The ground trembled as the Council's vanguard advanced—wolves draped in obsidian armor, their auras crackling with suppressed magic. At their head rode the Seer, her silver eyes unblinking, her voice a cold whisper that echoed across the clearing.
"Return the girl," she said, "and we may spare the rest of you."
Raine stepped forward before either Xavier or Ezekiel could move. Her Trial Mark flared with both shadow and light, a symbol of the forbidden and the divine.
"No."
The Seer tilted her head, amused. "You speak like a queen, but you're nothing but a mistake. An unsealed bloodline. You shouldn't even exist."
Xavier snarled. Ezekiel's eyes darkened.
"I'm not a mistake," Raine said, voice ringing through the air. "I'm your reckoning."
And with that, the battle began.
Xavier shifted first, fur exploding across his skin as bones cracked and elongated. His wolf form was massive—midnight black with streaks of silver—and he launched himself into the fray with a roar that shattered branches.
He met the Council warriors head-on, claws raking through steel and spellfire. They tried to surround him, but he fought like a storm, years of Alpha training turning him into a weapon of pure will.
Raine's heart clenched watching him.
But she couldn't be still.
Ezekiel stepped beside her, holding out the moonsteel daggers. "It's time," he said.
Raine grasped the weapons, and her Trial Mark surged. The light dagger pulsed in her right hand, the shadow one in her left. Her body moved before her mind could catch up—dancing between enemies, blades slicing through cursed armor like silk.
A warrior lunged at her with a cursed spear—Raine twisted, slicing through his shoulder and spinning to kick another in the ribs. Her body remembered movements she'd never learned.
Something ancient stirred inside her.
The Sovereign Wolf.
She felt her inner wolf rising—not just awakened, but furious.
Raine let go.
And shifted.
Her transformation was unlike Xavier's or Ezekiel's. White flames surrounded her as her bones shifted, fur erupting over glowing skin. Her wolf form stood taller than any other—white with silver markings spiraling down her legs, eyes glowing with dual light.
The battlefield paused.
Even the Seer took a step back.
Then Raine howled.
It wasn't a cry of fear or pain.
It was a call to war.
"You have awakened what should've stayed buried," the Seer hissed.
She raised both arms, and the sky cracked. Lightning, black as pitch, slammed into the ground. One bolt struck near Ezekiel, sending him flying.
Another arced toward Raine—but she raised her paw, and the silver ring she'd found flared. The lightning split in half, diverted by the ancient protection of her bloodline.
Raine leapt at the Seer.
They collided with magic and teeth, steel and flame. The Seer fought with precision, her eyes flashing with prophecy. But Raine fought with rage—for her mother, for her stolen past, for the wolves hunted in silence.
Blood spilled. Sparks flew.
But it was Raine who stood last.
The Seer was wounded, her crown cracked, her wolves in retreat.
"We're not finished," she snarled, vanishing in a whirl of frost.
Xavier staggered to Raine's side, blood running down his ribs. "You… you're not just powerful. You're something else."
"I know," she breathed.
Ezekiel limped over, his mouth curling into a grin. "That was a warning. The Council will come with their full force next time."
"Then we need allies," Raine said. "And time."
Xavier gave her a tired nod. "Then let's run—for now."
But even as they fled into the woods, Raine looked back once.
Because this time, she wasn't running out of fear.
She was preparing to conquer.