SILVER & ASH

The Silver Freak

The mud in my mouth tasted like iron and failure.

I pressed my chest into the freezing slush of Sector 4, my heart a frantic bird against my ribs. Above me, the sky was a bruised, weeping purple, dumping a cold rain that turned my tactical gear into a heavy, leaden weight. Around me, the other recruits were whimpering—low-rank Betas and Omegas, the "trash" of the werewolf world.

Back at the Blackwood Pack, my father—the Alpha—called me the Bad Seed. He’d forced me to scrub the dried blood off the Great Hall floors while my stepsisters preened in silk for the Pack Ball. He told me I was a mistake, a wolf who couldn’t even shift without breaking.

So, I ran. I traded a mop for a rifle, thinking I could bury my shame in the smoke of the front lines. But even here, in the army of rejects, I was just a "Soot Rat."

"Stay down, Runt," my squad leader hissed, shoving my head deeper into the muck.

Then, the world screamed.

BOOM.

The ground buckled, sending a spray of gravel into my face. The scent hit me like a physical blow—rotting meat and wet, mangy dog. Rogues. These weren't soldiers; they were feral beasts who had lost their souls to the moon.

"Help! They're coming!" a girl screamed. Her voice ended in a sickening, wet crunch.

I didn't scream. My father had spent eighteen years trying to break me; a few rabid wolves didn't scare me. As the first shadow leaped from the treeline, a familiar, dangerous hum woke up in my veins.

Not now, I snarled at my inner wolf. Stay hidden.

A massive gray Rogue, eyes glowing a sickly, necrotic yellow, lunged for the boy to my left. Without thinking, I vaulted over a fallen log. I didn't shift—I couldn't risk revealing my fur—but I was fast. Faster than any Omega had a right to be. I drove my combat knife into the Rogue's neck, twisting until hot, foul blood coated my visor.

"Phoebe, look out!"

Another wolf, twice the size of the first, tackled me into the slush. The weight was bone-crushing. His jaws snapped inches from my throat, his breath hot and stinking of carrion. I pinned his head back with my forearm, my muscles screaming as his claws shredded my tactical vest.

The pressure in my blood reached a breaking point. The "curse" my father hated was screaming to be let out.

Burn, I thought.

I slammed my bare palm against the wolf's chest. My veins didn't glow gold like a normal wolf. They flashed a blinding, liquid silver. I reached into the earth, pulling on the metal in the soil, the iron in the Rogue’s very blood.

SHINK.

Spikes of jagged, pure silver erupted from the mud, impaling the Rogue from the stomach to the spine. He didn't even have time to whimper before his body went slack.

I scrambled back, gasping, my heart hammering a rhythm of pure terror. I looked at my hands. The silver glow was fading, but the evidence was everywhere. I had to get my helmet on. I had to—

"What in the hell was that?"

The voice was deep, like a mountain moving. It made my skin prickle with a heat that was entirely too s****l for a battlefield.

I turned. Standing on the ridge were three men carved from shadow and sheer, brutal power. The Triad. The Alphas of Alphas.

General Kaelen. The billionaire heir. He looked down at me with eyes as cold as the frost he commanded.

Commander Drax. A mountain of scarred muscle, looking like he fed on war itself.

Jaxson. The Wild Card. He had a smirk that promised a very delicious kind of ruin.

They leaped from the ridge, landing with a heavy thud that made the mud jump. My body instinctively wanted to kneel. The Alpha pressure coming off them was a physical weight, a command to submit.

But my wolf? She was howling a single, deafening word: MATE.

"You," Kaelen said, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. He stepped into my space, his expensive, wintry scent drowning out the smell of death. "Identify yourself, Recruit."

He used his Alpha Voice. It was a psychic hammer, designed to break any wolf’s will. It should have forced me to my knees. It should have made me bare my neck.

I stood my ground. I glared at him through the cracked glass of my visor. "No."

The air crackled. Silence fell over the clearing.

Jaxson let out a low, dark whistle. "She defied a Direct Command. I like her already."

Kaelen’s eyes narrowed. He wasn't angry. He looked... hungry. He stepped closer, his chest nearly brushing mine. I could feel the raw heat radiating off him.

"You're strong," Kaelen murmured. He reached out and grabbed the front of my vest, fisting the fabric and pulling me flush against his hard, armored chest. "But you're hiding something behind that glass."

"Let me go," I warned, my voice trembling. The mate bond was making me dizzy. I wanted to bite him. I wanted to lick the rain off his skin.

"Take off the helmet," Drax ordered, stepping up behind me. He was so large he blocked out the light. I was trapped between them. "I want to see my Mate's face."

Mate. The word hit me like a lightning strike.

"I can't," I choked out. "If you see who I am... he will come for me."

"Who?" Kaelen demanded, his fingers findng the latch of my helmet.

"My father."

Click. Kaelen ripped the helmet off.

My hair tumbled down—long, dark, and streaked with impossible, shimmering silver. My violet eyes, wide and terrified, met Kaelen’s icy blue ones.

The three Alphas froze. For a moment, the world stopped turning.

"Beautiful," Jaxson whispered, his hand reaching out to touch a silver strand of my hair.

Suddenly, a siren blared across the camp. Red emergency lights began to pulse through the rain.

"General!" A voice crackled over Kaelen’s radio. "We have a perimeter breach! Blackwood Pack forces are at the gate. They say we’ve stolen their 'property'. They want the girl."

The color drained from my face. "He found me."

Kaelen didn't look at the radio. He looked at me, a dark, possessive heat flooding his scent. He trailed his thumb over my bottom lip, his eyes turning a predatory gold.

"Blackwood wants you back?" Kaelen asked softly.

I nodded, my voice a whisper. "He'll kill you to get to me."

Drax let out a roar that shook the very trees. He stepped in front of me, his muscles bulging as his shadow grew, his wolf pushing against his skin.

"Let him try," Drax snarled. "Nobody touches what belongs to the Triad."

Kaelen smirked, pulling me closer until I could feel his heartbeat.

"Welcome home, little wolf," he whispered against my ear. "The war starts now.