Chapter 6
Chapter 6
I never wanted to be Luna.
Not truly.
Not the way my sister was-regal, commanding, effortlessly adored. Helena was everything I wasn’t. Tall, composed, a natural-born leader with the kind of voice that made wolves bow without a command. Me? I was content staying in the shadows, gathering herbs and healing wounded pups.
The night she chose to die for me, she didn’t hesitate.
“Go,” she’d said, as the building tore in different directions. “Don’t argue, Alice. Just go.” Sh pushed me out, knowing she would get stuck.
I remember the smoke curling through the roof, the sound of wood falling as the flames swallowed her. I remember when Beta Zane came to me-to take care of Nathan and take her
place. I agreed to all of it because I owed her my life.
Then I became a body to warm Damien’s bed.
A name to wear beside his at ceremonies.
A placeholder for a woman they all still mourned.
Even Nathan, fresh from the womb, seemed to sense it. He never cried for me. Only for her.
And I… I convinced myself love could be built with patience. That if I just tried harder, smiled wider, worked longer, they’d see me.
I was wrong.
Kael handed me a steaming cup of tea laced with bitter herbs.
“You keep frowning in your sleep,” he muttered, sitting across the fire.
“Memories,” I whispered.
“Good ones?”
I laughed softly. “Are there any good ones for people like us?”
He said nothing.
“I once had a mate, like you.” He sniffed staring up. “It sounds crazy but she was also a rogue, not from my pack though. She was really tough.” He chuckled sadly.
“What happened to her?” I asked.
“She was killed,” he muttered and my heart dropped. I never expected him to share something so deep with me.
“I’m sorry.”
“Hey, don’t give me that pitiful look.” He pointed and I smiled. “It’s been five years already.”
No one said anything, the cave was silent except for the crackle of firewood and the distant howl of wind echoing through the trees.
4:04 pm
“How long have you known about the Red Fang?” I asked.
Kael stretched his legs, his arms crossed behind his head. “Long enough to know they don’t make idle claims. If their Alpha says you’re of his bloodline, he believes it.”
I stared into the fire.
“My mother never mentioned anything. Where we came from, or about my father. I used to live ir the woods with her-until the day I noticed strange visitors from the Red Fang pack. I had no idea what they wanted. But the moment they left, my mother told me we needed to go. She told me where my sister was, in case anything happened to her. I didn’t understand what she meant.. not until she was killed by rogues, and I went to meet my sister at Silvercrest.”
Kael shook his head. “Wolves like you don’t come from nowhere.”
That thought clung to me the rest of the day.
I traced the broken jade in my palm, feeling its edges bite into my skin. My mother’s last gift. The only piece of her I had left.
What had she been hiding?
What truths had she buried to keep me safe?
*******
That evening, Kael returned looking tense.
“They’ve crossed the mountain pass,” he said. “Red Fang warriors. They’re moving fast. They’l reach Silverclaw in two days.”
My heart raced. “Are they planning war?”
“They’re planning something. No one knows why they’re moving, just that their Alpha keeps saying one thing-‘Bring her back.”
Me.
They were coming for me.
But why now?
Why not when I was Luna-humiliated, ignored, scraping through every day with a smile that didn’t reach my eyes?
Kael saw the worried look on my face.
“You’re not safe here,” he said.
“I’m never safe anywhere,” I replied.
He dropped something on the table-a tattered map. “There’s an old neutral territory five miles east. Used to be a healer’s camp. It’s abandoned now. You can rest there.’
“You’re leaving me?”
“i can’t come with you. I need to make sure they don’t find you.”
I blinked. “You’d do that?”
Kael’s voice dropped, almost too soft to hear. “I’ve watched too many good wolves fall because they didn’t have someone to believe in them. You survived Silverclaw. You survived your own fire. That makes you worth protecting.”
Chapter 6
312
10.09
4:04 pm D
Something twisted in my chest. I nodded with a fragile smile.
By morning, I was on the trail.
The path east was rough, tangled with roots and lined with wolf traps-most long disarmed. My limbs ached. My back screamed. But I moved, hour after hour, because resting meant remembering.
And remembering made me bleed in ways no wound ever had.
reached the healer’s grounds by nightfall.
It was quiet. Covered in moss. The old tents were mostly torn, but a small wooden lodge remained. I pushed the door open. Dust scattered in the air. The silence inside was sacred.
I built a small fire. Spread Kael’s extra furs on the ground. Lay down and stared at the ceiling.
And that’s when I saw it.
Above me, burned faintly into the wood, was a crest.
A fang, wreathed in flame.
My pulse slowed… then quickened all at once.
reached into my pocket and pulled out the jade shard. Turned it over. On the back, scratched nto the surface so faintly it was nearly invisible-was the same crest.
The Red Fang sigil, etched into the last thing my mother had ever given me.
Just as I walked forward, my leg hit something, making me stumble. I looked down to see a etter hidden beneath the floorboards. Old, yellowed, sealed with dried wax.
picked it up and stared at it, my hands trembling.
My name was written on it. It was my mother’s handwriting.
