Chapter 4: My Sister Sent Them To Kill Me

Raven’s POV 

My paws tore through the undergrowth, each stride reckless, causing me endless pain all over my body.

Ara pushed me faster, wanting me to survive, regardless of the strain on my body.

I did not know how to run. I only knew that the howls behind me were getting closer.

 I ran until my lungs were on fire; I was about to pass out. And then I caught three scents tangled together; I could only describe it as beautiful. Somehow, it gave me strength to keep running; I noticed my wolf running towards it. Like chocolate, and the rose buried under snow. I could also smell vanilla.

I did not have time to understand it. Matthew’s elite warriors had caught up with me.

Three wolves…Matthew’s elite warriors, their coats gray and scarred from battle…erupted from the trees, instantly forming a circle around me, blocking me.

The largest shifted to his human form.

He rose on two legs, naked and unashamed, a silver net coiled over one shoulder and a bow of black ash in his hand. His name was Kael, I remembered faintly. He had once bowed to me at pack gatherings. Now his eyes were flat and merciless.

“Rogue,” he spat. “You attacked the future Luna. By pack law, a rogue who strikes the Alpha’s mate is marked for death. We have the right to kill you where you stand.”

I bared my teeth; Ara’s fury poured through me like lava. I did not attack her. She fell.

But wolves do not negotiate. Kael raised his hand, and the others lunged at me.

The first came at my throat. I twisted, Ara’s instincts screaming, and my jaws closed on his shoulder. I shook him and threw him into a tree.

He slumped, whining. The second dove for my hind leg; I raked my claws across his muzzle, splitting it open. Blood sprayed across the ground.

They had underestimated me. Every one of them. They had expected a newly awakened wolf, clumsy and frightened. They had not expected Ara.

I was larger. Faster. My silver eyes seemed to read their movements before they made them. I danced between them, injuring them but trying my best to keep them alive.

Another warrior fell, clutching his side. A fourth yelped as my fangs grazed his spine.

But they were not fools.

“Silver!” Kael roared.

The first arrow took me in the flank. The pain was too much; it felt like I was dying, burning through fur and flesh like acid. I stumbled, my leg buckling. The second arrow buried itself in my shoulder. I screamed.

Then the net came down over me, weighted with silver thread, and every point of contact was agony.

I thrashed, trying to get it off, but the net only tightened, the silver eating into my skin.

The shift ripped out of me against my will.

I collapsed onto the forest floor in human form, naked and bleeding, the net cutting red lines into my arms and legs. My breath came in shallow gasps. My body felt hollowed out, as if Ara had been scraped from my ribs with a knife.

Kael stepped forward, knocking another arrow. “Hold her.”

They grabbed me, pinning my wrists behind my back. I tried to summon Ara again, but I could not reach her. I could not shift. I bared my teeth, thinking of what to do when I heard someone walking towards us.

Cassandra walked from the trees.

She had changed from my wedding gown into a riding habit of midnight blue, her black hair braided with silver ribbon, the Luna crown still nestled in the weave. She looked like a queen

on a hunt.

She looked like everything I was supposed to be.

Her eyes found me, and her face crumpled into perfect distress.

“Raven,” she gasped, rushing forward.

She dropped to her knees in the dirt beside me, her hands fluttering over my wounds without touching them. “Oh, sister. Please stop fighting. We are just doing what is best for you! Turning into a rogue will be a shame to our pack’s reputation, and not good for your own, too. Please. Let them help you. Let us bring you home.”

Her voice trembled with fake, disgusting love that I was getting sick and tired of hearing. Her eyes glistened with tears. The warriors around us softened, their grips on my arm reduced a little bit. I knew this was only for a second.

I saw Kael’s expression shift from hardened killer to reluctant protector, moved by the mercy of his future Luna.

Cassandra leaned closer, her lips brushing my ear, and her voice dropped to a whisper only I could hear.

“Why,” she breathed, “did you have to awaken your wolf now?”

The venom in the words was ice-cold. I turned my head, and her face was inches from mine, her blue eyes stripped of every pretense. There was no kindness there. No sisterhood. Only a raw hatred.

I understood then that she was afraid.

Afraid that my wolf was stronger than her rare white beast.

Afraid that Matthew would see me and remember what he had discarded. Afraid that the pack, the elders, our parents, would look at me and finally see what they were really throwing away.

Afraid that the Luna crown would not rest so easily on her head if the eldest daughter returned, awakened, and undeniably better and stronger than her.

“I spent years making them love me,” Cassandra whispered. Her fingers, so gentle before, dug her claws into my face. “I will not let you come back and take them away.”

She stood, smoothing her skirts, and turned to Kael.

“She is too dangerous,” Cassandra said, her voice ringing with sorrow and authority. “The rogue has no pack bond to restrain her. She attacked me without provocation. She has wounded your men. If you bring her back, she will only escape again. She will only bring more shame.”

Kael hesitated. “My lady, the Alpha said…”

“The Alpha will agree with me,” Cassandra interrupted softly. “Kill her. Now. Before she hurts anyone else.”

The warrior to my right drew his sword.

I pulled against the hands holding me, but my body was so heavy and tired. Ara was silent, buried too deep beneath the pain. I was trapped, and I knew instantly that I would die here.

This is how it ends, I thought. On my knees. In the dirt. While my sister watched.

The sword began to fall. And then the forest shattered.

A howl split the air, rolling through the trees like thunder. It was not the cry of a Shadow Claw wolf. It was deeper and way older. It vibrated in my marrow.

Before the echo died, a second answered it, but this one sounded much closer. To the east.

Then a third, from the north, so powerful that the ground beneath my knees began to tremble.

The warriors froze. Kael’s sword stopped mid-arc. Cassandra stumbled back, her hand flying to her throat.

The earth shook. It seemed like something was coming, with intense bloodlust. Just that I didn’t feel it aimed at me but everywhere else.