Chapter 204 204.Runes

Chapter 204 204.Runes
Keith

The wind shifts just before the alarm sounds.
I feel it along my skin first.
A prickle.
A warning.
I’m halfway along the western perimeter, boots crunching over frost-hardened earth, when my lycan lifts his head inside me.
Something is wrong.
“I know,” I mutter.
The trees are too quiet.
The sentries posted along the ridgeline give me subtle nods as I pass. Everything looks steady. Calm.
Then the eastern alarm tears through the air.
A deep, echoing horn blast.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Not a drill.
Breach warning.
My heart slams into my ribs.
East gate.
I pivot instantly and run.
Branches whip past as I cut through the interior path instead of circling the outer trail. My boots barely touch ground; my lycan surges forward, lending speed.
Fight, he growls, teeth bared in anticipation.
“Not yet,” I breathe. “Assess first.”
But adrenaline floods my veins.
Another horn blast sounds—closer this time.
By the time I reach the east gate clearing, Jeb is already there, massive arms crossed over his chest, and Silas stands slightly ahead of him, calm but alert.
Our enforcers form a defensive line along the timber barricade.
And beyond it—
A pack stands in full formation.
At their head is a tall male with sun-burnished skin and sharp amber eyes.
I know him instantly.
Alpha Theron of the Solar Flare pack.
Behind him, at least twenty wolves stand shoulder to shoulder.
And something about them is wrong.
I slow as I reach Jeb and Silas.
“They crossed the boundary without signal,” Jeb mutters under his breath.
Silas’ gaze flicks over the formation. “They came bold.”
One of our enforcers steps back toward us. “Alpha,” he says to me. “They demand parley.”
I don’t miss the tightness in his voice.
“What’s their posture?” I ask.
“Not attacking. Yet.”
My eyes narrow.
Then I see it.
Around every Solar Flare wolf’s neck is a band of dark metal.
Collars.
Thick.
Too uniform to be decorative.
My lycan bristles instantly.
Chains.
I don’t comment.
Not yet.
I step forward, stopping just inside our gate line.
“Theron,” I call, voice carrying across the clearing. “You’ve crossed into Lotu land without invitation.”
Theron’s lips curl faintly. “Keith. Always formal.”
“Always cautious.”
Silas moves slightly to my left. Jeb to my right.
A united front.
Theron spreads his hands. “We come for discussion.”
“With twenty armed wolves?” Jeb growls.
Theron’s gaze flickers to him. “Your pack is not small. I’d be foolish to arrive alone.”
The wind carries their scent to me.
Smoke.
Heat.
And something metallic beneath it.
My eyes flick to the collars again.
They aren’t simple restraints.
They’re etched.
Runes carved along the edges.
I file that away.
“We are not enemies,” Theron says smoothly. “Yet.”
Silas’ voice is cool as steel. “You are allied with Silver Fang.”
The air tightens.
At the name, several of our enforcers bristle.
Theron doesn’t deny it.
“Elira and I share… mutual interests.”
My lycan snarls inside me.
Snake.
I keep my expression neutral.
“Elira kidnaps children,” I say evenly. “Is that among your mutual interests?”
A ripple passes through the Solar Flare line.
Theron’s jaw flexes.
“Careful,” he says quietly.
“You walked onto my land,” I reply. “Careful is your responsibility.”
The tension climbs fast.
Jeb steps forward half a pace, cracking his knuckles.
Theron’s wolves subtly shift their weight.
Hands closer to weapons.
Claws flexing.
“This does not need to turn violent,” Theron says. “But Silver Fang is expanding influence in this region. Lotu land sits strategically between territories.”
There it is.
Silas folds his arms. “You want passage.”
“I want alignment.”
A cold laugh escapes me.
“With Elira?”
Theron’s eyes sharpen. “You underestimate her.”
“I don’t underestimate monsters.”
The word lands hard.
Several of the collared wolves flinch.
My lycan notices.
They fear something.
I study them more carefully.
Their posture is too rigid.
Too controlled.
And those collars—
Not ornamental.
Restrictive.
Theron continues, “Refuse alignment, and you isolate yourselves.”
“We’ve survived worse,” Jeb growls.
Theron’s gaze locks on me. “Have you?”
The challenge hangs heavy.
Before I can respond, one of our younger enforcers jogs up from behind, breathless.
“Alpha.”
I don’t look away from Theron. “Speak.”
“There’s movement near the southern treeline. We’ve spotted unfamiliar wolves testing the boundary.”
Silas swears softly.
Diversion.
My lycan’s lips peel back.
Trap.
Theron doesn’t react outwardly—but something flickers in his eyes.
“Testing?” I repeat.
“Yes, Alpha. They’re not engaging. Just probing.”
Jeb turns toward me slightly. “This smells wrong.”
It does.
Very wrong.
I shift my focus back to Theron. “Did you bring friends?”
Theron’s smile is thin. “We came alone.”
I step closer to the barricade, lowering my voice just enough to make it dangerous.
“If Silver Fang is breaching another side of my territory while you stand here distracting us—”
Theron’s expression hardens. “We are not under Elira’s command.”
A beat of silence.
The collars gleam in the morning light.
I meet his eyes.
“Then why are your wolves wearing her iron?”
That lands.
His shoulders stiffen.
Behind him, one of his betas shifts uncomfortably.
Silas notices too.
Theron answers carefully. “A precaution.”
“For whom?”
His jaw tightens.
Before he can reply—
A second alarm horn blasts.
From the south.
Longer.
More urgent.
Not probing.
Breach.
My blood goes cold.
“Alpha!” another runner shouts from the inner clearing. “Southern wall has been compromised! Multiple hostiles!”
Chaos erupts behind me as our enforcers snap into motion.
Weapons drawn.
Shouts filling the air.
My lycan roars inside my skull.
They split us.
Jeb looks ready to shift on the spot.
Silas’ eyes flick between Theron and me.
Theron doesn’t look surprised anymore.
He looks calculating.
“Call them off,” I demand.
His face changes, turns, and twists until there is no longer a man that stands before me; there is a beast.
“We all have our roles to play,” He says.
His nostrils flare.
Then, from somewhere beyond the southern ridge, a distant howl rises.
Not Solar Flare.
I know that cadence.
Silver Fang.
Elira’s forces.
Theron hears it too.
Behind us, the sounds of combat begin to carry on the wind.
Clashing steel.
Snarls.
A scream.
My pack.
My people.
My lycan surges forward violently.
Go. Tear. Protect.
But I cannot leave the east gate open.
If Solar Flare pushes now, we are split completely.
Theron takes the opportunity to move, shifting in mid- air. His warriors follow.
I move, narrowly missing the attack, and Silas shifts into his lycan form, facing off with the warriors.
Bones snap around us.
The collars shift with them, glinting in the light.
Elliot enters the fray shouting, “The collars! Look at them.”
I do.
Really look.
The collars pulse faintly.
Not decorative.
Restrictive.
Suppressive.
“She’s focing there hand,” Jeb growls.
The pieces slam together.
Hostages.
Leverage.
Control.
She bound them. And by doing so, she bound us.
How could we defeat an enemey who is not really our enemy? How could we kill innocent wolves?
Victims.
“Don’t use deadly force unless necessary,” I shout. “Spread the word.”
Teeth clamp around my arm, and I yell. Lifting high, I pick the shifted wolf up and slam him on the ground hard enough to shock him loose.
My lycan paces hard inside me.
Another howl from the south—closer now.
And then—
An explosion of splintering wood echoes through the trees.
They’ve broken through.
I turn to Jeb. “Take half the enforcers. Reinforce the south wall. Push them back but don’t overextend.”
He nods instantly and shifts, massive form bursting forward as he rallies fighters.
Silas stays beside me.
And we defend our entrance as more of our warriors arrive.
Elliot moved through the battle, covering the fallen with a substance as he moved.
“This will keep them down,” he shouted.“If Silver Fang establishes a foothold inside our territory, she won’t stop at intimidation. She’ll take land. Resources. Wolves. She’ll force them to kill.”
Then will do what we must, my beast says, protectiveness dripping from his maw.
Another scream from the south.
Closer.
Too close.
My heart pounds.
I make a decision.
Then I shift.
The transformation tears through me in a rush of bone and power. Fur erupts, muscles stretching, senses sharpening instantly.
My lycan takes partial control as we launch toward the southern wall.
Finally.
We crash through underbrush at full speed.
Smoke rises ahead.
Silver Fang wolves pour through a broken section of timber fencing, claws flashing.
Our enforcers meet them head-on.
The battlefield is already chaos.
I slam into the first attacker, jaws crushing into his shoulder and flinging him aside. Blood sprays hot across my muzzle.
Another lunges.
I meet him midair.
We hit the ground rolling, snapping and tearing.
Protect them, my lycan roars.
I rip my opponent free and throw him into a tree.
Around me, my pack fights with savage precision.
But Silver Fang came prepared.
More of them spill through the breach.
This wasn’t a probe.
It was an invasion.
Over the clash of bodies and snarls, I hear a distant third horn.
From the north.
My blood turns to ice.
Three fronts.
Elira planned this perfectly.
Divide.
Overwhelm.
Break.
I tear through another attacker, shifting back to human mid-stride as I grab a fallen spear and drive it through an advancing wolf.
Silas’ voice echoes faintly in my mind through the pack link.
East gate holding. Solar Flare is still in position.
How?
But before I have time to figure out how I am connecting to the Chieftans, I glance toward the distant east treeline.
Theron stands there still.
Watching.
Calculating.
The collars glint around his wolves’ throats.
He’s mine.
I see the resolve in his eyes
The stakes just shifted from territorial dispute…
To survival.
I raise my head and unleash a full Alpha howl across the battlefield.
Not fear.
Not desperation.
A challenge.
Silver Fang answers from somewhere beyond the trees.
And beneath it—
A female laugh carries faintly on the wind.
Elira.
Watching her game unfold.
My lycan bares his teeth.
Let her come.
I grip my weapon tighter as another wave crashes toward us.
This isn’t a skirmish.
It’s war.