Ashes Of Sanctuary

Ashes Of Sanctuary
Chapter 17

Ashes of Sanctuary

The smoke remained long after the fire was extinguished.

I stood in the wreckage of the cabin, bare feet sinking into ash where walls and floorboards and memories had been. The air seared my lungs, heavy with the scent of burned wood and blood. I'd cried out all my tears, I'd said to myself, but here, staring at the blackened hulk of the only home I'd ever known, I knew that loss did not.

This ground had been my father's. The cabin had been where he'd taught me to climb, where his laughter had filled the evening hours, where his presence had given me security. It later became the sanctuary Ronan offered me, his unspoken promise of defense. And now… dust.

It was like grieving them both all over again.

Ronan’s hand rested gently on my shoulder, grounding me. His tunic was torn, blood seeping through the makeshift bandage on his shoulder, but his eyes stayed steady, calm despite the pain. He had always been like that—enduring storms without letting them shake him.

“We can’t stay here,” he said softly. “Kael’s men will come again. We’ll move deeper into the forest. Hide where even rogues won’t follow.”

His words were meant to soothe, but they only heightened the hollow pain within my chest. Hide. Always hide. Always run.

Adrian had stood behind us, his cruel laughter echoing out. He was arms crossed, hair wild, his body still stained with dried blood. His unflinching gaze swept the destruction before coming to rest on Ronan with hardly hidden contempt.

"Hide? Do you think hiding will protect her?" he taunted. "Kael knows. That thief didn't joke. Kael won't rest until she is dead—or worse. You bury her deeper, he'll dig that much deeper."

Ronan's face set into stone. "Running gives us time. Rushing into Kael's claws is suicide."

"And waiting for him to show up is what? Mercy?" Adrian snapped. "I've killed Kael's kind before. The longer you let him build strength, the harder it is to kill him. You want to keep her safe? Then you cut the snake's head off before it slithers around her neck."

Their voices were climbing like colliding metal, harder than the crackle of dying fire.

I stood between them, the weight of their arguments settling on me. Ronan, ever serene, saw safety in silences, in holding back. Adrian, savage and merciless, saw salvation only through fire and blood. Both wanted to preserve me. Both believed they were right. And I—a rope stretched taut to breaking—felt myself being ripped apart.

"I don't want to run anymore," I breathed.

The words tumbled out before I realized I'd spoken. Both men turned, their sentences hanging. Their gazes settled on me—one fixed, one burning, both waiting.

"I've been hiding my whole life," I said, my hands trembling. "Hiding from Kael, from my powers, from myself. And where has it gotten us? My home is lost. My father is murdered. And Kael keeps coming after me."

Ronan's expression relaxed, but he didn't say a word. Adrian's eyes gleamed, like my words lit the fire within him.

I took a deep breath and stood taller. "You battle for what you believe is good for me. But I am not a child to be shielded or a tool to be manipulated. I am the Alpha of my family. I have the right to decide what happens next."

The silence that followed was thicker than any growl.

For the first time, Adrian and Ronan didn't talk down to me. They listened.

And for the first time, I realized the weight of leadership wasn't in a title—it was in standing up when your knees trembled, speaking up when your voice cracked, choosing when every path went down into darkness.

I looked at both of them. "We don't conceal. We don't attack straight at him. We prepare. We all, as a unit. Ronan, your self-control. Adrian, your brutality. My strength. We all require it if we are to survive."

Their eyes flashed to each other, a storm of unspoken fury rushing between them. Ronan's jaw remained taut, Adrian's grin wicked, but neither of them spoke out against me. For the first time, they bowed—not to each other, but to me.

The ashes shifted at the soles of our feet as the wind whispered through them, the far-off cry of wolves the solitary echo to sound. My chest constricted. The world wasn't giving us time. Kael was already in motion.

I stood with my back to the remains, ash clinging to my hands as I sifted through the debris. A charred but intact piece of wood was buried under the wreckage. It was from the entrance, the threshold I had crossed a thousand times. I gripped it tightly, feeling the pain of the burned edges dig into my hand.

"I promise," I gasped to the wreckage, to the memory of my dad, to the woods themselves, "I won't lose everything again. Not to him."

As I looked up, the last bits of the cabin seemed to dissolve into shadows. And there—out of sight, among the trees—I could have sworn I saw movement.

A figure. Watching.

The air stuck in my throat. "We're not alone."

Ronan was already unsheathing his sword, his gaze icy. Adrian's body tensed, his smile distorting hard and feral.

The forest remained still, its leaves and branches unmoving.

The one who was in the trees advanced, their eyes shining in the dimmest light.

Not rogue. Not Kael. Something other.

My racing heart as the figure spoke out across the clearing, low and taunting.

"So… the Alpha's pup does live."