Chapter 86 knows her
His eyes flickered to the flames dancing at my fingertips, but his expression remained unreadable. The warriors around us tensed, waiting for an order, a signal—anything to tell them whether I was still their enemy.
But my father didn’t move.
Didn’t speak.
And that silence told me everything.
He was afraid. Not of me, exactly, but of what I could become. Of what he had tried—and failed—to destroy.
I let the fire burn hotter, let the heat crack the air between us, daring him to stop me.
“You wanted me dead,” I said, voice steady. “And now you have to live with the fact that I’m still here.” I tilted my head. “So tell me, Alpha—what happens now?”
A muscle in his jaw twitched. For a long moment, he just stared at me, calculating.
Then, finally, he exhaled. “Now,” he said, “you choose.”
I frowned. “Choose?”
He took a slow step forward, ignoring the flames that licked at the ground near his boots. “The Wardens were created to maintain the balance, to protect the borders between this world and the darkness beyond it. But their power was too great. It corrupted them. It made them believe they were more than what they were meant to be.”
His silver eyes locked onto mine. “And every Warden that lived long enough to understand their purpose?” His voice dropped to a whisper. “They all fell.”
A sharp chill ran through me, warring with the fire at my fingertips.
Lena tensed beside me. “Fell?”
My father nodded once. “They turned into the very monsters they were meant to hunt.”
The fire in my veins faltered, just for a second.
Lies.
They had to be lies.
But…
Something inside me recoiled, an instinctual warning slamming against my ribs, whispering that maybe, maybe I had felt the edges of something dark beneath my skin. Something waiting. Watching.
Waiting for me to let go.
I gritted my teeth. “And you think that’s what will happen to me?”
My father studied me. “I think it’s already happening.”
The air between us crackled with heat and tension. My heart pounded against my ribs, but I forced myself to stay still. To breathe.
He was trying to manipulate me. He had to be.
Because the alternative—the idea that the fire inside me was something more than just power—
I couldn’t accept that.
I wouldn’t.
Lena stepped closer. “Elias,” she murmured, her fingers brushing against my arm. The contact grounded me, reminded me that I wasn’t alone.
I exhaled sharply and let the fire settle back beneath my skin, though it still simmered, waiting. Watching.
My father nodded slightly, as if he had expected that. “You have two choices,” he said. “You can fight it, try to control it. Or you can let it consume you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “And what would you prefer?”
A ghost of a smile touched his lips, but there was no amusement in it. “I’d prefer that you hadn’t survived at all.”
Lena sucked in a breath. Logan stiffened. The warriors behind them exchanged uneasy glances.
I just smiled coldly. “Too bad.”
His expression didn’t change, but something in his posture did. A slight shift, barely noticeable.
Acceptance.
He wasn’t going to kill me. Not today.
But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try again.
“I suggest you leave,” my father said, stepping back. “Before I change my mind.”
I held his gaze for a long, heavy moment.
Then, without another word, I turned and walked away.
Lena followed immediately, but Logan hesitated, his golden eyes flicking between me and my father before he cursed under his breath and trailed after us.
The moment we were clear of the warriors, Lena exhaled sharply. “That was—”
“Stupid,” Logan finished, voice tight. “Reckless. You should be dead right now.”
I didn’t answer.
Because he wasn’t wrong.
And yet—
I was still here.
Still alive.
And now?
Now I had answers.
Now I knew.
I wasn’t just a wolf. I wasn’t just another fighter in my father’s pack.
I was something more.
Something that shouldn’t exist.
A Warden.
And no matter what my father thought—no matter what anyone thought—
I wasn’t going to let them decide what that meant.
Not anymore.
As we moved deeper into the woods, the tension in my chest refused to fade. Every word my father had spoken echoed in my mind, clawing at the fragile control I had over my emotions.
"They all fell."
"They turned into the very monsters they were meant to hunt."
Was that true? Was there something inside me waiting to take over?
Lena walked beside me, her pace matching mine, but she kept glancing at me like she wanted to say something. Logan, however, wasn’t as patient.
“What the hell was that back there?” he demanded, shoving past a fallen branch. “You just stood there and let him get in your head!”
I clenched my jaw. “I didn’t let him do anything.”
Logan scoffed. “Really? Because from where I was standing, it sure looked like he was planting doubts in your head.”
I ignored him.
But Lena wasn’t about to let it go. “Elias… what he said—do you think it’s true?”
I didn’t answer right away.
Because I wasn’t sure.
The fire inside me was something I had never fully understood. It had always felt like it belonged to me, but what if it didn’t? What if my father was right? What if I was just one misstep away from becoming something worse than the monsters we fought?
Logan exhaled harshly. “I’ll tell you what’s true—your father would say anything to keep you in line. He wants you to doubt yourself, to be afraid of your power so you never use it against him.”
I knew he had a point.
And yet…
I thought of the heat that had surged in my veins, the way it had wanted to spread, to burn, to consume. I had controlled it—this time.
But what about the next?
Lena’s hand brushed mine, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Whatever happens,” she said quietly, “you won’t go through it alone.”
I turned to her, and for a moment, the weight pressing against my chest eased just a little.
Then Logan cursed. “Shit.”
I snapped my head up just in time to see the clearing ahead.
Blood. Bodies.
And standing in the center of it all—
Was her.
The woman I had seen in my dreams.
The one who always whispered my name like she knew me.
Like she had been waiting for me.
She turned slowly, her dark eyes locking onto mine.
And then she smiled.