AVABy the time we dragged ourselves back to the pack house, the sky was already starting to change. Dawn was coming in, and now the sky and clouds were washed in a soft orange color.My legs felt like lead, my body felt really heavy, and my head was pounding. But it wasn’t just the run back to the house that was making me weak. It was everything. The fighting. The fear. And the secrets I still didn’t know.When we walked in through the front doors, the sight that met us made my stomach twist.The foyer wasn’t empty. It was full of people. Alpha Thomas was standing at the front. His eyes were sharp and his face was hard as steel. Beside him were the council members, each one with their arms crossed, and their faces filled with anger.My body went still immediately, then I felt Roman’s hand in mine as he tried to reassure me, but even that small touch couldn’t stop the lump that rose in my throat.“You barely made it back before dawn,” Alpha Thomas said. His voice was low but we could
ZADEThe night air was thick, and the woods felt too quiet. That was always the first sign that something was wrong. There should have been wolves howling in the distance. Owls should have been hooting, and crickets should have been buzzing too. Instead, there was nothing. Only silence.Two nights before the fight, our patrol caught sight of shadows moving along the southern border.“Bloodfang scouts,” Axel muttered. He was crouched low and his claws were almost out. His wolf was itching to rip something apart, and honestly, mine was too.Roman nodded. “We have to take them out before they get too far in.”We moved fast, walking through the trees without a sound. My eyes kept tracking every little movement. Bloodfangs were good at blending into the dark, but they weren’t better than me.We saw three of them at first. They were slim with dark fur, and they were moving like they owned the place. When they saw us, I expected them to attack us. That’s what they should have done. They wer
AVATraining only got worse after the challenge from the Bloodfangs Alpha. The triplets made sure there were no breaks, no excuses, and no time to breathe. Every single day, I was either sparring with one of them, running drills until my lungs burned, or fighting until my arms felt like jelly. They didn’t hold back. They used claws, fangs, and fists that left bruises everywhere. Nothing was off limits anymore.“Let’s go again,” Roman ordered after he’d slammed me onto the dirt for the fifth time that morning.I groaned and rolled onto my side. “I think my bones hate you.”“Then make them stronger,” he shot back. He wasn’t even sweating while I looked like I had been dragged through a battlefield multiple times.Zade crossed his arms and watched from the edge of the training field. His eyes followed every movement. He wasn’t sparring with me this time, but I could feel him silently judging me. Alex leaned against a post, yawning like he wasn’t interested, but I knew he was watching to
AXELThe howl filled the night, freezing the blood in my veins for a moment. My heart started to pound hard against my chest as the four of us ran toward the training yard, which was where the sound came from. None of us spoke, but we all knew the howl meant trouble.By the time we got there, the stench of blood was already thick in the air.A warrior lay on the dirt with claw marks all over his chest and blood soaking his shirt. He was alive, but barely. He was breathing raggedly, and his eyes were fluttering like he was fighting to stay conscious.And standing over him, like he had all the time in the world, was Blake Coleman.He wasn’t running. He wasn’t even trying to hide. He just stood there with his shoulders relaxed, and a wide grin on his face like he was enjoying a private joke all by himself.“Blake,” I growled, already curling my hands into fists because I was ready to attack him.Zade didn’t waste any time saying anything like I did. He charged straight at Blake immediat
AVAThe first thing I noticed when I woke up was the smell. The whole room was filled with the smell of herbs. It felt bitter and sharp, like mint mixed with smoke. My head was pounding, my throat was raw, and every breath I took in was with some effort. I blinked a few times until the blurry ceiling above me stopped spinning.I wasn’t in my room. The wallpaper was different, and bundles of dried plants were hanging from the beams above. It looked like a healer’s room. I was lying on a narrow bed, and my body was covered in thick blankets. My arms ached like I’d been carrying boulders.Some movement caught my eye just then. Axel was sitting in the chair next to me with a knife in his hand. He wasn’t looking at me; his gaze was focused on the weapon he was sharpening, and for a moment, that was the only sound in the room.His expression was blank—really blank—the way it got when he was pissed but didn’t want to talk about it.“You’re awake,” he said without looking up.“Barely,” I cro
ZADEWe didn’t waste a second as soon as we heard the guard’s statement. We were already moving as fast as we could. The eastern watchtower had fallen. So this was where their Alpha had led them all to after disappearing in a cloud of smoke…?But that wasn’t supposed to happen. The tower guarded the weakest part of our pack. If it was gone, then the Bloodfangs could cause a lot more harm to us. We ran without stopping. The smell of smoke got thicker the closer we got there. The smoke slipped into my throat, burned it, and choked my lungs too, but I ran even harder and faster, refusing to let it slow me down. Ava was right beside me. Her breathing was sharp, and her eyes were glowing in the light from the sky.When we ran past the trees, the sight I was met with almost made my mouth fall open in shock. The watchtower was on fire. Flames were rising up the structure, the sky was filled with smoke, and there were sparks everywhere. The wooden beams inside were cracking and groaning a