Chapter 4 The Girl Who Shouldn't Exist

The forest had gone silent again.

Not the peace of nature resting-but the hush before a scream.

Kael paced the perimeter, eyes scanning the shadows, body tense. "We can't stay here."

Alero sat on a blackened log, her fingers tight around the broken mirror shard. "Then leave."

He stopped. "You want me to?"

"No. I want to not need you." She met his eyes. "But apparently, I'm cursed with the opposite."

The air crackled between them.

Kael ran a hand through his ash-dusted hair. "Look, I didn't ask for this either. One day I'm trying to keep my pack from falling apart-next thing I know, I'm bleeding from a bite and seeing visions of a girl the council told me died as a child."

Alero looked up sharply. "What did you say?"

"The prophecy girl," he said. "That's what they called her. Born with two kinds of magic, but carrying something ancient. Something forbidden."

Her voice was cold. "They knew I was alive."

Kael nodded once. "They hid it."

She stood, the mirror shard falling from her fingers. "Why?"

"Because they were afraid of what you'd become." His tone softened. "Of what you're becoming now."

She backed away from him.

"Don't," she said. "Don't pretend this is about me. You didn't chase me because of who I am."

Kael looked away.

"No," he admitted. "I chased you because of who you make me."

She blinked, she hadn't expected that.

But before she could respond, a tremor shook the ground beneath them.

Not magic.

Footsteps.

Multiple. Heavy. Armed.

Kael's head snapped toward the ridge.

"Hunters," he growled.

Alero froze. "You mean werewolf hunters?"

"No," he said grimly. "Worse."

A spear slammed into the tree beside her.

Witchsteel.

Alero's eyes widened. "They're after me."

Kael grabbed her arm. "Move."

They ran.

Through scorched trees and moonlit branches, across frozen riverbeds. The pack territory was twisting-warded wrong, manipulated by someone who didn't belong. The magic didn't obey Kael here.

It obeyed something darker.

They didn't make it far.

A circle of robed figures waited in the clearing ahead. Their faces were masked, their voices chanting in a language Alero hadn't heard since she was five.

Her mother's coven.

But these weren't witches.

These were Keepers.

Guardians of the Old Blood.

One stepped forward and pulled down their hood.

A woman.

Alero's heart stopped.

"Mother?"

The woman was older, her hair streaked with frost, but the face was hers.

Her mother.

Alive.

"No," Kael said beside her. "That's not her. That's-"

"I am what she became," the woman said gently. "The price she paid to keep you hidden. To keep him locked away."

Alero's voice trembled. "You're not real."

"I'm the last piece of her that survived."

Then the woman lifted her hand-

And Alero dropped.

The world spun. Blood poured from her nose. Her mark blazed white-hot, pulsing out of control.

Kael roared and lunged, claws slashing, but he hit a barrier. One of the Keepers threw him back like a ragdoll.

"She's awakening," the woman said calmly. "Too fast. If we don't bind her now-"

"You'll kill her," Kael spat, crawling to his knees.

"We'll contain her."

"No."

Kael's voice dropped. Dangerous. Dark.

"She's not a weapon."

"She's not a girl," the woman said, eyes glowing. "Not anymore."

Then-

Alero's body arched.

Her mouth opened in a silent scream.

And the sky turned black.

Wind slammed through the trees. The mark on her ribs flared, exploded, then vanished altogether.

For one heartbeat, everything was still.

Then she rose.

Not stumbling.

Not confused.

Smiling.

Her eyes glowed red-gold.

Not Alero's color.

Kael stared. "Alero?"

She tilted her head. The thing in her body studied him like he was prey.

Then she whispered, in a voice that was hers-and not:

"She's asleep now."

The Keepers didn't move. Neither did Kael. The only sound was the faint hum in the air, like something ancient had taken a deep breath and was still holding it.

Kael's hands made a fist. "What are you?"

Alero, no, the thing inside her smiled wider. "Not what. Who. You should remember me, Kael. You carry a piece of me, too."

His heartbeat slammed in his ears. "You're lying."

The creature walked forward, barefoot across the snow. Her skin didn't burn. The mark on her side was gone, but something darker pulsed beneath the surface-black veins climbing her neck like thorns.

"I remember you from the flame," she said, brushing her fingers through Kael's hair. "From the war. You were a boy. You ran."

He flinched.

She whispered, "But I never forgot."

One of the Keepers stepped forward, raising a staff. "You were not supposed to awaken yet."

The thing inside Alero turned her head slowly. "And yet, here I am. Funny how fate ignores orders."

The Keeper didn't hesitate. He launched a bolt of silver fire.

She caught it mid-air.

Then she crushed it in her palm.

Kael lunged, not with magic, but with instinct. Tackled her. They hit the ground hard.

For a second, her mask cracked.

Alero's voice, faint, reached through. "Kael..."

He clung to it.

"Fight her," he breathed. "You're stronger than this."

She screamed, not in pain but fury. Power blasted outward, throwing him ten feet back.

The trees bent. A storm of flame and shadow whipped around her, and through it all,Kael saw her shaking.

Torn.

She wasn't gone yet.

Kael got to his knees, blood in his mouth. "I'm not leaving you, Alero. Do you hear me? I don't care what's inside you-I'm staying."

Lightning cracked overhead. The forest groaned. And finally-she fell to her knees.

The glow dimmed.

Just enough.

Her eyes fluttered, gold fighting red. She reached for him.

"I'm still here," she whispered.

He caught her hand.

"I know," he said.

But deep in the woods, something laughed.

The storm wasn't over.

It had only just begun.