Chapter 3- Will You Come With Us?
Sahiyra POV
I pushed open the thick curtain of woven vines covering the entrance to my den and motioned for Kylen and Jaxen to follow. They hesitated, just a second, like they still couldn’t believe this place actually existed.
Stone walls curved into the earth, warm and solid, covered in moss and roots that hung like lace from the ceiling. Crystals lined the crevices, glowing faintly from years of collecting moonlight. In one corner, a bed of soft furs and feathered blankets. In another, jars of dried herbs and bundles of spices I’d gathered over time.
The firepit in the center was shallow, ringed with carved bone and obsidian. I crouched beside it, struck flint, and watched the flames curl upward like they recognized me.
“Sit,” I told them. “I’ll make something.”
Kylen sat slowly, running a hand over a carved seat that had once been part of a tree root. Jaxen didn’t sit, he crouched near the wall, watching me like I might vanish if he blinked.
I started slicing the fresh rabbit I’d caught earlier, adding strips of fish I’d smoked two days ago. Tossed in wild onions, pepperberries, a pinch of sunroot powder, and a drizzle of the oil I pressed from forest nuts. The scent hit the air fast, earthy, sweet, spiced just enough to make mouths water.
“That smells… unreal,” Kylen muttered.
“Better than any army ration we’ve ever had,” Jaxen added, sniffing the air like a starving man.
I didn’t reply. I just stirred, focused, methodical. Let them feel it, the comfort, the rhythm, the quiet life they weren’t used to.
I served them in carved wooden bowls. No ceremony. No question. Just food and fire and silence.
Kylen took the first bite and groaned. “Fuck,” he muttered around a mouthful. “You’re serious with this?”
Jaxen didn’t say a word. He just ate like he couldn’t stop, pausing only to breathe and blink.
I sat across from them, legs crossed, watching quietly.
“Tell me about you,” I said.
Kylen glanced up. “You first.”
I shook my head. “You’re in my den, remember?”
Jaxen leaned back slightly, licking his fingers clean before he spoke.
“Jaxen,” he said. “Shadowhowl kin. Wolf shifter. Diremark level four.”
His eyes met mine, dark and steady. “I was raised in the Icebound North. Spent most of my life in the army. Commanded a regional defense unit by age twenty. I specialize in terrain combat, infiltration, and long range tracking.”
I nodded. “Makes sense. You move like a ghost.” That earned me the faintest curve of his mouth. Then Kylen spoke.
“Kylen. Lion shifter. Embermane pride. Also a level four Diremark.”
He didn’t say it with pride. Just… fact.
“I’m a field General. Lead bonded units, specialized in Mooncall containment and high level escort operations. I’ve fought ferals. Lost men. Almost went feral myself more than once.” His voice dropped on that last part, eyes flicking to mine like it meant something more now.
“We’ve both seen too much,” Jaxen added quietly. “Done too much. And this… place? You? It’s like stepping into another world.”
I let the silence stretch for a moment, then set my bowl down beside me and pulled my knees up to my chest.
“There’s not much to tell,” I said. “I was born in a forest village. My mother died when I was ten. A feral took her. I ran. I didn’t stop running until the wolves found me.”
They didn’t interrupt.
“They didn’t kill me,” I continued. “They fed me. Taught me. Protected me. I learned how to shift from them. I didn’t even know I wasn’t supposed to.”
Jaxen blinked, then looked at Kylen. “You’re serious. That’s… your whole story?”
I shrugged. “It’s not dramatic. But it’s mine.”
Kylen set his bowl aside and leaned forward, arms braced on his knees. “You don’t realize how important you are, do you?”
I frowned. “Important how?”
His eyes locked on mine, glowing faintly in the firelight.
“Sahriya… there hasn’t been a Myrren in over two hundred years. No female has ever shifted. No female has ever dropped ten Diremarks to their knees and then walked away like it was nothing.”
“I didn’t hurt anyone.”
“That’s what makes it worse,” Jaxen said softly. “You didn’t even try.”
Kylen studied me for a long moment, then said, “We’re going to have to take you back with us.”
I looked toward the fire. “I figured.”
“You’ll be protected,” he added. “Respected. Worshipped, probably. And studied.”
I winced at that.
“Not like a lab rat,” Jaxen said quickly. “Like… a miracle.”
I didn’t respond. The fire crackled. The wolves outside shifted in the brush, keeping their watch.
“You should come back with us,” Kylen said after a while. “You’re not safe out here. Not once word spreads.”
“I’ve been safe for nine years.”
“Because no one knew you existed,” Jaxen said. “That’s going to change.”
Kylen’s voice dropped lower. Gentler. “I think we might be fated.”
I blinked. “Fated?”
He looked at me like I’d just dropped a weapon in his lap and didn’t know what it was.
“Fated bonds,” he said. “When two souls recognize each other. When it’s not about power or rank or even choice. It just… is.”
I stared at him for a moment, then tilted my head. “That’s real?”
Jaxen’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You really don’t know.”
I shook my head. “No one told me the rules.”
Kylen exhaled slowly, eyes still locked on mine. “Then we’ll teach you.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
The fire had burned down to low embers. The wolves were gone, melted back into the trees like ghosts. Kylen and Jaxen hadn’t spoken in a while, but I felt them watching me.
They were waiting for something. Finally, Kylen stood and brushed off his hands. “We have to get back to camp.”
Jaxen nodded, already gathering his gear. He didn’t look happy about it.
“Are you coming with us?” Kylen asked, voice gentle. “You don’t have to decide everything tonight. But the others will need to see you.”
I didn’t answer right away. My eyes went to the doorway of my den, the place I’d lived, bled, grown. The silence outside was different now. Not tense, but expectant. Like the forest was holding its breath.
I stepped out into the night. The sky was cloudless. The air was sharp with pine and frost. Grath emerged from the treeline, his silver eyes reflecting the moonlight. He padded toward me silently, then sat at my feet.
I knelt in front of him and rested my hand between his ears.
"Should I go?" His mind brushed mine like wind through leaves. "You must."
"Why?"
"Because they’ve seen you, little one. And now the world will come looking."
I sighed. I already knew he was right.
"They’ll need you," he added. "And you… you need them too. You just don’t know it yet."
He rose, pressed his snout gently to my cheek, then turned and vanished into the trees without another sound.
When I stepped back into the den, Kylen was adjusting the straps on his chest harness and Jaxen was tucking blades into his belt.
“I’ll come with you,” I said.
Both men froze. Jaxen straightened. “You sure?”
I nodded once. “For now.”
Kylen studied me, his expression unreadable. “We’ll protect you. No matter what.”
“I don’t need protecting,” I said simply. “But I’ll take the company.”
The corner of his mouth twitched, like he was trying very hard not to smile.