Chapter 56
Evelyn’s POV
Everywhere was quieter now, but the quiet didn’t bring peace.
Smoke still clung to the compound, carried on every breath like a ghost. It seeped into the wood of the ruined walls, wove through the furs in the hall, and tangled in my hair until I wondered if I would ever be free of it. No matter how many torches the healers lit or how much sage they burned, the air reeked of ash and something darker charred flesh and sorrow.
Kael had saved us with his fire. But the fire had taken as much as it gave. At least the pack was alive. I saw it in the way they moved, silent and heavy, their eyes lowered when Kael passed. I saw it in the half-bows, quick and tense, that felt less like loyalty and more like fear. They had survived, yes, but survival had a cost. And the cost was painted across their faces every time their Alpha’s shadow fell over them.
And Kael he never let me leave his sight. That morning, I sat on a fractured step outside the hall, wrapped in his cloak. It was too big for me, the heavy fabric dragging through the ash, but the scent of smoke and leather that clung to it steadied me. My body still ached, and my throat still held the rasp of smoke, but my wounds were shallow compared to what others bore.
Kael stood only a few paces away, speaking to the patrols who had just returned from the woods. He was all harsh lines and molten eyes, the fire barely restrained beneath his skin. Even when his voice was calm, there was an edge in it a blade honed on fury.
The scouts bowed low before him, one of them cradling his arm in a sling. Dirt streaked his face, and his clothes were torn, but he carried something wrapped in cloth with great care. Kael took it, unwrapping the bundle slowly.
My stomach clenched when I saw what lay inside. A blade, dark steel, its edge serrated like teeth meant to tear rather than cut. And on the hilt an emblem carved deep into the metal. A circle, with sharp angular lines radiating outward like a sun, and around it, links of a chain.
The air seemed to grow heavier. Even from where I sat, I felt the shift ripple through the gathered wolves.
“This was not ours,” the scout said, his voice hoarse.
Kael’s fingers curled around the weapon, his knuckles whitening. Fire licked faintly across his skin, as though the steel itself insulted him.
Another warrior spoke, his tone uneasy. “They weren’t rogues. Rogues don’t march with uniform weapons, not ones marked like this.”
The silence that followed was suffocating.
I rose, my knees shaking, and Kael’s head snapped toward me instantly. He was at my side before I could take two steps, his hand steadying my elbow, his eyes burning with worry.
“Sit,” he murmured, his voice low and rough. “You’re not strong enough to be standing.”
“I need to hear.” My voice was rasping, but steady.
His jaw tightened, but he didn’t argue. He turned back to the scout, though his arm still hovered near me, ready to catch me if I swayed.
The scout glanced between us nervously. “We found more like it in the woods. And… one survivor. Barely. He spoke before he died.”
“What did he say?” Kael’s tone was a growl.
The scout hesitated, then lowered his gaze. “He said… ‘The Chain will have her.’ And then he was gone.”
A chill tore through me. Her.
I didn’t have to ask who he meant.
Later, Kael stalked the compound like a storm barely held in check. His fire crackled at his fingertips with every step, his eyes molten with a fury that made warriors scatter from his path. I trailed after him, his cloak heavy around my shoulders, my heart pounding with every whispered word I’d overheard.
“They came for me,” I said at last, my voice breaking the silence.
His head whipped toward me, eyes ablaze. “Don’t.”
“It’s true,” I pressed, though my knees trembled under the weight of his glare. “You heard what he said. They weren’t here to slaughter they were here to take. And their target was me.”
His growl rumbled like thunder. “This was an attack on my pack. Nothing more.”
I shook my head. “No. If it were only about the pack, they wouldn’t have tried to take me alive. They would have burned everything, left nothing. But instead they risked Kael Varyn’s fire for me. Someone sent them. Someone wants me.”
His chest rose and fell sharply, his breath ragged as if the words themselves tore at him. He closed the space between us in a single step, his heat suffocating. His hands cupped my face, trembling, his thumb brushing over the scar on my wrist.
“I can’t lose you,” he rasped.
“You won’t,” I whispered. “Not if we face this together. But you can’t pretend it wasn’t me they wanted.”
His eyes closed, his forehead pressing against mine. His fire dimmed, flickering low. But I felt it the vow forming in him, silent but unbreakable.
That evening, the council gathered in what was left of the great hall. The beams overhead were scorched, blackened like bones, and the furs laid on the floor still smelled faintly of smoke. Kael stood in the center, his fire dim but always there, a constant reminder of what he was. I sat beside him, my presence drawing wary stares from the elders.
“They weren’t rogues,” Elder Thalos said, his deep voice heavy with certainty. “This was no chance raid. They were organized. Armed. Trained.”
Another elder, her face lined with sorrow, spoke softly. “Perhaps their aim was not the pack. Perhaps their aim was her.”
Her gaze flicked toward me.
The hall went still.
Kael’s fire roared instantly, leaping up his arms, golden flames casting jagged shadows across the walls. “Choose your next words with care.”
But the elder did not flinch. “Alpha, if the girl is their prize, we must ask why. What value does she hold that others would bleed so much to claim her?”
Murmurs rippled through the hall, sharp and uneasy.
“She arrived, and already enemies circle.”
“She brings danger to our gates.”
“She is not one of us.”
Kael’s growl shook the beams. “Silence.”
The flames leapt higher, heat prickling against my skin even from where I sat. “She is under my protection. That is all you need know.”
The elders bowed their heads, but their silence was laced with fear. Suspicion was a seed already planted, and I could feel it growing.
Kael turned sharply to me, fury and fire still burning in his gaze. “Come. We’re done here.”
But I caught his hand, grounding him. “No. If I am the reason they came, we can’t ignore it. We must find out why.”
For a moment, his fire blazed higher, his instinct to shield me at war with his need to listen. Then, slowly, it dimmed, until only faint embers remained.
That night, when the compound was quiet and the wounded slept, Kael carried me to the furs and lay beside me. He thought I had drifted into sleep, but I stayed awake, listening to his breathing.
And then, in the darkness, I heard his vow.
“I will find who sent them,” he whispered, his lips pressed against my hair. “I will burn through every Alpha, every kingdom, until the earth is ash if I must. No one will chain what is mine.”
His arms tightened around me, and though his words chilled me, they also steadied me. His obsession was terrifying. But it was the reason I was still alive.
Sleep finally crept over me, heavy and uneasy.
But before dawn, a horn’s cry shattered the silence.
I woke to Kael already on his feet, fire flaring along his arms. A messenger staggered into the compound, his face streaked with blood, his hands shaking as he held out a bundle.
In his fist was a seal, pressed in red wax. A chain coiled around a sun. The same sigil carved into the enemy’s blades. Kael’s fire roared to life, golden flames scorching the ground at his feet. His eyes blazed like molten metal.
The storm had only begun.