Chapter 17: Wolves in the Dark
810 Words
They moved at dusk.
Six of them — Luca, Raine, Wren, Silas, and two betas — cloaked in snow and shadow. The Ember outpost sat deep in a scorched pine grove near the western ridge, marked by blackened trees and symbols carved into rocks that bled sap like wounds.
The plan was simple: infiltrate, burn their cache, retreat.
No killing unless necessary.
No shifting unless forced.
But Raine already knew — nothing about this night would go according to plan.
She could feel it.
The curse inside her stirred with every step closer to the Ember Pack’s border. It coiled tight in her spine, hungry, awake. And it wasn’t whispering anymore.
It was watching.
“Blood for blood.”
⸻
Luca walked beside her, calm on the outside, but his mind buzzed. Every instinct told him to send her back, to keep her safe — but Raine wouldn’t be caged. And truthfully, he didn’t want her far from him. Not now.
Not with the bond this strong.
She glanced up at him under her hood. “When this is over, you owe me a real night.”
His brow arched. “A real night?”
She smirked. “No blood. No curses. Just you, me, and maybe a lake.”
“Deal,” he said. “If we survive.”
Her smile faded. “Don’t joke about that.”
⸻
The outpost was quiet.
Too quiet.
They arrived just past moonrise. The place was a half-collapsed ruin — part wood, part stone — half-sunken into ash-laced snow. Smoke drifted from a broken chimney. No guards. No tracks. Just a heavy silence that pressed against their ears like cotton.
Silas raised his hand. “Something’s wrong.”
“Trap?” Wren whispered.
Luca stepped forward, sniffing the air. “Magic.”
Then a click.
Behind them, the trees ignited — not with fire, but with symbols. Glowing red runes flared to life on every trunk, forming a burning ring around them.
And then the wolves came.
Six. Maybe seven. No fur. Just sinew and smoke, eyes glowing red. Corrupted shifters.
“Scatter!” Luca barked. “Break the circle!”
Raine drew in breath — and pain exploded through her skull. The curse surged forward, screaming to be let loose.
“Burn them. Bury them. Become me.”
She dropped to one knee.
A corrupted wolf lunged at her.
And that’s when she changed.
⸻
Not a full shift.
Something else.
Her eyes went white. Her veins flared silver. And the moment the wolf touched her, it disintegrated in midair, like its soul had been ripped from its flesh.
Wren stopped cold.
“What the hell was that?”
Luca saw it too — saw her standing, her silhouette glowing like a ghost in the smoke, silver lashes blowing in the wind.
“Raine…” he whispered.
But she didn’t hear him.
The curse had hold.
And it wanted blood.
⸻
Silas and the others fought fiercely, blades and claws slashing in the dark. Ember wolves didn’t die easy — they bled smoke, and each time they dropped, it took more effort to put them down.
Luca rushed Raine — grabbed her wrists, trying to ground her.
She fought him.
Not violently.
Just… with power.
“I can’t stop it,” she gasped. “It’s in me. It wants to kill everything.”
“Then aim it,” he said. “Aim it at them.”
She looked into his eyes — and for a second, he saw her again.
The Raine he loved.
She nodded.
Turned.
And unleashed hell.
⸻
The clearing lit up in a storm of light. Silver fire poured from Raine’s body, tearing through the corrupted wolves like moonlight through mist. The Ember runes shattered. The ring broke.
The others fell back, shielding their eyes.
By the time it was over, the outpost was rubble.
Ash.
Silence.
Raine stood at the center of it, trembling, smoke trailing from her fingertips.
The wind howled.
And then—
She collapsed.
⸻
Luca caught her just before she hit the ground.
Her pulse was faint. Her skin too cold.
But she was alive.
Barely.
Silas knelt beside them. “That wasn’t magic.”
“No,” Luca said, his voice shaking. “That was a warning.”
⸻
🌒 Later
They made camp in the ruins of the outpost, too far from home to risk shifting back in the dark. Raine lay wrapped in Luca’s coat, eyes closed, face pale.
She hadn’t spoken since the collapse.
“She burned through too much,” Wren said, voice low. “Whatever she did — it took from her.”
“She didn’t just kill them,” Silas added. “She unmade them.”
Luca stared into the fire.
He knew what came next.
Gabriel would feel this.
And he would strike back.
- Writer
