Chapter Five: The Blood Oath
Selena's body ached, her knuckles bruised and raw, but she refused to stop.
Each breath was shallow, painful but with every strike, every dodge, she felt something shift. Not just in her body.
In her spirit.
"Faster," Kael ordered from the edge of the training circle. His arms were crossed, golden eyes locked on her every move.
Sweat poured down her back, sticking her clothes to her skin, but she didn't care. She launched into a high kick that landed squarely against the wooden dummy's chest. It cracked slightly.
A murmur of approval rippled through the small crowd watching pack warriors who now looked at her with less doubt, and more… respect.
When she finally staggered back, chest heaving, Kael stepped forward and offered her a cloth. She took it without meeting his gaze, wiping her forehead.
"You're improving," he said.
She grinned weakly. "Was that a compliment?"
"A fact," he said. But his lips twitched slightly almost a smile.
Elira jogged up from the edge of the courtyard. "Selena! Come with me. Elder Varion wants to see you."
Kael stiffened at that name. "What for?"
"He didn't say."
Selena exchanged a glance with Kael before following Elira down the stone path that led deeper into Blackridge, toward the sacred archives.
Elder Varion's chamber was dim and filled with the scent of herbs and burning sage. Ancient scrolls lined the shelves, some glowing faintly with runes.
The old man sat cross-legged on a cushion, eyes closed, his long grey braid touching the floor.
"Selena," he rasped without opening his eyes. "Come forward."
She obeyed, heart thudding.
"I felt it," he murmured. "Your power. The first pulse. It reached farther than you think. Even the forest stirred."
Selena swallowed. "I didn't mean to"
He opened one eye, fixing her with a sharp gaze. "It's not about what you mean, child. It's about what you are."
He rose, surprisingly agile for his age, and crossed to a locked chest. He unlocked it with a whisper.
From within, he drew a cloth-wrapped bundle.
"I believe this belongs to you."
He unwrapped it slowly.
A small silver pendant shimmered inside shaped like a crescent moon, with a white crystal embedded in its center.
Selena felt something in her respond the instant she saw it. Like her blood remembered.
"What is that?"
"Your mother's," Varion said softly. "Passed through generations of white wolf bloodlines. Lost—until now."
He handed it to her, and the moment her fingers touched it, the crystal glowed faintly.
The room seemed to inhale.
"I… I can feel it," she whispered.
"Your soul is waking up," Varion said. "This pendant is more than a keepsake. It will amplify your control. But it will also mark you. Ruvan will sense it."
Selena stared at the pendant. "Then let him."
Varion raised a brow.
"You're not like the last white wolf," he said quietly. "She was powerful… but afraid."
"I'm still afraid," Selena admitted. "But I won't let it stop me."
Varion gave a slow, approving nod. "Then you're ready."
"For what?"
He reached into his robe and pulled out a dagger curved, obsidian black, with strange runes glowing along the hilt.
"For the Blood Oath."
Back in the main hall, Kael was waiting. He tensed when he saw the dagger in Selena's hand.
"You took the Oath," he said, voice low.
Selena nodded, her arm still stinging from where the blade had kissed her skin.
Her blood had dripped into the sacred flame in Varion's chamber, sealing her fate.
"Selena—" Kael stepped closer. "You didn't need to do that yet."
"I did," she said. "I need to fight, Kael. Not just train. I need to be ready."
Something flickered in his eyes. Pride. Fear.
"I should've been there."
"You were the reason I could," she said softly.
He didn't speak for a long time.
Then, "There's something else you need to see."
They descended into the oldest part of Blackridge below the library, past locked doors and rune-covered arches.
Kael stopped before an ancient iron gate. Whispered a word in a language Selena didn't recognize.
The gate groaned open.
Inside was a small chamber. Empty except for a mural on the wall, lit by torches.
Selena's breath caught.
The mural showed two wolves—one white, glowing like the moon. The other dark as shadow.
Locked in battle.
Below them, hundreds of smaller wolves watched, caught between the two.
"This is the prophecy," Kael said. "Every generation, a white wolf is born. And every time… so is a shadow wolf. One to protect. One to destroy."
Selena stepped closer, her skin prickling.
"Ruvan…"
"Yes. He wasn't always a monster. He was the white wolf's twin. Chosen. Loved. Until he turned. He thought her power should belong to him."
He pointed to the base of the mural.
"See this?" he whispered.
A woman stood between the wolves. Human. Hands outstretched.
"She tried to stop them," Kael said. "The first Moon Priestess. She was bonded to both."
Selena's mouth went dry. "What happened to her?"
"She died."
"Who killed her?"
Kael's jaw tightened. "No one knows. But it broke the balance."
Selena felt a strange pressure in her chest.
A question she hadn't dared ask before now formed on her lips.
"Do you think Ruvan wants to… bond with me?"
Kael's eyes blazed. "He'll try. And when he does, he'll destroy you from the inside. That's why I won't let it happen."
He stepped closer, towering over her, shadows dancing across his sharp features.
"I'll kill him first."
Selena looked up into his eyes and felt something twist in her chest. The pull between them. The gravity.
"Even if he's part of the prophecy?"
Kael's voice dropped to a whisper. "Prophecies can be rewritten. But not if I lose you."
Before she could reply, a loud horn echoed through the fortress.
An alarm.
Kael grabbed her wrist. "Stay behind me."
They raced up the stairs.
Chaos had erupted in the courtyard.
Pack warriors clashed with black-cloaked intruders—smaller than wolves, quicker. Like shadows given shape.
Selena joined the fray, fire building inside her. Her pendant pulsed with heat.
One of the creatures lunged at her she sidestepped and slammed her palm into its chest.
BOOM.
A shockwave of light burst from her hand, sending the creature flying into a wall.
"Nice," Elira shouted from behind her, blade slick with blood.
But even as they fought, Selena noticed something strange.
The enemy wasn't trying to kill her.
They were trying to grab her.
Two of them broke from the line and rushed toward her.
Kael tackled one, his wolf form bursting forth pure midnight, eyes glowing gold.
The other reached Selena.
Its hand grazed her shoulder.
Pain exploded through her body not physical. Mental.
A voice.
A whisper in her head.
"I see you now, little flame…"
Her knees buckled. Her vision blurred.
Kael's roar snapped her out of it.
The creature was gone.
Vanished.
Just like that.
Later, after the battle was over and the wounded were tended to, Kael and Selena stood alone on the wall.
"They didn't come to kill you," he said. "They came to mark you. That thing… it was a seer. Ruvan's eye."
Selena shivered. "I heard him. In my head."
Kael touched her shoulder gently. "We'll find a way to block him. You're not alone in this."
But Selena wasn't so sure.
Because in that moment of connection… she'd felt something else.
Something familiar.
As if Ruvan already knew her.
That night, Selena sat by the fire, her pendant warm against her skin.
She turned it over in her fingers, remembering the legend, the mural… the fire inside her.
The blood she'd spilled.
The path she'd chosen.
She wasn't just a girl anymore.
She was the white wolf.
And the storm was only just beginning.