Chapter Thirty Eight
The snow was slick with blood.
It crunched under my paws, red streaks painting across the white. The battlefield blurred into chaos.
Wolves lunging, claws raking, teeth tearing.
The air stank of iron and smoke.
I moved fast.
Frost cracked in the air around me, my ice catching on fur and flesh, slicing through snarls. A grey wolf lunged and I met him head-on, my jaws locking around his throat until he stilled beneath me.
And then he was there.
Dax.
His wolf, dark as shadow, massive, ruthless.
He tore through two Council wolves like they were nothing. His flank brushed mine as he spun, snapping down on another throat. We fought in tandem, our movements seamless.
Force and shadow. Ice and precision.
The Northern Circle surged.
I didn't have to think about him being here. Didn't have to wonder why. I just fought. With him. Beside him.
A brutal weight slammed into my side, knocking me off my feet. My body skidded across the bloodied ice. Snarls rose around me as I staggered up, vision swimming.
Not just any wolf.
de Silva.
Huge. Muddied amber eyes glinting with calculation.
He didn't lunge again. He prowled closer, his wolves. Surrounding. Closing in.
Dax was already there, planting himself between us, his massive wolf bristling. He growled so low it shook the air, a warning that vibrated through the marrow of my bones.
I shifted, skin splitting, breath tearing from my chest as I rose human, bloody and shaking but standing.
"You," I hissed, eyes narrowed.
De Silva shifted too, fur melting to skin, until he stood in front of me, tall and smug, a dark grin curving his lips.
"Me," he said smoothly.
I spat blood into the snow. "You're behind this."
His grin sharpened. "Of course I am. Who else has the vision to reshape the Council? To finally crush the North into submission where it belongs?"
"You—" My voice caught, rage burning hot through the pain. "You orchestrated the rogues. The attacks. All of it."
"Yes." His voice was slick. Eager. He began to pace, slow, deliberate. "Do you think I would let the Northern Circle rise again? Do you think I'd allow a girl with ice in her veins to rally a dying bloodline? No. Your people should've been finished long ago. Weak. Stubborn. Outdated."
"You wanted power."
He sneered. "I deserved it. And I had it, until you. Until Eclipse Hollow broke rank to chase after you like a dog." His eyes flicked to Dax, disdain curling his lip. "You ruined everything. Every careful move, undone because you wouldn't die like you were meant to."
He leaned closer, voice dropping into a hiss. "You should never have been Alpha. You should never have been born."
My pulse hammered, fury twisting with dread. His hatred was naked, personal. This wasn't just politics. He wanted me erased.
"You underestimated me," I bit out.
His grin stretched. "I'll finish you."
His skin split, body twisting back into fur, massive wolf slamming forward with killing intent.
Straight for me.
But Dax moved first.
They collided, tumbling into snow and blood, teeth tearing, snarls shaking the ground. Dax's shadow form loomed, monstrous, but de Silva was brutal, ruthless, their fight a storm of claws and blood.
I staggered to move. To shift. To join.
A blur. A whisper of movement at my side.
Then fire tore through me.
I screamed as silver ripped across my shoulder and ribs, searing agony exploding through my body. The world spun, breath ripped from me.
Lyra.
"So this is what he chose," she sneered, silver claws puncturing through her fist. Her voice was a rasp, edged with hate. "A girl who bleeds out in the dirt."
I bared my teeth, hackles lifting.
She laughed, ugly and sharp. "You think you've won because he came here for you? Because he threw away everything for you?" Her eyes glittered. "He would have had me. I was there, when you weren't. I was the one who stood at his side. He picked me, he got stuck with you."
The words struck harder than her claws. For one fractured breath, my wolf faltered. And in that crack, she struck.
Silver burned across my ribs, white-hot. I howled, the sound tearing from me before I could choke it down. The scent of my own scorched blood hit the air.
Lyra smiled. "Pathetic."
Rage drowned pain. Frost lanced through the ground, racing up her legs, biting at her feet. She snarled, snapping free with brute strength, but I lunged while she staggered, teeth tearing across her shoulder. Blood bloomed bright across her skin, dripping down her chest.
Her scream was furious, not wounded. She clawed at my flank, another silver kiss, shallow but searing. "He'll hate you for this," she spat. "For ruining him. For dragging his pack into your war."
I snapped my jaws an inch from her throat, fury trembling through me. "He was never yours," I rasped, the frost crawling higher, cutting into her flesh.
Her face twisted. For a moment, I saw it - the desperation beneath the hatred. the terror of being unwanted.
But then she lashed again, silver claws sinking into my side with a wild, final strike.
I struck back harder. My jaws closed on her foreleg, bone crunching. Her scream split the battlefield, wild and broken. She tore herself free, stumbling, bleeding.
"You'll regret this," she hissed, eyes burning with something between hatred and heartbreak. Then she bolted into the chaos, vanishing into the smoke and snow.
I staggered, lungs heaving, ribs on fire where the silver burned. Her blood was still hot on my tongue.
My legs buckled. My body convulsed, shifting back into human skin against my will. Blood gushed hot, staining the snow beneath me. I couldn't hold myself up. Couldn't keep the world steady.
Everything blurred.
Wolves clashing, snow red, the roar of battle muffled in my ears.
Dax.
Bloodied, panting, shadow dripping from him. His wolf melted to skin as he fell to his knees beside me. His hands pressed against my wound, desperate, frantic.
"Kiera—no, no, stay with me," he growled, voice raw, cracking. His eyes still that glowing amber. Haunted, furious, terrified.
My breath rattled. My strength bled out with the red soaking the snow. But I lifted my hand, fingers brushing his cheek, trembling. He caught it, holding on like he could tether me here.
I smiled, faint, broken. "Dax."
His throat bobbed, eyes burning. "Don't you—don't you dare leave me."
I squeezed his hand weakly. "It's okay."
"No. No, it's not." His voice broke, fierce and low. His gaze cut to the wound, back to me, a war raging in his expression. And then, something resolved. Something fierce and final.
He leaned close, his forehead pressing to mine, his breath shaking.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. His voice splintered. "I wanted this to be special. Never wanted it to be like this. But I can't lose you. Not now. Not ever."
I barely had time to understand. Barely had time to register the heat in his eyes, the feral determination written across his face.
Then his mouth pressed against my neck.
I felt it. The pause. The soft breath before the bite. The way his wolf surged forward, claiming what my body was too weak to fight.
For a heartbeat, I wanted to scream no. For another, I wanted to say yes.
And then his teeth punctured the skin at the juncture of my shoulder and throat.
Pain. Fire. Darkness.
My world shattered into black.
I know lots of you already picked up that de Silva was behind everything because of course he was, him and Lyra were the worst...