The splintering
920 Words
Xander’s POV
The Seer’s words were still coiled in my skull when it hit me so hard, forcing a pull in my chest.
It wasn't my instinct. Neither was it my wolf.
It was the pack bond itself, I could feel it twisting.
The first pulse of pain tore through me like fire. Another followed, sharper, until it felt like my veins were molten.
I staggered out of the cave while gripping the cave wall.
My breath came ragged, and my wolf slammed against my ribs, claws scraping to get free.
I felt something was wrong at home.
The Seer said something behind me, something about the Vault, and old magic turning.
But her voice was fading beneath the pounding in my head.
I forced myself to look toward Mia, she stood near the fire, looking pale.
The Moonstone at her throat cracked, the air around her still alive with the magic she would unleash.
Every instinct screamed to go to her and get her out of the cave to my pack.
To make sure the trembling in her hands stopped before it turned into something worse.
But the pull on my soul tightened, a noose yanking me toward my pack.
“Stay with her,” I said to Aria.
My voice came out low, edged with the Alpha weight that brooked no argument.
Her jaw flexed, but she nodded.
The Seer reached for me. “If you leave now, you will not be able to..”
I cut her, “I don’t have a choice.”
I didn’t wait to hear the end.
I tore out of the cave, with the cold air slamming into me.
My shift hit mid stride, bones and muscles ripping into my half form, it was faster than my full wolf, steadier than human.
The forest streaked past in a blur of shadow and moonlight.
The bond with my pack was fraying.
I could feel wolves slipping away from me unconsciously.
Smoke hit my nose first, then the stench of blood.
I pushed harder, broke the trees obstructing my way, and the sight hollowed me out.
The western border of my territory was burning.
Flames roared up into the night, turning the sky the color of old wounds.
Wolves lay scattered, some were groaning.
Others fought in snarling knots of fur and teeth.
The air reeked of scorched earth and iron.
I didn’t stop to think, I shifted fully, claws digging into the dirt, and hit the first rogue I saw.
My teeth tore into his side, hot blood filling my mouth. I flung him away, already moving toward the next.
“Fall back to the inner ring!” I barked through the bond, my command hitting my wolves like a lash.
But the attacks kept coming.
For every rogue that fell, two more lunged from the smoke.
My territory was overrun.
This wasn’t random. Rogues didn’t move like this without a leash,and there was only one Alpha I knew who could break my borders without blinking.
Darius.
Rage steadied me even as my muscles screamed.
I cut my way through the fight, heading for the pull in the bond.
The thought burned hotter than the fire.
I was running before I finished the thought.
The scent hit before I saw it: syrup-sweet and cloying.
The nursery doors were wide open, the wooden frames were splintered and standing in the middle of it, framed by firelight, was Carmella.
She smiled faintly, as if we were meeting at a dinner table instead of hell. “You came just in time,” she said. “But you’re already too late.”
My claws slid free. “Where are they?”
She tilted her head. “Safe. For now.”
Every word was a lie, but before I could take a step toward her, something else reached me.
A sound.
It wasn't the clash of battle or the cry of a wolf, but a growl that was low and ancient, rolling through the earth like distant thunder.
It didn’t come from the burning forest.
It didn’t come from my land at all.
It came from the direction of the cave.
From Mia.
The bond between us shivered hard enough to make me falter.
My wolf lunged toward it, but distance made it like clawing at smoke.
I could feel her heartbeat, too fast. The air around her, thick with danger,and someone else’s voice, deep, coaxing reaching her.
It was Darius.
My jaw locked. The memory of him in that crimson robe, eyes fixed on her like she was prey, burned through my chest. If he laid so much as a finger on her…..
The ground shook under my feet. Harder this time.
A sound like stone tearing open cut through the air, followed by a surge of magic so heavy it pressed against my lungs.
Wolves on both sides froze mid fight, ears flat, eyes darting toward the source.
Carmella’s smile widened. “Oh… you feel it too.”
The image slammed into my mind unbidden, Mia in that cave, the altar splitting, something massive pulling itself free.
The growl came again, closer now, curling through my bones like cold fire.
I didn’t wait for answers. I launched forward,straight at Carmella and the world split.
The sky cracked with light, the bond to my pack flared in a scream of pain, and across the distance between us, I felt Mia’s fear like a hand around my throat.
The Vault was open.
Something inside it was walking free.
- Writer
