Chapter 9: The Edge of Duty
1559 Words
Kaelen's POV
Something had shifted. I felt it the second it happened. Like the forest inhaled and forgot how to breathe.
Sebastian walked beside me, his calm presence irritating as usual. He shrugged. “Relax, Kaelen. We got out clean. She bought the story.”
I shot him a sidelong glance, my jaw clenched. “You didn’t see the way she looked at us. She didn’t buy a damn thing. She knows something’s up."
My boots crushed the brittle leaves beneath me, each step sinking into soil that felt too soft, too unsettled.
“Her grandmother kept her out of this for a reason. Now we’re dragging her in, headfirst.”
“We’re not dragging her into anything,” Sebastian countered, his patience clearly wearing thin. “She’s already in it, whether she knows it or not."
The silence wrapped around us, thick and unnatural—like the world itself had paused. Somewhere behind us, Layla was waking up to something ancient. Something dangerous.
We hadn’t made it far from the house when I felt the pull. A ripple in the air. A thrum beneath my skin.
She had touched the necklace.
“She found it,” I muttered, my breath curling in the cold. The fog hung low, curling between the trees like a serpent.
Sebastian kept pace beside me, his arms folded and that familiar look of too calm on his face. I hated it when he did that—pretended nothing ever got to him. “Took her long enough.”
“You felt it too, then.”
He nodded once, eyes scanning the tree line. “Hard not to. That wasn't just a pulse. It was a claim.”
I clenched my jaw. “She’s wearing it.”
“Probably doesn’t even know why.”
That was the problem. Layla didn’t understand what she was waking up. And we were too damn late to stop it.
“We were too close this morning,” I said, forcing my voice low. “She knew something was off. The way she looked at us—like she saw straight through.”
Sebastian shrugged. “She looked at you, Kaelen. And yeah, maybe she knows something’s up. But it’s not like she’s pieced it all together.”
I shook my head. “Doesn’t matter. That moment at the threshold? That wasn’t curiosity. That was recognition. And you can’t fake your way past that.”
“She still let us walk out.”
“Because we didn’t give her a reason to stop us.”
Yet.
“She has no idea what she’s carrying,” I said.
“And no time to learn,” Sebastian replied flatly. “Jordan’s closer than ever. If he gets to her first—”
“He won’t,” I snapped. The name alone twisted something in my gut. I wouldn’t let Jordan near her. Not now. Not ever.
Sebastian studied me for a beat, brow twitching. “You getting soft?”
I ignored him. I couldn’t explain the way seeing her had shaken me.I wasn’t supposed to feel anything for her beyond duty. But the pull I felt toward her, the connection that thrummed between us, was undeniable.
Centuries of tradition and the blood oath my family had taken demanded that I protect her, but standing so close to her today, that sense of duty felt…
Complicated.
The moment our eyes locked, I felt like I was standing in a memory I’d never lived.
There was a weight pressing against my ribs, something hot and tight and coiled. I didn’t recognize it at first. Not fear. Not anger. Closer to longing. A dangerous thing.
Her presence rattled me, made my carefully constructed walls crack, and I hated it.
Layla Smith.
Her name had been whispered in our circles like a legend, but the reality of her was more than I’d been prepared for. The dark waves of her hair, the way she stood so defiantly, unaware of the storm gathering around her… It was as if she stood at the heart of something sacred.
Sebastian’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. “Not what you expected?”
I glanced at him, my face a mask of indifference. “No. Not even close.”
Sebastian smirked, but there was a seriousness in his gaze. He knew me too well. “She’s stronger than she looks, Kaelen."
We moved deeper into the trees, the path narrowing, choked with moss and shadows. The air grew colder, heavier. My wolf should’ve stirred by now. Should’ve reacted to the shift in the forest. But there was nothing. Not even a whisper.
“Still blocked,” I muttered.
Sebastian slowed, crouching beside a fallen tree. “Yeah. But look.”
I dropped to my knee next to him. A ring of stones sat half-buried in the soil, carefully placed. At the center, the ground had been scorched black, the leaves turned to ash. Etched into the charred earth was a symbol I hadn’t seen in years—a jagged crescent intersected by a fractured line.
“The Hollowed Pact,” I breathed.
Sebastian stood slowly, brushing dirt from his hands. “That was supposed to be dead magic. Sealed and buried with the families who broke it.”
“Apparently someone forgot.”
And then I heard it.
This voice was older. Feminine. Cold as winter air through broken teeth.
"She remembers…"
I turned slowly. The trees were too still. No wind. No birds. The forest was holding its breath.
Something had been here. Maybe still was.
Sebastian’s eyes locked on mine. “We’re not alone.”
“No.” I stared back at the circle. “And this wasn’t just for show. This is warding. Twisted protection magic. Someone’s closing us off. Masking the woods.”
“Masking her,” he said darkly. “And us.”
Sebastian stepped closer, glancing in the direction of Layla’s house—just barely visible through the thinning trees. “We need to move faster.”
I didn’t answer.
Because I was staring into the ashes, the center of that circle, and I felt something pull.
A memory.
Not mine.
Not fully.
Hers.
A flash of golden light. A scream cut off mid-breath. The shatter of something ancient.
"She remembers."
And with that whisper came something else—scent.
Hers.
Fresh.
Faint.
Bleeding across the forest floor like a trail meant for monsters.
“She’s not safe here,” I said, standing. “This forest is awake again.”
Sebastian didn’t argue.
We turned from the circle and began moving—fast.
But I looked back once more.
Something had awakened in these woods. And whatever it was... it had her scent. And it wouldn’t stop until it had more.
We hadn’t gone more than twenty yards before the fog thickened, curling higher like hands grasping for our limbs. It moved unnaturally, folding inward instead of spreading out.
Sebastian swore under his breath. “It’s tracking us.”
“No,” I said. “It’s testing us.”
I reached out, brushing the edge of it with my fingers. It was ice-cold. And it clung. A piece of it dragged against my skin like silk soaked in grief.
And then, like a mirage breaking, I saw her.
Not Layla- but she shared her eyes, the same burnished gold. Her hair was darker, wild, and her skin was etched with markings older than any language I knew.
I knew that face. Not because I’d seen it before, but because stories had been whispered of her—the first Keeper. The one who started it all.
Standing barefoot at the edge of the circle.
Her stance like someone who had stood against gods and bled for it.
She looked right at me.
Like she could see the weight I carried. The promise. The failure.
"Protect her."
I blinked—and she was gone. Just smoke now.
“What did you see?” Sebastian asked.
“Nothing,” I lied.
He knew better than to press. But the silence between us buzzed with unspoken questions.
We came upon another symbol carved into a tree, this one fresher. Blood, not ash. My stomach turned.
“Jordan,” Sebastian said.
I nodded grimly. “His calling card.”
The blood was still wet.
He was near.
We pushed forward, and the trees pressed closer. Each step felt heavier, as though the earth itself wanted to hold us back.
I paused. Something was wrong with the light. It was too dim for the time of day. The forest canopy above was thick, but not enough to explain this.
“Do you hear that?” I asked.
Sebastian tilted his head. “No birds.”
“Not just that.” I strained to listen. “There’s... humming.”
Barely audible, like a lullaby sung in reverse. It made my skin crawl.
“That’s not from this plane,” Sebastian said. “We need to get her out of here. Soon.”
The trees around us groaned—yes, groaned—like something ancient shifting in its sleep.
Layla had triggered something buried far too deep.
And we were running out of time.
The forest wasn’t the only thing stirring.
Magic was waking. Hunters were circling. Rogues were already too close.
And she was at the center of it all.
- Writer
