Chapter 213

Damon

The snow came down in heavy, uneven sheets, swirling in circles around the valley. A cold snap heralded spring wasn’t ready to arrive.

Even for the north, this was no ordinary storm. Something that felt very wrong.

I moved through the village, helping where I could. Windows were sealed with cloth in the cracks, livestock brought inside. The people here were hardy, used to winter’s teeth.

But none of them could smell what I did. Rot and blood and steel. The scent cut through the storm. It wasn’t near, but it wasn’t far, either.

Zane stirred, pacing restlessly. You smell it.

Rogues, I answered silently.

No, he growled, his voice deeper than usual. They’re marked.

I stopped in the center of the square, letting the wind tear across my face. Beneath the clean scent of snow, there it was again. Faint but undeniable. Burnt metal, and the acrid sting of alchemical ink.

Asher’s command mark.

My pulse quickened. The marks were outlawed years ago; the scars were burned into skin to bind obedience. Wolves branded like cattle, turned feral for the sake of another’s ambition.

You think he sent them? Zane asked, though he already knew the answer.

“He’s too much of a coward to face me himself,” I muttered aloud. “But he’ll send his mutts.”

The storm thickened, swallowing the path beyond the village. Visibility dropped to barely a few feet.

I glanced toward the apothecary window and caught the faintest movement inside. Even through the haze, I could feel Lila. For a moment, it steadied me.

Then a new scent hit me moving fast through the trees. My body tensed. There.

Zane snarled, muscles tightening under my skin. Not alone.

I ran and crouched near the edge of the tree line, brushing snow aside with my gloved hand. Tracks. Fresh ones. The stride was too long for a wild wolf, these were werewolf tracks.

They were flanking. Moving in a formation.

“Damn it.” I straightened, scanning the trees. Shapes moved in the whiteout, blurred at first, then clearer as they crept closer. Half a dozen at least. Maybe more.

Zane’s growl rolled through me, my heartbeat racing. They’re coming for her.

I didn’t need to ask how he knew. Marked ones didn’t strike at random. They were sent for a purpose.

I turned back toward the village, already moving. My boots crunched through the snow, speed building with each step. Wind tore at my coat, snow blinding my vision, but I didn’t slow. The first howl broke across the square.

Villagers froze, startled heads turning toward the sound. Then a second howl came, closer.

“Inside!” I shouted. “Get everyone inside!”

They didn’t question me, the power in my command was hard to resist. Doors slammed. Lanterns snuffed out. I reached the center of the square just as the world went still, the quiet before a blood storm.

Zane surged forward, and I didn’t fight him.

Shift, he growled.

My bones ached with the demand, skin prickling as energy built under it, begging to break through. The snow hissed around me as the air charged with power.

The first Rogue lunged from the tree line, a massive, scarred wolf with eyes filmed white, the brand of Asher’s command burned deep into its chest. Its snarl was pain and rage twisted together.

Behind it, more figures moved. Too many to count. And my last thread of restraint snapped.

I tore off my coat, muscles tightening, the shift ripping through me mid-stride. Bones and muscles stretched, the air cracking with energy as Zane erupted fully to the surface.

We hit the snow running.

The world sharpened. The marked Rogues were fast, but I was faster. The wind roared in my ears, the storm wild around me like an extension of my rage.

No mercy, Zane snarled.

None, I answered.

The first kill came easy. The second, easier still. But through it all, one thought echoed in the back of my mind, She’ll see us like this.

There was no hiding what I was. And when the villagers saw me – truly saw me in this form – there would be no hiding who Lila was, either.

The world narrowed into white and red. Zane and I were one, tearing through the rogues like wildfire, our shared body faster and stronger than any other. Every strike was precise, every kill brutal.

The scent of Asher’s corruption was heavy enough to choke the air.

Tear it out, Zane snarled. Leave nothing that carries his stink.

We tore through another wolf; the crunch of bones lost beneath the roar of the storm. Villagers screamed somewhere behind us, doors slamming shut. They weren’t used to seeing death like this, claws flashing bright against the dark.

Lightning cracked above the valley, illuminating the square. I turned just in time to see a Rogue slam into a wooden fence, splinters flying. Another lunged for a cluster of villagers near the well, females and children too slow to have taken cover.

Zane didn’t think. He moved. We hit the Rogue midair, teeth closing around its throat. The body fell limp at our paws, the fight gone from it instantly.

And that’s when the villagers saw me.

The storm light caught on my fur, golden streaked with shadows, massive and terrible. The power of the Lycan King pulsing around me.

Recognition swept through the villagers. A few fell to their knees. Others just stared, mouths open, horror and awe tangled together.

They see us, Zane said. They know who we are.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. I hadn’t meant to reveal myself. Not here, not now. But there was no other way, this village didn’t have a warrior force.

A shout came from the apothecary. “Damon, behind you!”

Lila’s voice. I slashed out behind me and took down another Rogue.

I turned toward Lila, and for a moment, the storm went still. She stood in the doorway, hair whipping around her face, eyes wide and silver bright. The energy radiating off her was unmistakable, divine and untamed. The healer, the Luna, the female I’d driven away.

Every villager who hadn’t recognized me at first followed my gaze to settle on her as realization dawned: if I was the King, she could be only one thing. Their lost Luna, alive.

Before she could speak, a Rogue broke from the tree line faster than the others. It darted toward her, a blur of dark fur and fury. She didn’t have time to move.

Zane roared. We leapt, slamming into the creature mid-charge. My claws sank deep, tearing it apart before it could touch her. Its blood spattered across the snow, staining the steps of her apothecary red.

I smelled no fear from Lila and it made me furious to realize she had dealt with Roues enough times to overcome that fear.

The bond thrummed between us, alive again. For a second, I could almost feel her hand against my fur, the warmth of it cutting through the cold.

Then Ronan’s familiar howl filled the air.

He burst into the square with half a dozen wolves at his back, one of the midwives I’d seen was among them in human form, bow drawn.

The sight of him sent a jolt through me. Exiled, but alive.

Brother, Zane rumbled, relief softening the edge of his rage.

Ronan shifted mid-step, landing beside me in wolf form. There’s another wave on the way, he said through a mind-link, panting.

Despite everything, I almost smiled.

We fought side by side, the way we used to: wordless, efficient, perfectly matched. Rogues fell one after another.

Minutes stretched into eternity, then the last body hit the snow, twitching once before going still.

The storm began to ease, wind dying down enough to see the aftermath. I stood at the center of it, chest heaving, surrounded by the dead. The villagers stared from behind their windows, wide-eyed.

Reluctantly, I shifted back. The pain was brief, and when I straightened, snow clung to my skin and hair, streaked with red.

Lila stepped forward hesitantly, her lips parting as if to speak, but no words came. Her eyes met mine, silver and gold clashing in the dim light. There was no more pretending, no more hiding who we were.

The King and his Luna stood in the open, the storm between them finally broken.

Ronan shifted and wiped his mouth clean, nodding once toward me. “You drew them here,” he said quietly. “He’ll send more.”

“I know.” My voice was low.

Lila’s gaze didn’t waver. “You should go.”

The wind shifted, carrying Asher’s scent faintly, and I knew I couldn’t leave her now.