Indigo Ridge Novels & Stories

Then it vanished. “Just a fox,” Alex called. I holstered the weapon and got back in. “Yeah. I know.” Still, the unease had settled like a weight in my chest. Fifteen more miles. That was all. Then we’d find Lena, get what we needed, and head toward Site Nine. Assuming we made it that far. ***************************************** Carson Ridge was little more than a speck on the map—one main road, a gas station, a boarded-up diner, and a scattering of trailers and cabins that looked like they'd been built to withstand nuclear fallout and boredom.

"Look at the ridge." Rangga looked up. The eastern ridge was buckling, a massive cascade of rock and mud beginning to tumble down, triggered by the mountain’s own internal shift. The refueling depot was directly in the path of the slide. "We move," Rangga commanded, his voice sounding different—older, deeper, resonant with the mountain’s own malice. He hoisted Arung, his own fatigue forgotten, his skin radiating a cold, blue fire that cut through the darkness.

"North of the main road. It adds forty minutes but it bypasses the western approach entirely and comes out at the northern perimeter." "Can we move fast on the ridge?" I said. "In human form," he said. "Shift is too risky on the ridge terrain at night." "How risky?" I said. "Lose-a-wolf risky," he said. "The rock faces above the treeline are unstable in the dark." I looked at Renna. "Can you make that?" I said. She looked at me like the question was mildly insulting. "I ran through Ashmoor's eastern compound and climbed a back wall to get out of their

I found the rogue, running into indigo, which had me blitzing into him to halt him from going any further. Almost immediately, he noticed me but it was too late. I had bashed into him as he was flung into a mountain at ridiculous speeds.” I helped the woman back to her feet before looking back into the shattered mountain. “Are you okay?” I asked Indigo who nodded before falling to the floor, but I was quick enough to catch her. Martha joined me. “She needs medical attention.” I looked around the desert and was shocked to find the top half of a mountain missing.

Riven pointed toward the heart of the forest. “Not the central clearing.” A pause. “The old ridge.” Mara’s stomach tightened. The ridge. Where her first unstable surge had nearly fractured the northern node months ago. Where the lattice had first reacted violently to bond integration. It wasn’t random. It was choosing historical stress points. They moved fast. The forest seemed to lean inward as they approached the ridge — trees vibrating faintly with structural tension. Then they saw it. The seam was not vertical this time. It was horizontal.

My heels clicked sharply against the stone floor, the sound echoing like a ticking clock in the suddenly quiet corridor. "Zara, stop! Please, just talk to me," Lisa panted, her hand catching the sleeve of my jacket. I didn't stop. If I paused for even a second, Adrian's warning would catch up to me. The look of genuine, unadulterated fear in his blue eyes was burned into my mind, and it terrified me—but it also proved I was right. There was a secret buried at Black Ridge, and Emily was the key to it.

The silence here wasn't the peaceful quiet of the sanctuary; it was the airless, metallic weight of an industrial grave. Below us, Iron Ridge sat nestled in the throat of a collapsed silver mine like a crown of rusted iron and shattered glass. Toxic neon indigo flickered through the haze—advertisements for bootleg silver-salt and black-market adrenaline that had no business being so bright in a world that had forgotten the sun.

And Elder Garrick, always dependable, meets my gaze with a silent nod of support. "I'm officially proposing the launch of the Ridge Outpost Project," I begin, flipping open the folder and spreading out the blueprint across the table. "The scouts returned last week with full terrain scans and border readings. Eastern ridge, thirty miles from our current territory. High ground, fresh water, natural barriers. Perfect location for a satellite base."Elder Thorne lets out a scoff before I even finish. "A second base? Sounds like you're building a kingdom, not a Pack."

Three months later... Today was going to suck. And not the good kind. Nope. The big, sweaty, hairy donkey balls variety. He thought he'd been prepared for this, but the shift in his gut said otherwise. Biting back a sigh, Nakos Hunt glanced from the two men standing beside him to the wide open expanse of Cattenach Ranch. Two-thousand acres of rolling grasslands and high plains. The Laramie Mountains just to the south were little more than a bluish mirage in the distance, but a slightly cool breeze wafted across the basin to provide some relief from the heat.

"I guess we could give it a go." Leon smiles, and some of the wear and worry of the last week lifts from his face, making him look both younger and charming. My heart skips a beat. Returning his smile I nod in the direction of town and head off in front of him, making him chase after my footfalls for once. Ridgecrest is a little town nestled against a wall of granite overlooking a tall gorge. Below is a long river, the striations on the rock on either side of the gorge revealing how the valley was formed.