Chapter 85: The Hunt (2)

Kaelen's POV

Footsteps crashed through the underbrush behind me.

Lucian burst into the clearing, his chest heaving. Sweat plastered his dark hair to his forehead.

He skidded to a halt.

His eyes went wide.

The dead child. The blood. Cordelia clutching her side. Seraphine wrapped in my coat, shaking against the cedar.

"Holy shit." His voice came out rough. "What the fuck happened here?"

I didn't answer. Just stared at the trees where they'd disappeared.

The bond still screamed. Still twisted with rage and grief.

Seraphine's pain. All of it flooding through me.

"Another attack?" Lucian stepped closer. His boot squelched in blood-soaked moss. "Jesus Christ. Was it Ravencrest again?"

My jaw clenched.

"Stay here."

The words came out flat. Cold.

"What?"

I turned my head slightly. Not looking at him. Looking past him.

At Seraphine.

At the dead child.

"Stay. Take care of Seraphine and Cordelia."

Lucian's mouth opened. Started to form a protest.

My eyes blazed gold. Both pupils burning with identical light.

The air pressure changed. Power rolled off me in waves that made the newly sprouted ferns bend.

His words died.

I didn't wait for a response.

The shift came fast. Brutal.

Bones cracked and reformed. Muscles tore and rebuilt. Clothes shredded away.

Pain.

Always pain.

But I welcomed it.

The white wolf emerged in seconds. Massive. Easily twice the size of a normal pack member.

My vision sharpened instantly—the double pupils translating perfectly into wolf form. Every detail crystallized. The bark patterns on distant trees. Individual leaves trembling in the breeze. The blood trail leading into the forest.

Clear as daylight even in the shadows.

I hit the ground running.

The forest blurred past. Trees became streaks of white and gray. The scent trail burned in my nostrils.

Five of them. All male. All Ravencrest.

The wolf snarled.

Faster.

My claws tore through soft spring earth. Legs pumping. Heart thundering.

Three hundred meters ahead.

I could see them through the trees. Dark shapes fleeing between the birches.

The taste of copper filled my mouth. Blood from where my fangs had cut my own gums.

Two hundred fifty meters.

They were fast. Trained. Moving with the coordination of experienced fighters.

But they didn't know this territory like I did.

Didn't know every game trail. Every shortcut. Every hidden path carved by decades of pack hunts.

I veered left. Cut through a narrow gap between two massive oaks that had grown together at the roots. Their branches were just beginning to bud, tiny green shoots appearing on ancient wood.

The ground sloped upward. My muscles burned but I pushed harder.

One hundred meters.

A fallen log blocked the path ahead. I leaped it without breaking stride. Landed in a patch of wild garlic just starting to sprout. The sharp scent mixed with blood and fear.

Fifty meters.

One of them looked back.

His eyes went huge.

"Fuck! The white wolf's gaining on us!"

His voice cracked with terror.

The gray-clad one who'd killed the child barked orders. "Split up! Conrad, Kade, go left!"

Too late.

I burst from the undergrowth onto a small ridge.

Below—a clearing ringed by young aspens. Their pale bark gleamed in shafts of afternoon light breaking through the canopy.

The five men stumbled into the open space.

I launched myself off the slope.

No hesitation.

No mercy.

The nearest one—Kade, based on the shout—tried to dodge.

My front paws slammed into his back with the full force of my momentum. Over two hundred pounds of muscle and fury.

The crack of his spine echoed through the clearing.

He dropped like a stone. Face-first into the moss. His legs twitched once.

Then stopped.

The others scattered.

I pivoted toward the closest—a stocky man with a scar bisecting his left eyebrow.

Conrad.

He bolted for the tree line.

My jaws closed on his right knee.

Bone shattered between my teeth. Cartilage tore. The joint came apart like wet paper.

His scream pierced the air.

I released. Circled as he collapsed.

He tried to crawl. Dragging his useless leg behind him.

Pathetic.

I lunged again. Caught his left elbow this time.

Another crunch. Another scream.

He flopped onto his back. Tears and snot running down his face.

"Please! Alpha Kaelen, please!"

The other three had stopped running. Backed against the aspens. Weapons drawn but hands shaking.

I shifted.

The change came slower this time. Deliberate. Bones grinding back into human shape. White fur receding.

I stood in the clearing. Naked. Covered in blood and dirt.

My eyes still burned gold. Both of them.

Conrad whimpered at my feet. His shattered limbs bent at wrong angles. Blood pooled beneath him, soaking into the moss and last year's fallen aspen leaves.

I looked at the others. Let them see my face. Let them memorize it.

"Run."

My voice came out barely above a whisper.

They didn't move. Frozen like rabbits before a fox.

"I said run."

One broke first. Then the other two.

They crashed back into the forest. The sound of their flight faded quickly.

I'd find them later.

Right now—

I crouched beside Conrad.

His eyes rolled toward me. Glassy with shock and pain.

"Please..." The word bubbled through bloody lips. "Mercy..."

"You want mercy?"

I tilted my head slightly.

"Did you show mercy to that child?"

"I didn't—that wasn't me—"

"But you came with them. Helped them. Followed orders."

My hand shot out. Grabbed his throat. Lifted him slightly off the ground.

Not choking. Just holding.

"Who sent you?"

"Alpha Damien!" The words tumbled out fast. "It was Alpha Damien's orders! He said we had to bring back Seraphine no matter what!"

"Why?"

"He'll kill us if we don't! She's... she's the Silverwood Alpha's daughter! The bloodline can't be allowed to—"

"I don't give a fuck about bloodlines."

I released his throat. Let him drop.

He gasped. Coughed. Blood flecked his lips.

"We were just following orders! Please! I have a family—"

"That child had a family too."

"Seraphine is my pack. Under my protection. Part of Shadowmere."

I stood. Looked down at him.

"I sent a message last time. Let one of you live to carry it back."

Conrad's eyes widened. A flicker of hope.

"I told Damien that Seraphine was under my protection. That she was Shadowmere now. That any further attacks would end differently."

The hope died.

"He clearly didn't take me seriously."

"He said—" Conrad's voice cracked. "He said she's just a remnant. That she has to be eliminated. That you have no right to—"

"No right?"

A laugh escaped me. Cold. Sharp.

"Tell me, Conrad. Who the fuck does Damien think he is?"

Silence.

"Does he think he outranks me? Does he think Ravencrest's authority supersedes mine in my own territory?"

"I don't know! I just—"

"Let me make something very clear."

I crouched again. Put my face close to his.

"Damien doesn't get to decide who belongs to my pack. He doesn't get to send killers into my land. He doesn't get to threaten my people."

"I'll tell him!" Conrad grabbed at the words like a lifeline. "I'll go back! I'll say Seraphine is dead! I'll tell him she died in the fight! He'll stop! He'll—"

"You'll go back?"

I stood again. Turned slightly.

Toward where Kade's body lay crumpled in the bloodstained moss.

"No, Conrad. You're not going anywhere."

"What? No! Please! I told you everything!"

"You did."

I started walking toward Kade.

"And now I'm going to use your bodies to send Damien a message he can't ignore."

"NO! PLEASE!"

His screams followed me across the clearing.

I knelt beside Kade. Checked for a pulse.

Gone. As expected.

The sound of movement behind me.

Fabric rustling. A wet gasp.

I glanced back.

Conrad had managed to roll onto his side. His working arm scrabbled at his belt.

A flash of silver.

A blade. Short. Slim.

Coated in something dark.

Poison.

"You fucking monster!"