Chapter 7: Blood in the snow
262 Words
The enemy came at dusk.
Kael had gone to hunt, leaving Lira meditating within the circle when the air shifted cold and sharp. She rose slowly, instincts prickling.
From the shadows emerged three wolves rogues. Their eyes gleamed red, their mouths curled into cruel grins.
“Looks like we found her,” one sneered, shifting mid-step. His human form was lean, scarred, with tattoos marking him a traitor of the old packs.
“You’re not welcome here,” Lira said, voice steady despite the fear curling in her gut.
The lead rogue smirked. “Neither were your ancestors. And they bled like everyone else.”
They lunged.
Lira screamed, and the mark on her back flared.
Silver energy erupted from her palms, throwing the rogues backward. One slammed into a tree with a sickening crunch. The others recovered quickly, snarling.
But she was no longer defenseless.
Her body moved on instinct spinning, striking, summoning bursts of light and force that scorched the forest floor.
Kael arrived mid-battle, his wolf crashing through the brush like vengeance incarnate. He tore into the rogues without hesitation, his fury savage and beautiful.
By the time the last one fled, half-shifted and bleeding, Kael shifted back, panting.
He turned to her, eyes wild. “You fought them. Alone.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” she breathed. “They knew what I was.”
“And now the others will too,” he said grimly. “We don’t have much time.”
He didn’t say it, but she could feel it too:
The war had begun.
- Writer
