Chapter Eleven: The Warning
493 Words
Lena
She wasn’t supposed to be in his study.
Kellan had left for the training grounds, and she’d told the guards she needed a tonic for Noah’s cough. A lie. But convincing. The moment they turned their backs, she slipped into the Alpha’s quarters, her pulse hammering in her throat.
She knew he was planning something. She just didn’t know what.
The desk was locked. Of course it was.
But Kellan had always been arrogant. Predictable.
She found the spare key inside the bust of the First Alpha, exactly where Luka had once joked it would be. “He hides things behind tradition,” he’d said, years ago. “Because he thinks that makes them untouchable.”
Not this time.
She opened the drawer and found the map.
Not Luka’s version—Kellan’s. Marked with blood.
Every trail Lena and Luka had used. Every signal they’d sent. Every whisper of resistance.
And pinned to the corner, folded and creased: a writ of judgment.
Signed by the Elders.
Execution by sunrise.
Her name.
Luka’s name.
And beneath it… Noah.
She couldn’t breathe.
He’d gone to the Council. Told them everything. Lied or not, it didn’t matter.
They believed him.
Kellan wasn’t just circling them. He was ending them.
She grabbed the papers, tucked them under her cloak, and ran.
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The forest blurred around her.
Her lungs burned. Branches slashed her arms, her legs. She didn’t stop.
Don’t think. Just run.
She found Luka exactly where she hoped he’d be: the ash tree clearing.
His head snapped up the second he scented her—then his face twisted when he saw her expression.
She collapsed into his arms.
“They’re coming,” she gasped. “Tonight. With an Elder guard.”
His arms closed around her, steady as stone. “Tell me everything.”
She pulled the blood-stamped parchment from her cloak. He read it once, then again.
Then his hands trembled.
“He signed your death,” he said.
“And Noah’s.”
His eyes went wild. For the first time, Luka looked truly unhinged.
“They’ll regret that,” he growled, his voice not quite human anymore. “I swear to the Moon, Lena, I will burn them all before they touch him.”
She grabbed his shirt, forcing him to look at her.
“There’s no time for rage,” she said. “There’s only time for action.”
A moment passed between them. Then Luka’s face hardened.
“Get Mira. Get Noah. Meet me by the northern ridge. The resistance outpost. I’ll hold the others back.”
“Luka—”
“I’m not dying tonight, Lena.” His voice dropped, intense and soft. “Not without you.”
She kissed him.
Quick. Fierce.
“I’m trusting you with both our lives,” she whispered.
“You trusted the right wolf.”
And then they ran.
In opposite directions.
To start a war neither of them could walk away from.
- Writer
