Lahat ng Kabanata ng Claimed by the Enemy Alpha: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

Kaela didn’t speak much as they crossed the ridgeline into Shadowfang territory. Her muscles ached, but it wasn’t just from the run. It was the tension, the sense of something coming. Something sharp and close, just waiting for the wrong step.Her breath clouded the air in little pale puffs. Ronan ran beside her, close enough that their shoulders nearly brushed, but not quite. He kept glancing over, like he wanted to say something. Like maybe he didn’t know how.The trees here were denser. Their trunks taller, darker. Everything in this forest felt older, quieter—but not peaceful. More like the woods were watching. Judging. Waiting.“You smell it?” Ronan asked low.Kaela nodded. “Pack.”“Mine.”No point pretending it didn’t put her on edge. She felt it crawling under her skin already. Shadowfang wolves would know she was here—a Frostclaw—and most wouldn't like it.They shifted back once they reached the first border marker. Magic shimmered faintly through the air, tingling her skin. I

Kaela didn’t expect it to be this quiet.The trees stood like sentinels, silent and unmoving, branches heavy with frost. The snow had long since been trampled into packed, frozen earth by dozens of boots. Still, no sound but the occasional crack of a twig or breath puffed into cold air.She crouched low beside a ridge, eyes scanning the dark slope ahead.Ronan was just ahead, flanked by two Shadowfang scouts she hadn’t met before. One was small and wiry, the other thick-necked and twitchy. Both were clearly trying not to look at her too much. Probably still questioning why she was even here.Let them.She wasn’t going anywhere.Ronan lifted a hand. Still. Listening.Kaela didn’t hear it at first.Then—voices. Low. Murmuring. Not pack.Not friend.Ronan’s jaw tightened. His hand shifted into a signal. Circle. Wait for my mark.The others broke away. Kaela hesitated.She moved closer instead.“I’m not staying behind,” she muttered under her breath.Ronan gave her a look. Not annoyed—jus

Kaela didn’t sleep.Not that she really expected to after that kiss. Her lips still tingled, her chest still felt too tight. Like her ribs were too small to hold whatever the hell Ronan had just set loose inside her.He hadn’t said a word since.Not when he stepped outside into the cold night. Not when he came back hours later, silent and avoiding her eyes. He’d laid on the couch instead of the bed and hadn’t so much as looked her way.She hated it.Not just the silence. The distance.It made her feel like a fool for kissing him back. For wanting him. Like maybe she’d read it all wrong. Maybe he did feel something—but hated himself for it.The sun cracked through the trees in thin gold slices. She got up before he did, just to breathe.Outside, the woods felt less haunted. Birds chattered, frost glittered over the branches. But Kaela didn’t take the path toward the creek like usual. She turned the other way—uphill. Toward the overlook.She didn’t expect Ronan to follow. So when she he

They made it back just before sunset.The camp wasn’t much—temporary shelters, scent markers, and a handful of scouts running reports between the trees—but it buzzed with urgency now. Something had shifted. The air was sharp, electric. Everyone knew.They didn’t have time anymore.Kaela crouched beside the fire, fingers scraped and still trembling from the fight. She hadn’t even had time to clean the blood off her neck. Someone handed her a flask. She didn’t ask what was in it—just drank, swallowed hard.Two days. Maybe less.She caught Ronan across the clearing, speaking low with Dax and two others. His stance was coiled. Wolf close to the surface. Every so often, his eyes found hers.Always.He came over eventually. Sat beside her, his thigh brushing hers like it was accidental. It wasn’t.“They’ll hit hard,” he said, voice low. “From the south. Maybe east too.”“Think we’ll hold?”“If we don’t,” he muttered, “there won’t be much left to fight for.”Kaela stared at the flames, jaw t

Ronan didn’t speak for a long time after they regrouped.The others moved like shadows through the trees, carrying the wounded back toward camp, but Kaela stayed close to him. Close enough to hear the way his breath caught every few steps. Close enough to see how his shoulders locked tighter the further they walked.It wasn’t just battle aftermath.It was her.The sister he thought was dead.“Say something,” Kaela whispered finally, when it was just the two of them on a narrow ridge, moonlight slipping silver across his jaw.Ronan stopped. His hands were shaking.“I buried her,” he said, voice hoarse. “Ten years ago. Found what was left of her near the riverbed. Burned it myself.”Kaela swallowed, suddenly unsure. “But you smelled her.”He nodded once. “I'd know her scent anywhere. It’s carved into me.”She didn’t reach for him. Didn’t say something soft and useless like I’m sorry. She just stood there, beside him, waiting. Because if he fell apart now, he’d need space to do it withou