The Howl Beyond Borders

The silence after Lena’s words was a silence that cut to the bone.

Kade stood across from her in the center of the lodge, his scarred chest bare, his arms braced against the table as though the weight of her vision might crush him if he didn’t hold himself steady. His golden eyes were burning, but not with their usual fire. This was something darker—fear buried in rage, the kind of emotion only an Alpha could carry without breaking.

“You saw them.” His voice was low, rough, almost disbelieving. “You saw blood. My wolves. My people.”

Lena swallowed, her throat dry. “I didn’t ask for it, Kade. It just—came.”

“Visions don’t just come.” He slammed his palm down, the wood groaning beneath the strike. “Not unless the Moon Goddess has her claws in you. And if She does…” His gaze snapped to her, sharp as a blade. “It means war is closer than I thought.”

The lodge air thickened. Around them, wolves shifted uneasily, murmuring to each other, the whispers echoing like an undercurrent. Fear. Suspicion. Awe. Lena’s stomach knotted as she caught fragments:

Human blood doesn’t carry visions.

She’s not one of us—she’s cursed.

Or chosen.

Kade bared his teeth, a growl silencing the room in an instant. “Quiet.”

But even silence couldn’t erase the doubt. Lena felt it pricking at her skin, dozens of eyes on her, measuring, judging. The bite on her neck still throbbed faintly, and though she fought not to show it, every nerve inside her was alive with heat, as if her body was trying to reconcile what she was becoming.

“Kade…” Her voice trembled before she steadied it. “What did I see?”

He stared at her like a man looking into the mouth of a storm. “A truth you weren’t meant to carry. Blood on our soil means betrayal, Lena. Someone inside these walls is feeding Cassian information. And if he knows our defenses…” His jaw tightened, cords standing out against his neck. “He’ll tear through Blackwood until nothing’s left.”

Her chest squeezed. “Then we have to prepare. Warn the others—”

“You think I haven’t?” His snarl cracked like thunder. Then softer, rawer: “It isn’t enough. Not when my own pack is already doubting me because of you.”

The words cut, sharper than any fang. Lena’s breath caught, but before she could reply, a movement near the circle of wolves made the air shift.

A man stepped forward. Broad, scarred, with eyes the color of cold steel. She recognized him instantly—the wolf who had watched her most closely since her claiming, never bowing as deep as the others, his respect laced with challenge. His name was Rourke, one of Kade’s strongest betas.

He crossed his arms, voice booming through the lodge. “An Alpha who binds himself to a half-blood Luna is an Alpha who invites ruin. The pack feels it. The rogues smell it. You’re blinded by her scent, Kade, and it’s costing us.”

A ripple of tension cut through the wolves. Some nodded. Others stiffened, eyes darting between Rourke and their Alpha.

Lena’s stomach lurched, her fingers curling into fists. “Half-blood?” she spat. “I didn’t ask for any of this—”

“Enough.” Kade’s growl vibrated through the air, silencing even the fire crackle. He stepped forward, towering, dominance rolling off him like smoke and iron. “Choose your words carefully, Rourke.”

But the wolf didn’t flinch. He bared his teeth in something close to a grin. “I have. If you’re too blind to see what your Luna’s turning into, then maybe it’s time the pack chooses a leader who isn’t chained by a human throat.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd. A challenge. Spoken plainly, boldly.

Kade’s jaw flexed. His eyes gleamed, molten gold. “You think you can stand against me?”

“I think the pack deserves a leader whose blood isn’t diluted by weakness,” Rourke growled. His gaze flicked to Lena, cold and sharp. “And a Luna who isn’t cursed by visions of death.”

The wolves stirred, torn between fear and bloodlust. The scent of it thickened the air. Lena’s heart thundered, and beneath it—something else. A pulse, a rhythm not her own, awakening inside her skin. Her wolf.

Her breath came faster, chest rising and falling as heat coursed through her veins. The voices of the pack faded into a hum. She could hear Kade’s heartbeat, deep and steady, hear the faint rustle of the pine trees outside as though her senses were stretching further, hungrier.

Kade’s hand closed around her wrist, grounding her, even as his gaze never left Rourke. “You want to challenge me?” His voice was a low growl now, steady, final. “Then you’ll have it.”

The circle widened. Wolves shifted on instinct, forming the ancient arena of blood and dominance. The lodge trembled with the weight of tradition—of the ritual that had crowned Alphas and buried challengers for centuries.

But before the first move could be made, before claw could meet flesh, a sound split the air.

A howl.

Long. Low. Wrong.

It wasn’t the cry of a wolf pledging to its Alpha, nor the hunt-song of a pack on the move. It was deeper, hungrier. And it came from beyond the trees—past the border.

The room froze. Even Rourke’s defiance faltered. Every ear strained, every chest stilled.

The howl rose again, chilling, a sound that didn’t belong to Blackwood.

Kade’s head turned slowly, eyes narrowing. His voice was iron. “Cassian.”

The lodge seemed to exhale all at once—every wolf stiff, every breath caught in their throats. The howl lingered in the air, a shadow draped over the pack, carrying promises of blood and ruin.

Kade’s head lifted, nostrils flaring as if scent alone could confirm what instinct already screamed: the enemy was at their doorstep. His golden gaze shifted to Rourke, whose defiance had curdled into unease.

“You hear it,” Kade said, voice steady as steel drawn from a forge. “That is no challenge you want to waste breath on. Not when Cassian’s rogues are breathing down our border.”

Rourke’s jaw clenched. Pride warred with caution in the tightening of his muscles, the twitch of his shoulders. For a moment, Lena thought he might still strike—might throw himself against Kade in blind arrogance. But then the howl came again, closer this time, and the weight of it pressed every wolf in the room toward obedience.

Somehow, Lena felt it too. The mark on her neck burned hot, as if reacting to the foreign presence at the edge of their land. Her skin prickled with an instinct she didn’t understand, like her body knew those howls weren’t just sounds but threats etched in blood.

Kade finally stepped away from the circle, his voice carrying the command of an Alpha no one could ignore. “The challenge waits. Any wolf who puts ego above survival will answer to me after the threat is gone.”

His gaze seared into Rourke, sharp enough to strip him raw. Rourke bared his teeth but didn’t move, not even when Kade turned his back on him. That alone told Lena the balance had shifted—defiance didn’t matter when fear prowled outside the walls.

Kade’s attention fell to her, and in his eyes was something she hadn’t seen before: fury tempered with protectiveness so sharp it cut. “You saw this,” he growled, low enough for her ears alone. “You saw it before it came.”

Her lips parted. “I—I didn’t know it was real. I didn’t want—”

“It doesn’t matter what you wanted.” His hand gripped her chin, firm, unyielding. “You’ve been marked by something greater than me. The Goddess herself has tied you to this fight.”

Lena’s pulse stuttered. The heat beneath her skin swelled, her wolf stirring again. It wasn’t just lust, wasn’t just the bond—it was hunger, ancient and sharp, demanding to rise.

Kade must have felt it too, because his grip softened, his thumb brushing her jaw. His voice lowered, almost gentle. “Don’t fight it, Lena. Not tonight. We need every shred of what you are becoming.”

Before she could answer, the door to the lodge burst open. A scout stumbled inside, his chest heaving, eyes wide with terror. “Alpha—the border’s breached. They’re pouring in. Dozens—no, hundreds.”

Chaos erupted. Wolves leapt to their feet, snarling, some shifting mid-stride as instinct overrode civility. The room crackled with urgency, the pack surging into motion.

Kade’s roar cut through it all. “Form lines! Protect the dens first—warriors with me!”

Every wolf snapped to order, but the fear beneath the obedience was undeniable. Lena felt it thrum through the room like a drumbeat. She wasn’t a wolf, not truly—not yet—but even she knew the border was sacred. For rogues to cross it meant war wasn’t looming—it had begun.

Rourke’s eyes darted between Kade and the door. His pride refused to bow, but survival clawed at him harder. At last he spat, “This isn’t finished.” Then he shifted, bones cracking, fur rippling down his body until a massive grey wolf stood where the man had been. He bounded out the door, a blur of fury and muscle.

Kade didn’t spare him another glance. He turned to Lena, closing the distance in two strides. His hands gripped her shoulders, his gaze burning into hers. “Stay behind me.”

“I can fight,” she blurted, the words shocking even herself.

“No.” His growl was absolute. “Not yet. You don’t even know what you’re holding inside you.”

The mark on her neck seared, and she flinched. “But I feel it, Kade. I feel something. If I can help—”

“You’ll help by surviving.” He leaned down, his forehead pressing briefly to hers, a fleeting touch in the storm. “If you fall, I fall. And if I fall—Blackwood burns.”

Then he tore himself away, his body shifting in an explosion of sound and power. Bones stretched, fur erupted, his spine curving as his beast emerged. In seconds, Kade stood before her as the black wolf—bigger, darker, more terrifying than anything Lena had ever imagined. His golden eyes caught hers, unbreakable even through the blur of his form.

Mine, the bond whispered through her blood. Always mine.

Then he was gone, a blur of shadow vanishing into the night.

Lena stood frozen, heart pounding, breath sharp. Around her, wolves poured out the doors, their howls rising to meet the enemy’s. The sound filled the air, clashing chorus against chorus, as though the forest itself had become a battlefield.

She should have been terrified. And she was. But beneath the fear, something else pulsed in her chest—something wild, restless, eager. Her wolf was clawing at its cage, demanding release, demanding she step into the storm instead of hiding from it.

Her hands curled into fists. She wasn’t ready—Kade was right. But if the border fell, if Cassian broke through, hiding wouldn’t matter.

Lena took a breath, steadying herself. The mark throbbed like a drumbeat, guiding her, pulling her toward the door. Toward him.

And beyond, the howl rose again—closer now, hungrier, a challenge not just to Kade, but to her.