Chapter 9
356 Words
You’ve improved,” Ryder said after a moment.
Nova blinked once. “Alpha?”
“In training. In patrol strategy. The younger warriors listen to you.”
“I only do my duty.”
“That is rare.”
She did not respond.
He glanced at her again. “Where did you train before joining us?”
The question was casual, but not careless.
Nova had rehearsed this story for years.
“A small northern pack,” she answered. “We were destroyed by rogues. I was one of the few survivors.”
Not a lie.
Just not the full truth.
Ryder’s jaw tightened slightly. “Rogues are cowards.”
Nova almost laughed at the irony.
“Yes, Alpha.”
They reached the edge of the cliff. The moonlight painted the valley silver.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
“You are loyal to Bloodmoon?” he asked suddenly.
Nova did not hesitate. “With my life.”
It was the answer he expected.
It was also the answer that would destroy him one day.
He studied her face as if trying to read something deeper. Then he nodded once.
“Good. I reward loyalty.”
His hand brushed briefly against her wrist as he stepped past her.
The contact was accidental.
Still, something strange flickered under her skin. A spark. Quick and unsettling.
Nova stiffened.
Ignore it.
He is the enemy.
Ryder began walking back toward the pack house. “Dismissed for the night,” he said over his shoulder.
Nova remained where she was until he disappeared from sight.
Only then did she allow herself to breathe properly.
Magnetic.
That was the word that fit him best.
Not the monster she had imagined. Not reckless. Not cruel.
Controlled. Calculating.
It did not matter.
Monsters could wear calm faces too.
She turned and made her way back through the forest alone. Instead of returning to the pack house, she took a different path. A hidden one.
Deep between two large oak trees stood a hollowed trunk. No Bloodmoon wolf knew about it.
Nova knelt and reached inside.
Her fingers found a small metal capsule.
- Writer
