Chapter 90 her darkness
The weight of Lena’s words pressed down on me like a stone.
The first Eclipse-born.
The fire. The whispers. The power that had coiled beneath my skin since the moment I first saw those visions—it all made sense now.
But it didn’t make it any easier to accept.
I exhaled sharply, shaking my head. “You’re saying I’m connected to him? That I have the same power?”
Lena studied me, her silver-lit gaze steady. “I don’t think it’s just the same power, Idris. I think you are him.”
The words struck like a thunderclap, my wolf baring his teeth in defiance. “That’s impossible.”
Her expression didn’t change. “You saw what I did. You felt it.”
I opened my mouth to argue, to deny it—but I couldn’t. Because she was right.
That voice in the fire… It wasn’t just calling out to me. It was waiting for me.
Before I could respond, the wind outside shifted. My wolf stiffened, the hair on the back of my neck rising.
Lena tensed. “They’re here.”
The Enforcers had found us.
I shoved aside the whirlwind of thoughts and focused. My body still burned with the remnants of the vision, but I had no time to question it.
Lena grabbed my wrist. “We run.”
I yanked free. “No. We fight.”
She hesitated, but there was no time for protest. A low growl echoed through the cave entrance. A second later, a hulking wolf forced its way inside, glowing red eyes locking onto me.
I bared my teeth. My claws extended.
And for the first time, I didn’t resist the fire.
I let it consume me. Flames erupted across my skin, but they didn’t burn—they fueled me. My vision sharpened, the darkness of the cave swallowed by a blinding silver light.
The Enforcer lunged.
I met him head-on.
And as my claws struck, fire exploded from my fingertips, searing into his flesh. The wolf howled, his body thrown backward as if struck by an unseen force.
Lena’s sharp intake of breath barely registered.
I turned, chest heaving, as more shadows darkened the entrance.
A dozen more Enforcers.
Their leader stepped forward, his golden eyes gleaming in the firelight. Unlike the others, he didn’t attack.
Instead, he smiled.
“Finally,” he murmured. “We’ve found you.”
A shiver crawled down my spine.
This wasn’t a hunt.
It was a retrieval.
They hadn’t come to kill me.
They had come to take me.
The leader of the Enforcers stepped closer, his gaze never leaving mine. The fire still pulsed under my skin, the raw power of it making my fingertips tingle, but something in his stance made my wolf growl low in warning.
Lena edged toward me, her body tense. "Idris," she murmured. "We need to—"
The Enforcer raised a hand. "You’re not going anywhere."
The authority in his voice sent a chill through me, but I forced myself to stand my ground. "Who are you?"
A slow, knowing smile spread across his face. "Someone who has waited a long time for you to wake up."
My wolf snarled. "I don’t belong to you."
His expression didn’t change. "No. But you do belong to us."
Before I could react, the shadows around him moved. The Enforcers shifted in unison, their bodies twisting and reforming until they were no longer wolves but something else entirely. Their skin pulsed with veins of molten gold, their eyes glowing like embers.
Lena sucked in a sharp breath. "No. That’s not possible."
I didn’t understand what I was looking at, but my instincts screamed danger. The fire inside me surged, recognizing something ancient—something that shouldn’t exist.
The leader tilted his head. "You don’t even know what you are, do you?" His voice was almost pitying. "That power inside you—it’s not just werewolf magic. It’s something far older. Something our kind was created to control."
A sickening realization twisted in my gut.
These weren’t just Enforcers.
They were Wardens.
The creatures whispered about in the oldest werewolf legends. Not protectors—prison guards.
Lena grabbed my arm. "Idris, we have to go. Now."
But the Wardens were already moving.
They struck fast—too fast.
Lena shoved me back as one of them lunged, his clawed hand glowing with that eerie golden light. I dodged just in time, but the moment his fingers grazed my shoulder, pain exploded through me.
It wasn’t a normal wound—it was worse. Like something inside me was unraveling, burning away from the inside out. My knees buckled, my vision blurring.
The leader watched me struggle, his expression calm. "You weren’t meant to exist, Idris."
Lena roared, launching herself at him. She moved like a blur, her silver eyes flashing as she slashed her claws across his chest. But instead of tearing through him, her attack barely touched him. The golden veins under his skin pulsed, absorbing the blow.
He caught her wrist, his grip crushing. "You, on the other hand… You were just a mistake."
I forced myself to my feet, rage scorching through me. The fire inside me fought back, burning away the sickening pain his touch had left behind.
I clenched my fists. "Let. Her. Go."
The Warden smirked. "Or what?"
I didn’t answer.
I let the fire answer for me.
The ground trembled as the flames roared to life around me. But this time, it wasn’t out of control.
This time, it obeyed.
The Warden’s smirk faded. For the first time, a flicker of uncertainty crossed his face.
Good.
Because I wasn’t running anymore.
I was fighting back.
The flames surged around me, licking at my skin without burning, a raw force coiling inside my chest. The Warden’s eyes darkened as the golden veins under his skin pulsed brighter, as if responding to my power.
He let go of Lena.
She stumbled back, gasping, but she didn’t hesitate—she moved to my side, her claws still extended. “Idris…”
I felt it too. The fire wasn’t just inside me. It was awakening.
The Warden straightened, studying me with something almost like respect. “So it’s true,” he murmured. “You’re the first in centuries to control it.”
The flames burned brighter. The trees around us groaned, their leaves curling as the heat pulsed outward. The other Wardens stepped back, their golden-lit bodies tense. They feared me.
But not him.
The leader stood his ground. “You have no idea what you are, do you?”
I clenched my fists, heat pulsing through my veins. “I know enough.”
He exhaled, almost disappointed. “Then you should know fighting us is pointless. Your kind was never meant to exist.”
The words sent a deep, primal rage through me. My wolf snapped, his fury feeding the fire, urging me forward. Never meant to exist?
I was done being hunted.
I lunged.
Flames erupted as I struck. The Warden blocked my attack, his golden veins flaring like molten metal, but this time—this time—the fire hurt him.
His body jerked as my claws met his chest, a sharp hiss escaping his lips. For the first time, his expression cracked.
Shock.
I felt it the moment my fire bypassed his defenses, searing into his very core. He staggered back, gripping his chest where the flames had touched him.
His golden veins flickered.
The other Wardens hesitated.
They weren’t invincible.
Lena saw it too. She moved like lightning, striking at the nearest Warden. He dodged, but she was faster, her claws slicing across his ribs.
The Warden snarled in pain. Blood—dark and wrong—spilled onto the earth.
They bled.
They could die.
I turned back to the leader, who was still staring at me, his expression unreadable. But I saw it now—deep beneath his mask of control.
Fear.
I took a step forward. “Looks like you were wrong.”
His eyes burned. “We’ll see.”
And then—
The Wardens moved as one.
Not to attack.
To retreat.
They vanished into the darkness, their golden light fading between the trees, leaving nothing but scorched earth and the scent of something unnatural behind.
Lena exhaled sharply, wiping blood from her mouth. “What the hell just happened?”
I stared after them, my body still humming with power. My fire still burned, my wolf still howled for the fight.
But the Wardens had left.
And something told me they weren’t done with me yet.