Chapter 4 The Shadow In The Dark

The figure stepped into the pale glow from the dying embers of the hearth. Ember’s breath caught in her throat.

Not Damien. Not a soldier.

A stranger.

His eyes gleamed faint gold, the mark of a wolf. But his frame was lean, his movements cautious. He carried no torch, no blade. His clothes were travel-worn, streaked with dirt and blood.

“Who are you?” Ember hissed, her back pressing against the cold stone wall.

“Keep your voice down,” he whispered. His tone carried urgency, not threat. “If the guards hear me, you’ll lose the only chance you’ve got.”

Ember’s heart pounded. “Chance for what?”

“To get out of here.”

Her pulse stuttered. For a heartbeat, hope flared but she smothered it quickly. This could be another trick, another chain disguised as freedom.

She narrowed her eyes. “Why would I trust you?”

The stranger stepped closer, hands raised to show he carried no weapon. “Because Damien isn’t who you think he is. And neither is this fortress.”

Her blood ran cold at the sound of Damien’s name.

“What do you know about him?” she demanded.

The stranger’s lips curved into a grim smile. “Enough to know he didn’t buy you for revenge. He bought you to keep you alive.”

Ember’s breath caught. The words sliced through her anger like glass. “Alive? What are you talking about?”

But before he could answer, heavy boots thudded in the hall. The stranger froze, listening. His golden eyes darted to the door.

“Too late,” he muttered.

The lock rattled. Ember’s stomach twisted. Damien.

The stranger grabbed her wrist, urgent but not cruel. “Listen to me. Don’t fight him yet. Watch. Wait. The danger isn’t him, it’s what’s coming.”

The door swung open.

Damien filled the frame, torchlight spilling around him. His gaze swept the room and locked instantly onto the stranger.

In a blink, the calm Alpha was gone. His power surged like a storm breaking loose, his eyes burning silver, his teeth bared.

“Get away from her!”

The stranger released Ember’s wrist and raised his hands, but Damien lunged, shifting with terrifying speed. His claws flashed in the firelight as he slammed the intruder against the wall. The stones cracked with the force.

Ember cried out. “Stop!”

But Damien didn’t. His hand closed around the stranger’s throat, lifting him clear off the ground. The golden-eyed wolf choked, his feet kicking helplessly.

“Damien!” Ember shouted, rushing forward. “You’ll kill him!”

Damien’s head snapped toward her, eyes blazing. “That’s the idea.”

Something inside Ember snapped. She grabbed Damien’s arm, nails digging into his skin. “Let him go! If you kill him, you kill answers I need!”

For a moment, Damien’s power trembled, straining to tear the stranger apart. But Ember’s touch… her voice… it cut through the rage like water on fire. His jaw clenched. With a furious growl, he dropped the man.

The stranger crumpled, coughing violently, clutching his throat. Ember crouched beside him, torn between fear and fury.

Damien loomed above them, chest heaving, his power still crackling in the air. “Do you know who this is?”

Ember glared up at him. “No. But he knows something you’re hiding.”

The stranger’s voice was hoarse but steady. “She deserves to know, Alpha. If you keep her in the dark, you’ll lose her all over again.”

Damien’s eyes flashed dangerously. “You don’t speak her name.”

“Her life is already at risk,” the stranger rasped. “Or did you think the rogues circling your borders came by accident?”

Silence fell, heavy and sharp. Ember’s heart pounded so loudly she thought it would break her chest.

Damien’s gaze flicked to her, unreadable. Then back to the stranger. “Leave. Now. Before I decide to finish what I started.”

The stranger struggled to his feet. His eyes, those strange golden eyes, found Ember’s one last time. “Remember what I said. Watch and wait. The danger isn’t him.”

Then he slipped out, quick as shadow, disappearing down the hall before the guards could react.

The room trembled in his absence. Ember’s chest rose and fell in sharp bursts. Her wrists still tingled where the stranger had grabbed her.

Damien’s voice broke the silence, low and dangerous. “What did he say to you?”

Ember turned on him, fury blazing. “You tell me! Why is some stranger sneaking into your fortress, warning me about danger, if you’re supposedly protecting me?”

His jaw tightened, but his tone was flat. “He’s a liar.”

Her laugh was bitter, shaking. “Then why didn’t you deny what he said? Why didn’t you deny that I’m in danger?”

For once, Damien didn’t have a quick answer.

Ember stepped closer, her chest aching, her voice trembling between rage and desperation. “What are you hiding from me?”

Damien’s silver eyes burned, but beneath the fire was something else. Fear.

He stepped so close she could feel the heat of him. His voice dropped, raw and unguarded. “If I tell you the truth, Ember… you’ll hate me more than you already do.”

Her heart thudded painfully. She searched his face, desperate to see the man she once knew, the man who had broken her and yet still held her heart captive.

But all she saw was the ruthless Alpha who refused to let her go.

She tore her gaze away, backing toward the bed. “Then you’ll never have me back. Not as a mate. Not as anything.”

His jaw clenched, the weight of her words slamming into him. For a long moment, he didn’t move. Then, without a word, he turned and left, the door slamming shut behind him.

Ember sank onto the bed, her body trembling. Her thoughts raced, tangled knots of rage, fear, and longing. She hated it with every breath.

The stranger’s words echoed in her skull: The danger isn’t him.

So if the danger wasn’t Damien…

Then what was waiting in the shadows of this fortress?

Outside, a wolf’s howl split the night, sharp and mournful. Ember froze, her chest tightening. It didn’t sound like a patrol cry. It sounded like warning.

She crossed to the window, pressing against the bars. In the distance, beyond the fortress walls, movement rippled in the treeline. Shapes. Dozens of them. Eyes glinting like embers in the dark.

Her blood ran cold. Rogues. More than she’d ever seen in one place.

And they weren’t waiting for morning.

They were already here.