Chapter 5 The wolf beyond the pines

The deeper Maxine moved into the woods, the quieter the world became.

No birds.

No wind.

Just snow, breath, and silence.

She should have turned back when the first sigil appeared on a tree-an ancient mark of the Lupine Council, scratched deep and bleeding with silver ash. Wolves used these runes to mark sacred ground. Trespassers were warned only once.

Maxine kept walking.

Her feet moved on instinct, like the forest wanted her there. Like it remembered her.

Or feared her.

The mist thickened as she crossed into the forbidden grove-where even vampires dared not tread. And that's when she saw it:

A wolf.

Silver as moonlight, standing tall on a ridge above her. Eyes locked with hers. Steady. Watching. Waiting.

Maxine froze, her breath catching.

The wolf tilted its head, and for a moment-just one-it felt like recognition.

Before she could speak, another figure stepped from the shadows behind it. A boy. Older than her by a year, maybe two. His hair was dark, his jaw sharp, and his body lean but dangerous, like a blade hidden in silk.

He looked nothing like Aurel.

He looked like war.

"You shouldn't be here," he said, voice rough with power.

Maxine straightened. "I came to find someone."

He stepped closer. "Aurel. The blood prince."

Her fists clenched. "You know him?"

The boy smirked. "I know he crossed the line. I know he met with the elders. I know he spoke your name."

Maxine's stomach dropped. "What did he say?"

The wolf beside him growled low.

"He said you were born of all three bloods. A creature of magic, shadow, and fang. A mistake."

Her voice cracked with heat. "I'm not a mistake."

"No," the boy said quietly. "You're a threat."

He turned away as if to leave, but before he did, he added, "Your name is spreading, girl. Through the covens, the dens, the courts. They all want you for different reasons. But only one thing's certain-none of them want you alive."

Maxine stared at his retreating figure, her heart thudding like war drums in her chest.

She hadn't meant to start a war.

But maybe... the war had been waiting for her all along.