The name
1141 Words
🌒 Chapter Nine: The Name
Raven stood in the mud, the scent of blood thick in the cold morning air. Her hair was tangled, streaked with red, sticking to her face as the last of the rogues were dragged away to be burned.
The warriors moved around her like shadows.
Levi wiped blood from his blade, Devdas quiet under his skin.
Freya and Carla were checking the wounded, Willow and Misty sharing quiet energy, helping the injured remain calm.
Loki stood beside her, arms crossed, his wolf restless beneath the surface, scanning for any stragglers.
And at the edge of it all, he stood.
The human.
Lightning flickered across his skin, his gray eyes locked on her as if she was the only thing holding him together.
Raven turned away, ignoring the way her wolf howled at the distance, demanding she go to him, to touch him, to claim him.
She would not. She couldn’t.
Not when everything was already spiraling out of control.
Ragnar’s fists clenched at his sides as he watched her command her warriors, her presence so strong it made him feel like the air was thicker around her.
She was covered in blood, her amber eyes sharp, cold, alive. Every movement she made was calculated, powerful, and it made something inside him twist painfully.
He didn’t know why he couldn’t leave, why the bond was chaining him here, why every time she was hurt he felt it like his own flesh tearing.
But he couldn’t walk away.
Not from her.
Not from the wolf.
---
“Alpha,” Luca said, approaching her with a nod, his dark eyes flicking toward the human. “We’ve cleared the perimeter. No more rogues.”
“Good,” Raven replied, her voice steady, even as exhaustion pressed on her shoulders.
Loki smirked, nudging Levi. “So, the human’s still here.”
“Looks that way,” Levi replied, sheathing his sword, Devdas rumbling in amusement.
“Think she’s going to let him stay?” Freya asked, folding her arms, Willow curious beneath her skin.
“Not our business,” Luca cut in sharply, though even he glanced toward the human, a question in his eyes.
Raven glared at them, silencing the chatter with a single look before turning on her heel, stalking toward the compound to clean up.
---
“Wolf.”
She froze.
The word cut through the air like a blade, and slowly, she turned to face him.
He stood a few feet away, breathing hard, lightning sparking across his shoulders, his gray eyes locked on her, wild and demanding.
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped.
“It’s what you are,” he shot back, stepping closer, his boots squelching in the mud. “What else am I supposed to call you?”
She could feel her wolf rise beneath her skin, claws prickling at her fingertips as she clenched her jaw.
“You need to leave,” she said, voice low, cold.
“No,” he growled, taking another step, lightning crackling louder now. “I can’t leave. You know that.”
Raven’s golden eyes narrowed, the bond humming, pulling, demanding.
“Don’t push me, human.”
“Then tell me your name,” he demanded, lightning flaring around him, making the mud hiss where it struck.
She blinked, the bond tightening like a rope around her chest.
“What?”
“You heard me,” he snarled. “If I’m chained to you, if this.....” he gestured between them, "......won’t let me leave, then I want to know your damn name.”
Her lips parted, but no sound came out.
Shadow pressed against her, urging her to speak, to give him what he demanded, what they needed.
---
Ragnar’s breathing was ragged, every nerve in his body alive, the storm inside him responding to the bond, to her.
The woman in front of him was everything he wasn’t, fierce, wild and powerful, and it terrified him how badly he wanted her, needed her, how deeply the bond was rooting itself in him.
“Say it,” he whispered, softer now, lightning flickering across his skin in thin, silver veins.
For a moment, the world was quiet.
Then she sighed, her shoulders dropping, her amber eyes softening just for a minute.
“Raven,” she said,
“My name is Raven.”
The bond snapped, surging between them, flaring so brightly he staggered, dropping to one knee as lightning roared inside him, alive, hungry.
Her name.
Raven.
---
She took a step back, clutching her chest as her wolf howled with triumph, the bond vibrating so strongly it made her bones ache.
“And yours?” she managed, her voice rough.
He looked up at her, his piercing gray eyes softening, and for the first time, he smiled.
“Ragnar.”
The name settled between them, warm and heavy, the bond shifting, tightening, accepting.
Ragnar.
Raven.
---
A scream tore through the compound, snapping them both back to the present.
“Rogues!” Carla shouted, her voice sharp through the link as she shifted into Misty, charging toward the eastern wall.
Luca was already moving, barking orders, Ash and Devdas surging forward with the warriors as more howls split the morning air.
Raven’s eyes flared gold as she turned, shifting smoothly into Shadow, her black wolf form crashing to the mud with a snarl.
Now that they had connected he can hear through the link.
“Stay here,” she ordered over the mind-link.
“Not a chance,” Ragnar snapped, lightning sparking as he followed her into the fray.
---
The rogues came in waves, raged and frothing, throwing themselves at the warriors as the pack fought to hold the line.
Shadow tore through the first, claws raking, jaws crushing bone, her mind-link alive with commands.
“Loki, right flank!”
“On it!” Loki’s wolf jasper, slammed into a rogue, dragging it away from Freya, who was cutting down another with brutal efficiency.
Ragnar moved along the edge, lightning sparking from his hands as he punched a rogue away from Levi, the creature screaming as electricity surged through its body.
The warriors worked as one, warriors and wolves together, a seamless dance of violence and loyalty.
---
As the last rogue fell, the warriors stood panting in the dawn light, the compound littered with bodies, the air thick with the scent of blood and burnt fur.
Shadow shifted back, Raven standing tall, blood streaking her skin, her amber eyes locking with Ragnar’s across the clearing.
For a moment, nothing else existed.
“Ragnar,” she said, tasting the name on her tongue.
“Raven,” he replied, his eyes soft, the bond pulsing between them.
They didn’t move toward each other.
They didn’t need to.
The bond held them, pulling, waiting, ready.
- Writer
