The wind howled through the jagged peaks of the Shadowfang Mountains, carrying with it the metallic scent of blood and the approaching dawn.
Four wolves paced restlessly beneath the pale moonlight, their silver eyes reflecting anxiety as they waited at the predetermined meeting point—a rocky outcrop that offered both shelter and a clear view of the Avriantya territory below.
The white wolf, Lila, lifted her muzzle to taste the air, her ears twitching with growing irritation.
'Where is he?' The thought rippled through her mind as she watched the distant smoke still rising from the palace grounds they had just ravaged.
"We should have left by now," growled Kael, the largest of the remaining wolves, his midnight-black fur bristling with unease. "The Empire's hounds will catch our scent soon enough."
The third wolf, a lean gray female named Vera, snorted dismissively. "Javrian knows what he's doing. He always does."
"Does he?" Lila's voice carried sharp edges as she finally shifted back to her human form, her silver hair catching the moonlight like spun metal. Her muscular frame bore fresh scratches from the battle, and her pale eyes burned with barely contained frustration. "He should have been here an hour ago. The plan was simple—kill Victor, burn evidence, leave before dawn."
The fourth member of their pack, a younger brown wolf named Darius, whimpered softly before transforming as well. "Maybe something went wrong. What if Victor—"
"Victor is dead," Lila cut him off coldly, her fingers unconsciously flexing as if still feeling the man's throat beneath her claws. "I could smell his blood on the wind before we even left the palace."
'So why isn't Javrian here?'
Kael's transformation rippled through his massive frame, revealing a scarred torso and arms thick as tree trunks. "The longer we wait, the more danger we're all in. Maybe we should—"
The crunch of approaching footsteps on loose stone silenced them all.
Every head turned toward the narrow mountain path, bodies tensing as a familiar figure emerged from the shadows. But what they saw made them all freeze in confusion.
Javrian's silver eye gleamed in the moonlight, his usually predatory grace somehow... gentler. His black hair was disheveled, and his scarred face held an expression none of them had ever seen before.
But what truly caught their attention was the bundle in his arms—a woman wrapped in his dark cloak, her vibrant red hair spilling like liquid fire over his forearm.
"Javrian?" Lila's voice came out strangled, her pale eyes widening as she took in the sight. What the hell...?
The woman appeared unconscious, her face peaceful in a way that seemed almost ethereal against Javrian's battle-worn features.
His hold on her was protective, possessive—like a wolf guarding its most precious treasure.
"You're late," Kael stated bluntly, though his usual commanding tone wavered with uncertainty. "We should have been gone—"
"I know." Javrian's voice carried that familiar edge of authority, but underneath it was something else. Something warmer. His eye swept over his pack members before settling on their confused faces. "There were... complications."
Vera stepped closer, her nostrils flaring as she caught the woman's scent. Her expression shifted from curiosity to recognition, then to shock. "Javrian, that scent... that's—"
"Oh, isn't that the daughter of the Alpha Avriantya Tribe's main head family?!" Darius blurted out, his young voice cracking with excitement and fear.
The words hit the gathering like a physical blow.
Lila's face went deathly pale. "The main family? But that means—"
"Yes," Vera breathed, her eyes fixed on the woman's sleeping face. "She was the one who married Victor. I remember the ceremony—the whole territory talked about it for months."
'What?' Javrian's silver eye snapped to Vera, his expression sharp. "What did you say?"
"The marriage," Kael explained slowly, his own understanding dawning. "Three years ago. The union between the main Avriantya bloodline and Victor's branch family. It was supposed to strengthen their clan's position with the Empire."
'Branch family.'
The words echoed in Javrian's mind as pieces of a puzzle he didn't know existed began falling into place. Victor—the man whose blood still stained his claws—had been from a branch family.
Which meant the woman in his arms...
"She's Princess Luna Avriantya," Lila whispered, her voice barely audible over the mountain wind. "The last surviving heir of the main bloodline."
Princess.
Javrian looked down at the woman—at Luna—with new understanding flooding through him.
Those hollow crimson eyes that had met his without fear, the way she had commanded their deaths with such cold authority, the artifact containing evidence, and her talking about stabbing and killing herself...
She wasn't just a broken woman.
She was of royalty!?
"Javrian," Lila's voice turned sharp with concern, "do you understand what this means? If the Empire discovers we have her—"
"They won't." The words came out as a growl, protective and final.
Javrian's arm tightened around Luna unconsciously, his silver eye blazing with sudden intensity. "She's under my protection now."
"Protection?" Kael laughed harshly. "She's the enemy, Javrian. The Avriantya clan has been hunting our people for generations. Her family—"
"Her family is dead," Javrian cut him off, his voice carrying a deadly quiet that made even Kael step back. "Victor was her last living relative through marriage. She has nothing left."
'Just like us.'
The parallel struck him with unexpected force. Here was a woman who had lost everything to the same Empire that had destroyed his tribe, the same political machinations that had left him a weapon instead of a man.
"But the bounty on her head," Darius stammered. "The Empire would pay—"
"Anyone who even thinks about betraying her to the Empire... I will rip them apart." Javrian's snarl cut through the night air like a blade, not even thinking for a moment as he made a firm declaration.
The threat hung in the air, absolute and terrifying. None of them had ever seen their pack leader display such protective fury over anyone—certainly not over a human woman.
Given they could clearly smell that the woman didn't have the spark, the crucial energy which helps one transform into a wolf, so naturally she was a normal human.
Lila studied Javrian's face, reading the subtle changes in his expression, the way his entire body language had shifted to shield the woman in his arms.
A slow but sudden gust of wind carried the scent of the breeze brushing from that red hair of the woman reaching her.
'!'
'N-no...' Her eyes visibly widened as she felt the deep smell of Javrian on her, something only present when a wolf claims someone and bonds deeply, before jaws clenched, fists tightening as she glared at that woman in his arm.
She said in a sharp tone, as if finding that woman a threat and also someone who, just like her husband, took away her remaining family, "I will kill her."
"...What did you say?" Javrian's eyes moved toward Lila; everyone did too, but without the words resonating, they all were able to instantly realize what had happened here after seeing Lila's expression.
They instantly turned towards Javrian before taking in the smell of the wind passing from near him before some gasped, some clearly shaken, and some angry before one of them asked in shock.
"D-don't tell us, Javrian, did you claim that woman!?"