Page 66 of Renegade Kingdom
The bear settled slightly in my chest. Not calm, never calm, but focused. He understood now. This wasn’t the time for rage. This was the time for patience. The time for endurance. The time to be the anchor that held everyone else together.
We walked in silence for a while after that, the weight of the conversation settling around us like a cloak. The forest pressed close on all sides, the shadows between the trees darker than they had any right to be. I could still feel the fae hounds outthere, circling, watching, waiting. But they hadn’t attacked yet. They were biding their time. Waiting for the perfect moment.
We just had to make sure that moment never came.
I kept my hand on my weapon and my bear just barely leashed, and I prayed that whatever was coming, we’d be strong enough to survive it. Because if we couldn’t, if we fell here in this forest, there would be no one left to stop Arik. No one left to save this realm. No one left to prevent the end of everything.
The bear rumbled his agreement.We will not fall,he promised, and for once there was no bloodlust in his voice. Just determination. Just the iron certainty of a creature that had never lost a fight and didn’t intend to start now.They will break against us like waves against stone. And when we reach the Fifth Court, when Alyssa gets the power she needs, we will tear Arik apart together.
I hoped he was right. I hoped we all made it that far.
But for now, all we could do was keep walking. One step at a time. Into the darkness. Into the danger.
Toward the only hope we had left.
Chapter Twenty
Dean
Iwas hanging at the back of the group, keeping one eye on my pack and one eye on the shadows that pressed in from all sides.
The wolf was so close to the surface that I couldn’t separate myself from him anymore. Every sense was heightened to a painful degree. I could hear the heartbeats of my packmates, smell their fear and determination and the sharp copper tang of adrenaline. I could feel the vibration of footsteps on the forest floor, could track the subtle shifts in air pressure that told me something was moving in the trees around us.
I could hear them.
The things in the shadows. The fae hounds that had been stalking us for hours. They weren’t even trying to be quiet anymore. I could hear the soft pad of paws on leaves, the whisper of breath, the occasional low growl that was quickly silenced by a sharper sound from somewhere else in the pack. They were communicating. Coordinating. Surrounding us from all sides, tightening the circle with every passing minute.
There was no chance of reaching the Fifth Court without fighting our way there. I’d known that for the last hour, even if I hadn’t wanted to admit it. The fae hounds were too many, too patient, too determined. They weren’t going to let us slip through their net. And I’d only just realised what about this situation felt so wrong. Because the fae hounds weren’t stalking us, they were herding us somewhere deeper into the forest. And now there was something else out there too. Something that made the fae hounds seem almost friendly by comparison.
But the others were right. We needed to get closer to safety before we could risk the fight. Every step forward was a step closer to the court, a step closer to walls that could protect us, to power that could turn the tide. If we could just hold out a little longer, just make it a little further...
When it’s time,the wolf reminded me, impatient and eager,I want blood.
You’ll get it,I promised.When it’s time, you’ll get everything you want. But not yet. Not until we’re closer.
The wolf subsided, but I could feel him pacing in the back of my mind, counting the seconds until he could be unleashed.
Maddox started to drop back toward me. I could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his eyes kept flicking to the trees. He was probably coming to compare notes, to make sure we were on the same page about what was stalking us. His lion would be on edge the same as my wolf.
He never made it.
The ground beneath our feet shuddered. Not an earthquake, but something else. Something intentional. A pulse of power that rippled through the earth and made the trees groan overhead.
And then the fog came.
It rolled in from all directions at once, thick and white and impenetrable. Within seconds, I couldn’t see more than threefeet in front of my face. The shapes of my packmates dissolved into grey silhouettes and then vanished entirely, swallowed by the unnatural mist.
I heard Alyssa shout something. Heard Tank’s growl cut off mid-sound. Heard Ryder curse and Maddox call out my name.
And then I heard the voice.
It came from above, from the trees, from everywhere and nowhere at once. A whisper that slithered into my ears and coiled around my spine.
“Run, little wolf. We much prefer it when we can taste the fear in your blood.”
I drew my sword in one smooth motion, the steel ringing as it cleared the scabbard. The wolf was frantic inside me, howling for me to shift, to become something that could fight properly in this blindness. But I forced him back, forced him to focus.
Shut up,I snarled at him.Shifting won’t help if we can’t find our pack. Focus on where they are. Use your senses. Find them.
