Chapter 9 Blood in the Grove

Kalen's

The scent of blood hit him before the voice did.

Sharp. Metallic. Tainted with ash.

Kalen turned, body tensing, even as his instincts screamed that Elara was still inside the Grove, locked in whatever the witches had done to her. But he knew that voice. Knew it in the way prey knows the scent of fire before it burns.

"Rivan," he growled, the name of a blade on his tongue.

The trees behind him rustled like breath, and then a figure stepped through the mist. Tall. Cloaked in dark furs. Armor that shimmered like oil in moonlight. Pale eyes that saw everything, and cared for nothing.

Alpha Rivan Thorne. His uncle. The wolf who murdered his father.

"You always did get lost chasing ghosts," Rivan said, stepping into the circle of standing stones like he owned it.

"You shouldn't be here."

"I walk where I please," Rivan said casually. "Especially when my blood runs wild and unclaimed in the north." His eye swept toward the Grove's edge. "The girl in there, isn't she?"

Kalen didn't answer.

Rivan smiled. "So it's true. The curse chose a vessel."

"You don't know what am talking about."

"Oh!, but I do," he said softly. "I know exactly what she is. And what you are. A failed Alpha clinging to a mate bond like a drowning man to driftwood."

"Say her name again," Kalen warned, "and I'll rip your throat out."

Rivan chuckled. "There's the fire. Just like your father, all growl and glory. Tell me, did the girl weep when she saw the beast in you?"

Kalen's hands curled into fists.

"Where are the others?" he asked. "You never come alone."

"I don't need to," Rivan replied. "You're weak, Kalen. You've always been weak. And now, the curse has eaten the last of your strength. I can smell it."

Kalen could feel the heat building in his veins, and the curse rising, pulsing under his skin like it always did when danger loomed. It wanted out. It wanted blood.

"Leave," he said, voice tight.

But Rivan stepped forward instead. "She doesn't know, does she? What you did. Why did your pack burn? Why did the Moon turn her face from you?"

"I know what I did," Kalen snapped.

Rivan's smile turned razor-sharp. "Good. Then you'll understand why she can't survive this. You bonded with her. Marked her. Do you even know what that means? Do you even realize what she's becoming?"

"She's stronger than you'll ever understand."

"She's unstable," Rivan said coldly. "A weapon forged in ignorance. And now, every Alpha in the Wild North will want her head." He paused. "Unless I take it first."

That was the moment Kalen stopped thinking.

He moved.

Faster than breath.

The first punch broke a bone. The second tore skin. They collide like wolfs born of thunder, blood claws slashing, teeth snapping. Rivan twisted, elbowed him in the ribs, and sent Kalen crashing into one of the standing stones.

Kalen coughed, blood spraying his lips.

The curse howled inside him.

Let go, it whispered. Let me burn him.

"No," he growled aloud.

Rivan approached, face bloodied but grinning. "Still fighting it? Pathetic."

He raised his hand and dark flame flickered to life in his palm.

Blood magic.

Kalen's heart stuttered.

"You killed our pack with that filth," he spat. "You're no Alpha."

"I'm what this world needs," Rivan said. "Order. Power. Not some cursed heir bonded to a half-breed with moonblood."

He hurled the flame.

Kalen dodged, barely.

The stone behind him cracked and screamed.

Suddenly, the air shifted.

The moon pulsed.

And from the Grove, a new light surged.

Blinding. White-gold. Radiant.

Rivan turned sharply.

The Grove trembled.

And Elara stepped out.

But she was no longer the same girl.

Her hair floated in the air like silk in water. Her eyes were glowing silver. Her skin shimmered faintly, like frost and fire. And behind her wreathed in mist. shimmered a translucent form of a great white wolf.

Not Kalen's.

Hers.

"Step away from him," Elara said.

Rivan hesitated.

Then laughed. "Oh, sweet child. You don't even know how to use that power."

Elara raised her hand.

Light burst from her palm, and struck him full in the chest.

Rivan screamed as the spell sent him flying backwards, crashing through two stones and slamming into the ground with a sickening thud.

The Grove fell silent.

Kalen stared at her, chest heaving.

"Elara..."

She turned to him.

And smiled.

"I remember now," she said. "My mother's voice. The Moon's gift. The truth."

"What did they show you?"

Elara's smile faded. "They showed me the end."

Kalen stiffened. "The end of what?"

She looked toward the horizon, eyes narrowing.

"Of everything."

Darkness surrounded me, thick as smoke and cold as death.

I wasn't floating. I wasn't falling. I was nowhere.

But I wasn't alone.

Whispers filled the void, ancient voices calling my name, some with love, others with hate.

Then I heard his voice.

Kalen.

It cut through the dark like fire. Desperate. Unbreaking.

"Come back to me," he said. "Elara, don't you dare let go."

Something inside me cracked. The beast that had taken hold twisted and snarled, trying to bury his voice.

But I remembered.

His touch. His eyes. The way he looked at me like I wasn't cursed but chosen.

With everything I had left, I reached for him.

A spark. A heartbeat.

Then light exploded behind my eyes.

He gasped, air slamming back into my lungs.

Kalen was kneeling over. The blood on his hands, fear in his eyes.

"Elara," he choked. "You died."

"I came back," I whispered, voice hoarse. "For you."

He pulled me into his arms, but something was wrong.

The Temple was too quiet.

The ground too still.

I sat up, and that's when I saw it.

Ashen stood in the doorway... holding Mira's lifeless body.

Kalen caught my breathless body, just as Ashen stepped in, Mira's blood on his hands.

From the shadows, a second figure stepped beside Rivan's fallen body, taller, cloaked in bone and shadow, wearing a crown made of wolf teeth.

And with a voice like thunder, he said:

"The Devourer has returned."