FATED TO BURN: DESTINED TO HEAL

Chapter Seven (Clash of Wolves)

Kael's POV

"Kael, get moving!" Raven let out a scream.

Black serpents twisted through the air as the shadows lunged. The tendrils blasted into the earth, leaving a dark, smoldering crater where he stood just seconds before, and Kael barely avoided it, rolling over the soil. Raven's heart was racing. It wasn't your typical magic. It was older and darker, and it caused her inner wolf to growl.

Standing in the middle of the mayhem, Elias's cold blue eyes glowed strangely in the moonlight. His lips twisted into a savage grin. He stepped forward, drawling, "Raven, you always did have perfect timing." "But he won't be saved."

Raven let out a low-pitched snarl. Her wolf surged beneath her flesh, ready to attack, and her claws slid from her fingertips. She made no hesitation.

She gave Elias a leap.

Elias suddenly transformed, slamming at Raven in midair with his dark grey wolf. Their jaws and claws slashed fiercely as their corpses fell to the ground. Raven twisted and sank her teeth into his leg, ignoring the biting agony as his claws ripped across her shoulder. Elias screamed and threw her away. Kael lunged into the fray, and she tumbled, landing on her feet.

Elias was sent reeling after Kael's black wolf struck him. The two Alphas fought, their claws shredding and their teeth breaking. Raven scurried about them, looking for further threats in the darkness. Twisting and throbbing with black energy, the dark tendrils continued to snake across the ground. Elias hadn't finished whatever he had called forth yet.

Behind her, a deep growl rumbled. Raven whirled in time to witness a huge rogue wolf lunging toward Kael's exposed rear.

"Behind you, Kael!" She yelled.

Though he was too slow, Kael turned. Raven made a thoughtless motion as the rogue rushed.

With her nails cutting over the outlaws' jaws, she threw herself into its path. The wolf let out a cry, but she was kicked to the ground by the force of its weight. As the rogue's teeth dug into Raven's side, she breathed. She set her teeth and pressed her nails into its neck despite the unbearable pain coursing through her arteries.

The outlaws fell to the ground, turning once and then becoming still. Coughing as she tried to stand, Raven pushed the body away from her. Despite the blood trickling down her side, she made herself stand.

With their wolves locked in a lethal dance, Kael and Elias were still engaged in combat. Elias turned, his claws sweeping across Kael's side as Kael attacked, his fangs closing around his throat. Kael staggered and yelled.

"No!" Raven yelled and ran in their direction.

Panting, Elias transformed back into a human. He scoffed, "Kael, you're weak." "You were always." Darkness rotated around his fingers as he raised his hand. "And you're going to die now."

Kael was pushed downward by the dark branches that swung out and tied his legs. With his claws raking the floor, Kael struggled. Raven's heart was racing. She was unable to lose him. Never again.

She snarled in rage and sprang forward, her claws cutting through the darkness. They hissed in retreat, but Elias merely chuckled.

"It's too late," he said.

The earth trembles under her feet. Beneath Elias, a dark doorway emerged, causing shadows to stream out and contort into a hideous shape. A cold voice whispered through the shadow as two bright red eyes looked at her from the darkness.

"Raven, I've been waiting for you."

The darkness rushed ahead.

Raven felt a chill slide down his back. Like a whisper within her head, the voice from the shadows slithered across the atmosphere. It was aware of her name. For her, it had *waited*.

Elias smiled and took a step back when the hideous figure emerged from the doorway. Raven has never seen anything like the beast. Its red pupils blazed with a terrifying intensity, but its body was pure darkness, changing and swirling like fog. The air was dense with strange energy, and the ground underneath it shattered.

Dark branches continued to coil around Kael's legs, and he wrestled against them. His strength was decreasing, yet his golden eyes shone with anger. Elias had left gashes on his side, and blood flowed from them.

Inside her, Raven's wolf howled. She needed to relocate. She had to put an end to this.

With her claws aimed for Elias' throat, she sprang at him.

However, the shadow thing *moved* before she could get to him.

With its tendrils flying out like spears, it struck more quickly than lightning. Raven was lifted off the ground when one struck her stomach. The dark energy burnt into her skin, causing pain to shoot through her body. She struggled and gasped, but the air was crushed from her lungs as the shadows grew tighter.

"Raven!" Kael let out a growl.

Elias chuckled, his eyes shining with victory. "Do you sense it?" he mocked. "The connection? It's shattering. You are being engulfed by the darkness, as it ought to have been years before.

Raven clenched her jaw, resisting the agony. It seemed as though something was attempting to break the *bond*, which was Kael's bond. She could feel it dragging her toward him, but she could also feel the darkness pulling her away.

She was reminded of the time Kael had turned her down. The heartache. the isolation. The sensation that one is *not enough.*

Had the darkness been feeding on this?

Her inner beast growled. *No.* She had changed from being that broken girl. She wasn't frail.

Prolonging deep within herself, she gathered all of her remaining strength with a brutal bark. Her arteries began to fill with a blazing heat that burst from her chest. Around her, light flared, burning through the dark tendrils that held her hostage. With its red eyes blinking, the creature let out a screech as the light sliced through its shape.

Raven landed on one knee after falling to the ground. Her eyesight became blurry as she coughed, but she pushed herself to stand.

With his wolf already racing in Elias' direction, Kael had escaped. The night was filled with the growls of the two as they clashed once more.

Raven's gaze, however, was fixed on the shadow thing. It was hurt, but not dead.

It was staring directly at *her*.

Then it said in a voice that made her shiver:

"Raven, the link won't save you. Soon, I will have you.

Only the echo of its promise remained in the air after the shadows disappeared.

Raven turned to Kael, her chest heaving. He was alive but gasping and covered in blood. His amber eyes looked into hers.

His voice was harsh as he questioned, "Are you okay?"

A howl in the distance broke the silence before she could respond.

Not a rebel.

A pack wolf, no.

Something *different.*

And it was headed directly for them.