Broken Beyond Belief

Chapter 15: The Battlefield

Caleb’s POV:

We moved like shadows through the forest.

No words.

Only breath and motion—boots slicing through frozen brush as the moonlight slipped behind drifting clouds. The temperature had dropped sharply, but not one of us flinched. Cold was temporary. Focus was everything.

Nanook stirred in the back of my mind, alert. Something’s wrong. The usual sounds of the woods were gone. No wind, no leaves whispering, not even the faint cry of an owl. Just stillness. Too quiet. Like the trees were holding their breath.

My father slowed ahead of me, raising one hand. We stopped. I scanned the tree line, my breath visible in the chilled air. We were close now—too close—and something felt off. My hand slid to my blade. The warriors around me tensed. We’re being watched.

Then— Thwip. An arrow sliced through the air and struck the scout ahead of me, directly in the throat. He collapsed, gurgling.

“AMBUSH!” My father roared.

Chaos erupted. From all sides, Bloodstone warriors emerged, leaping from trees and charging from trenches hidden beneath mounds of snow. They’d been waiting. We were surrounded. Completely encircled. Damn it! How had they known?

Blades clashed. Wolves shifted mid-air. Bodies collided with bone-crushing force. I didn’t have time to think—only to react.

Nanook surged forward. Protect. Lead. Survive.

I shifted quickly, painlessly. My bones cracked and realigned with instinctual ease. Silver and black fur rippled over muscle as my paws hit the earth.

A Bloodstone warrior launched at me from behind—too late. I spun, catching him mid-air. My claws tore across his face, flinging him into a tree so hard the bark splintered. Another came at me. Then another. I fought without rhythm—only fury.

Every swipe, every bite, instinct and rage. Nanook drove me forward with calculated violence.

Behind you! A sharp warning pulsed through me. I turned just as their Gamma lunged, slamming into my ribs.

I tumbled backwards, air knocked from my lungs. He was big. Powerful. But sloppy. We clashed, claws sparking. His jaw snapped just inches from my throat.

I drove my hind paw into his gut, twisting, and slammed him onto his back—but he rolled, shifting momentum. He bit into my shoulder—hard. Blood spurted.

Nanook roared, and we retaliated. I wrenched my body sideways, sank my fangs into his forearm, snapping bone. He screamed and tried to pull away. Too late.

I lunged again—this time faster—claws outstretched, slicing through his stomach. He collapsed with a wet gasp. Not dead... yet. I rose and sank my teeth into his neck, holding on until he stilled beneath me.

Panting, adrenaline pounding, blood dripping from my muzzle and claws, my foreleg wept from where he’d bitten me. My ribs ached, but I couldn’t stop.

More surged through the trees. I spun to regroup with the others—

That’s when I saw it. We were surrounded.

Enemy wolves poured in like a flood. My pack—my friends—had been cut off, fighting on opposite ends of the clearing. We were herded. Trapped. Separated.

And in the center of it all... I saw my father.

Alpha Michael Owens.

Locked in a brutal fight with David Sanders, the Alpha of Bloodstone. It was like watching two gods collide. My father moved with practiced elegance, honed by decades of battle. His silver-streaked fur shimmered with sweat and blood, each motion sharp and deliberate.

David was taller, broader, and all brute force. His claws longer, his bite vicious. But my father was smarter. Faster. He ducked under a swipe, twisted behind David’s back, and slashed along his side. David howled in rage. My heart raced. Come on, Dad. You’ve got this.

My paws itched to run to him, but I was surrounded.

David lunged again—Michael side-stepped, then caught him with a brutal blow to the shoulder. The momentum sent David staggering backward.

Yes! I barked, Nanook pacing in my mind.

But something shifted. David's eyes darkened—literally.

A creeping blackness swallowed his irises. His claws lengthened unnaturally, and steam poured from his mouth as if his body were overheating.

No... I muttered.

My father hesitated, just for a second. It was enough. David charged, ramming into him with such force that the ground cracked beneath their feet. My father went down.

They rolled. Bit. Slashed. Blood sprayed the trees.

My father tried to rise—but David was on him now, pinning him, one massive paw against his chest.

Get off him! I growled, but I couldn’t move—surrounded by two Bloodstone wolves tearing into my side.

We have to get to him! Nanook snapped.

My father struck upward—his claws sinking into David’s throat.

David didn’t flinch. Instead, he reached back with one hand, plunging it straight into my father’s chest.

No! My voice broke in disbelief.

My father’s eyes widened—shock. Pain. His body convulsed beneath the pressure. David yanked his arm back with a sickening, wet sound.

In his fist… was my father’s heart. Still beating.

Everything shattered.

Nanook wailed—a sound more animal than I’d ever heard from him. My legs buckled, but I didn’t fall. Couldn’t. I was frozen, trembling, fury and horror merging until I couldn’t breathe.

I could hear my father’s cries in my mind, blood roaring in my ears. My vision pulsed red.

David turned, holding the heart aloft like a twisted trophy, grinning through a mask of blood. Bloodstone warriors howled in victory as my father’s body crumpled to the forest floor.

And I… I lost something I couldn’t name.

The pain in my chest wasn’t physical. It was something deeper. Something tearing me apart.

I didn’t even hear myself scream.

My heart raced, the weight of the moment sinking in. It was like time slowed—just for an instant, I saw my father, the man who had led us through countless battles, taken from me by David Sanders. For a second, I couldn’t breathe.

The haze lifted with the sound of our warriors breaking through the tree line. Cain. Soren. Grey. Cole. Nathan. Joshua. Jacob. All charging through the chaos, fighting tooth and claw to get to me.

“To Caleb! Get to the Alpha’s son!”

I turned, ready to lunge at David—

“Caleb, NO!” Soren shouted, slamming into me just in time.

I was tackled backward as David snarled and advanced, but Cain, Grey, and the others closed ranks, forcing him back. Claws clashed. Blood sprayed. Warriors on both sides fell.

It became survival. Not war.

We fought like hell, carving a path through enemy lines, carrying the broken body of my father with us. My limbs screamed. My vision swam. But we didn’t stop.

We barely made it past the ridge.

Bloodied. Shattered. Silent.

I looked back once as we crossed into Black Moon territory—back at the darkness, the smoke, the c*****e we left behind.

My father was dead.

We all felt the loss. The entire pack would feel it.

The bond shattered the moment we lost our Alpha, and I lost my father.

We carried his body back to the packhouse, each step heavier than the last.

I collapsed at the entrance, tears choking me, unable to speak. All I could do was sob, clutching my father’s cold hand, willing him to wake up. To speak to me again. To laugh with me, to scream at me, anything… just anything.

My mind raced, lost in the chaos of grief, when I heard Jacob's voice, barely a whisper beside me.

“She was right.”

I looked up at him, confused. “What?”

“Mira…” His voice cracked. “She was awake before we left this morning. She told me something bad was going to happen to the Alpha.”

Rage surged inside me, mingling with the grief. My world was collapsing, and Mira had seen it coming.

She’d known.

Somehow, she knew.

Before I could ask Jacob anything else, the door creaked open. My mother entered, her face streaked with tears, her once-proud posture crumbled. She was a wreck, disheveled, unrecognizable—nothing like the strong, composed woman I had always known.

She was falling apart.