Chapter 23 Nifhtfang Shadows
Tiara’s voice cut through the midnight air like a blade. The forest exploded into motion as SilverShield wolves shifted and lunged into formation. Moonlight glinted off their fur, reflecting silver streaks as they surrounded the intruders.
The scent hit first—musky, metallic, wild. NightFang.
Five shadow wolves rushed from the darkness, their eyes glowing amber, fangs dripping with venomous saliva. They attacked silently, not like rogues… but like trained assassins.
Kiera leaped, pinning one by the throat. Rowan knocked another into a tree so hard bark shattered. Tiara shifted mid-run, silver fur shimmering as she slammed a wolf twice her size into the dirt.
They were too organized. Too precise. Too… quiet.
Her wolf recognized the difference instantly. These weren’t scouts. They were testers—mapping her pack’s strengths.
Ash ripped into the third wolf, but it didn’t yelp, didn’t scream; it only stared back at Tiara with eerie calm.
Another lunged at her left side—she crushed it down with one paw, teeth bared. The final attacker tried to escape, but Kiera cut it off with a vicious snarl, forcing it to submit.
The last wolf didn’t fight… it waited.
Like it expected capture.
Tiara shifted back, standing nude in her half-shredded battle cloak, hair wild and sticking to her sweat. She stepped toward the injured wolf, still breathing but refusing to meet her gaze.
“Who sent you?” she demanded.
Blood pooled beneath the wolf, yet its lips twisted upward in a crooked, knowing grin.
“You already know,” it growled, voice garbled through its torn throat.
Tiara’s breath hitched.
Before she could ask more, the wolf snapped its own neck.
Gasps rippled around her pack. Even Rowan staggered back.
Kiera whispered, voice shaking, “They’d rather die than be questioned…”
Tiara stared at the dead corpse, heart pounding. “Which means someone trained them to never speak. Someone who wants us unprepared.”
Ash spat blood onto the ground. “We repelled them, but this wasn’t a victory. It was a warning.”
Tiara nodded. “NightFang never tests. They hunt. Tonight wasn’t a hunt.”
Her eyes hardened.
“It was a message.”
Far from SilverShield lands, Damien stepped into moonlit corridors filled with political poison.
The Moon Council Hall glowed with celestial runes, but its heart was rotten—wolves wearing silk and titles, hiding fangs behind fake smiles.
Damien bowed slightly to Elder Lyram, whose expression was carved from stone. “Elder, my absence from the throne is strategic. The rogue Alpha Ti—”
“Silence.” Lyram’s voice cut cold. “You think we don’t know why you’re gone?”
Councilman Harris stepped forward, smug. “You flee your duties to defend a rogue girl. A girl who may be a threat to the empire.”
Damien forced a calm expression. “She’s no threat to our rule. She is under investigation by Silver Enforcers at my command.”
A partial lie. Enough truth to confuse them.
Lyram narrowed his eyes, studying him. “If she is dangerous, she must be eliminated before the NightFang Pack gains interest.”
Damien stiffened. They’re already interested.
He bowed again, keeping his voice steady. “Then allow me to investigate her alone. If the council intervenes, NightFang will suspect our fear.”
That struck the nerve he wanted. No one wanted to appear afraid. Especially not to NightFang.
Elder Lyram paused. “Very well. Delay our involvement, but bring results.”
Harris stepped closer, whispering, “Be careful, Alpha Damien. If the girl proves to be what you fear… you won’t be able to protect her.”
Damien’s jaw tightened.
Watch me.
Back at SilverShield, Tiara knelt by the body of the dead NightFang scout. Her hand brushed marks tattooed across the wolf’s paw—an inked moon dripping with black thorn vines.
Kiera crouched beside her. “There’s a rumor,” she whispered, as if speaking too loud might summon ghosts. “My old pack whispered that NightFang once followed a woman. A queen who vanished. They said she had Alpha blood strong enough to challenge the goddess herself.”
Tiara’s heart stuttered. “A woman?”
Kiera nodded. “Some say she carried a child before she disappeared. A child the Moon Council ordered killed.”
Tiara’s throat tightened. “Killed… why?”
Rowan answered softly, “Because a true Alpha-blooded female can overthrow any throne. A female Alpha with royal lineage isn’t a mate or a breeder. She’s a ruler.”
Tiara trembled slightly, not from fear—but from recognition. Memory. Pieces she never understood.
A lullaby. A whisper. A hand leaving her in the forest. Not abandoning her. Hiding her.
She stared at the scout’s tattoo again, breath shaky.
“What if she didn’t die?”
Ash frowned. “You’re saying… your mother—”
Tiara cut him off with a whisper.
“What if she’s alive?”
Silence fell over the clearing like ice.
Kiera’s eyes widened. “If she is, NightFang would follow her. And if they know who you are—”
“They’re not just attacking,” Rowan finished grimly. “They’re reclaiming.”
The scout’s body was burned before dawn. No trace left for NightFang to track. As the flames died, Tiara stood alone, staring into the embers.
A weight settled on her shoulders—not fear, but destiny.
Not a destiny she asked for, but one clawing its way toward her.
Her wolf murmured in her mind, low and ancient.
Blood calls to blood. And yours is not forgotten.
Tiara clenched her fists. “If NightFang knows who I am, then we need answers before they try to own me.”
Rowan stepped forward, chest heaving. “Alpha—one scout escaped.”
Her heart froze. “What?”
Ash nodded grimly. “He’s running north. Straight to the NightFang Alpha.”
Tiara felt it then—like a thread snapping taut through her veins.
The NightFang Alpha had heard of her.
He was waiting.
She whispered, voice cold as moonlight, “Then shadows just turned into war.”