THE ROGUE QUEEN

Chapter 19

The first hunter died fast.

I didn’t want to kill him. But when the shadows wrapped around his throat and tightened, I couldn’t stop them in time.

He fell silently.

The other three hunters froze, losing all their confidence.

“Monster,” one of them whispered.

My wolf growled, as if agreeing.

That’s right.

“This is your last chance,” I said, my voice dark. “Run. Now.”

They ran.

Smart choice.

As soon as they ran into the trees, my legs gave out. I fell onto all fours, the shadows fading, leaving me weak and shaking.

“Selene!” Kael limped over, still in wolf form, his injured leg dragging. “Are you okay?”

‘I killed him.” Even in my head, my voice felt empty. “I killed that hunter.”

“He would have killed you first.”

“That doesn’t make it right.”

“It makes it survival.”

I shifted back to human form, my whole body shaking. The dead hunter lay a few feet away, his eyes still open, staring at nothing.

I had done that.

I had taken a life.

"Selene." Kael shifted too, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Look at me. Not him. Me."

I forced my eyes away from the body.

"You did what you had to do," Kael said firmly. "In war, people die. And make no mistake, we’re at war now."

"I don’t want to be a killer."

"Neither do I. But sometimes we don’t get a choice." He tried to stand, winced, and sat back down. "We need to move. His friends could come back with reinforcements.”

"Your leg—"

"It’s bad, but not fatal." He looked at the arrow wound. "The arrow went all the way through. I’ll be fine."

"Can you walk?"

"I’ll have to.”

We limped through the forest like injured animals.

Because that’s what we were.

Kael could barely walk. My shoulder had opened again, blood soaking the quick bandage. We were tired, wounded, and moving only because we refused to stop.

"How much farther?" I asked.

"Maybe three more hours. But at this pace…" He didn’t finish.

At this pace, we wouldn’t reach camp before dark. And traveling at night, injured, with hunters around?

It would be extremely dangerous.

"We need to rest," I said.

"We can’t. Not until—"

"Kael." I stopped walking. "Look at yourself. You can barely stand. If we keep going like this, we’ll collapse before we reach camp."

He looked like he wanted to argue. I could see it in his face.

But he knew I was right.

"Fine. Thirty minutes. Then we move again."

We found a small space under a fallen tree. It wasn’t much, but it hid us well enough. Kael rested against the trunk, his face pale from pain.

I checked his leg. The arrow had gone straight through his calf, and the bleeding had slowed. The real problem was the swelling and his limp.

"This needs real medical care," I said.

"I know."

"Lyra could heal it in minutes."

"I know."

"We can’t keep going like this."

"I know, Selene." His voice was filled with frustration and pain. "But what choice do we have? We can’t stay here. We can’t go back. All we can do is move forward."

He was right. But that didn’t make anything easier.

I sat beside him, suddenly feeling exhausted

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"For what?"

"For everything. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be hurt. We wouldn’t be running for our lives—”

"If it wasn’t for you, I’d just be going through the motions. Surviving, but not really living." He looked at me. "You gave me something to fight for, Selene. Something more than just existing."

"Getting shot with arrows?"

"Purpose." He smiled.

Before I could answer, we heard something.

Footsteps. More than one. Getting closer.

Kael and I exchanged looks.

“Can you shift?” I asked in the link.

“Yes. You?”

“I think so.”

The footsteps grew louder.

We got ready to fight or run, depending on how many there were.

Then a familiar voice called out: "If you’re planning an ambush, you should work on your hiding spot. I can smell your blood from here."

Maya.

I had never been so happy to see anyone in my life.

Maya came out of the trees, with Zara and Marcus behind her. All three looked beaten up, scratches, bruises, ripped clothes but they were alive.

"You look terrible," Maya said.

"You look worse," Kael replied.

"Fair enough." She knelt beside us, her sharp eyes checking our injuries. "Can you walk?"

"Barely," I said.

"Then we carry you." She looked at the others. "Marcus, help Kael. Zara, you’ve got Selene."

"Wait," I said. "What are you doing out here? The camp—"

"Is fine. For now." Maya’s face was serious. "The attack happened. We fought them off. But they’ll come back with more, so we sent scouts to watch. We saw signs of a fight, blood trails, and figured it might be you two.”

"How did you know which way to search?" Kael asked.

"We didn’t," Maya said. "We split up to cover different directions. Zara chose this way." Her jaw tightened. "We’ve been searching since dawn."

Zara helped me stand. "Can you walk at all?"

"If I have to," I said.

"Good. Because we need to move fast. There are hunter patrols are everywhere. We barely avoided three of them on the way here."

Marcus supported Kael’s. "You got hit bad, brother."

"I’ve had worse."

"Liar."

Despite everything, Kael smiled.

The journey back to camp took two more hours.

Maya led the way, with Zara helping me and Marcus supporting Kael. Every step i took hurt, but I kept going.

We had to.

Finally, through the trees, I saw it—the familiar clearing, the makeshift shelters, the fires burning.

Home.

But something felt wrong.

The camp was too quiet. Too still. And as we got closer, I saw why.

Bodies.

Not many maybe three or four, covered with blankets near the center of camp. Wolves moved quietly between them, mourning.

"The attack," Zara said softly.

My chest tightened. "Who?"

"I’ll let them tell you." She guided me toward Lyra’s shelter. "Right now, you need medical attention.”

Lyra was outside her shelter, sorting supplies. When she saw us, her face showed relief, worry, and anger all at once.

"You made it back," she said.

"We did," I said.

"Idiots." She pointed toward her shelter. "Both of you. Inside. Now."

We did as she said.

Lyra worked quietly, cleaning our wounds, putting on salves, and stitching where needed.

Kael’s leg wound was bad, but she seemed sure it would heal. My shoulder was infected, I’d waited too long and she had to clean it carefully while I bit down on a leather strap to keep from screaming.

"You’re lucky you didn’t lose the arm," she muttered. "Another day and I couldn’t have fixed this."

"Sorry," I gasped.

"Don’t apologize. Just don’t be careless again." She tied the bandage. "Both of you need rest. At least three days."

"We don’t have three days," Kael said.

"Then make time. If you keep pushing like this, you’ll die. And then what good are you to anyone?"

She had a point.

When she finished, she sat back and looked at us.

"I’m glad you’re alive," she said quietly. "But you need to know—things changed while you were gone. The Council isn’t playing anymore. This is a full attack. And we’re barely holding on."

"Who did we lose?" I asked, dreading the answer.

Her face showed grief. "Davey, obviously. You knew him. Also Finn, Marcus’s brother, Elena. And Thomas.”

Everything around me went blurry

"Thomas is dead?"

She nodded. "He died protecting the children. Took three Council wolves with him."

Tears stung my eyes. Old Thomas—the kind man who had welcomed me, who had believed in mebwas gone.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"So are we all." Lyra stood. "Get some rest. We’ll talk strategy in the morning. For now… just stay alive. That’s enough."

She left us alone in the shelter.

Kael and I sat in heavy silence.

Then the tears fall freely

"This is my fault," I said crying

"No. It’s the Council’s fault. Don’t blame yourself for their cruelty."

"But—"

"Selene." He took my hand, held my face and started wiping my tears. "Thomas died protecting what he believed in. So did the others. Honor that choice. Don’t lessen it by blaming yourself, and stop crying"

I wanted to argue, but I was too hurt.

Too broken.

After Kael has consoled me.

I lay down on the bedroll Lyra had made, and Kael did the same on the one next to me.

"We’re going to win this," he said into the darkness. "Somehow. We’re going to win."

I wanted to believe him.

But as I closed my eyes, all I could see were the covered bodies in the clearing.

And I wondered how many more would join them before this was over.