BLOODMOON PACT

RED HOLLOW

Chapter 4:

The storm didn’t let up for hours.

By the time it eased, Raina could barely feel her fingers around the reins. Her shoulder felt like it was on fire one minute and frozen the next. The poison was still in her system, eating at her from the inside. She didn’t tell Kael. He’d already seen her weak enough.

Kael rode ahead most of the time, checking the trail, eyes scanning the trees. He didn’t talk much, and Raina was fine with that. Silence was better than arguing.

“Red Hollow is close,” he said finally, as the sun started to dip low. “We’ll get there by nightfall.”

Raina nodded. She didn’t trust herself to speak without her voice shaking.

Red Hollow wasn’t a town. It was more like a gap in the mountains where three old trade roads met. No one owned it. That’s why smugglers, mercenaries, and people running from their pasts all ended up there. The rules were simple: no fighting in the main square, pay your debts, and don’t ask questions unless you’re ready for the answer.

The first thing Raina noticed was the smell. Smoke, cheap ale, and wet fur. The second thing was the noise. Laughter, shouting, music from a tavern that sounded like it was about to fall apart.

Kael dismounted and tied his horse outside. “Keep your dagger where I can see it,” he said quietly. “People here will cut you for a copper.”

Raina slid off her horse, legs unsteady. “I’m not new to this,” she muttered, but she checked her blade anyway.

The tavern was crowded and hot. Bodies pressed close, and the air was thick with sweat and alcohol. Heads turned when they walked in. A lone Voss and a Drayce walking together wasn’t normal. It got people staring.

Kael ignored them and walked straight to the bar. “Marek,” he said to the bartender, a scarred man with one eye. “Is he here?”

Marek wiped a glass with a dirty cloth and didn’t look up. “Depends who’s asking.”

Kael dropped a small pouch on the counter. The sound of coins made Marek’s eye flick up.

“He’s in the back,” Marek said. “Don’t break anything. I’ll charge you for it.”

The back room was smaller, darker, and quieter. One man sat at a table, playing with a knife and a deck of cards. He was older, maybe forty, with gray at his temples and a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Kael Drayce,” the man said. “I didn’t think you’d come crawling back to me.”

“Cut it, Marek’s brother,” Kael said. “We need information.”

The man’s eyes shifted to Raina and stayed there a second too long. “And you brought a Voss with you. This must be serious.”

Raina stepped forward before Kael could stop her. “Do you know who sent men to kill us?” she asked. Her voice was hoarse from the cold.

The man leaned back, studying her. “Name’s Jarek. And maybe I do. Maybe I don’t.”

Kael’s jaw tightened. “We don’t have time for games.”

Jarek shrugged. “Information costs. Especially this kind.”

Raina pulled the letter from her pocket and slid it across the table. “The Voss bloodline ends tonight. Kill both. Leave no witnesses.”

Jarek read it, his expression not changing. When he looked up, his smile was gone. “That’s not mercenary work,” he said quietly. “This is personal. Only one group writes like that.”

“Who?” Raina asked.

“The Iron Fang,” Jarek said. “They’re old. They hate mixed bloodlines. They think bonds like yours are an abomination. If they’re involved, it’s not just you two they want dead. They want to start a war.”

Kael cursed under his breath. “Why now?”

“Because the old Alpha Council is weak,” Jarek said. “And because someone’s paying them a lot of money.”

Raina felt cold even though the room was hot. “Who’s paying them?”

Jarek hesitated. Then he looked at Kael. “You really don’t know?”

Kael shook his head.

Jarek sighed. “Your uncle, Kael. Lord Drayce. He’s been meeting with them for months.”

The room went silent.

Raina looked at Kael. His face had gone blank, but his hands were clenched so tight his knuckles were white.

“That’s a lie,” Kael said finally, but it sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

“Ask around,” Jarek said. “I don’t lie about money. Not when it gets people killed.”

Raina pushed away from the table. Her head was spinning, and it wasn’t just the poison. If Kael’s uncle was behind this, then Kael was either lying or being used. And she didn’t know which was worse.

“We’re done here,” she said.

Kael didn’t argue. They left Jarek’s room and walked back through the tavern. The stares were worse now. Word traveled fast in Red Hollow.

Outside, the cold hit them like a wall.

Kael stopped her before she could mount her horse. “I didn’t know,” he said. “If my uncle did this, I swear to you I had nothing to do with it.”

Raina looked at him. She wanted to believe him. She didn’t know if she could.

“Prove it,” she said.

Before Kael could answer, shouting broke out from the square.

Three men in black were dragging a boy out of the tavern. One of them had the same mark on his glove that the men in the snow had worn.

Iron Fang.

The boy was maybe fifteen, struggling and yelling. “I didn’t tell anyone! Please!”

One of the men raised a knife.

Raina moved without thinking.

She hit the man’s wrist with the flat of her blade, knocking the knife out of his hand. The boy scrambled back, breathing hard.

The Iron Fang turned on her, recognizing her immediately. “The Voss girl,” one of them said. “The Alpha wants you alive. The boy doesn’t matter.”

Kael stepped beside her, sword drawn.

“You pick now?” he said to Raina.

“Shut up and fight,” she replied.

They moved together, back to back, as the square cleared around them. The fight was messy and fast. Raina wasn’t at full strength, but anger carried her. Kael fought like he had something to prove.

When it was over, two men were down and the third had run. The boy was staring at them like they were ghosts.

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

Raina knelt and checked his arm. It was bleeding, but not bad. “Who are you?” she asked.

The boy swallowed. “My name’s Eli. I was supposed to deliver that letter to Jarek. But I heard them talking about you. I thought you should know.”

Kael looked at her.

Raina stood up slowly.

If Eli was telling the truth, then the Iron Fang were already moving faster than they thought. And Lord Drayce was involved.

“We need to leave Red Hollow,” Raina said. “Now.”

Kael nodded.

As they rode out into the night, Raina couldn’t stop thinking about one thing.

If Kael’s uncle wanted her dead, what was Kael going to choose when it came down to it?.