Chapter 26 - Caleb
The closer we get to Wraith Peak, the worse the rage inside me becomes.
When my bond with Lila snapped tight before flickering to nothing, it left something cold and hollow in me that I still haven’t managed to shake, even if her presence on the other end has slowly returned.
It isn’t the same beating heart it normally is, but it’s enough to let me know she’s still alive.
Still, I run harder than I ever have before while the others follow, trying to keep pace. Even if I should, for security’s sake, I don’t slow down. I can’t, not until I know they’re safe.
But even as I move, the same words repeat in my head over and over again.
Too late, too late…
I refuse to believe it.
They might’ve taken them, but that doesn’t mean this is over. Far from it.
As we breach the northern border and push into Wraith Peak, taking down any wolves we come across, something strikes through me, both blinding and so strong that I nearly falter. The scent of blood and magic hits my senses through the bond, but I don’t have the time to dwell on it.
I can’t care what that means, even if I should.
All I care about is finding them breathing. Safe.
The further we go, the stronger Lila’s scent becomes, and that’s enough hope to make me surge forward.
Eventually, an old barn comes into view, but the state of it makes me slow my pace until I’m gradually striding closer.
Just up ahead, several bodies litter the dirt and torn-up grass as one side of the building is blown out. Rock and wood beams are cracked everywhere, as if a tornado had ripped through the area, but everything else is untouched.
Maybe it wasn’t a storm at all, but a force to be reckoned with nonetheless.
And that’s when I see them. Two figures emerge from the devastation, hand in hand, as they navigate around the building’s fragments.
As they come out, I see Lila carrying Astrid, face tucked against her neck. Both are breathing, and from what I can tell, neither of them is harmed.
My heart nearly stops altogether.
Then I’m moving, shifting back just before I reach them. Arms out, I grab Lila’s shoulders, half afraid she’s a fragment of my imagination.
“Lila,” I rasp, voice raw and completely wrecked. I don’t even care about the gravel digging into the soles of my feet. Not when they’re right here, right in front of me. I glance between their pale faces, taking them in. “What happened? Did they—”
“We’re okay,” Lila manages, voice trembling despite how she fights to steady it. “We… handled it.”
Despite pulling in a deep breath, it doesn’t feel like there’s any oxygen in my lungs yet.
Cupping her face, I look her over like it’s the first time, heart squeezing with everything left to say. Everything I should’ve said before.
“Tell me.”
She swallows hard, leaning into my touch just enough to let me know she needs this just as much. “We woke up in the cellar. The room was surrounded, and we were bound, but nobody did or said anything. They were just waiting, but I don’t know what for.”
My jaw tightens, as it only leaves me with more questions.
“What about the bodies?”
Lila hesitates, but she doesn’t lie. Instead, she takes a breath and gently smooths Astrid’s hair. “I lifted my suppression on her powers… and I channeled it. We took them down together.”
Magic. That was what I sensed.
Looking over the wreckage again, disbelief scatters through me.
Astrid did this. Tiny, terrified Astrid. My girl.
A strange, indescribable feeling presses against my chest, but it isn’t fear, and not just awe. It’s something that tangles up inside me, leaving me not knowing what to make of it.
Lila looks away, as if bracing for anger. But all I feel is a deep-seated realization.
All this time, Lila was never the fragile, broken thing everyone has spent years repeating. She ached and shrank, but she was never weak. Never helpless.
She was merely surviving and hiding power that I never would’ve understood.
And knowing Astrid is my child… that she possesses the kind of power capable of causing this kind of destruction…
It stirs an odd sort of pride in me, even if I shouldn’t let it. Even if a voice in the back of my head is reminding me to cast it out. To see magic as a dark, dangerous thing.
“You kept her safe despite it all,” I murmur, gently brushing my fingers down Lila’s arm. “Both of you did this.”
Her gaze meets mine, still uncertain. “We didn’t have a choice.”
“You saved yourselves, and you did it before I could even get to you.”
I half expect Lila to share in that pride with me, but more than anything, she looks shaken and exhausted.
Right now, I want to tell her she did everything right and that I’m proud of her, but the words get stuck in my throat.
And before I can speak, something in the clearing moves. The energy ripples with a new presence.
Then, a low growl from across the space confirms it, raising the hair on the back of my neck.
It isn’t just the sound of an angry wolf, but the malice of an Alpha.
Turning sharply, my gaze zeroes in on him. Dawson Voss.
His longer black hair moves in the low breeze as he slowly approaches, eyes dark and drinking in the scene around him with contempt. His presence alone is enough to make the temperature drop by several degrees.
He’s bigger than most, upper body scarred, yet representing all the feats he has under his belt. Despite his age, his status keeps him looking relatively young and as intimidating as he was in his prime.
Dawson doesn’t show his face much on the island so long as he can help it, but when he does, it’s chilling. It’s a bitter reminder of why he stays in the shadows.
Behind him, his son, Hayes, lingers with more numbers flanking him. They emerge like an army, unwilling to let us go now that we’ve trespassed.
As they approach, my guys close in, forming a defensive line around Lila and Astrid.
Dawson stops a few feet away, still ahead of the others, while he stands in complete, drawn-out silence. His eyes flick to Lila as she holds Astrid, then back to me.
He knows. Of course he does.
“I didn’t expect that kind of explosive reaction from our guests, but it was impressive. Fortunate, too,” Dawson says, lips pulling into an unsettling grin. “I prefer prey that fights back.”
Lila stiffens, and without hesitation, I step forward, putting myself between him, the girls, and the rest of the pack.
“Don’t even look at her.”
He tilts his head just enough to be condescending, and he chuckles. “Ah, yes… the new Alpha. By all standards, you’re rather green. It’s bold of you to sic your pack on mine, given how young your claim is. They must have faith in your leadership… or they’re naive to trust you.”
“It’s called leading through loyalty and mutual respect, not fear and threats,” I return, bristling at the way he talks down to me. “I’ve earned their trust, and I’ve earned my place. Don’t be surprised when I show you why.”
His grin lingers, but a hint of a challenge flickers in his eyes.
“I can already see you’re willing to go the extra mile to get what you want, but you haven’t been doing this as long as I have.
You’ll tire. You’ll lose interest. You and the other packs on this island don’t know what it means to truly fight.
To use any means necessary to secure a legacy. ”
“We have an order. You function on chaos and anarchy. Your pack pushes too far for your own good, and that’s exactly why you’re exiled so far north.”
At this, Dawson just laughs. “Anarchy? Perhaps. But we aren’t afraid of the unknown, unlike you whelps. We don’t squirm at the sight of magic. Real, undeniable magic.”
“That’s why you’ve been after them,” I mutter, gaze sharp on him. “For their magic.”
“Mostly for the child’s abilities, but yes. And it seems I was right to.”
Something brutal and ugly rears inside me, and my words come out growled. “She isn’t yours to take. Neither of them is.”
“I beg to differ,” he counters, letting that amusement of his drop into something more sinister.
“I’m challenging you for them both, right here, right now.
If you’re half the Alpha you claim to be, then prove it, weakling.
As of right now, they’re Wraith Peak’s property.
You can either hand them over, or I’ll take them by force. ”
My reaction is immediate as my inner wolf snarls violently from within me. No fucking way.
The others tense behind me, still holding their wolf forms aside from Lila and Astrid, but none of them protest. They know what I need to do.
“You can try,” I snap back, moments away from seeing nothing but red.
Lila’s worry is immediate through the bond, but I brush back against it in return, silently reassuring her that this isn’t something I can just walk away from. That so long as I breathe, nothing will happen to them.
I already lost them once, and I’ll be damned if I let it happen again.
Dawson’s grin sharpens into something lethal. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Then, he lunges, and I meet him halfway, body already morphing and taking shape right before we collide in a tangle of claws and teeth.
All the while, my fury expands, prepared to do whatever it takes.
He will not take them. He will not win.