Chapter 5: The one Keal sent
504 Words
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Chapter 5: The One Keal Sent
They'd heard I was back.
The words hung in the courtyard like a dare. Whispers rippled through the pack, low and fast. Fear, disbelief, and something that looked a lot like hope.
“Inside. Now,” I said.
This time they listened. Five years ago they’d stood silent while Keal dragged me to the border. Tonight, they moved without a single question. The iron gates groaned shut behind them, but I didn’t follow.
Keal caught my wrist before I could step past the line of torches. His grip was careful, but his eyes were pure Alpha—cold, furious, protective.
“You don’t go out there alone.”
“He isn’t here for the pack,” I said. “He’s here for me.”
Keal’s jaw tightened. “Then you’re not going alone.”
The shadows beyond the wall shifted. A scent rolled over the courtyard—burnt metal, old blood, and rot. The same scent that clung to my clothes the night Keal’s rejection left me bleeding in the dirt. The night I was supposed to die.
A figure stepped into the moonlight.
Tall. Too thin. Skin like ash stretched over bone. Eyes glowing red, not gold. Not wolf. Something twisted, something made.
A rogue. But this one had been made, not born.
“Hello, Luna,” it hissed. The voice scraped like glass over stone. “Did you miss me?”
My breath caught. I knew that voice.
I knew that monster.
He was the one Keal had sent after me five years ago. The one who’d chased me to the border, claws out, orders clear: _Make sure she doesn’t come back._
I’d survived by running into rogue territory. Barely.
Now he was here to finish what he’d started.
Keal stepped in front of me, a low growl building in his chest. The pack behind us bristled, caught between fear and loyalty.
“Step back, Keal,” I said quietly.
“No,” he said. “Not this time.”
The creature tilted its head, grinning with too many teeth. “The Alpha protects the rejected mate now? How touching. Shame it won’t save you.”
It lunged.
Fast. Faster than any wolf should move.
I didn’t think. I moved.
“Hold!” I commanded, and the pack froze.
For the first time since I’d returned, they obeyed me over him.
The creature hit the ground instead of my throat, snarling as the Alpha command locked its limbs. I stepped forward, the scar on my throat burning cold.
“You missed,” I said. “Again.”
His red eyes found mine. Recognition. Rage. Fear.
“You’re not supposed to be strong,” he spat.
“I’m not supposed to be alive,” I said. “But here I am.”
Behind me, Keal went still.
Because he finally understood—
I wasn’t back for him.
I was back for everything he’d taken.
And it started with making sure this thing never walked again.
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- Writer
