Chapter 51 War Drums

Chapter 51 War Drums
The night air hit like cold water, sharp and real, but it didn’t slow Luka down. He had me in his arms before I fully understood we were outside, his grip unyielding, like if he loosened it even an inch I might disappear again.

“Move!” Joel barked behind us. When did he get here?

Branches snapped underfoot. Someone cursed. The scent of smoke and blood clung to everything, thick enough to taste. I tried to lift my head, to see where we were going, but the world tilted the second I moved.

“Easy,” Luka murmured, his voice low, tight. Not calm. Never calm. “I’ve got you.”

That shouldn’t have steadied me as much as it did.

But it did.

I let my head fall against his chest, listening to the wild, uneven rhythm of his heart. It wasn’t just fast. It was angry. Like something inside him was still fighting even though the battle was over.

Except it wasn’t over. Not really. Not for us.

We didn’t stop until the trees swallowed us whole.

Only then did Luka slow.

“Here,” Mary said, already moving, her voice softer but firm in a way that cut through everything. “Put her down. We need to look at her.”

“No.”

The word came out of Luka like a growl. I felt it in his chest more than I heard it.

“Luka,” Mary tried again, gentler this time.

“No one touches her,” he snapped, his hold tightening around me.

That should’ve scared me. It didn’t. It probably should have.

“Luka.”

This time it was me.

My voice came out weaker than I wanted, rough and thin, but it was enough. His entire body stilled like I’d pressed pause on something dangerous.

“I’m okay,” I whispered. That was a lie. We both knew it. But I continued “Mary is my family. It’s okay to trust her.

Slowly, like it physically hurt him, Luka lowered me onto the ground. His hands didn’t leave me though. One stayed at my back, the other hovering near my face like he wasn’t sure where I might break first.

Mary knelt beside me immediately, her touch warm and practiced. “Let me see,” she said softly.

I nodded.

The second her fingers brushed my arm, pain flared awake like it had been waiting for permission. I sucked in a sharp breath. Luka’s hand clenched.

“Easy,” Mary murmured, already assessing. “Bruising… cuts… nothing too deep—” 

“She was taken,” Luka cut in, his voice dark. “They had her. They Chained Her.”

“I can see that,” Mary said calmly, though her eyes flicked up, sharp for just a second. “Panicking won’t help her.”

“I’m not panicking.” 

He was. Everyone knew it. Even me. Especially me. 

I shifted slightly, and the world spun again, slower this time but heavier. Like everything was catching up all at once.

“I’m okay,” I said again, quieter.

“You’re not,” Luka replied immediately.

His voice sent a chill down my spine, not from anger, but from a raw, unfiltered fear that was barely contained.

“I’m here,” I said instead, meeting his gaze. “You got me out.”

His jaw tightened, like that wasn’t enough. Like it would never be enough.

“I shouldn’t have let you out of my sight,” he muttered.

“That’s not—”

“It is.”

The words hit harder than they should have. Silence stretched between us, thick and heavy.

“I felt you,” he said suddenly, quieter now, like the words had been dragged out of him.

I blinked. “What?”

“In there.” His eyes locked onto mine, intense, searching. “When you fought back.”

My breath caught.

“I wasn’t thinking,” I admitted softly. “I just… moved.”

“That wasn’t just instinct,” Luka said.

“It wasn’t just yours.” Something inside me stirred at that. Low and Awake and Listening. Was it the white wolf or something more.

“I felt you too,” I whispered. I didn’t understand it at that time but now. Thats what I had been feeling. The moment the words left my mouth, something shifted between us.

Like a thread that had always been there suddenly pulled tight. Neither of us looked away.

“Good,” Joel’s voice cut in, grounding and sharp. “Because we have a bigger problem.” 

The moment snapped. Reality rushed back in. I swallowed, forcing myself to sit up a little straighter despite the protest from my ribs.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Joel glanced toward the direction we’d come from, his expression grim. “That wasn’t a random grab.”

“No,” Phil added, running a hand through his hair, his face pale in a way I’d never seen before. “That was organized.”

“They were waiting,” Mary said quietly. 

My stomach dropped.

“For me,” I finished.

“No,” Luka said immediately. I looked at him. He didn’t look away.

“You’re not the cause,” he said. “You’re the objective.”

“So what… they just wanted to grab me and run some creepy ritual?” I asked, my voice shaking despite my attempt to keep it steady.

Joel’s expression darkened. “They didn’t finish it.”

“Which means they’ll try again,” Phil added.

“And next time,” Mary said softly, “they’ll be prepared for resistance.”

A cold weight settled in my chest.

“They were testing me,” I said. 

“And the one in charge,” Luka added, his voice dropping into something dangerous, “never stepped in.”

I looked at him. “You saw them?”

“I felt them,” he corrected.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“It means,” Joel said grimly, “we haven’t seen the real threat yet.”

Great.

I let out a shaky breath, dragging a hand through my hair. “So let me get this straight,” I muttered. “I’m apparently some rare, magical, wolf… thing… that everyone wants, there are vampires running experiments, and now there’s some mystery boss lurking in the shadows?”

“Pretty much,” Joel said.

“Helpful.”

Despite everything, a small, hysterical laugh slipped out of me. It didn’t last. Because beneath it, something else curled.

Fear.

Real, cold, sinking fear.

“I almost…” I swallowed hard. “I almost didn’t make it out.” What would have happened if Luka didn’t show up when he did.

“You did,” Luka said immediately. I looked at him. He wasn’t just reassuring me. No, he was anchoring himself to that fact.

“I didn’t know what I was doing,” I admitted. “I just… reacted.”

“That’s your wolf,” he said.

My stomach twisted. “What if I don’t know how to stop?” I whispered.

Luka didn’t answer right away.

“You won’t be alone in it,” he said finally. Not a denial.

I nodded slowly, though I wasn’t sure if that actually helped. A quiet settled over the group, heavier now.

Understanding fell on us all. This wasn’t over. It was just starting.

Mary moved to wrap a blanket around my shoulders, tucking it gently like she’d done a hundred times before. “You need rest,” she said softly.

“I need answers,” I countered.

“You’ll get both,” Luka said.

I looked at him. There was something different in his gaze now.

Decision.

“No more waiting,” he said, his voice low but carrying. “No more reacting.”

Joel straightened slightly. Phil looked up. Even Mary stilled. Luka’s eyes stayed on me.

“We take control of this,” he continued. “We find out exactly what you are… and we make sure no one else gets close enough to try this again.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Joel asked. Luka didn’t hesitate.

“We call the others.” Silence fell again. Like the ground itself had shifted beneath us.

“No more hiding,” Luka said. His gaze never left mine. My heart raced. It sounded like the beginning of a war drum.