Page 19

It started with a howl.

Not one of grief.

Not one of warning.

But one of war.

By the time the sun rose the next morning, Kael had summoned the council. Mira mapped out strategy points. Warriors began reinforcing the border trenches and rotating night shifts.

Ashmoon had sent an official message.

Not a plea.

Not a request.

A threat.

I read the letter twice before tearing it in half.

"They don't want me," I muttered. "They want control."

Kael nodded, voice steady as ever. "Then they'll find none here."

?

The pack buzzed with quiet tension. Even the trees seemed to hold their breath. I watched from the ridge as Crescent Fang prepared for the inevitable-training, scouting, reinforcing the south wall where the forest thinned and Ashmoon would likely break through.

And for the first time, I wasn't afraid of being a burden.

I was angry.

Angry that Jace couldn't let go.

Angry that my freedom was something he thought he could undo with force.

Angry that I still carried his name like a bruise in my chest.

I stormed into the training field that afternoon, heart racing.

Mira raised an eyebrow as I picked up a blade. "You're not scheduled to train."

"I'm not here to train," I said. "I'm here to fight."

She tossed me a second dagger. "Then let's see if that pretty little mark of yours made you any faster."

?

Later, as the sun dipped below the horizon, Kael found me sitting on the porch steps of the packhouse, sweat still drying on my brow.

"They sent scouts again," he said. "Two of them. Close enough to smell the blood on our blades."

"They want to scare us," I said.

"They'll fail."

I looked up at him.

"Will you hurt him?" I asked. "If Jace crosses the border himself?"

Kael didn't answer immediately.

But when he did, his voice was firm. "Only if he gives me no other choice."

"He will," I whispered. "You know he will."

He looked at me-really looked-and in his silence, I saw it.

Not rage.

Readiness.

The calm before the storm.

?

That night, I lay awake in Kael's bed, wrapped in his warmth but haunted by the sound of howls in the distance.

Ashmoon was coming.

Jace was coming.

And I knew what they were after wasn't just territory.

It was me.

But I wasn't the same girl who ran from rejection in the dark.

This time, I'd stand my ground.

Even if it meant bleeding for it.