Chapter 2 Blood on the snow

Kaida stood on the balcony of Black-fang Keep, her fingers curled tight around the stone railing as she watched the snow drift softly over the courtyard below.

From this height, everything looked peaceful. Serene. Untouched by the blood that once stained these very stones.

A lie.

Like everything else.

"Luna Kaida," a voice called from behind her.

She didn't flinch. She knew that voice. Stern, clipped, always on edge. Commander Thorne, the head of Black-fang's elite guard, and one of Magnus's most loyal dogs.

"I trust you're prepared for the council meeting," he said as he stepped beside her.

"I'm always prepared," she replied coolly, not taking her eyes off the falling snow.

Thorne grunted. "The scouts reported movement beyond the southern ridge. Could be rogues. Could be-"

"It's him," Kaida said softly.

Thorne stiffened. "You don't know that."

She finally turned to look at him. "I do."

There was no mistaking the feeling. The tightening in her chest. The shift in the air. The lingering scent of ash and pine on the wind.

Ryker Blackwood was close.

Thorne scowled. "He's been gone over a year. Broken. Powerless. Even if he's alive, he's no threat to Blackfang."

Kaida tilted her head. "That's where you're wrong. He's exactly the kind of threat we should fear."

She knew Ryker better than anyone - better than he knew himself. He would return not as the man they exiled, but as something far more dangerous. He wouldn't stop. Not until he'd turned the world to dust, starting with her.

And she deserved it.

She inhaled sharply, gaze drifting back to the white courtyard. To the memory of his blood pooling there after the council's decree. She had watched it happen. Had let it happen. Had made it happen.

All to protect him.

But he'd never believe that.

Far from the polished stone of the keep, in the rotting belly of the Ironwood Forest, Ryker stood with his men around a fire burning low and hungry. The wind howled through the twisted trees, carrying the scent of frost and rot.

"I still think we should hit them," growled Orren, a former Alpha turned rogue, his right eye clouded, his voice guttural. "Send a message. A real one."

Ryker didn't look at him. He sat sharpening a silver dagger against a whetstone, his focus unblinking. The blade caught firelight like moonlight off water.

"No." Ryker's voice was a growl beneath the crackling wood. "Not yet."

Orren scoffed. "You're waiting for what? Permission?"

Dax flinched, knowing what was coming.

In one smooth motion, Ryker hurled the dagger - it embedded in the tree beside Orren's head with a thunk.

"I don't need permission," Ryker said, rising to his full height. "I need fear. Panic. I need them to tear themselves apart before we even breach the gates."

He stepped closer, eyes glowing faintly, the wolf within pressing against the cage Kaida's curse had built.

"When I strike," he said, "I won't leave survivors to tell tales. I'll leave ghosts."

Orren backed down with a nod, eyes lowered.

Dax exhaled slowly. "The ward's weakening."

Ryker nodded. "She's slipping."

"Then why not go now?" Dax asked. "While their guard is still down?"

"Because Kaida expects me to come at night," Ryker said, eyes narrowing. "So I'll come at dawn. When their shields are low, their warriors half-asleep, and their pride full to bursting."

He glanced to the east, where the sky was beginning to fade from ink to grey.

"I'll remind them what it means to lose everything."

Back in the keep, Kaida walked the hall she once shared with Ryker, her steps slow, deliberate. It had been months since she last entered this wing, and yet nothing had changed.

His scent was gone - scrubbed by servants and spells - but his presence lingered. In the blade marks on the wall where he trained. In the notch on the bedpost he carved every time they returned victorious from battle.

She touched it, gently, as if it might burn her.

Magnus wouldn't understand. Her new mate was a brute in velvet - charming in council, cruel in combat. He didn't ask questions when Kaida screamed herself awake. He only told her to be stronger.

"You miss him."

The voice startled her.

She turned to see a girl no older than eighteen leaning in the doorway. Pale skin, eyes too old for her face - Tessa, the seer's ward. Half-witch, half-wolf. All secrets.

"You should leave," Kaida warned.

"I should," Tessa said. "But the threads are tightening. And he's almost here."

Kaida's chest tightened. "You see him?"

"I see what he's become," Tessa said. "And what he could still become."

Kaida crossed the room in two strides, grabbing Tessa by the arm. "What does that mean?"

Tessa's eyes glazed slightly. "He stands at a crossroads. One path leads to ruin. The other... leads back to you."

Kaida's hand dropped.

"I betrayed him," she said. "There's no coming back from that."

Tessa tilted her head. "Then you better be ready for the ruin."

At the edge of the warded forest, Ryker stood in the snow, watching the flicker of torchlight as the first Black-fang patrol passed.

His wolf stirred inside him, growling low. The barrier buzzed across his skin, like static and flame.

"I'm coming, Kaida," he whispered. "And I want you to watch everything you built fall... just like I did."

Then he stepped back into the shadows, waiting for dawn.