Chapter 5 Blood on the wind

Training with Kael was nothing like I imagined.

It wasn't endless sparring or lectures about strength. It was brutal, spiritual, raw. He didn't just train my body-he stripped away every belief I'd ever had about what it meant to be a wolf.

"Power isn't in your fists," Kael growled one morning as I struggled to block his attacks. "It's in your will. And yours is still chained to your past."

I gritted my teeth and lunged again. He sidestepped me easily, sweeping my feet out from under me in one fluid motion. My back slammed against the cold stone.

"Again."

I pushed myself up, panting. "Do you ever get tired of knocking me down?"

He smirked, offering a hand. "Do you ever get tired of letting me?"

It had been five days since I'd first shifted.

Since then, I'd trained every day from dawn until moonrise. My body ached in places I didn't know existed. But something inside me had changed. I felt sharper. Faster. Hungrier.

And Lyra... she was stronger than ever. More present. Sometimes, I couldn't tell where she ended and I began.

That night, after the stars rose, Kael led me to the mountaintop behind the fortress. The wind howled, and the moon glowed a deep red.

"The Blood Moon," he said, staring at the sky. "A night of reckoning."

I shivered. "Why does it feel like something's coming?"

"Because it is."

He didn't elaborate. He didn't have to. I could feel it too-a pulse in the earth, a whisper in the wind. Something dark was stirring.

Then I smelled it.

Smoke.

And blood.

Kael went rigid beside me. "We're not alone."

A howl rose in the distance-low, savage, and unfamiliar.

Within seconds, the sky erupted with noise. Not just one wolf-dozens. No, hundreds.

Lyra growled in my chest. They're not pack. They're feral.

Kael turned to me, eyes glowing. "Get to the keep. Now."

I shook my head. "I can fight."

"This isn't your fight."

I bared my teeth. "Then make it mine."

Before he could respond, a massive black wolf burst from the trees below, eyes glowing red, foam at its mouth. It wasn't just feral-it was twisted. Corrupted.

I shifted instantly, the transformation smoother now, almost natural. Lyra leapt forward with a snarl, meeting the beast in mid-air.

Claws slashed. Teeth tore. We rolled through the grass, and I felt every strike-every snap of bone, every rip of fur.

But I was stronger.

I sank my teeth into its throat and ripped.

The wolf collapsed in a heap.

More poured from the shadows-flesh rotting, eyes blazing, their howls filled with madness. I had never seen wolves like these. They didn't feel alive.

They felt... raised.

Kael joined the fray, shifting in a flash of golden light. His Lycan form was enormous-nearly twice my size, covered in obsidian fur with glowing runes etched into his shoulders. He fought like a god of war.

For hours we battled. Wolves fell on every side. Magic surged through the battlefield. The very mountain shook.

And then, silence.

I stood panting in the grass, covered in blood-some mine, most not. My limbs shook, but I was still standing.

Kael shifted back, his body marked with claw wounds and blood. "You did well," he said quietly. "Better than expected."

I wiped blood from my mouth. "What were they?"

"Rogue wolves," he said grimly. "But not natural. Someone is raising the dead."

My stomach turned. "That's not possible."

"It wasn't," Kael said. "Until now."

---

The next morning, a messenger arrived. He was trembling when he handed Kael the scroll, and I caught the scent of panic on his skin.

Kael unrolled it, his expression darkening with every word. When he finished, he looked at me.

"It's from your old pack."

I froze. "What?"

"They were attacked," he said. "Three days ago. Over a dozen wolves dead. Half the territory burned."

Despite everything, my chest clenched. I didn't want to care-but a part of me still did.

"Why tell me?" I asked, voice low.

Kael handed me the scroll. The last line was written in shaking ink.

"She's the only one who can stop him. Please, send Lia back."

My knees nearly buckled.

"Darius wrote this?"

Kael nodded. "Apparently, your Alpha has learned regret."

I gritted my teeth. "Or desperation."

"You don't have to go," Kael said softly. "But if you do... you won't be the girl they left behind."

I looked out toward the forest, where the ash still clung to the wind.

"No," I whispered. "I won't."