Enemy's Shadow

Enemy's Shadow
Chapter 18 

Enemy’s Shadow

The night was unnaturally still.
Not even the crickets dared to sing.

I stood between Ronan and Adrian, my heart hammering against my ribs as my eyes searched the shadows beyond the trees. The faint rustle of leaves had not been the wind—it had been deliberate, measured, almost taunting. Whoever was out there wanted us to know they were near.

Ronan's stance went stiff, his hand swiping against the hilt of his sword, eyes gleaming in the darkness. Adrian snapped his knuckles, his wolf vibrating under his skin with restless hunger to tear apart whatever was brave  enough to venture within its ambit.

And then, a voice.

Smooth.
Cold.
Mocking.

"Well, well. The ghost really does walk."

A man came from the trees, walking slowly and deliberately, as if he owned the darkness. His eyes glowed amber, bright and unyielding. His hair was black, loose at the nape of his neck, and his form rugged—muscle and threat entwined. He walked with the assured swagger of a man who had killed before and would kill again that night if the humor moved him.

I knew that face.

Kael's Beta. Darius.

The wolf who stood by Kael's side as my father was laid in the ground. The wolf who spat at my feet when I tried to speak over my father's grave. The wolf who swore loyalty to Kael the moment blood fell upon the Alpha's crest.

My blood chilled.

"You're alive," he said to her, his voice almost wonder-filled. His lips curled up in a wicked smile. "Kael surmised, but the rest of us assumed you were too weak to survive. But here you are. Shaky, fragile. but alive."

Adrian snarled, taking a step forward. "Take one more step and I'll rip that smile from your mouth."

Darius laughed, his laughter low and sarcastic. He did not even blink. Instead, he circled me slowly, like an animal stalking prey. His eyes snapped at me, quick and intense, peeling away my barriers with disdain.

"Your father would weep if he saw you now," he sneered. "Struggling after morsels. Taking cover behind men who do your fighting for you. Do you know what Kael says of you, Selene? A shadow. An afterthought. A ghost clinging to the pieces of a throne you will never sit on."

My knuckles pounded, nails digging into flesh.

He leaned forward, his words a blade in silk. "And while you hide in the dark, Mira is pregnant with Kael's heir. True Alpha's blood. The pack's future."

The words cut me more deeply than any punch. Mira. Pregnant. Once more the vision burned in my mind—Kael's hand against her stomach, his pride, his oath that the child would rule. My stomach roiled, acid rising in my throat.

Ronan's blade flashed halfway out of its scabbard, his teeth exposed. "Say one word more about her father and I'll cut out your tongue."

Adrian stepped in front of me, his chest pumping, his wolf hovering on the brink of escape. "No more of this game. Let's be done."

Darius just smiled, enjoying their fury. That was when I understood.

He wanted us to be reckless. He wanted us blind.

No, I said firmly, my voice sharp enough to sever tension.

Ronan and Adrian were shocked, their shock flicking toward me.

Darius's head tilted, amused. "Oh? The girl has found her voice?

I stepped out of their cover, my legs trembling but not letting him see. Every part of me was shouting at me to take a step back, but I forced myself forward until I could see the faint scar slashing his cheek.

"You are here to measure me," I said to him, my tone calm despite the hurricane storm brewing inside me. "To see if I was worth Kael's fear. So go on and look, Darius. Look hard. Because the fragile girl you taunted no longer exists."

Something inside me stirred—heat, pressure, light. My chest ached, my skin prickled, and before I could catch it, a soft glow appeared to ripple in the air around me. My blood oath's power. The wolf within.

Darius's sneer faltered. Just for a moment.

The air crackled between us.

"You…" his eyes narrowed, suspicion flaring. "You're stronger than I thought.".

"I am not just stronger," I said to him, my voice rough. "I'm going to catch him. And when I do, you or Kael or Mira's unborn child won't rescind what my father built."

For the first time, he took a step back. His smug serenity shattered, although his smile reappeared in an instant.

"Daring words for a girl clutching at wolves that are not hers," he shouted, but I sensed the very trace of fear in his voice. He had witnessed the burst of my power, however small.

He stepped back, falling away into the trees.

But before the darkness could claim him, he spun and bellowed, his voice slicing through the darkness like a blade:

"Kael knows you live. And during the New Dawn Ceremony, he'll claim both the land that was your father's. and the heir Mira carries."

The words strike like lightning.

Adrian's fists balled, his frame trembling with rage. Ronan's jaw became one with his teeth, his sword still resting at his hip.

And me?

My chest collapsed, my breath stolen from me, as if the forest itself had stolen it from me. My father's land. Mira's child. Kael's victory was in flames before it even began.

The night consumed Darius.

But his words lingered.

A curse. A threat. A promise.

And in that moment, I realized—hiding was not a choice.

The war had come.