INSTINCTLESS: A Scentless Bloodline のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 11 - チャプター 20

The walk back to the manor was quiet. No one celebrated. We had won, but we had also lost. The smell of smoke was in our hair and on our clothes. The first light of dawn made everyone look tired and pale.Inside, the mood was heavy. The injured from our night attack were being helped to the medical room. I saw the healer moving between them, her face tight.Rhydian went straight to his war room. I followed. The room had maps on the walls and a big table in the center. Kellan was already there."We lost one," Kellan said. His voice was flat. "Marco. Went down in the first charge. Took three of them with him."Rhydian closed his eyes for a second. He placed his hands on the map table, head bowed. "See that his family is cared for. Full honors.""Yes, Alpha."Rhydian looked up. "And the Conclave? Did Kieran's warning have truth?"Kellan nodded. "My scouts confirm it. A small group. Four of them. They crossed into the northern territory last night. They move fast. They could be here by to

The silence after the Conclave left was the worst kind. It was not peaceful. It was heavy, like a blanket of snow that smothers everything.I stood in the clearing. My hands were shaking. I could still see the man's eyes how they went from sharp and deadly to empty. Like windows into a dark, empty house.Around me, the pack was moving. Helping the wounded. Kellan was shouting orders. Rhydian was checking on everyone, his face set in hard lines.But their eyes kept flicking to me. Not with thanks. With a new kind of fear. They had seen it too. I wasn't just the strange girl who broke bonds. I was the thing that could unmake a person.I turned and walked back into the manor. My legs felt numb. I walked past people without seeing them. I went to my room, the beautiful prison, and closed the door.I sat on the bed and stared at the wall. I replayed the moment in my head. The man's hand coming toward me. The panic. The push of silence I shoved into his mind. The click as something turned o

The Rougarou didn't roar. It screamed. A human-like sound of pure madness from an animal throat.It charged straight for me. Its yellow eyes were fixed, empty holes of pain."Shield formation! Protect Nyx!" Rhydian's command cut through the panic.The pack moved as one, shifting to put themselves between me and the creature. But the Rougarou was fast unnaturally fast. It ducked under a swinging knife and swiped a massive paw at Leo, sending him flying into a tree.It didn't stop to finish him. It wanted me.Kellan leaped in front of it, his own wolf form erupting in a crackle of bone and fur. He met the Rougarou in a crash of teeth and claws. They rolled, a blur of snarls.But the Rougarou wasn't fighting to win. It was fighting to get through. It raked its claws down Kellan's side and scrambled past him, breaking through the line.It was ten feet from me. Five.I could smell its rot. See the old, scarred-over mark on its neck where a mate bond had been severed. This thing was a warni

I woke to cold and the smell of snow.The cave entrance showed a grey sky and fat, white flakes drifting down. Winter had found us in the mountains.Kellan was sitting up, his color better. He nodded at me when I stirred. "You look like death.""Thanks," I mumbled, sitting up. My body ached. My head felt stuffed with cotton."He means thank you," Leo said, handing me a water skin. "You saved him. We all saw it."I drank, letting the cold water wake me up. Rhydian was at the cave entrance, speaking quietly with two of the pack. His back was tense."What's wrong?" I asked, moving to join him.He turned. His face was serious. "The storm is bad. We can't travel in this. We're stuck here until it passes.""How long?""A day. Maybe two." He looked past me at Kellan. "It gives him time to heal. But it gives the Council time to prepare. They know we're coming. They'll be ready."The trapped feeling settled over me again. Stuck in a cold cave, waiting, while our enemies got stronger."We shoul

I stood before Theron, my heart hammering.He didn't move. Didn't blink. Just stared at nothing with those hollow eyes. Thirty years of emptiness. Thirty years of being a shell.The Council watched. Rafe's cold eyes bored into me. Sorcha's ancient gaze was softer, but just as intense. Behind me, I could feel Rhydian's presence, solid and steady.You can do this, I told myself. You healed Kellan. You soothed the Rougarou. This is just... bigger.I reached out with my silence. Not to cut. Not to push. Just to feel.Theron's bonds were a mess. Shredded threads of connection floating in the dark. The main bond the one to his mate was completely gone. Severed so long ago the ends had withered. But there were others. Small threads to pack members long gone. Faint echoes of who he used to be.I didn't try to fix everything at once. I found the strongest remaining thread a thin, pale connection to something. Maybe a memory. Maybe a ghost of who he was.I wrapped my silence around it gently. N