Chapter Twenty One!
C
Chapter Twenty–One!!
The war drums hadn’t started yet, but I could feel their echo beneath my skin.
Stormclaw was stirring. Not with fear, but with purpose. Word of the Stormborn was spreading like wildfire. Packs who once turned their backs now whispered our name with caution. Some with envy. A few with hope. And it was hope I needed to feed.”
I stood in the map room, fingers tracing the cracked surface of a weathered table where ancient alliances had once been forged. Now, I stood to create new ones–not of convenience, but of conviction.
“Vivienne,” I called.
She stepped forward from the shadowed archway, her eyes sharp as ever, her bow strapped to her back.
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“I want you to ride east. Seek the Eldergrove wolves. I know they keep to themselves, but their knowledge runs deeper than most. If there’s unrest stirring beyond our borders, they’ll know.”
She nodded once. “And if they deny me?”
“Then tell them Selene Stormborn is not asking. She’s offering a future.”
A flicker of pride touched her lips as she turned and left. One by one, I dispatched others–messengers, warriors, watchers. The Stormborn would not wait for war to knock on our gates. We’d meet it head–on.”
By nightfall, I was alone again.
Ayla slept in her crib, her tiny chest rising flour and falling in rhythm with a lullaby Garrick used to hum to me. Her dreams were peaceful. Mine Mine were not.
That night, the dreams returned.”
Not just hazy fragments or glimpses of danger–this time, he stood there, clear as moonlight. The warrior from my visions. His eyes, dark and watching, were no longer distant shadows. He looked at me like he knew me. Like he’d been waiting.
“Selene,” he said. “It’s time.”
I woke with a gasp, sweat slicking my back, my heart pounding. And yet, I felt no fear. Just a pull.
A summons.
The following dawn, I took only one guard and rode west, following the old trail through the Widow’s Pass. The place where dreams bled into waking.
We reached the clearing by twilight.
He was already there.
He stepped out from behind the trees like a shadow peeled from the night. Tall. Dressed in black leathers that bore no sigil. He wasn’t a rogue–not in the way the word meant chaos or madness. No, there was order in him. Power leashed with purpose.
“Keiran,” I said. I didn’t know how I knew his name. I just did.
He inclined his head. “Selene. You came.“>
“You called.“{
He studied me, and in his silence, I felt something stir. Recognition. Like two puzzle pieces finally finding each other after years of being misplaced.
“You’re building something,” he said, not a question. “Something the old packs fear”
“I’m building what they should have protected long ago,” I replied. “The cast out. The forgotten. The ones they deemed unworthy.“}
A nod. “Then our causes align. I lead a group beyond the eastern spine–wolves, yes, but also those who lost everything to Nightfang. We’ve kept to ourselves until now.”
“Why now?”
His jaw tensed. “Because the darkness that once lived in Nightfang isn’t dead. It’s scattered. Rooting itself elsewhere. Feeding off fear. And they want your daughter.”
My blood chilled. “Ayla is protected.”
“She’s marked, Selene. I felt it in the dream realm. She’s not just your legacy–she’s a beacon. To them, that makes her a weapon or a threat.”%
I stepped closer. “And to you?”
Keiran’s gaze softened slightly. “To me? She’s proof that the Moon still watches. That balance can be restored.“}
Silence stretched between us, thick with what neither of us dared voice. But it wasn’t time for softness. Not yet.”
“What do you propose?” I asked.”
“An alliance. Your Stormborn and my Watchers. We train together. We share knowledge, scouts, healers. And when the time comes–we strike together.“I
“And if the old packs refuse us?“}
“Then we remind them who rebuilt what they broke.“}
I extended my hand. “Swear it then. An oath not of blood, but of fire. Equal flames. Shared purpose.”
Keiran grasped my wrist, his grip firm.10
1126 AME
Keiran grasped my wrist, his grip firm.
“I swear it “A
I nodded once, something solid clicking into place inside me. It wasn’t love. Not yet. But it was trust. A seed planted %
By the time I returned to Stormclaw, the stars had begun to fall across the sky like embers.
Garrick met me at the gates. “Good news?”
Hooked back once before the gates shut behind me.
“Allies,” I said “In the shadows, but loyal. And ready”
He talked a brow. “And this Keiran?“%
I smirked. “He’s a mystery I intend to solve later. For now, we have work to do “M
And as I walked through the courtyard, past warriors who sharpened blades not for show but survival, I felt the winds shift
The war was coming
But this time, we wouldn’t be alone
