaving you behind would keep you safe. But I see now that I didn’t just leave—I broke something. In you. In me.”

Her lips parted, unsure how to respond.

“I can’t take it back,” he went on, “but if there’s anything I can do to earn your forgiveness—”

“Don’t ask for it,” she interrupted. “Just show me. Be the man I needed back then. Be him now.”

Elias stepped even closer. His fingers brushed hers, hesitant but warm. “And if I still want to fight for you?”

Serena didn’t pull away. “Then fight fair.”

They were inches apart. The tension was thick, but not rushed. This time, it wasn’t about desperation. It was about choice.

But just as Elias’s lips hovered near hers, a throat cleared behind them.

Theron stood at the edge of the field, arms crossed, his expression unreadable.

“Am I interrupting?” he asked, but his tone said he already knew the answer.

Serena stepped back. Her heart was a mess. “What is it?”

Theron’s gaze flicked to Elias before landing on her. “You asked me to look into that crest we found on the attacker’s weapon.”

Serena stiffened. “And?”

Theron tossed a scroll into her hands. “It’s not rogue. It belongs to a long-dead house… one that once ruled a northern hybrid clan.”

“Hybrid?” Elias echoed.

Theron nodded grimly. “Part witch. Part wolf.”

Serena’s blood ran cold.

The war wasn’t just about packs and power. It was about bloodlines.

And Serena was more connected to the storm than she ever imagined.