LOGIN- RAVENAI stood there on the rocky ridge, the wind tearing at my grey coat, my fingers tightly gripping the edge of my basket to keep my hands from shaking. A wild, electric jolt of pure adrenaline shot straight up my spine, completely consuming the cold.Every six months.I had spent the last ninety days wondering how a wolfless, exiled rogue like me was ever going to get past the iron-clad gates of the most secure military academy in the north. I had been preparing to risk my life just to sneak over the outer walls. But the door wasn't locked. The door was right here, built by the very man who kept this village alive.I wasn't moving away from my vengeance. Without even realizing it, I had walked right into the epicenter of the plot. The path to Grand Alpha Roderic D’Arden didn't require me to scale a fortress; it required me to prove myself to Chief Rod."When..." I swallowed hard, forcing my voice to remain steady, though a dangerous, lethal spark was blooming in my chest. "When
- RAVENAThree months in the Hollow-Eye Remnant had done more than just heal my broken bones; it had given me a strange sort of peace. For the first time since the slaughter at the Valecrest estate, I wasn't looking over my shoulder every five seconds, waiting for a Crimsonridge executioner to drag me back to a cell.Life among the outcasts was quiet, built on a gentle rhythm of shared survival. It turned out that being a wolfless rogue was the only passport I needed to be trusted here. We all shared the same hollow space in our chests, the same quiet grief of being discarded by the high pack houses. Every day, I carved out a place for myself, helping in the communal kitchen and working in the small stone infirmary.I was honestly amazed the first time I walked into that clinic. For an underground village hidden in a volcanic crater, their shelves were incredibly well-stocked. They had clean bandages, high-grade surgical tools, and rows of rare tinctures that most rogue camps would h
- RAVENAThe small timber cabin Edith had given me was quiet, save for the rhythmic clicking of the dying embers in the hearth. For three days, I barely left the mattress. My body was paying the price for the miles I’d dragged it through, and every muscle felt like it had been shredded and stitched back together with rusty wire. The friction burns from the silver-iron shackles on my wrists were finally starting to scab over, thanks to a pungent moss salve Rayna had brought me, but the hollow ache where Astraea used to be remained. Without a wolf’s rapid healing, I was just a fragile, breakable human.Somewhere in the deep, freezing middle of the night, the ambient temperature in the cabin suddenly shifted.I woke up with a gasp, my hand instantly flying to the heavy Crimson Gibcasite pendant resting against my collarbone. It wasn't the bitter winter wind that had startled me awake. It was the strange air. The draft coming through the floorboards suddenly felt dense and dry, carryi
- RAVENAThe journey deeper into the woods felt like a slow, agonizing march through a labyrinth designed to swallow people whole. The tall woman kept her silence as she marched ahead at a relentless pace. Rayna trotted silently beside her with her tiny bare feet.I had to struggle just to keep from falling behind. The oversized trousers kept slipping down my hips, forcing me to clutch the thick waistband with one hand while using the other to hoist myself up the steep incline. My legs were still shaking from days of running without food, but the real agony was the deep, throbbing ache left by the Crimsonridge cells. My wrists and ankles were still raw and bloody from the heavy silver-iron shackles they’d chained me with, and my back was stiff from the beatings the enforcers handed out like daily rations. The Council’s binding ritual had left my entire nervous system feeling like it had been set on fire. Every step reminded me of the hell they'd put me through.We climbed higher,
- RAVENARayna shrank back so fast she practically dissolved into the thick trunk of the pine tree. Her small shoulders shook under her wool shawl, her eyes fixed on the dirt as if looking at her mother would somehow make things worse. One look at the kid was enough to see how frightened she was.I didn't want to get a child killed, and I definitely didn't want to get my throat ripped out by a woman who looked like she could snap me in half with her mind.Using the rough bark of the tree behind me, I forced myself up. My knees wobbled violently, my feet slipping slightly on the slick moss, but I managed to stay upright, leaning heavily against the trunk just to keep from collapsing right back into the dirt."She didn't do anything," I croaked out, my voice cracking. "It’s my fault. I’m just... I'm harmless. Look at me."The woman’s pale eyes didn't soften. They stayed sharp as flint, tracking the way my hands shook against the bark."I'm wolfless," I said, the words scraping their way
- RAVENAMy feet felt numb and heavy, and every step sent an ache through my back. Between the injury after the Council's punishment, an escape through the freezing river, the drop off that waterfall, the lack of a wolf to keep me warm, and the hollow emptiness in my stomach, I was completely running on fumes. I hadn't eaten a real meal in days. My throat had gone completely dry, making every swallow a struggle.I didn't know where I was going anymore. I was just putting one foot in front of the other, moving away from the border, away from the Crimsonridge Pack, and away from that angry, paralyzed wolf by the pool.Eventually, the forest started to spin. The dark pines blurred together into a messy green smear, and my knees buckled. I didn't even try to catch myself. I just tipped forward, collapsing onto a bed of frozen moss beneath a massive, ancient pine. The ground was hard and unforgiving, but right then, it felt like a feather bed. I let my eyes close, the freezing cold wrappin
- RAVENAI woke to the feeling of rough hands dragging me across the cold stone floor. All I could sense was gray light and voices yelling around me. They didn't even bother to open the cell door properly, just ripped the hinges from the frame."Time to face your punishment, kinslayer," one of the
- RODERICI was doomed. I began to realize that I was never getting out of this fucking wheelchair. It was like a moving cage. I clenched the metal rim until my fingers blanched as I dragged myself an inch forward, simply to feel the metal against my skin. My legs were like twigs, useless limbs co
- RAVENAThe stone under my feet was slippery with things that I didn't give a shit about. As I moved around, each step took me deeper into the damp, and my shredded tunic smelled of old urine and rotting waste. I smuggled a lot of extra weight around my throat. My inner wolf, Astraea, should have
- RAVENAI smelled of death before I saw my mom, before she even spoke.And I knew that the world was gone before she dragged me away to our secret chamber.I was leaning my back against the chilly rock of the secret niche, and my body trembled so that I thought my bones would clatter.The fragrance







