Se connecterThe scream faded into an eerie silence, but its echo lingered inside Scarlett's mind long after the sound itself had disappeared.No one in the cavern spoke.Even the underground river, which had churned violently only moments before, now flowed with an unsettling calm, as though the mountain itself had returned to waiting.Scarlett lowered her eyes to Elena's notebook again.The faded sketch seemed almost insignificant compared to the terror that had just echoed through the darkness, yet something inside her refused to ignore it.Her mother had drawn a second passage. Not the obvious route, a hidden one.Lucas stepped beside her and studied the page. "You've already made up your mind."Scarlett looked at him. "Have I?"He smiled faintly despite the tension surrounding them. "You only stare at something that long when you're arguing with yourself."A quiet laugh escaped her before she could stop it."You know me too well.""I've had practice." The warmth in his voice steadied her raci
The grinding sound continued beneath the mountain, vibrating through the cavern until even the glowing river began to ripple more violently. Tiny fragments of crystal broke loose from the ceiling and scattered across the stone floor, their sharp echoes reminding Scarlett that whatever had been awakened was far older than the wolves now standing beneath the mountain.Gideon remained frozen, his eyes fixed on the darkness beyond the underground river.Scarlett had never seen fear settle over a person's face so completely.It wasn't the fear of death, it was the fear of watching history repeat itself.Lucas noticed it as well. "You've seen this before."Gideon swallowed before answering. "No."His voice came out rough."But Elena did."Scarlett felt her heart tighten."What did she tell you?"Gideon slowly closed his eyes as though recalling words he had spent years trying not to forget."She said there were places in this world that were never meant to become legends." He looked toward
Gideon's words hung over the underground chamber like a storm cloud that refused to pass."I think... they followed one of you."No one reacted immediately.Scarlett looked slowly from one face to another, searching for any sign of panic or guilt. She saw none. Instead, she saw the same disbelief reflected in every pair of eyes.Lucas stood perfectly still, but she knew him well enough to recognize the subtle tension in his jaw. Ethan's hand rested on the hilt of his blade, not because he intended to attack anyone in the room, but because years of instinct had taught him that betrayal often struck when trust was at its weakest.The Black Fang Alpha's expression remained unreadable.He had led warriors into countless battles, yet Scarlett suspected this was the kind of fight he hated most.An enemy outside the walls could be defeated.An enemy hidden among allies could destroy everything.Gideon noticed the silence he had created."I know what you're thinking."His voice was calm, almo
The footsteps echoed steadily through the narrow tunnel, each one striking the stone walls with quiet precision.Scarlett instinctively slowed her breathing.Nobody inside the underground chamber dared to move.The dim shaft of sunlight pouring through the fractured ceiling barely illuminated the ancient room, leaving the hidden passage wrapped in darkness. Lucas stood directly in front of Scarlett, his posture tense but controlled, while Ethan disappeared into the shadows near the entrance with the silence only an experienced scout could achieve.The Black Fang Alpha raised a single finger.Wait.No one questioned the order.The approaching footsteps grew louder before finally stopping just beyond the mouth of the tunnel.An uncomfortable silence followed.Scarlett felt her heartbeat pounding against her ribs.She expected an attack.A weapon.A growl.Instead, a weary voice drifted through the darkness."I know you're in there."Every muscle in Lucas's body stiffened.The voice belo
For several seconds, no one moved.Scarlett kept staring at the engraved stone resting in her palm, her thumb tracing the rough edges while her mind struggled to make sense of the message carved beneath it.Don't trust the guide.The words were uneven, as though they had been scratched into the stone in haste. Tiny flakes of dust still clung to the grooves, and one corner was stained with Kael's blood.He had not written those words to frighten anyone.He had written them because he believed he might never have another chance.Lucas stepped beside Scarlett."Let me see."She handed him the stone carefully.He examined it for several moments before passing it to Ethan."The writing is definitely Kael's."The Black Fang Alpha remained kneeling beside the abandoned cloak.He hadn't spoken since recognizing it.Scarlett watched him quietly.Leadership often demanded impossible choices, but there was another burden few people talked about.Watching good people disappear under your command.
The strip of black cloth rested in Lucas's hand like a silent warning.No one spoke.The embroidered crest of the Black Fang Pack was unmistakable, but it wasn't the symbol that unsettled Scarlett. It was the dark stain soaking into the fabric.The blood hadn't dried completely.Whoever had worn it hadn't been gone for long.The forest around them suddenly felt different. A few moments earlier it had been nothing more than another stretch of woodland separating them from Moonwater Lake. Now every tree seemed capable of hiding danger, every shadow appeared deeper than before, and every gust of wind sounded like footsteps just beyond their reach.The Black Fang Alpha accepted the torn cloth from Lucas.His fingers closed around it carefully, almost respectfully.Scarlett noticed the subtle change in his expression. Until this moment, he had carried himself like a leader focused on a mission. Now something far more personal had entered his eyes.Concern.Not for the map.Not for the cons
Fog lifted between the trees while moonlight slipped through branches above us. There we stood, close to those old stones where people once gathered. Lucas held me tight, his warmth steady against my skin. Yet that scream from Jax rang deep inside my chest. A quiet pull came then, not loud, but sha
A hush hummed through the pack house once the sun dipped below the pines. Ethan left at dusk, his final look sharp enough to scar my mind. Up on the second floor railing I stayed, hands tight on splintered wood, eyes tracking how shadows stretched through the trunks. Light bled out of the sky just
The morning air hung thick with pine smoke, mixed with the warm scent of baking bread. On the broad porch, I paused, eyes fixed down the slope where old ones moved around Ethan in slow loops. Less pain lived in my shoulder today, moonlight healing what it could while I slept. Still, pressure stayed
Fractured AlliancesFog clung low as darkness folded over the trees, just like the silence sitting inside Scarlett. With breath held tight, she traced the edge of the makeshift camp where things from Lucas’s car waited under torn tarps, hidden but not forgotten.Faint rustles in the leaves made her







