Chapter 57: The Alpha’s Howl
Chapter 57: The Alpha’s Howl
Fianna’s POV
The night was heavy with silence.
I sat by the window of the guest chamber Derek had given me, though given felt like the wrong word. I hadn’t chosen this room; it was simply the one I was guided into, the door closing behind me with a finality that made my wolf bristle.
The Shadow Pack’s fortress loomed dark around me—stone walls that seemed to swallow sound, corridors that twisted like a maze, shadows that whispered secrets I couldn’t yet decipher. I was surrounded, watched, cornered.
And yet none of that was what kept me awake.
It was the pull.
The bond.
Every heartbeat was a drum, every breath an ache, dragging me east to west, pulling me back to where I should never want to go. Back to him.
Kael.
My chest burned with it, an invisible tether twisting tight, a cruel reminder that no matter how far I ran, no matter what mask I wore, I was not free of him. My wolf paced restlessly, whining low, her instincts torn. Mate. Ours. Close.
“No,” I whispered harshly, pressing my palms against the stone sill as if I could anchor myself in place. “He’s not ours anymore. He left us. He let us die.”
But the bond didn’t listen.
And then I heard it.
A sound that cracked the night open and split me in two.
A howl.
Not just any howl—his.
Raw. Fierce. Unrestrained. It carried across the forest like fire, echoing in my bones. My wolf threw her head back inside me, howling in answer, clawing against my ribs, desperate to answer him.
Tears burned my eyes before I could stop them. My nails dug into stone, carving faint crescents as I forced myself to stay still. Do not answer. Do not give him what he craves.
But the bond raged, alive and unrelenting, and for a breathless moment I could feel him. His fury. His need. His vow.
He knew.
Derek’s voice broke the silence behind me. “So he calls for you.”
I froze, turning slowly. He stood just inside the doorway, leaning against the frame, his arms folded as though he’d been waiting for this. His eyes glinted with something sharp and hungry in the dim torchlight.
My heart lurched. “You—”
“Think I didn’t hear it?” he cut in, his voice smooth as silk but edged with steel. “Every wolf in these lands heard it. Kael doesn’t howl without reason. He’s coming.”
The certainty in his tone made my stomach twist.
Derek stepped closer, his gaze never leaving me. “Do you feel it?” he asked softly, too softly. “The bond tugging at you, dragging you back to him?”
I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood. I refused to answer.
But silence was answer enough.
His smile was sharp, dangerous. “Good. Because that means I was right. He will burn everything to reach you. And when he does…” He reached out, brushing a stray lock of hair from my face with deliberate slowness, his touch light but suffocating. “…you will be the spark that lights the war I’ve been waiting for.”
I jerked back, my breath sharp. “I am not yours to use. Not his, not yours, not anyone’s.”
Derek chuckled low in his throat, though his eyes glittered with something darker. “You think you still get to choose? That bond makes you a battlefield, Elena. Or Fianna. Whatever name you hide behind.” He leaned in, so close his breath grazed my ear. “But I will make sure when Kael comes, he doesn’t take you back. Not alive.”
The air left my lungs in a rush, icy fear sliding down my spine. But beneath it, fury sparked. My wolf snarled, silver fire flickering behind my eyes.
I straightened, meeting his gaze with steel of my own. “If he comes, Derek, it won’t be me who burns.”
His smirk didn’t falter, but I saw the way his eyes narrowed, assessing, weighing the truth in my voice. Then, without another word, he turned and slipped back into the shadows of the hall, leaving the door open behind him.
I stood there, shaking, my hands trembling against the window ledge.
Outside, the echo of Kael’s howl still lingered in the night. And no matter how hard I tried to shut it out, the bond thrummed stronger, binding me tighter.
I could not stop it.
He was coming.
And I didn’t know whe
ther I wanted him to find me… or whether I feared it more than anything else.