Chapter 84 All his
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A deep, guttural growl rumbled through the air, sending a sharp chill down my spine. The fire inside me surged in response, as if recognizing something I couldn't yet name.
Logan and Lena instinctively fell into a defensive stance, their eyes scanning the darkness beyond the tree line. The scent of the woman still lingered, but now it was mixed with something else—something ancient, something primal.
Then, out of the shadows, a pair of glowing golden eyes appeared.
Not one.
Two.
Three.
More.
A pack.
But these weren’t just ordinary wolves. Their bodies shimmered with an eerie silver light, their fur moving like liquid shadow. They prowled forward with unnatural grace, their forms both solid and ethereal, flickering between states of existence.
I took a step back, my heart slamming against my ribs. “What the hell are they?”
Lena’s voice was barely a whisper. “I don’t know… but they’re not normal.”
Logan bared his teeth, his wolf close to the surface. “Doesn’t matter. If they attack, we fight.”
One of the creatures tilted its head, its glowing eyes locking onto mine. For a split second, I felt something pass between us—an understanding. A recognition.
And then, a voice.
Not from the woman. Not from my pack.
From inside me.
The key…
My breath caught, fire licking at my fingertips. The woman’s words echoed in my mind: The fire inside you? It’s not just power. It’s a key.
The lead wolf took another step forward, and I could swear I saw something shift beneath its fur—patterns, symbols, memories.
Something deep within me clicked.
I wasn’t just looking at them.
I was connected to them.
The realization sent a bolt of heat through my body, the flames inside me reacting violently, surging outward. The wolves snarled, their bodies flickering between worlds, and in that moment, I understood—
They weren’t here to attack me.
They were here to test me.
And if I failed…
I wouldn’t survive the night.
The fire inside me pulsed like a second heartbeat, responding to the presence of these creatures in a way I didn’t understand. The pack of silver-shadowed wolves circled us, their glowing eyes filled with an eerie intelligence. They weren’t just beasts. They were something more.
Logan tensed beside me, his fingers twitching with the urge to shift. “Elias, if we’re going to fight, we need to do it now.”
But something held me back. The fire inside me wasn’t screaming for destruction—it was waiting.
The lead wolf—the largest of them—stepped forward. His body shimmered between solid and spectral, but his eyes never left mine.
And then he spoke.
Not with words, but through the bond.
Through the fire.
“Warden.”
I flinched as the word echoed in my skull, my vision momentarily blurring. My knees nearly buckled from the weight of it.
Lena gasped. “Elias—your eyes—”
I barely heard her.
Because in that moment, the world shifted.
A rush of something—power, memory, destiny—slammed into me, tearing through my mind like an inferno. I wasn’t standing in the forest anymore.
I was somewhere else.
A battlefield.
Flames scorched the earth, bodies littered the ground, and through the smoke, I saw her—the woman from my dreams, standing at the center of the chaos. Blood streaked her face, her golden eyes burning like embers.
And beside her, a man.
A warrior cloaked in fire and shadow.
A warrior who looked exactly like me.
The vision shattered as quickly as it came, and I found myself back in the forest, my breath ragged, my skin burning. The wolves hadn’t moved. They were waiting.
I stumbled back, my pulse roaring in my ears. “What the hell was that?”
The lead wolf growled low in his throat.
“The truth.”
Logan grabbed my arm, shaking me. “Elias! Talk to me! What’s happening?”
I forced myself to focus, to push past the fire threatening to consume me. “They’re not here to kill us.”
Lena gave me a skeptical look. “Then what do they want?”
I met the lead wolf’s gaze.
And somehow, I already knew the answer.
“They want me to prove myself.”
The moment I spoke the words, the air around us shifted.
The wolves lunged. Instinct took over. I barely had time to react before the first wolf was upon me, its massive form flickering between solid and shadow. My fire flared in response, surging to meet the attack, but I forced it down at the last second.
This wasn’t just a fight.
It was a test.
I ducked low, twisting to the side as the wolf’s claws slashed through the space where I’d just been. My pulse roared in my ears, but there was no time to think—the next wolf was already moving.
Logan snarled beside me, shifting mid-motion. His wolf burst free, a powerful blur of dark fur and muscle as he collided with one of the spectral creatures. They tumbled through the underbrush, snapping and clawing.
Lena held her ground, eyes darting between me and the wolves. “Elias! What are we supposed to do?”
I didn’t have an answer.
The lead wolf circled me, his golden eyes burning with something unreadable. He wasn’t attacking. Not yet.
The others, though? They were relentless.
Another lunged—I caught its movement at the last second and pivoted, slamming my palm into its ribs. Fire surged from my skin, but instead of burning, it pulsed outward in a controlled burst. The wolf was thrown back, landing in a crouch, watching me with new interest.
They were testing my reactions. My instincts.
They want to see if I can control it.
The fire inside me snarled in defiance, demanding to be unleashed, but I gritted my teeth, fighting to keep it caged. If I lost control now, I wouldn’t be proving anything—I’d be playing right into their hands.
Or worse… hers.
The largest wolf—their leader—finally made his move.
One second, he was standing still.
The next, he was in front of me.
Too fast.
I barely had time to raise my arms before he slammed into me, knocking me flat onto my back. The breath rushed from my lungs as his massive weight pinned me down.
I stared up at him, my heartbeat thundering in my chest. His golden eyes locked onto mine, unblinking. Unrelenting.
Then—
Fire.
Not mine. His.
It flickered along his fur, but it didn’t burn. It recognized me.
My breath hitched.
The flames inside me responded, flaring outward, and for the first time, I didn’t try to stop them.
The golden fire from the wolf’s body met mine, intertwining, merging into something new.
A memory surfaced—clearer than before.
The battlefield.
The woman.
The warrior who looked like me.
And the wolves.
Not enemies.
Not monsters.
Guardians.
The fire roared between us, and suddenly, I understood.
I wasn’t supposed to fight them.
I was supposed to claim them.
The lead wolf’s eyes gleamed with knowing. He was waiting for me to realize it.
I inhaled sharply, my hands still burning with golden fire.
And then I reached.
Not with my body—with my power.
The flames surged forward, wrapping around the wolf like a binding thread of fate. His body tensed—then relaxed.
And in that moment, something inside me clicked into place.
A bond.
A connection.
The wolves were no longer circling me as enemies.
They were mine.