Chapter Twenty-Four: Ghosts of the Past
Rina awoke with the taste of ash on her tongue.
The fire flickered low in the hearth, but the face in the flames lingered, sharp as a knife — Thorne, her great-grandfather, a legend and a curse.
She wrapped her arms around herself, the weight of history heavy on her shoulders. Her mother's warnings echoed again: "Blood must sleep until it is called."
Kael's footsteps were quiet but certain behind her.
"You've been awake all night," he said softly.
She didn't turn. "I saw him. Thorne."
Kael's jaw tightened. "I've heard the stories. He was power and madness. A wolf who burned his own pack."
Rina's voice was cold, fierce. "And yet he's blood. My blood."
He stepped closer. "That's what scares me."
She met his gaze, fire in her eyes. "You think my blood will make me a monster."
"No," Kael said. "I fear what you'll do to protect the pack. What you'll do to me."
Rina's breath hitched. "I will never hurt you."
Kael swallowed hard. "I want to believe that."
The next day, the pack gathered beneath the ancient oaks.
Rina stood before them, her flame burning bright.
"I am not my past," she declared. "Thorne was a ghost — but I am here. Alive. And I will protect this pack, even if it means fighting the darkness in my own blood."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
Kael stepped forward, voice steady. "We stand with her. Because she is the Alpha this pack needs."
The pack howled — a chorus of unity and defiance.
But in the shadows beyond the trees, a figure watched — silent, waiting.
And the war for Blackridge had only just begun.