Chapter 49
865 Words
The night was too still.
Adriana lay beside Devon, her head tucked into his chest, but her eyes were wide open. Something sat heavy in her stomach, an unease she couldn’t shake no matter how she tried. The wind outside the windows barely stirred the trees, yet the silence pressed against her ears like a warning.
When Devon’s hand brushed over her hair, she forced herself to close her eyes, pretending to sleep. But her wolf or whatever burned inside her whispered restlessness.
The first howl split the night.
Adriana shot up immediately, her heart racing. Devon was already out of bed, his bare chest rising and falling as his eyes darkened, Alpha power rolling off him in waves.
“Rogues,” he said, voice like steel.
Before she could speak, Joey pounded on the door. “Alpha! Luna! The borders are breached.”
Adriana’s body trembled, but she didn’t falter. She snatched the cloak Devon tossed her, tying it around herself as they ran through the halls. The pack house was alive with chaos, warriors rushing past, mothers clutching pups close running to the safe room. The air smelled of fear.
Outside, the night was fire and shadow. Rogues poured through the treeline, snarling, teeth gleaming under the moon. The warriors clashed with them, steel against flesh, growls and cries ripping the air apart. Some warriors shifted while some preferred to fight in their human form.
Devon’s voice thundered above the noise. “Hold the lines! Protect your Luna!”
His command made her heart twist. She wanted to run back inside where it was safe, but something inside her refused. Not tonight. Not when she could see the hatred in the rogues’ eyes aimed directly at her.
One lunged for her, breaking past a warrior. Teeth wide aiming for her neck. Adriana froze for half a breath until fire licked at her palms. Her chest heated, and before she thought, flames shot from her fingers, searing the rogue’s fur. It fell with a scream, rolling in the dirt, its body writhing until stillness claimed it.
Gasps rang out. Warriors closest to her faltered. She didn’t care.
Another rogue charged. This time Adriana didn’t hesitate. She moved, her body flowing in ways her training with Joey had drilled into her, but her strikes came fiercer, faster. Fire sparked with every movement, burning her enemies down. She felt alive, her fear replaced by raw fury.
But with every strike, whispers followed. Witchcraft. Unnatural. Dangerous.
Devon noticed. His gaze cut toward her, a flicker of fear and awe in his eyes, but he didn’t call her back. He fought beside her, his wolf a raging storm as claws and teeth ripped through anyone who came near.
The battle dragged, bodies falling on both sides. Adriana lost count of how many she faced. Her arms burned, her breath ragged, but the fire inside refused to dim. When another rogue nearly sank its teeth into her leg, Joey tackled it aside, snarling.
“Stay focused, Addy!” Joey barked, blood staining her cheek. “Don’t let them get in your head.”
Adriana nodded, but her chest tightened. Because they were in her head. She could hear the mutters of warriors even in the middle of battle.
“She burns like a witch.”
“This isn’t wolf power.”
“She’s cursed us.”
It stung deeper than the cuts on her skin. They were literally in the middle of a war yet these people couldn't stop talking.
When the rogues finally began to retreat, dragged back into the trees by some unseen force, the clearing was littered with blood and bodies. Warriors panted, injured. The pack had held the line well enough.
Adriana’s knees nearly buckled as she stood among them. Every eye turned on her, not with gratitude but suspicion. The way they looked at her made her throat close. As if she was more dangerous than the rogues they had just fought.
Devon stepped forward, his presence a wall between her and their stares. “Not one word,” he growled, voice laced with Alpha command. The warriors bowed their heads, but she saw the doubt lingering in their eyes.
Still, she held her chin high, even as her insides trembled.
Joey came to her side, wiping blood from her arm. “You did good, Addy. Don’t let them scare you.”
But Adriana’s gaze drifted toward the treeline. She couldn’t explain why, but something told her the attack wasn’t over. The rogues hadn’t come to destroy the pack they had come for her. The thought wrapped around her spine like ice.
Later, when she finally collapsed into Devon’s arms in the privacy of their chambers, she whispered, “Something isn’t right. They weren’t just after the pack, Devon. They were after me.”
His jaw tightened. He didn’t deny it. He kissed her forehead, but the storm in his eyes was impossible to hide.
Adriana closed her eyes, but she couldn’t escape the weight in her chest. Because deep down, she knew the truth. This wasn’t the end. This was only the beginning.
And whoever was behind it… was already inside their walls.
- Writer
