The Night of Fire
The first scream ripped through the night like a blade through silk.
I froze as the wooden bowl slipped from my hands and shattering against the floorboards. For a heartbeat, the Silvermist forest was silent again, heavy, and expectant... and then the howls came. Long, mournful at first, before twisting into something darker. Angrier.
My stomach knotted. Those weren't the calls of our hunters returning from patrol. It wasn't a call for party either.
They were definitely war howls.
I bolted for the door, flinging it open to a flood of cold night air that carried that harsh stench of blood. The moon hung heavy above the trees, swollen and obviously wrong, crimson light bleeding across the snow, staining the white drifts like spilled wine. My skin prickled. A blood moon.
"Aria!"
Rylan's voice cut through the chaos as he stumbled out from the shadows, his thin frame shivering in nothing but a nightshirt. My little brother's blue eyes were wide, darting to the treeline where shapes moved, too fast, too many shapes.
"Inside," I ordered, grabbing his arm. My wolf clawed at my skin, restless, sensing the threat before my mind caught up.
But it was already too late.
The first of them broke through the trees, the were massive, hulking shapes that shifted mid-stride, bones snapping, fur receding into skin until warriors in black leathers charged across our vicinity. The silver emblem on their armor caught the firelight from the torches they carried: a snarling wolf's head with fangs bared.
Bloodfang Pack, who else could it be?
My heart slammed against my ribs. We'd had skirmishes before, bitter border disputes, but never an attack this deep into our territory. Not on a night like this.
The sound of steel meeting steel roared through the air as our warriors clashed with theirs. Sparks lit the darkness. Somewhere to my right, a wolf's dying cry was cut short by the wet sound of tearing flesh.
Rylan whimpered, pressing himself against me. "Aria, what's happening?"
I pushed him toward the back door. "Go to the cellar. Don't come out until I tell you."
"But..."
"Now!" My voice cracked like a whip.
He bolted, bare feet pounding the floorboards, disappearing into the dark hall.
I didn't give myself time to think. My father's dagger hung just above the hearth, I grabbed it, the weight was familiar in my hand, the leather hilt molded to my grip from years of training. My pulse thundered in my ears. My wolf strained for release, claws scratching under my skin, but I held her back.
Not yet.
The door burst inward before I could brace it. A Bloodfang warrior filled the frame, his eyes gleaming gold in the firelight. His smile was all teeth.
I moved without thinking, a slash across his chest, a kick to his knee. He grunted, staggered, but didn't fall. He came at me again, faster this time. I ducked low, driving the dagger up under his ribs. His breath caught in a wet gasp before he crumpled, the torch falling from his grasp and setting the doorway alight.
The scent of burning wood hit me in a wave.
"Aria!"
I spun toward the voice, and froze.
He was there.
The stories hadn't done him justice, he was worse than they described him. Kael Draven, Alpha of the Bloodfang Pack, stood at the center of my home like he owned it. Tall, broad-shouldered, his presence filled the space, choking, even more choking than the smoke. It choked until I could hardly breathe. Black hair framed his face that looked like it was carved from stone, and his amber eyes glowed with a predator's focus. Even from across the room, I felt it, the weight of his power, pressing against my skin like a physical thing.
"Move aside," he said, voice low and dangerous.
My grip on the dagger tightened. "You'll have to kill me first."
One corner of his mouth twitched, almost a smile. "That can be arranged."
I shifted before the words fully left his mouth, my bones cracking, muscles tearing as my wolf burst free. Silver fur rippled over my skin, my senses sharpening, the heat of the flames, the pounding of my heart, the raw stench of blood everywhere.
Kael didn't flinch. He shifted too, faster than I thought possible, his massive black Alpha wolf towering over me, eyes like molten gold. His growl rumbled through the floorboards.
We collided. Teeth clashed, claws scraped across fur and flesh. Pain bloomed hot along my shoulder as his jaws clamped down, but I twisted free, aiming for his throat. He slammed me into the wall with bone-jarring force. The air left my lungs in a sharp gasp.
And then it happened.
The world… shifted.
Heat flared where his teeth grazed my skin, a spark that shot straight through to my soul. My wolf stilled, confused, as something ancient and unbreakable locked into place. The scent of him, sweet smoke, wild earth, they all flooded my senses, dizzying and sharp. My heart stuttered.
Mate.
The word burned through me, unwanted and undeniable.
Kael froze too, eyes widening for a fraction of a second. I saw it hit him too, the recognition, the pull. And then, just as quickly, it was gone, buried under a cold, hard mask.
"Unfortunate," he said, his voice almost a growl.
Before I could react, his hand, now human again, he closed around my throat. He didn't squeeze, but the threat was there, his fingers strong and unyielding. My wolf snarled inside me, rage and instinct warring with that strange, traitorous pull toward him.
"You're coming with me," Kael said.
I spat in his face.
His eyes narrowed. Without another word, he slammed the hilt of his blade against my temple. Pain exploded through my skull, the world tilting sideways.
The last thing I saw before darkness swallowed me was the flicker of crimson moonlight in his eyes… and the faintest trace of something that looked like regret.