The Last Howl

The circle was drawn in blood.

Lena stood on the ridge, the cold night pressing against her skin, her breath mingling with the steam of the gathered pack. Every wolf in Blackwood stood silent, golden eyes reflecting the pale moon, their bodies taut with expectation. Not a whisper moved through them, only the weight of tradition—the law older than fire, older than crowns.

The duel of Alphas.

Across the circle of trampled earth, Cassian stood bare-chested, his body a lattice of scars that gleamed like white lightning against his skin. His smile was a blade, sharp and eager, as if the thought of blood excited him. His wolves lined the opposite ridge, snarling low, hungry to see their Alpha rise above Kade.

But it was Kade who drew Lena’s gaze—always Kade.

He stood at the center of the circle, stripped to nothing but power. His shoulders glistened with the sheen of the moon, muscles carved from fury and strength. The scar over his brow burned silver under the light. His golden eyes flickered, restless with the beast inside, yet steady in their defiance. He looked like the night itself had shaped him, like he belonged to the soil beneath his feet.

And when his gaze lifted to hers—just hers—the bond burned between them.

Don’t come closer, his voice slipped into her mind, sharp as a command. Not tonight. This is mine.

Lena’s wolf pressed against her skin, furious with the order. Her claws ached, her breath quickened. She wanted to leap, to tear, to fight alongside him. But Kade’s dominance wrapped around her like chains. She clenched her fists, nails biting into her palms, her heart a drumbeat of rebellion.

The elder wolf stepped forward, his fur streaked with white, his voice booming across the circle.

“Blood has been challenged. The moon bears witness. Two Alphas enter. One leaves.”

A howl ripped through the night, shattering the silence.

Cassian’s wolves answered in a chorus of rage, their voices guttural, broken, triumphant before the fight had even begun. The Blackwood wolves did not sing—not yet. They watched. They waited for their Alpha’s call.

Kade rolled his shoulders, his body lowering into a crouch. He bared his teeth—not in human mockery, but in the promise of the beast that lived beneath his skin.

Cassian laughed, sharp and cruel. “I’ll enjoy breaking you, Wilder. And when I take your mate, I’ll make her scream my name.”

The growl that came from Kade was not human.

His bones snapped, his body shuddered, and fur tore through flesh. In seconds, the Alpha of Blackwood towered in wolf form, massive and black as midnight, his eyes molten gold. Power radiated from him in waves, so raw that the earth itself seemed to flinch.

Cassian shifted with a roar of bone and sinew, his wolf larger than the rest, white-furred and streaked with scars. His eyes gleamed crimson under the moon, madness coiled deep in their glow.

The two wolves circled.

Each step cracked the ground. Each breath fogged the air between them.

Then, with a sound that was neither bark nor roar but something primal and ancient, they collided.

Fangs clashed against fangs. Claws raked fur and flesh. The sound was violence made flesh—wet, tearing, brutal.

Kade drove Cassian back, jaws snapping for his throat. Cassian twisted, his claws tearing deep into Kade’s flank, spraying the earth with blood. The pack snarled, restless, their bodies twitching with the need to leap in. But none could move. None but the Alphas.

Lena’s body trembled, every nerve lit like fire. She could feel each strike as if it landed on her own skin. When Kade’s teeth sank into Cassian’s shoulder, Lena gasped; when Cassian’s claws raked Kade’s ribs, Lena’s vision blurred. The bond tied her to every wound, every triumph.

The wolves tore apart the earth with their fury, a storm of fur and blood and teeth. The night roared with their battle, and the moon above drank in the violence.

Still, neither Alpha yielded.

Not yet.

Blood soaked the soil.

Kade’s massive body crashed into Cassian’s, driving him into the ground with bone-shaking force. The Blackwood Alpha’s jaws clamped on his rival’s throat, teeth sinking until the white wolf howled, thrashing beneath him. For a heartbeat it seemed over—Cassian’s legs kicking weakly, the sound of flesh tearing—

But Cassian was not finished.

With a violent twist, he rolled, claws digging into Kade’s ribs. He raked down, opening furrows so deep that hot blood spilled across the dirt. The scent of iron filled the air, sharp, intoxicating, maddening.

The watching wolves snapped their jaws and snarled, caught in the frenzy of it. Some of Cassian’s pack howled, baying for their Alpha’s kill. Blackwood’s wolves remained stone-still, their silence a vow: they would not interfere. Their Alpha fought his battle alone.

Lena could not breathe.

Every strike cut into her as if the bond made her body the battlefield. Her chest burned with each wound. Her hands shook, claws threatening to burst through her skin. She gritted her teeth, but the ache was unbearable. Her wolf clawed at her insides, howling to be freed.

He’s mine too, the wolf inside snarled. If he dies, we die with him.

Kade staggered, one leg buckling. Cassian lunged, massive jaws locking around his shoulder. The sound of bone cracking split the night. Kade roared, shoving forward, his claws slashing across Cassian’s eye, leaving a bloody groove.

They tore apart the earth, bodies slamming again and again, until the circle was nothing but churned soil and crimson stains.

Lena’s nails dug crescents into her palms. She couldn’t just stand there. She wouldn’t.

Cassian pinned Kade, jaws pressing at his throat. The white wolf growled low, savoring the kill. “Submit,” he rasped, his voice carrying even in this form, harsh and cruel. “Yield, and I’ll grant you a quick end. Fight, and I’ll make her watch as I—”

The words died in his throat.

Because Kade surged up with a fury that was not only his own.

The bond blazed between them, fire roaring through Lena’s veins, pouring into him. Her wolf’s power leapt, bleeding into Kade, strengthening his broken body. She felt it—the transfer, the wild rush of energy, the raw, savage unity of them.

Kade’s golden eyes flared brighter than the moon.

With a roar that shook the mountains, he slammed Cassian to the ground and drove his fangs into the white wolf’s throat.

The sound of flesh ripping, bone breaking, blood pouring—it silenced the field. Cassian writhed, claws scrabbling against Kade’s flank, but the Blackwood Alpha did not let go. He crushed down harder, jaws locking until the rival Alpha’s howls faded into choking gurgles.

Then, with one final wrench, Cassian went still.

Dead.

The silence that followed was absolute.

Then Blackwood howled.

The pack’s voices rose like a storm, a sound that shook Lena to her bones. The wolves sang their Alpha’s victory, their song a wall of power and pride.

Kade lifted his blood-drenched muzzle to the moon and answered with a howl of his own—deep, commanding, final. The sound tore through the night like thunder, echoing across the mountains. The last howl of Cassian’s reign, the first of Kade’s uncontested dominance.

Lena swayed, her wolf still clawing at her ribs, half in agony, half in triumph. She pressed a hand to her neck where his bite mark burned hotter than ever. She belonged to that howl. To him. To this night of blood and victory.

And she knew, as the wolves sang and Cassian’s body bled into the soil, that nothing would ever be the same again.