All Chapters of Alex on the run: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The training grounds of Night Fang sat in a valley of shadowed pines, cold air misting like breath from the earth. Snow lay packed and firm underfoot, shaped by years of footsteps, sparring, and sweat. Warriors moved through drills in steady, synchronized rhythm. No one slacked. No one postured. They trained to be better, not to prove themselves.
Alex stood at the edge of the grounds, pulse quick, hands lightly shaking.
Not from fear.
From anticipation.
Aeron stood beside her, tall, composed, his presence grounding without pressing. He didn’t look at her to reassure her. He simply stood with her. As though that alone was enough.
“Before strength,” he said softly, “comes presence.”
Alex swallowed. “Presence?”
“Yes.” Aeron turned to face her fully, his voice gentle but firm. “Your entire life, standing small kept you alive. So you survived by shrinking. By folding. By trying not to be seen.”
Her chest tightened.
He wasn’t wrong.
“But you were never meant to be small, Alex.”
The ground m

Snow whispered beneath Alex’s boots as she crossed the open stretch between the training grounds and the Night Fang keep. The moon was high—silver, round, and bright enough to cast shadows as sharp as blades. Her breath fogged in the frigid night air, but inside her chest, she felt no cold.
Her wolf moved beneath her skin—steady, awake, alert.
Not afraid.
Aeron walked beside her, every step measured, quiet, a mountain shaped into a man.
“Something’s wrong,” Alex murmured, voice low.
Aeron didn’t ask how she knew.
He didn’t have to.
He felt the energy too—the subtle shift in the air, like the forest itself had paused to listen.
A guard wolf approached, shifting mid-stride, breath breaking in fast clouds of steam.
“Alpha Aeron. Alex.” He bowed quickly. “We picked up multiple scent trails at the southern border. Wolves. They’re spreading formation. Searching.”
The words punched the frost-thick air.
Alex didn’t ask who.
She already knew.
Silver Moon had come.
Her heartbeat didn’t quicken.

The world was quiet in the high mountain clearing, quiet in the way snow absorbs sound and turns the air into something still and heavy. The moon hung low, a pale mirror against the dense black sky. Pine branches bowed under the weight of frost.
Alex stood beside Aeron as wind tugged strands of dark hair across her face. Her heartbeat was steady, not racing, not trembling. She was not afraid.
Not anymore.
Footsteps approached.
Slow. Deliberate. Familiar.
Aeron didn’t move, but his presence shifted—like the mountain itself acknowledging an arrival. The Night Fang warriors stepped back into the tree line, leaving the clearing open.
A figure emerged from the dark.
Tall.
Wearing a dark cloak lined with fur.
Snow-damp curls of deep chestnut hair.
And eyes—
Her eyes.
Not the exact shade.
His were warmer, gold-gold instead of gold-black.
But they were the eyes of memory.
Eyes she had seen once in a cradle.
Eyes she had seen in dreams that made her wake choking on grief she couldn’t name.
Mar

The first rays of dawn crept over the snow-draped peaks, pale light catching the tips of the pines and sending a million sparkling diamonds into the air. The clearing at Night Fang keep was quiet now, but for Alex it thrummed with anticipation. Her wolf prowled beneath her skin, alert, awake, a low hum resonating through her chest.
She had awoken from the dream-walk, her mind still echoing with the Moon Goddess’s words. The vision of Marcus and Soren lingered like firelight in the dark, illuminating paths she hadn’t seen before.
Aeron stood behind her, arms folded, silent. Not in control. Not commanding. Simply present. A pillar. A mountain.
And then movement: across the snowy clearing, the familiar figure of Marcus approached. His gait was cautious, precise, each step deliberate. His wolf stalked alongside him, ears flicking, body taut but not aggressive.
Alex’s heart caught—not from fear, not from doubt—but from recognition, pure and unbroken. She had imagined this moment for years.

The night air was heavy with frost, carrying the metallic scent of tension. Night Fang keep, usually quiet after the day’s patrols, was alive with silent anticipation. Wolves prowled along the perimeter, their ears twitching at every whisper of the wind. Alex stood atop the ridge again, Aeron at her side, Marcus and Soren flanking her like sentinels of destiny.
“This is different,” Marcus murmured, eyes scanning the forest. “They’re not probing. They’re coming for a fight.”
Alex’s jaw set. Her wolf coiled beneath her skin, muscles tensed, energy humming like a live wire. “Then we give it to them,” she said. “All of it.”
Soren, standing beside Marcus, raised her hands slightly, silver light threading through her fingers. Her voice was calm, almost serene, yet carried a lethal undertone. “I have woven protective wards around the perimeter. Any direct attack will trigger disruption pulses. But we must be ready for misdirection. Rex will not risk everything in a straightforward assault.”