Page 64 of Renegade Kingdom
I should have been terrified for my pack.
But my bear was so close to the front of my mind that I couldn’t separate the two of us anymore. The line between human and beast had blurred until it barely existed, until I wasn’t sure where Tank ended and the bear began. We were one creature now, looking out at the world through the same eyes, feeling it through the same senses, thinking thoughts that belonged to neither of us and both of us at once.
The smells were sharper, the sounds clearer, the shadows less opaque. I could feel the forest breathing around us, could sensethe life that pulsed through every tree and stone and hidden creature. And I could feel the predators. The things that watched us from the darkness. The things that were waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
And the bear wasn’t afraid.
The bear was excited.
This was what we were made for. The forest. The hunt. The protection of our pack. This ancient darkness, this primal wilderness, this place where civilization had never set foot and never would. The bear felt at home here in a way he never had in the human world, in a way he never had even in the courts of Nymeria.Thiswas his element. This was where he belonged.
Every instinct I’d spent years suppressing, every urge I’d carefully controlled, every primal impulse that I’d buried deep under layers of civilisation and restraint, was rising to the surface and demanding to be set free. The bear wanted to run through these trees, to feel the ancient earth beneath his paws, to roar his challenge to the things that thought they could hunt us.
I could feel the berserker that lived in the depths of my soul straining against its chains. It wanted out. It wanted to rampage through these trees, to tear apart anything that dared to threaten the people I loved. It wanted to feel flesh give way beneath claws, to taste blood on its tongue, to roar so loudly that the entire forest would tremble. The violence that lived inside me, the violence I’d always been so careful to control, was pacing back and forth in its cage and begging to be released.
The temptation was nearly too much.
I could feel the vibration running down my spine, the shift pressing against my skin from the inside. My claws wanted to extend. My teeth wanted to sharpen. My muscles wanted to expand, to transform, to become something massive and unstoppable. The bear wanted out, and for the first time inlonger than I could remember, I wasn’t sure I wanted to stop him.
Let me loose,he rumbled.Let me hunt. Let me show them what happens when they threaten what’s ours. I can feel them out there, watching us like we’re prey. But we’re not prey. We’re the most dangerous thing in this forest, and it’s time we reminded them of that.
It was a seductive thought. To stop being the steady one, the controlled one, the anchor that held everyone else in place. To stop thinking and planning and worrying and just let go. To become something primal and unstoppable and free.
Then talons dug into my shoulder, sharp enough to pierce through my shirt and draw blood.
“You look like you’re about to do something stupid, perch.”
I turned my head to find Fizzle settling onto my shoulder, his feathers ruffled, his ancient eyes fixed on my face with an expression that was equal parts concern and exasperation. The pain from his talons was grounding, pulling me back from the edge I’d been drifting toward. A sharp reminder that I was still human, still rational, still capable of making choices that weren’t driven purely by instinct.
I chuckled despite everything, the sound surprising me as it left my throat. “It’s been a while since you called me that.”
“It’s been a while since you looked like you were about to get everyone killed by doing something monumentally idiotic.” Fizzle’s talons tightened, another sharp reminder of reality. “I can feel the berserker pressing at your control, Tank. I can see it in your eyes. The bear wants out, and you’re not far from letting him have what he wants.”
“The bear has other ideas about how to handle this situation.”
“The bear is an animal. You are not. Or at least, you shouldn’t be.” Fizzle’s voice softened slightly, though it retained its edge. “I’ve seen you fight the berserker before. I’ve seen you win. Don’tlet this forest undo all the work you’ve done to master that part of yourself.”
It was harsh, but it was the kind of harsh I needed. The bear rumbled in annoyance at the criticism, but even he had to acknowledge the truth in Fizzle’s words. Giving in to the berserker now, satisfying that desperate urge to fight, would only end one way. We’d take some of them with us, certainly. But we wouldn’t survive. More than that, neither would the others. Because they’d dive into a fight they weren’t prepared for to try and save us. We’d be the reason the rest of them would die.
“Dragging everyone into a fight now will only end with at least some of them dead,” Fizzle continued, confirming my darkest fear as his voice dropped lower, taking on the serious tone he used when he was delivering information he knew I didn’t want to hear. “The fae hounds are not playing. They’re not here to escort us, no matter how much I wish that were the case. This isn’t curiosity or territorial behavior. This is a hunt.”
“You know what they want?”
Fizzle was quiet for a moment, his gaze turning toward the shadows between the trees. I could see the way his eyes moved, tracking movement that I couldn’t perceive, reading patterns in the darkness that I couldn’t understand. When he spoke again, his voice was heavy with something I rarely heard from him. Uncertainty.
“I haven’t told Alyssa yet, but I have my suspicions. The fae hounds have always been wild, always been dangerous, but they’ve also always been Nymeria’s creatures. Bound to her will, even if loosely. The fact that they’re stalking us like prey, that they’re treating us as enemies rather than guests in their forest...” He trailed off, his feathers ruffling with agitation. “I think they’ve broken free of Nymeria’s hold entirely.”
“And?”
“They’re minions of Arik now. Turned against their creator, serving the son instead of the mother.”
The thought settled into my chest like a stone. It made sense. Too much sense. If Arik had somehow managed to sever the fae hounds’ connection to Nymeria and bind them to his own will, then we weren’t just walking through a dangerous forest. We were walking through enemy territory.
“When Damon and his squad first arrived in Nymeria,” I said slowly, “they were attacked in a forest like this one. The fae hounds tore them apart. Everyone except Damon.”
Fizzle nodded, his expression grim.
“Arik was the one who sent them,” I continued, the pieces falling into place. “He wanted Damon alive, but the others were expendable. Useful, even. A demonstration of power. A way to break Damon before the nightmare ever entered his mind.”
