All Chapters of THE CHOSEN ONE: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

AIYANAThe smell of smoke and damp earth clung to my skin, as if fear had its own scent. The night was thick, opaque, and starless. Isabela stumbled just behind me, cursing under her breath. My grandmother led the way, her steps far too determined for someone her age. Birguit walked beside me, eyes sharp, sniffing out danger before it could reach us."Why would Icarus do this now?" I asked quietly, to no one in particular."Because he thinks Maxim and his father killed his people," Isabela replied, cold as always. "And you don’t know him. He’s violent and unhinged.""I don’t know anything," I muttered, pulling my coat tighter around me. "And still I’m here, running in the middle of the night like some scared child.""You’re here because I asked you to be." My grandmother’s voice cut through the silence like an arrow. She didn’t turn around. She didn’t need to. "And because I still want you alive."I swallowed hard.It wasn’t fear I felt. It was a silent fury, pulsing in my chest like a

AIYANAThe two wolves clashed like living shadows. Max’s gray wolf slim and swift, with snow-white paws spun and advanced in precise, calculated circles. The black one, Icarus, dark as the abyss, roared with the raw fury of someone who didn’t just want to win... he wanted to destroy.Isabela stood beside me, pale, frozen like a dead tree.“We need to get out of here,” I whispered, grabbing her wrist. She turned to me, eyes wide.“Aiyana... what about Max? Icarus is going to kill him.”“Then there’s no point in standing here watching. We need to get help.” I pulled her hard, ignoring the snapping branches under our feet, the scratches thorns left on our arms.But before I ran, I looked back. Damn it. I always look back.They fought with a twisted kind of synchronicity. As if they knew each other’s movements before they even happened.My chest ached in a way that had nothing to do with physical strain. It was a different kind of fear. One I didn’t understand.We ran.When I saw two figu

AIYANAThe crowd began to disperse, but I couldn’t move. The air around the bonfire felt too thick, like it was wrapping me in smoke and uncertainty. The heat was suffocating. The voices, even soft, buzzed in my ears.I needed to get out of there.I slipped away in silence, weaving between trees, ignoring the stares. Icarus’s presence trailed behind me like heat against my back, while Maxim’s... felt like a rope tugging at my chest.Just when I thought I’d have a moment to breathe, I heard footsteps behind me.“Aiyana.”His voice reached me like a deep whisper. Max.I