THE FIRST BLOOD
1088 Words
The first assassin got to me before I could even scream.
A poisoned blade flashed at my throat.
Then—
Boom.
A shockwave ripped through the room, slamming the attacker backward like he’d just been hit by an invisible wrecking ball. He crashed through the wooden table and slammed into the stone wall hard enough to shake the whole guest house.
Every masked intruder froze.
So did I.
Kael stood between me and the assassins—he hadn’t even moved. Silver eyes glowing, calm as ever. It felt like the air itself bent to his will.
“So,” he said quietly, “you’ve finally shown yourselves.”
One of the assassins behind a mask laughed. “There are only eight of us.”
Kael’s face didn’t change. “You say that like eight is supposed to impress me.”
The leader snarled, “Kill them!”
Seven blades lunged at once.
Everything exploded into chaos.
A sword slashed for Kael’s neck. He just tilted his head, the blade passing in empty air. In a blink, he snatched the attacker’s wrist.
Crack.
Bones snapped.
The assassin screamed, and Kael flung him straight through the fireplace. Flames burst across the floor. Another man charged him from behind.
Kael spun, never even glancing back—his elbow hammered into the attacker’s chest. I heard ribs snap. The man dropped, unmoving.
I’d never seen anything like it. Kael wasn’t fighting, not really—he was just taking them apart. Fast, precise, unstoppable.
He didn’t see assassins. Just obstacles.
Three more moved in together. One went high, one low, one with a dagger coming at his back. Kael actually had to give ground. A blade nicked his shoulder, drew a thin line of blood.
My heart skipped in my chest. “Behind you!”
Kael ducked. The dagger meant for him got another assassin in the chest instead. The man gasped and collapsed.
Kael flicked his eyes at me. “Our first battle together,” he said, almost amused.
“Don’t get smug yet!” I yelled back.
One guy slipped past. Poisoned knife out, right for me.
I didn’t think. I grabbed the iron poker by the fireplace and swung it with everything I had.
Clang. The poker smashed his wrist. His blade went flying.
Before he could grab it, Kael was there. One punch. The assassin crashed through the door, out into the pouring rain.
Kael glanced my way. “You hit him.”
“I noticed.”
“You’ve done this before.”
“Nope.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t believe you.”
“I’ve hit plenty of annoying people,” I muttered.
His lips almost smiled. “I believe that.”
Another assassin rushed. Kael caught him by the throat and lifted him clean off the floor. The man clawed at his arm, helpless.
“You came into my territory,” Kael said in a voice like cold iron. “You threatened my mate.”
His eyes blazed.
“You chose wrong.”
He dropped the assassin through the wooden floor—the whole house shuddered.
Suddenly everything went quiet. Smashed furniture everywhere, windows blown out. Rain pouring in.
Fear replaced bravado in what was left of the assassins.
“Retreat!” their leader shouted.
They bolted for the ruined windows.
Kael moved to chase them—
“Wait!” I called, pointing to a guy crawling on the floor. He’d been hurt and hadn’t made it out.
Kael reached him in a blink, clamped a hand on the back of his cloak.
The man let out a weak, ugly laugh. “So…”
He coughed blood.
“…you survived again.”
My stomach dropped at that.
Again?
“What do you mean?” I demanded.
He looked at me, and finally I saw his eyes. Not a mercenary’s dead coldness. This was personal. This ran deep.
“You… you should have died years ago,” he whispered.
Time ground to a halt. Even the rain seemed to go silent.
My whole body went cold. “What did you say?”
He laughed again, ragged. “We failed once… but this time… you won’t escape your fate.”
“I don’t even know you!” I shot back.
He smiled beneath the mask, teeth red with blood. “No… but someone remembers you.”
Before I could ask what he meant, he bit down hard.
Kael’s eyes flashed wide. “Stop him!”
Too late. Foam spilled from the assassin’s lips. He convulsed, then went still.
Poison. He’d taken his own life.
“No…” I breathed. My hands shook.
He hadn’t come for Kael. He’d come for me. He knew my name. My past. He wanted me dead, and not because of today. Not because of Damon. Because of something years ago.
Somebody had been hunting me long before tonight.
Silence settled heavy over the broken guest house.
Kael pulled the mask off the dead man, jaw clenched.
“This wasn’t random.”
He stood as his royal guards finally rushed in, armor glimmering silver in the rain.
Their captain dropped to one knee. “Your Majesty.”
Kael’s voice was like winter. “Seal every road out of the pack.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“No one in. No one out. Search every village. Question every informant. I want names. Everyone tied to these assassins.”
The captain bowed. “It will be done.”
Kael turned back to me and, for a heartbeat, his face softened.
“I’ll find whoever’s been hunting you.”
I swallowed, voice small. “You don’t even know me.”
“No,” he said, stepping closer. “But someone wanted you gone. Now I want to know why.”
A thousand questions swirled in my head. Had my mother lied to me? My father? Was I ever just another unwanted Omega—or was it all a lie from the start?
Kael rifled through the bodies, then stopped.
His eyes landed on one assassin’s forearm. Carefully, he rolled up the sleeve.
Burned black into the flesh: a wolf’s skull ringed by twisted flames.
Kael’s face drained of color. His voice dropped to a whisper, rough and afraid.
“No…”
I glanced back and forth, heart pounding. “You know that symbol?”
Kael didn’t answer right away. He slid the sleeve back down, then looked at me—eyes burning.
“The past…” he said quietly, “is coming for you.”
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