Chapter 79

Chapter 79
Ripley's Point of View

I drive the shovel into the ground again, forcing it deeper through the mix of dirt and ash. The sun hangs low, but the heat still clings to the air, and every breath feels thick with smoke. Around me, Stonehowl wolves work fast, laying stakes, reinforcing barriers, carving trenches that will funnel attackers exactly where they want them.

A proper perimeter.

A strong one.

A necessary one.

Alpha Callum walks along the half finished line of defenses, giving instructions, checking the spacing between barriers, making sure every weak point is being reinforced. When he reaches me, I straighten and wipe my forehead with my forearm.

“Good,” he says, nodding his head at the sharpened stakes I have driven into the earth. “Keep that angle. It slows wolves charging head on.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

He claps me on the shoulder and moves to the next group. He is tired, I can see it. But there is something else in his eyes too. Determination. Fear. Fury. All tangled together.

I turn back to the barrier and keep working. Pacey joins me, dropping an armful of wooden stakes beside us.

“These things are heavier than they look,” he mutters.

“Everything is heavier today,” I answer.

We keep going, hammering, digging, reinforcing. The rhythm of it helps, even if my arms burn and my back aches. Ian hauls over another roll of barbed wire salvaged from one of the undamaged supply sheds, and we start stretching it between the posts.

My palms are raw by the time we finish the section we were assigned, but I keep moving. There is no room to slow down.

Not after something like this.

Not when it could happen again.

Kael appears a little ways down the line with his future beta, Ezra. They are working on their own segment, Ezra giving quiet instructions, Kael forcing himself to focus even though grief shadows every part of him.

I catch his eye. He tries to smile back, but it does not reach.

I look away first. It feels wrong to stare.

When I move to check the alignment of the stakes, Alpha Callum calls out again.

“Ripley!”

I jog over. He leads me past the last row of wooden barriers, right up to the treeline where the attack began.

“Look,” he says.

I kneel. The tracks are clear despite the chaos, heavy wolves, large males, running in formation. Deep imprints from boots too.

Well coordinated.

Well organized.

Nightvein.

Almost definitely.

“They pushed hard from this direction,” Alpha Callum says. “Straight for the training grounds and the residential houses.”

“They were aiming to cripple Stonehowl,” I murmur.

“Yes. And they nearly succeeded.”

My chest tightens. “We will make the perimeter solid. They will not get through like this again.”

Alpha Callum exhales, rubbing the back of his neck. “I appreciate your help. All of you coming here… it means more than you know.”

I nod my head. “Stonehowl would do the same for any of us.”

His expression softens with gratitude, then hardens again with worry. “Ripley… watch your group closely. Nightvein is growing bolder. And the heirs coming together as you have… that makes you targets.”

A cold flicker runs down my spine.

I think of the lake a few nights ago. The feeling of being watched. The movement Olivia and I heard.

They are not just attacking packs.

They are observing us too.

“Understood,” I say quietly.

Alpha Callum nods his head once, then moves off to inspect another section of the perimeter.

I take a breath that tastes like ash and start back towards my assigned area. Pacey waves me over, holding more stakes.

“Come on, Alpha Rip,” he calls. “We are not done yet.”

I force a small smile and join him, but the certainty stays, heavy and cold in my chest.

Nightvein is not finished.

And we need to be ready when they come again.

By the time the sun starts to dip, the perimeter is finally beginning to look like something that could hold. My arms feel like stone and my back is one wrong movement away from locking up completely. Pacey and Ian are still going strong, but even they have stopped cracking jokes, which tells me everyone has hit their limit.

“Alright,” Alpha Callum calls from a distance, raising his voice so the workers hear him. “Take a break. We will resume once we have checked the north sector.”

A collective sigh moves down the line. I drop the last stake into the dirt and roll out my shoulders. The muscles in my neck scream.

“I never thought I would say this,” Pacey mutters beside me, “but I will gladly never see another piece of barbed wire again.”

“Too bad,” Ian says dryly. “This is only the first section.”

Pacey groans dramatically and falls back onto the ground. I laugh under my breath and step away from them, scanning the treeline one more time. It is quiet. Too quiet again. The scent of old smoke lingers, but something else does too, like a faint echo of the wolves who ran through here last night.

It raises the hairs on the back of my neck.

I try to ignore it.

I wipe my hands on my jeans and head towards the center of the pack grounds, weaving between scorched buildings and wolves carrying supplies. A few of them nod at me as I pass. Some look grateful. Others look exhausted enough to collapse.

I get it.

As I round the corner near the training field, I spot Olivia. She stands outside the med tent, handing a tray of sorted supplies to one of Stonehowl’s healers. Her hair is pulled back, her cheeks flushed, her hands still stained faintly from whatever she was helping with inside. Her movements are steady, focused. But there is a heaviness around her shoulders that was not there yesterday.

She looks up and her eyes find me immediately.

The tension in my chest loosens.

She steps towards me, raising a brow. “You look like you have been fighting the ground all day.”

“I have been,” I say. “And the ground won.”

A small laugh escapes her, soft, but real. Her gaze flicks over me again, assessing, worried in that way she tries to hide but never really can.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

I nod my head, then shake my head. “I am fine. Just… tired.”

“And?” she presses gently.

I glance towards the treeline behind me. The empty space where tracks still sit fresh in the dirt. Alpha Callum’s warning still echoes in my head.

“They came too close,” I say quietly. “They knew exactly where to hit. And I keep thinking about the night by the lake. What we heard. What we felt.”

She steps closer, touching my arm lightly. “Me too.”

For a moment, we just stand there like that, surrounded by chaos, by rebuilding, by grief, but grounded in something steadier between us.

I take a slow breath. “How is it in the med tent?”

Her expression shifts, just slightly, but enough. “Bad,” she murmurs. “Most of the injured will recover, but some…” She does not finish. She does not need to. “There is a lot to help with.”

“Then I will stay with you,” I say.

“You don’t have to...”

“I want to.”

She exhales, another soft, small smile tugging at her lips before she nods her head. “Okay.”

We head towards the tent together. My legs ache. My hands burn. But walking beside her, the weight feels lighter. Manageable.

Still, the thought that stalked me all day returns now more clearly than ever.

If Nightvein keeps escalating…
If they keep hitting packs at random…
If they are watching us…

This will not be the last time we will need to help rebuild.

And next time, it might be one of our homes burning.