27
The coalition forces spread across the valley like a living sea of steel and shadow, their banners streaming in the wind that carried the scent of approaching storm. Seven major packs, unified in their fear of what I represented, had brought their finest warriors to end the Eclipse Covenant bloodline once and for all.
From the compound walls, I could see their formation not the chaotic mob I had hoped for, but disciplined battle lines that spoke of careful coordination. These weren't frightened wolves acting on impulse. They were seasoned fighters who had planned this assault down to the smallest detail.
"Ironmaw holds the center," Marcus reported, his spyglass trained on the enemy positions. "Shadowmere and Frostclaw on the flanks. The others are spread in support formations."
"Battle-mages?" I asked, though I could already sense them through my awakened abilities dozens of wolves trained in combat magic, their power focused and ready.
"At least fifty, possibly more. They're masking their signatures, but the concentration of magical energy is... significant."
Significant enough to level the entire compound if properly coordinated. Even with Eclipse Covenant power flowing through me, I wasn't certain I could counter that much focused magical force.
"Our numbers?" Darius asked from beside me.
"Two hundred Nightshade warriors, plus the Bloodfang defectors who chose to stay." Agatha's voice was grim. "Against roughly two thousand coalition forces."
Ten to one odds, just as Darius had estimated. In any conventional battle, those numbers would mean certain annihilation.
But this wouldn't be a conventional battle.
"They're moving," Elena observed from her position near the main gate. "Advance scouts, testing our defensive positions."
I watched the enemy probes approach, small groups of warriors moving with careful precision. They weren't trying to breach our defenses yet they were mapping them, looking for weaknesses to exploit in the main assault.
"Let them look," I said quietly. "They won't find what they're expecting."
The Eclipse Covenant armor hummed against my skin, its ancient power resonating with the awakened channels Moira had carved. But more than that, I could feel every wolf in the compound their heartbeats synchronizing with mine, their strength flowing into shared reserves that multiplied rather than divided.
This was what the original Covenant had never fully understood. They had focused on individual power, on standing apart from ordinary wolves. But true strength came from connection, from bonds that enhanced everyone rather than elevating one.
A horn blast echoed across the valley as the coalition forces began their advance. Not a charge they were too disciplined for that but a methodical approach that would bring overwhelming force to bear on our weakest points.
"Here they come," Darius said unnecessarily.
I placed my hand on his shoulder, feeling the connection between us flare with silver light. Through him, I reached every Nightshade warrior, every Bloodfang defector who had chosen to stand with us, every wolf willing to fight for something greater than fear.
Power flowed outward like a tide, not overwhelming or controlling, but offering. Each warrior could choose how much enhancement to accept, how much of themselves to share with the collective strength.
The response was immediate and overwhelming. Every wolf on our walls blazed with silver radiance as they accepted the connection, their abilities enhanced beyond anything they had ever experienced.
"By the goddess," Agatha breathed, staring down at her hands as they glowed with supernatural light. "What have you done to us?"
"I've shown you what we could always have been," I replied. "If we choose to stand together."
The coalition forces struck our outer defenses like a tsunami of steel and fang. But instead of the quick breakthrough they expected, they met resistance that defied all tactical logic. Our warriors moved with impossible coordination, their enhanced strength turning defensive positions into impregnable fortresses.
Magical bombardments that should have shattered stone were absorbed and redirected, turned into healing energy that flowed through our ranks. Assault teams that broke through one section found themselves facing defenders who had materialized from thin air, moving faster than thought.
"Impossible," I heard one of the coalition battle-mages shout. "They're sharing power somehow! Individual enhancement on a pack-wide scale!"
They were right, of course. But understanding what I was doing and countering it were very different things.
The first assault wave shattered against our defenses like water against stone. The second fared little better, despite concentrated magical support. By the third attempt, I could see doubt creeping into the coalition ranks.
But their leaders weren't finished. Through my enhanced senses, I felt them regrouping, consolidating their magical resources for one overwhelming strike. If they couldn't break us with conventional tactics, they would simply obliterate the entire compound and everything in it.
"They're preparing something large," Moira observed, her healer's instincts picking up the building magical pressure. "Coordinated casting on a scale I've never seen before."
I could feel it too fifty battle-mages weaving their power together into something that would dwarf even the magical collision that had defeated Kael. This wouldn't be targeted destruction; it would be absolute annihilation.
"Can you counter it?" Darius asked.
I considered the question honestly. The Eclipse Covenant armor was channeling vast amounts of power, and every wolf in the compound was contributing their strength to our shared reserves. But what the coalition was building felt like the wrath of gods made manifest.
"I don't know," I admitted. "But I'm going to try."
I vaulted over the wall, landing in the open ground between the two forces just as I had done when facing Kael. But this time, I wasn't alone. Silver light blazed from every Nightshade warrior as they followed me over the walls, their enhanced abilities turning them into legends made flesh.
The coalition forces fell back instinctively, their confidence shaken by the sight of wolves who blazed like captured starlight. But their battle-mages continued their casting, the air itself beginning to warp under the pressure of accumulated power.
"Stand down!" I called across the battlefield, my voice carrying supernatural harmonics that made the very mountains tremble. "This doesn't have to end in slaughter!"
"The Eclipse Covenant must not be allowed to rise again!" The response came from the coalition's center, where a wolf in elaborate ceremonial armor stood surrounded by magical advisors. "Your bloodline was exterminated once for good reason!"
"Because you feared what you couldn't control," I shot back. "Because you preferred weakness to strength, division to unity!"
The magical pressure peaked, reality itself beginning to fray at the edges as fifty battle-mages prepared to unleash concentrated destruction. In a few seconds, everything I cared about would be reduced to ash and memory.
But I had one card left to play.
Instead of trying to counter their magic directly, I reached out through every connection I had forged. Not just to the Nightshade wolves, or the Bloodfang defectors, but to every living thing within range. The trees, the grass, the very stones of the mountain all of it connected by forces older than civilization.
And through those connections, I offered a choice.
The coalition's spell discharged like the birth of a new star, raw destruction given form and purpose. But instead of obliterating everything in its path, it struck something none of them had expected.
A barrier made not of magic, but of will. The combined determination of every living thing for miles around, united in the simple desire to survive.
The magical collision lit up the sky like a second dawn, visible for hundreds of miles in every direction. When the light finally faded, both armies stood in stunned silence.
The compound was intact. Every wolf on both sides remained standing, protected by forces they couldn't begin to understand.
"How?" the coalition leader breathed.
"By remembering what we all are," I replied, silver fire dying to a gentle glow around my hands. "Wolves. Pack animals. Stronger together than we could ever be apart."
I looked around at the assembled armies, seeing fear giving way to wonder, hostility transforming into curiosity.
"The Eclipse Covenant isn't returning to rule over you," I continued. "It's returning to serve. To protect. To unite what was always meant to be one."
The silence stretched for long moments. Then, one by one, weapons began dropping to the ground as coalition warriors made their choice.
They had come to destroy the return of legendary power.
Instead, they had discovered what that power was truly meant for