CHAPTER 8: KRAGER THE DARK BREED
1460 Words
Five Years Ago.
You don’t understand what it’s like,” she said, her voice sharper now. “To lose everything.
To survive by knowing when to bend and when to take.”
“I understand betrayal,” I replied. “And I understand fear dressed up as friendship.”
Her gaze hardened. “If you truly understood, you’d step aside.”
The words struck deeper than I expected.
I took another step toward her. “Tell me everything,” I said. “Every word you said to Clay.
Every promise you whispered to Torin. Tell me now.”
She hesitated, glancing toward the forest beyond the garden walls, where darkness pressed close and restless.
Before she could answer, a horn sounded in the distance. Low. Urgent. Wrong.
Selene’s head snapped up. “That’s not a hunting call,” she whispered.
Footsteps thundered through the garden gate as a messenger burst in, breathless, eyes wide with fear.
“Luna—” he began, then corrected himself hastily. “Lady Zanny. They’ve found signs of a fight. Blood. Claw marks.”
My heart clenched. “Where is Clay?”
The messenger swallowed hard. “They don’t know.”
I turned back to Selene.
Her face had gone pale, but there was something else there, too. Something unreadable. Almost… relieved.
“Now,” I said quietly, my voice deadly calm, “you will tell me everything.”
Selene opened her mouth to speak.
And in that moment, a scream echoed from the forest.
Then another horn sounded. It was closer this time. We all rushed towards the forest, not minding that we may have a beast to contend with.
Everyone was concerned for Clay.
The forest swallowed us the moment we crossed the tree line.
Silvercrest’s torches bobbed like nervous stars between the trunks, their light fractured by branches and drifting mist. My breath came sharp and cold in my chest as we ran, Selene just behind me, warriors spreading out in practised formation. The horn’s echo still rang in my ears, pulling us deeper, faster, toward the sound of steel and fury.
Then we heard him.
Clay’s roar tore through the night, raw and animal, followed by the c***k of magic striking stone. The ground shuddered. Leaves spiralled upward as if fleeing.
We burst onto a path lit by a sickly glow.
Clay stood at its centre, blood streaking his armour, his sword blazing silver in his grip. Opposite him loomed a Dark Breed warrior, tall and broad, shadows clinging to his form like living smoke. Symbols burned faintly along the Dark Breed’s arms, pulsing with an ancient, forbidden magic that bent the air itself.
Clay lunged.
The Dark Breed lifted one hand.
Power slammed into Clay like a wall.
I gasped as Clay skidded backwards, boots carving grooves into the earth. He caught himself just before falling, teeth bared, eyes blazing with defiance. He rose again, stubborn, relentless, but I could see it clearly now.
He was losing.
The Dark Breed moved with brutal grace, every strike calculated, every spell precise. This was no mindless beast. This was a warrior.
“Clay!” I shouted before I could stop myself.
His head snapped toward me for a fraction of a second.
That was all the Dark Breed needed.
A wave of dark energy flared, striking Clay square in the chest and hurling him into a tree with a sickening c***k. Bark exploded outward. Clay slumped, struggling to rise.
“No,” Selene whispered beside me.
The warriors surged forward with a collective shout, steel flashing as they surrounded the Dark Breed. Swords pressed to his throat from every angle, silver edges gleaming.
“Yield!” one of them barked.
The Dark Breed froze, eyes flicking to the blades, then to Clay.
Clay staggered to his feet, breathing hard, blood darkening his sleeve. He raised one hand.
“Enough,” he growled. “Stand down.”
The warriors hesitated.
“Take him,” Clay ordered, voice rough but commanding. “Alive.”
Murmurs rippled through the clearing.
I stepped forward before anyone could move. I began to wonder why Clay would fight a Dark Breed in an untransformed state. He is a werewolf and should have used his advantage.
“No.”
Every head turned toward me.
“We were ordered to kill a beast,” I said, my voice steady despite the pounding in my chest. “Not to capture a Dark Breed and start a war.”
Clay’s gaze snapped to mine, sharp and warning.
“This creature attacked our lands,” he said. “He nearly killed me.”
“And yet he didn’t,” I replied. “If he wanted you dead, you would be. You failed to transform.”
The Dark Breed’s mouth curved into a slow, amused smile.
I turned to him. “Your name.”
The warriors tensed, blades pressing closer.
The Dark Breed’s eyes met mine. Deep crimson. Intelligent. Unafraid.
“Krager,” he said calmly.
The name settled into the bush like a weight.
He glanced around at the armed men, then back at me. “It seems only one of you thinks beyond bloodlust.”
Several warriors bristled.
Krager inclined his head slightly. “Thank you… princess.”
The word struck something deep and old in my chest.
Clay strode toward me, his steps heavy with restrained fury. He stopped so close I could feel the heat radiating from him.
“Never undermine my authority again,” he whispered, his voice like a blade drawn slow.
I met his gaze without flinching. “You don’t have the authority you think you do,” I whispered back. “You are not Alpha yet.”
His jaw tightened. For a heartbeat, I thought he might say something worse. Then he turned away sharply.
“Release him,” Clay snapped.
The warriors pulled back reluctantly.
Krager bowed to me, a full, deliberate gesture that sent another ripple through the group. Then, without another word, he turned and vanished into the Dark Forest, swallowed by shadow as if the trees themselves had opened for him.
Silence fell.
Clay sheathed his sword and stalked away from the clearing, shoulders rigid, rage barely contained.
Selene hurried after him. “Clay,” she called softly. “Are you hurt? Let me see—”
She reached for him.
I caught her arm.
The touch stopped her cold.
She turned, startled. “Zanny?”
I held her gaze, my grip firm. “Have you forgotten your place?”
Her eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”
“Or have you forgotten who I am?” I asked quietly.
The forest seemed to lean in, listening.
Selene’s mouth opened, then closed. “I was only concerned for him.”
“So was I,” I said. “Yet you ran to him as if I weren’t standing right here.”
Her voice sharpened. “He was injured.”
“And I am your lady,” I replied. “Your friend. The one you were just confessing secrets to.”
Clay paused several paces away but did not turn.
Selene swallowed. “I didn’t mean any disrespect.”
“Intent does not erase action,” I said. “You crossed a line.”
Her eyes flicked to Clay’s back, then back to me. Something defensive rose in her posture. “You’re overreacting.”
I leaned closer, lowering my voice so only she could hear. “Am I? Or are you forgetting that I have been watching you for far longer than you realize?”
Her breath caught.
“You follow him,” I continued. “You speak for him. You touch him as if you have a right.”
Her lips trembled. “You’re imagining things.”
“Am I?” I asked.
She wrenched her arm free. “You’re not Luna yet,” she snapped before she could stop herself.
The words rang loud in the quiet forest.
Several warriors shifted uncomfortably.
I smiled, slow and cold. “And yet,” I said, “everyone here just watched a Dark Breed bow to me.”
Selene went pale.
Clay turned then.
His eyes flicked between us, assessing, calculating. “Enough,” he said. “We return to Silvercrest.”
He walked past Selene without another glance.
She hesitated, then followed him, her steps less confident now.
I remained where I was for a moment longer, staring into the Dark Forest where Krager had disappeared. His words echoed in my mind.
Princess.
Something had changed tonight. Not just in Clay. Not just in Selene.
In me.
As I turned back toward the path home, I knew one thing with terrifying clarity.
This was no longer a simple struggle for power.
- Writer
