Chapter 4 Chapitre 4

Raven had never believed survival could be this complex. Every decision, every move, every breath was fraught with consequences. And Kael, the fallen Alpha, seemed determined to remind her of that at every turn.

When Kael agreed to offer her a roof under his camp, it wasn't out of compassion. No, it wasn't generosity that animated this gesture. It was a calculation. A pact, an unspoken alliance between them, a necessity. Raven knew it. But she had no choice. She had no other place to go. Her life was in her hands.

The first nights in the Shattered Shadows pack were silent torment. She wasn't allowed to rest. Not here. The looks of the other wolves, full of distrust and sometimes hostility, were a constant. She was an outsider, an intruder, a healer, but a healer whose only value lay in what Kael thought she could offer the pack. Perhaps a hope for the future, a way to mend what had been broken.

The first few weeks were also silent trials, unspoken tests to see if she deserved her place among them. Kael offered her no special consideration, and barely any words. He was not cruel, but he was not a generous man either. Every gesture was calculated, every action a response to a necessity.

Yet, slowly, Raven realized that she was becoming an asset. It wasn't in the way she'd hoped, not in the way she'd wanted. But she learned to accept her role, to understand the unspoken rules that governed the Shattered Shadows pack. She was there to heal, to repair. She was there to keep them alive, to keep them fighting. To them, to Kael, she was just a resource.

She went to the makeshift infirmary every morning, where the wounded came to see her, their eyes filled with pain, with fatigue. Some were wolves, others men who had dared to venture too far into unknown lands. She brought them her know-how, even if it was never enough to fill the immensity of their suffering. She knew that her healing was only partial, only temporary. Physical wounds healed, but internal wounds remained, persistent, painful. Like hers.

It was seeing her heal, with that expertise that seemed so natural and yet so rare, that Kael began to see her differently. He looked at her more carefully, as if she were more than just an asset. She had become a cure in a broken world. But his feelings were contradictory. He didn't want to get attached. Not to her, not to anyone. He knew that attachment only made the pain worse. And yet, he had no choice but to let her stay, to let her heal his men, his wolves, to accept this invisible pact between them.

One day, as she was tending to a young wolf, Kael approached her, his heavy footsteps echoing against the floor. "You seem to be making a place for yourself here," he said, his voice deep and emotionless, but there was something in his eyes that betrayed a kind of interest.

Raven looked up, meeting his gaze unblinkingly. "I'm here to help you, Kael. Not to take my place." She said nothing more, but he could sense the truth in her words, the relentless necessity. She wasn't here to impose her presence. She was here out of obligation. Out of survival.

He sat down on a wooden chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're not the first to believe you have a role to play here. Many others before you have come, tried. But they left, one by one. This is not a place for the weak."

She gave him a scathing look. "I'm not weak."

An almost imperceptible smirk touched his lips. "I'm not saying otherwise. But here, weakness is hidden in the details. Fear. Doubt."

She straightened up, focusing on the wolf that lay before her, a deep wound in his thigh. She leaned over him, continuing her work in silence. She didn't know why she felt compelled to prove anything. Why she always sought to prove herself, even to him.

Kael didn't let the conversation die into heavy silence. "And you, Raven. Why are you here?" There was no threat in his voice, but a cold curiosity, an unexpected interest.

She paused for a moment, swallowing. The question echoed in her mind, more than she would have imagined. Why was she here? Why hadn't she simply fled, disappeared into the wild, far from this world that seemed so hostile?

She sighed, curling up into herself, before answering in a low voice. "I'm here because I have nowhere else to go. Because... I have no choice."

He stared at her for a moment, as if analyzing every word she had just said, every hint of truth hidden in her words. "Don't be afraid of this choice."

She looked up at him, an unreadable expression on her face. He had seen the fragility hidden behind her courage, but she wasn't going to give up. Not yet.

As the days passed, Raven began to understand the importance of what she was doing. She wasn't just there to heal. She was there to maintain this delicate balance, to make sure the pack survived. But deep down, she knew she was just one piece in a much bigger game. And that game, Kael was running.

But as she grew accustomed to the rituals and tensions of this new life, another threat stirred in the shadows.

The spies. Shadows that slipped silently into the forest, watching, listening, reporting. Future Luna, still obsessed with her quest to find Raven, had begun sending scouts into neighboring regions. Humans, wolves, a whole network of informants ready to do anything to find her.

Raven learned this the hard way one night, while she was walking the rounds with a young wolf from the pack. They had wandered deeper into the forest than usual, their footsteps silent on the damp ground. But in the distance, a rustling sound, followed by a muffled cry, caught their attention. Raven didn't have time to react before a scout appeared out of nowhere, his slim figure slipping between the trees, disappearing almost instantly.

Her heart raced. It was one of the sentinels of future Luna. They had found Raven's trail.

She quickly turned to her mate, but he was already rushing into the shadows, to alert Kael. She remained frozen, her head full of chaotic thoughts. The game was much more dangerous than she had imagined. It was not only her survival that was at stake. It was the life of the entire pack.

And this time, Kae l wasn't going to let them go without a fight.