Borderland Rhys Novels & Stories

Gonzalo ran to the window, looked down once, and cursed so darkly that even Daciana turned toward him. “What is it?” I asked, already moving toward the door as my wolf sensed danger crossing sacred ground. Gonzalo looked back at us, and the shock on his face told me the border had brought us more than wounded ghosts. “Blackfang riders,” he said, his voice hardening into the voice of war. (Bardolph POV) I crossed the Northridge border with twelve riders, one chained elder, and enough shame to make every mile feel deserved. Farkas rode beside me despite his bruises, refusing a healer until Daciana heard what Lowell had died to reveal.

Not only because my body still remembers the way he fucked me like a man half-starved, but because something about this whole setup stinks. Before my knuckles can meet the wood, the door swings open. Standing there shirtless, Rhys has a cigarette burning between his fingers. Smoke curls past his face in lazy spirals. His body is a map of survival. Black ink claims broad stretches of his chest and arms. A shattered police badge sprawls over his left pectoral. Waves crash into barbed wire along his ribs. A compass on his shoulder points downward, as though it has given up on finding north. More dark lines trail down his sides and disappear beneath the waistband of his sweatpants. He looks exac

That was not what I meant to say but what was done was done. His jaws tightened, that made his cheekbones more prominent while the vein throbbing in his temple scared me for a second. It was pulsating so fast that I feared that it might burst any second. "I get it. I will never cross my boundaries again." Rhys said in a flat tone and walked out of the car. Meanwhile, I was still trying to comprehend what happened. When he opened the door of the driving seat for me, it was his cue for me to 'get out of the car.'

Nazir and I reach the border in the woods first. I decided it would be safer not to shift, staying in our human form for now. The border is decided by the ravine, and it's almost perfect how the set of trees doesn't grow in one line, signifying this split between the territories. According to Rheyes, going further than this is dangerous; the rogues roam these woods and communicate too well with each other. There are two big rogue packs; one is in the east, where Rheyes has done his work, and one in the west.

Moss glowed faintly in patches, as if remembering fire. The borderlands were close. Their company rode in grim silence. Rylan and two scouts took the lead, navigating through ancient, overgrown paths that hadn’t seen footsteps in decades. Even the horses grew quieter, ears flicking, eyes darting. As if they, too, felt they were crossing from the known into myth. Nyxar was a silent presence beside her. They hadn't spoken since the eruption. But his nearness grounded her, even as the world unraveled. Ekreth had vanished again, slipping into the shadows of the terrain like smoke. Lyra didn’t know if he followed by air, but she felt him - just outside her vision, always just behind the veil.

I arched against him, shameless. Then— “What the hell is going on here?” Landon’s voice cracked through the haze like lightning. I jerked away from Rhys, heart racing, face flaming. Rhys didn’t even flinch. He turned and leaned back casually on the counter like nothing happened. “Just helping your girl get over her Chase heartbreak.” Landon’s jaw clenched. “Get out.” “What?” “I said, get. Out.” Rhys held his hands up, smirking. “Relax, soldier. She’s a big girl now. Doesn’t need babysitting anymore.”

Elara joined them sometimes, just to sit, to listen. One evening, a girl failed a fire-summoning. Eluna did not scold her. She knelt. “Try again,” she said. “And when it doesn’t answer, ask a better question.” Elara watched from the gate, smiling. Rhys had vanished for two days. When he returned, he wore a red thread woven through his wrist—a peace offering from the nomadic tribes beyond the Crescent Vale. “I’ve been… negotiating,” he told Lerder. “With who?” Maerra asked, eyeing the thread.

Her wolf whispered again, calm and steady. They will come again. They will come with teeth and fire. Seraphina looked up at Darius. “What is happening at the border right now?” Darius’s jaw tightened. “Rhyden is speaking to their leader. I told him not to engage unless necessary.” Seraphina’s eyes narrowed. “They won’t leave with words.” Darius’s gaze sharpened. “No. They won’t.” The door opened again and Rhyden entered, blood on his blade.

Caius remained impassive, but a subtle knowing glint appeared in his golden eyes. "Indeed, Alpha," Rhys said, his voice calm, cutting through Kieran’s agitated explanation. "I encountered something at the border. Something that was really interested in influencing Astrid." Kieran turned to Rhys, his face a mask of furious disbelief. "Influencing her? It threw me across the clearing! It used dark magic! What was it? What did you do?" Rhys met Kieran’s fury with unnerving tranquility. "It was a guardian, perhaps. Or a messenger. As for what I did... I engaged it. And convinced it to return to wherever it came from. For now."