Semua Bab Marked in the Middle: Bab 41 - Bab 50

The rain never stopped.By dawn, the fires had burned themselves low, leaving nothing but blackened beams jutting from the mud like broken bones. The river stank of ash, blood, and wet fur. No birds sang. No frogs croaked. Even the world itself seemed to recoil from what we’d left behind.We were ghosts on the bank, limping, dragging the wounded, carrying our dead. My muscles screamed with every step, my ribs a constant ache. The cut down my side had clotted into a stiff crust of blood, but I barely felt it. Pain was easy. It gave me something to hold.Loss was harder.We counted six bodies from my side. Two more from Roman’s. That didn’t include the wolf we’d lost twice — once to Kael’s poison, then again to my claws. His face haunted me, replaying in flashes every time I blinked.Roman hadn’t spoken to me since.We set camp in the hollow of the forest, far enough from the riverbank to avoid another ambush. The rain dripped stea

The campfire burned low, but no one had moved to feed it. Wolves sat scattered in tense clusters, eyes glinting with unease, whispers sharp as broken glass. The smell of fear tangled with smoke. I couldn’t blame them. After what we’d seen in the woods, I felt like my insides were shaking apart. The image of the pits — of those broken, gasping bodies — wouldn’t leave me. Every time I blinked, it was there. Roman stood on the far side of the fire, his posture iron-straight, his presence heavy. His people gathered near him, silent but steady, waiting for his word. My wolves — rogues, outcasts, the ones who’d chosen me over my uncle — lingered closer to me. The line between us wasn’t visible, but it was there, sharp and raw. We were supposed to be allies. But old wounds didn’t heal overnight. Kellen broke the silence first. “We can’t wait long.” His voice carried, low and cutting. “Every day Kael’s experiments grow. Every day w

The Hollowfang camp never slept.Even as the firelight burned low and the shadows thickened, wolves prowled the edges of the clearing, their pale eyes gleaming like lanterns in the dark. Somewhere beyond the treeline, drums pulsed in a rhythm too steady to be random, a sound that wormed under my skin and set my wolf pacing restlessly inside me.I sat on a slab of stone near the edge of the camp, the coppery sting of dried blood still on my palm where I’d cut myself earlier. The wound throbbed in time with the drums. It hadn’t healed as fast as it should’ve. Maybe that was exhaustion. Or maybe it was the weight of what tomorrow meant.The Hollowfang Run. A trial dressed up as spectacle, meant to weed out the weak and entertain the strong. And at dawn, I’d be tossed into it with Roman, Janie, Kellen, and whoever else the Hollowfangs decided would make the hunt more interesting.I stared at my hand, flexing it slowly. The blood had been my choice, my

The warehouse smelled like rust and old blood. My boots crunched against broken glass as I trailed behind Roman, my pulse a steady drumbeat against my ribs. Kael flanked my other side, his eyes constantly scanning the shadows, every muscle in his body coiled tight like a spring.We weren’t alone here.I could feel it—wolves. Not just rogues, not just the desperate kind that lurked in alleyways. These ones moved with purpose, precision. The kind of wolves who knew how to hunt.“Stay sharp,” Roman murmured, his voice low, his hand brushing mine for half a second. It wasn’t comfortable. It was grounding. A silent reminder that he was here, that even with enemies pressing in on every side, I wasn’t walking into this blind.But still, my stomach twisted.Because we weren’t just here to track enemies. We were here to see if the whispers were true.That the Silver Ash Pack wasn’t just hunting me. They were splitting from the inside.

The railyard was fire and teeth.Every sound cut into me—the screech of metal, the crack of bone, the wet snap of claws tearing through flesh. Wolves blurred in the shadows, friend against foe until the lines vanished, until it was only blood and survival.I ducked under a swipe, the claws grazing my shoulder, hot pain searing my skin. My knife was already in my hand. The wolf lunged again, and I drove the blade up beneath its ribs, feeling the shudder as it collapsed. My chest heaved, but there was no time to breathe. Another came.Across the yard, Roman was a storm, his movements precise, his commands sharp enough to cut through the chaos. Fighters tried to hold formation, but the betrayal had fractured everything. Too many of our own had switched sides, and now it felt like drowning under an endless tide.“Nora!”I spun toward the voice. Kael barreled into a rogue wolf, his blade flashing. He was covered in blood, but his eyes burned,