The dawn broke with a sullen sky, casting a gray pall over the rogue encampment. Charollet sat by the dying embers of the communal fire, her fingers stained with charcoal as she sketched absentmindedly on a scrap of parchment. The lines formed a visage stern eyes, a cruel smirk, Kade's face etched into the paper as if her hand moved of its own accord.
She crumpled the drawing, tossing it into the fire. The flames licked at the paper hungrily, consuming the image as swiftly as he had invaded her life.
Mia approached, her footsteps soft against the earth. "Couldn't sleep?"
Charollet shook her head. "Nightmares."
Mia sat beside her, offering a piece of dried meat. "He's dangerous, Charollet. You need to be careful."
"I know," she whispered, accepting the food.
The camp stirred to life slowly, the rogues emerging from their tents, eyes wary and movements sluggish. The atmosphere was tense, a palpable unease settling over the group like a shroud.
Kade stood at the center of the camp, his presence commanding attention. His gaze swept over the rogues, a predator surveying his domain.
"Gather around," he called, his voice slicing through the morning air.
The rogues assembled, forming a loose circle around him. Charollet remained seated, her heart pounding.
"We have a traitor among us," Kade announced, his eyes locking onto hers.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
"Charollet," he continued, "has been deceiving us. She is no wolf. She is a human spy, sent to infiltrate our ranks."
Gasps and whispers erupted.
"That's not true!" Charollet stood, her voice trembling. "I've lived here my entire life."
Kade's smirk widened. "And yet, you've never shifted. Not once in nineteen years."
"Some wolves shift later," Mia interjected, stepping forward.
"Silence," Kade snapped. "Your judgment is clouded by sentiment."
Viktor emerged from the crowd, his expression grim. "This is madness, Kade. She's one of us."
"Is she?" Kade challenged. "Or have we been harboring a threat?"
The rogues exchanged uneasy glances.
"She rejected me," Kade continued, his tone venomous. "Spurned my claim. Disrespected the hierarchy."
Charollet's eyes widened. "This is about your ego?"
"This is about order," he retorted. "About loyalty."
He turned to the crowd. "We cannot afford weakness. She must be punished."
"What are you suggesting?" Viktor demanded.
"Exile," Kade declared. "Effective immediately."
"No!" Mia protested. "She won't survive out there alone."
"Then perhaps she should have thought of that before betraying us," Kade replied coldly.
The rogues hesitated, uncertainty flickering in their eyes.
"Do you stand with the pack," Kade challenged, "or with a traitor?"
One by one, the rogues stepped back, distancing themselves from Charollet.
Viktor's shoulders sagged. "I'm sorry, child."
Charollet's vision blurred with tears as the reality settled in. She was alone.
They bound her hands and led her to the edge of the territory, the forest looming ahead like a maw ready to consume her.
"Any last words?" Kade sneered.
Charollet met his gaze, her voice steady. "You may cast me out, but you will never break me."
He chuckled. "We'll see."
With a shove, she stumbled into the woods, the bonds cutting into her wrists as she disappeared into the shadows.
Days blurred together as Charollet wandered, hunger gnawing at her insides and exhaustion weighing her down. The forest was unforgiving, its beauty masking the dangers that lurked within.
She collapsed beside a stream, her strength waning. The sound of footsteps approached, and she looked up to see a group of men, their expressions hard.
"Well, what do we have here?" one of them drawled.
"A rogue, by the looks of it," another replied.
"Or perhaps a runaway," the first mused. "Either way, she could fetch a good price."
Charollet tried to rise, but her limbs betrayed her.
"Don't struggle," the man said, binding her hands anew. "It'll be easier that way."
The slave market was a cacophony of noise and despair. Charollet stood on the auction block, her clothes tattered and her spirit battered.
"Next up," the auctioneer announced, "a rare find. A rogue female, unshifted but with potential."
Bidders murmured, intrigued.
"Strong, resilient, and untouched," the auctioneer continued. "Who will start the bidding?"
Hands shot up, and the price climbed rapidly.
Charollet's gaze swept over the crowd, landing on a figure cloaked in shadows. Kade.
He met her eyes, a satisfied smirk playing on his lips.
"Sold!" the auctioneer declared, pointing to a man in the front row.
As she was led away, Charollet's heart hardened. She had been betrayed, cast out, and sold. But she would endure. She would survive.
And one day, she would reclaim her destiny.
Charollet felt the dawn break over the shrine with a weight in her chest she could not name. When morning light filtered across the glassy surface of the ancient pool she had touched days before, the water had remained still, almost lifeless. But beneath the surface she sensed something stirring. Not magic. Not blood. Something older. Something that had waited for her arrival.She awoke in silence. The tents around the shrine slept under pale skies. Redmaw warriors had formed a ring of watch but none entered the shrine circle itself. Volgrin had insisted on a safe boundary. Not distance born of fear but ritual respect. Today was important. Everything would shift.The morning air was gray and cold, sharper than Charollet expected. She pushed the blanket from her shoulders and stepped toward the circle. The ground underfoot felt alive. A quiet thrum echoed through
The woods had turned strange. Trees whispered in a voice Charollet could not understand. Their trunks twisted toward her as if remembering something ancient. The branches sagged under the weight of snow that did not fall, casting the trail in dull silver. They had walked for days now, deeper into the wilderness that bordered the northeastern edge of the realm. Volgrin walked ahead, surrounded by his guards, his pace unwavering. Behind him, Redmaw warriors flanked Charollet with cruel vigilance. She was not bound, not anymore, but she may as well have been. The threat of their claws kept her silent.Each step felt heavier. The path they followed was barely visible beneath layers of pine needles and frost. It did not resemble a road so much as a memory, resurrected from the earth for their passage. She had begun to notice how the birds no longer sang. Even the wolves, creatures of sound and scent, made no noise here. Whatever place they neared, it had a soul. One that watched.Volgrin’s
The air inside the Redmaw stronghold felt thick with ash and old secrets. Charollet had lost count of the days. Sunlight never touched the stone floor of the room they kept her in. Instead, a dull crimson glow filtered through the blood-tinted glass above, painting her skin with the color of dried wounds. The silence was deceptive, disturbed only by the occasional howl that drifted through the cracks in the mountain walls.She sat curled on a cot that was too thin to bring rest. Her wrists were bruised, not from chains, but from the cold grip of the warriors who came and went as if she were a relic. They touched her only when necessary, spoke little, and avoided her eyes. The few words they did speak were orders or prayers. They treated her not as a prisoner, but as something far more dangerous.As if she might unmake them with a single breath.The door groaned open again. Volgrin entered, his heavy boots leaving streaks of mud and frost across the stone floor. His presence filled the
The Redmaw stronghold was unlike Darkfang’s great stone halls. It rose from the mountain’s belly like a wound, a fortress carved into black rock and braced with iron spines. No moonlight reached its deepest corridors. No warmth lingered in its breathless chambers. It was a prison made not only of stone, but of silence.Charollet had not seen the sky in days.The chamber she was held in was low and narrow, a crescent of carved obsidian and dirt packed hard enough to scrape skin. There were no windows, only a thin vent of smoke through which the torchlight above flickered and sent ribbons of soot to collect on the uneven floor. Her arms ached where iron shackles pressed bone against stone. She had long since stopped struggling.But she had not stopped thinking.She had not cried, either.Volgrin had ensured that. Tears, he told her, were a luxury for the unbroken.Each day, he came down to see her. Never at the same hour. Sometimes with food. Other times, with threats.Always with inten
Before Kade was a warrior, before he was a Beta, and long before he ever dreamed of claiming the Darkfang throne, he was a child hiding behind stone pillars, watching wolves tear each other apart.He had not been born into power. His mother was a healer, soft-spoken and too kind for the cold stone halls that ruled the Darkfang Pack. His father had been a warrior, brutal and quick-tempered, killed in a border skirmish when Kade was five years old. After his death, Kade and his mother had been moved to the servants' quarters. Their rooms were narrow, their windows too small, and their words had to be chosen carefully. There were ears everywhere in Darkfang. Even the stone listened.In those early years, Kade learned not to speak unless spoken to. He learned how to walk without making sound, how to count the seconds between patrols, and how to disappear into shadows. He had to. Because the pack he belonged to was not merciful.Darkfang’s glory had always been forged in blood. That was wh