- 1 day ago
The first rule of Thornwood Village was simple: Don't touch the wolves. Isla, a village outcast with storm-grey eyes and a kind heart, breaks the ultimate taboo when she finds a massive, wounded black wolf trapped in the river. Instead of running, she saves him.
But this is no ordinary beast. He is Kael, the Alpha King of the Veran, a shifter who has guarded the deep woods for centuries. When the wolf returns in human form to claim a debt, Isla discovers a terrifying secret: she is his Fated Mate. Now, caught between a village that despises her and a pack that doubts her, Isla must bridge two warring worlds. As a terrifying ancient enemy, the Ungor, threatens to destroy them all, the new Luna must prove that compassion is stronger than claws.
Will the village accept their outcast as a savior? Or will fear tear the lovers apart?
But this is no ordinary beast. He is Kael, the Alpha King of the Veran, a shifter who has guarded the deep woods for centuries. When the wolf returns in human form to claim a debt, Isla discovers a terrifying secret: she is his Fated Mate. Now, caught between a village that despises her and a pack that doubts her, Isla must bridge two warring worlds. As a terrifying ancient enemy, the Ungor, threatens to destroy them all, the new Luna must prove that compassion is stronger than claws.
Will the village accept their outcast as a savior? Or will fear tear the lovers apart?
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00:00:00The first rule of Thornwood was as simple as it was absolute.
00:00:04Don't touch the wolves.
00:00:06I heard it whispered in the cradle, chanted in the schoolyard, hissed across the hearth on winter nights when the wind screamed through the pines.
00:00:14It was etched into the very bones of our village, a warning passed down through generations with the grim solemnity of a funeral dirge.
00:00:23Don't touch the wolves.
00:00:26Don't look them in the eye.
00:00:27Don't wander where the shadows gather beneath the ancient oaks.
00:00:31The forest was their cathedral, and we were mere petitioners at its edge, tolerated only so long as we remembered our place.
00:00:40For twenty winters, I remembered.
00:00:42I, Isla Thornwood, named for the river that marked the boundary between the world of men and the world of... them.
00:00:50The village outcast, the cursed girl, the orphan with storm-gray eyes that saw too much,
00:00:56and a heart that felt too deeply.
00:00:58I kept my head down, my basket full of herbs, and my footsteps light on the well-trodden paths.
00:01:04I obeyed.
00:01:05Until the morning, I didn't.
00:01:08The memory of that day is not a single picture, but a symphony of sensation that still plays behind my eyes when I close them.
00:01:16It began with the light.
00:01:18Dawn in the Thornwood was not a gentle awakening, but a violent, beautiful invasion.
00:01:24The sun didn't rise so much as it shattered through the dense canopy, spearing the mist-clad floor with blades of molten gold.
00:01:32Each beam illuminated swirling galaxies of pollen and dust, making the very air seem alive and breathing.
00:01:40I stood at the forest's edge, my worn boots sinking into the spongy moss, and inhaled a scent so profound it was like tasting time itself.
00:01:50Damp, crumbling earth, the sharp perfume of pine sap, the sweet decay of last autumn's leaves,
00:01:57and beneath it all, the cold, clean stone scent of the distant mountains.
00:02:02My basket, woven from river reeds by my mother's hands in a time that felt like someone else's dream, hung heavy on my arm.
00:02:10It was filled with early summer's bounty, feathery sprigs of yarrow for fever, velvety mullein leaves for coughs,
00:02:17the delicate white blossoms of wood sorrel that tasted of spring rain and lemon.
00:02:22This was my purpose, my fragile contribution to a village that wanted neither me nor my offerings.
00:02:29The trade would be meager, a few copper coins, a wedge of hard cheese, a length of rough-spun wool,
00:02:35but it was a thread connecting me to the world of the living.
00:02:38Without it, I feared I might simply fade into the forest mist,
00:02:42becoming just another ghost story mothers told to frighten their children.
00:02:46The walk back to the village was a journey through a landscape of quiet hostility.
00:02:51The cottages, with their steeply thatched roofs and walls of wattle and daub, didn't look like homes to me.
00:02:58They looked like fortresses, huddled together for warmth and protection against the twin threats of the wilderness
00:03:04and the strange girl who walked alone within it.
00:03:08The forest was their cathedral, and we were mere petitioners at its edge,
00:03:12tolerated only so long as we remembered our place.
00:03:16As I reached the uneven stones of the village square, the air changed.
00:03:21The usual lazy hum of morning chores was gone, replaced by a tense, buzzing silence,
00:03:27broken by sharp, urgent voices.
00:03:30A crowd was knotted around the old stone well, their faces pale canvases of fear and anger.
00:03:37My stomach, already a familiar nest of knots, tightened into a hard, cold fist.
00:03:43Instinct screamed at me to slip away, to take the back alleys to the herb cellar's stall.
00:03:48But a deeper, more foolish pull, the same one that always got me into trouble, rooted me to the spot.
00:03:55I saw old man Tarly first, his gnarled hands gripping his walking stick so tightly,
00:04:01the veins stood out like blue rivers on a map of despair.
00:04:04The size of dinner plates, I tell ye, he wheezed, his voice trembling.
00:04:10No natural wolf made those tracks.
00:04:12They were sunk deep, like the beast carried the weight of a man on four legs.
00:04:17Then came the voice of Willem, the blacksmith.
00:04:20It wasn't a voice one heard, it was a force one felt,
00:04:24a bass rumble that vibrated in your chest.
00:04:26He stood head and shoulders above the others, his massive arms, thick as ham hocks and glistening
00:04:33with sweat and soot even now, crossed over his barrel chest.
00:04:37Three sheep torn apart, not eaten, not hunted for food, torn apart.
00:04:43A message, a challenge.
00:04:46A woman, Mara, the shepherd's wife, let out a choked sob, burying her face in her apron.
00:04:51The sound was raw, human, and it cut through the speculative fear like a knife.
00:04:57This wasn't just a story anymore.
00:04:59It was her livelihood, her security, lying in bloody tatters in a high meadow.
00:05:05My grand stories, whispered Allara, the weaver's daughter, her eyes wide as moons.
00:05:11The shadow wolves, the ones who wear men's thoughts behind beasts' eyes.
00:05:16She said they had a king, an alpha who could command the wind and the moon.
00:05:20Superstitious nonsense, boomed Willem, but the denial rang hollow even to my ears.
00:05:27I saw the way his eyes darted towards the tree line, the slight tightening of his jaw.
00:05:32He believed, they all did.
00:05:34They feared the deep, dark unknown of the thornwood,
00:05:38and fear is a fertile soil for the seeds of old tales.
00:05:42A plan was forming in the thick air, ugly and inevitable.
00:05:46Willem's words carved it out of the collective anxiety.
00:05:48We form a hunting party, today.
00:05:52We track it, find its lair, and put an end to this.
00:05:55We show the forest who truly rules these lands.
00:05:59The words left my lips before my mind could cage them.
00:06:02No.
00:06:04The effect was instantaneous and total.
00:06:07The crowd seemed to pivot as one organism.
00:06:10Dozens of eyes, curious, hostile, suspicious, locking onto me.
00:06:14I felt their gaze like physical pressure, shrinking me, wanting to fold my too-thin body into the shadows.
00:06:22But I'd broken the silence, and now I had to ride the wave.
00:06:26The forest is their territory, I said, my voice softer than I intended, yet it carried in the sudden hush.
00:06:33If we march in with spears, we're not defending, we're invading.
00:06:38More will die, on both sides.
00:06:40Willem's face darkened.
00:06:42The friendly, ruddy hue of the forge turned a dangerous purple.
00:06:46And what would you know of it, curse maker?
00:06:48The old nickname, born from the fever that took my parents and left me untouched, hung in the air like poison.
00:06:55You, who skulks at the edge of the woods like you're listening to them.
00:06:59Perhaps you are.
00:07:00Perhaps you whisper to them at night.
00:07:02The accusation was absurd, monstrous.
00:07:05Yet I saw it land in the eyes of the villagers.
00:07:08Fear needed a target, a face to pin its chaos upon.
00:07:12My lonely, different face served perfectly.
00:07:15I was the crack in their wall, the unknown variable.
00:07:19It was easier to believe I was in league with monsters than to accept that, sometimes,
00:07:24monsters were simply born of misunderstanding.
00:07:26I took a step back, the basket of herbs suddenly feeling like a shield made of straw.
00:07:34Father Aldrich, the village priest, moved then, a slender figure in worn robes, placing himself
00:07:41slightly between Willem and me.
00:07:44His voice was a balm, quiet but firm.
00:07:47Fear makes us cruel, Willem.
00:07:49But we must not let it make us unjust.
00:07:53The girl speaks from a desire to prevent bloodshed, nothing more.
00:07:57The tension didn't break, but it shifted.
00:08:00Willem spat onto the cobblestones, the gesture full of final contempt, and turned back to his planning.
00:08:07The crowd slowly dispersed, but the looks they cast me were no longer merely suspicious.
00:08:12They were now tinged with a new, sharper fear.
00:08:16Witch.
00:08:17Beastcaller.
00:08:19The words weren't spoken, but I heard them all the same.
00:08:22I sold my herbs in a hurried, silent transaction, accepting half their worth just to escape the
00:08:28merchant's sidelong glances.
00:08:30The coins felt dirty in my palm.
00:08:33The village, never my home, now felt actively hostile, a cage with the door slowly swinging
00:08:39shut.
00:08:40There was only one place left to go.
00:08:43The river.
00:08:45My river.
00:08:46The Isla.
00:08:47It was the one place where the world made a kind of sense, where the noise of human judgment
00:08:52was drowned out by the eternal, rushing song of water over stone.
00:08:57The path there was my lifeline, worn smooth by my solitary journeys.
00:09:02I knew every twist, every route that threatened to trip, every clearing where sunflowers turned
00:09:08their faces to the sky.
00:09:10As I walked, the village's fear clung to me like burrs.
00:09:14My mind replayed Willem's plan.
00:09:16I saw the hunting party, men I'd known since childhood, men with families, stalking into
00:09:22the dappled gloom.
00:09:23I saw the ambush, the snarls, the screams.
00:09:27I saw the inevitable retaliation, not from a mindless beast, but something organized, something that held councils of its own.
00:09:36Father Aldrich had once hinted at an old peace, a treaty of respect.
00:09:41That was a fairy tale.
00:09:42This, the coming violence, was the reality.
00:09:46The river's voice grew from a whisper to a roar, and then I broke through the final line of willows into my sanctuary.
00:09:54The sight never failed to steal my breath.
00:09:57Here, the isla widened, dancing over a bed of stones worn smooth as old bones.
00:10:03Sunlight fractured on the surface into a million shifting diamonds.
00:10:08Ancient willows trailed their fingers in the current, and the air was cool and sweet.
00:10:13I sank onto my usual rock, a flat slate warmed by the sun, and pulled off my boots.
00:10:20The shock of the icy water on my skin was a blessed erasure, scrubbing away the village, the fear, the loneliness, if only for a moment.
00:10:30I closed my eyes, tilting my face up, and let the Seine paint red patterns on my eyelids.
00:10:35For a few stolen heartbeats, I was just Isla, not the orphan, not the curse, not the outcast, just a woman sitting by a river.
00:10:47The sound that shattered that peace was not loud.
00:10:50It was a low, guttural whimper, choked with pain.
00:10:54It was a sound that bypassed thought and spoke directly to the primal core of every living thing, the agony of a creature dying alone.
00:11:03My eyes flew open, my heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic bird in a cage of bone.
00:11:10I scanned the far bank, my gaze darting over familiar rocks and shadows.
00:11:15Nothing.
00:11:16Then, movement.
00:11:18A dark shape, tangled in a mess of driftwood and roots where the current had carved a shallow eddy.
00:11:24At first, my mind refused to assemble the pieces.
00:11:28It was too big.
00:11:29The fallen log it lay against was massive, yet the creature seemed to dwarf it.
00:11:34Then the shape resolved, and the breath froze in my lungs.
00:11:38A wolf.
00:11:40But no wolf of hunter's tail or shepherd's nightmare.
00:11:43This was something from the oldest stories, the ones told in whispers.
00:11:48It was a creature of legend and shadow.
00:11:51Its fur was the absolute black of a starless midnight, a pelt that seemed to drink the sunlight.
00:11:57And it was enormous.
00:11:59Even lying down, its shoulder would have come to my chest.
00:12:03Its side heaved with ragged, wet breaths.
00:12:07Then I saw the wire.
00:12:08A hunter's snare, the cruel, barbed kind meant for boar, was sunk deep into its hounds.
00:12:15Each labored breath pulled the vicious hooks deeper into muscle and flesh.
00:12:19A dark, wet stain spread around the wound, seeping into the river water and swirling away in rust-colored tendrils.
00:12:27One of its forelegs was bent at a sickening, impossible angle.
00:12:32Broken.
00:12:33Every lesson, every warning, every instinct I'd ever been taught screamed in unison.
00:12:40Run!
00:12:40Now!
00:12:41Don't touch the wolves!
00:12:43I stood up.
00:12:44The rock was unsteady beneath my feet.
00:12:47My body trembled, a leaf in a storm of fear.
00:12:51I should go.
00:12:52I should turn and never look back.
00:12:54This was the beast they feared.
00:12:56This was the reason for the hunting party.
00:12:59This creature in its prime could have taken a full-grown stag.
00:13:03It could end me with a single snap of its jaws.
00:13:07It lifted its head.
00:13:08Our eyes met across the twenty paces of rushing water, and in that moment the world narrowed to those two points of amber light.
00:13:18They were not the eyes of a mindless predator.
00:13:20They held intelligence, a terrifying ancient awareness.
00:13:25They held pain, a deep drowning ocean of it, and beneath the pain something worse.
00:13:31A shattered dignity, a proud king brought low by a length of petty, vicious wire.
00:13:38But most of all, they held a plea.
00:13:41It wasn't spoken.
00:13:42It wasn't imagined.
00:13:44It was simply there, as real as the water chilling my feet.
00:13:48This majestic, terrifying being was asking me, a trembling village outcast, for help, or perhaps just for an end to its suffering.
00:13:58The war inside me was short and brutal.
00:14:01Fear, cold and slick, told me to preserve my own fragile life.
00:14:06But another part, a part I thought the village had long since beaten into submission, rose up with a fury that shocked me.
00:14:14It was the part that had wept over a fallen fledgling, that had nursed an injured barn cat back to health, even when food was scarce.
00:14:21It was the part that remembered my mother's voice, saying, compassion is not a weakness, Isla.
00:14:28It is the only true strength we have.
00:14:31Before I knew what I was doing, I was wading into the river.
00:14:35The cold was a slap, driving the air out of my lungs.
00:14:39My woolen skirts, patched and faded, soaked through instantly, becoming a heavy, dragging weight.
00:14:45The current tugged at my legs, threatening to sweep me off my feet.
00:14:49I stumbled, my hands plunging into the water to catch myself on slick, mossy stones.
00:14:55I didn't take my eyes off the wolf.
00:14:58It watched me come.
00:14:59It didn't growl.
00:15:01It didn't bare its teeth.
00:15:02It just watched.
00:15:04Those amber eyes tracking my slow, clumsy progress with an unnerving, patient intensity.
00:15:11As I drew closer, the sheer scale of it became truly apparent.
00:15:15Up close, it was less an animal and more a force of nature given form.
00:15:21I could smell the iron-rich scent of its blood, the wild, musky odor of its fur, now matted with river mud.
00:15:29I reached the tangle of logs.
00:15:31Easy, I whispered, my voice barely audible over the river's song.
00:15:36It sounded pathetic, a mouse squeaking at a mountain.
00:15:39I'm, I'm going to try to help.
00:15:42Please don't eat me.
00:15:44I braced myself against the slippery bark, my heart pounding so violently I was sure the creature could hear it.
00:15:51Slowly, giving it every chance to refuse, I reached out a trembling hand.
00:15:56My fingertips brushed its flank just beside the terrible wound.
00:16:00A jolt, like touching a lightning rod in a storm, shot up my arm.
00:16:05It wasn't painful.
00:16:07It was electric, vibrant.
00:16:09It was the feeling of touching something profoundly, impossibly alive, something connected to the heartbeat of the forest itself.
00:16:18A current of understanding, raw and wordless, passed between us.
00:16:23I felt its pain, a white-hot brand of agony, and it felt my fear, my determination, my fragile, foolish compassion.
00:16:35The wolf shuddered, a full-bodied tremor, but it did not pull away.
00:16:39It lowered its massive head onto its good forepaw, a gesture of exhausted surrender.
00:16:46Tears, hot and sedden, blurred my vision.
00:16:49This wasn't a monster.
00:16:50This was a soul in torment.
00:16:53The work was messy, terrifying, and intimate.
00:16:57The barbed wire was a masterpiece of cruelty, designed to dig deeper the more the victim fought.
00:17:03My fingers, already numb from the cold, fumbled with the twisted metal.
00:17:08It cut into my own palms, adding my blood to the river's pinkish tint.
00:17:13I talked to it the whole time, a steady, nonsensical stream of whispers.
00:17:18I'm sorry.
00:17:19I'm so sorry.
00:17:21This will hurt.
00:17:22Just a little more.
00:17:23You're so brave.
00:17:24Just hold on.
00:17:26Each time I had to pull a barb free from torn flesh, the wolf would tense, a low whine vibrating in its chest.
00:17:34But it never moved to attack.
00:17:36It endured my clumsy ministrations with a patience that felt humbling.
00:17:41This creature, who could end me in an instant, was choosing to trust.
00:17:46Finally, with the last metallic snick, the snare came free, I flung the vile thing far out into the current, where it sank into the depths.
00:17:55The relief that washed over the wolf was palpable.
00:17:58Its entire body seemed to sighed, the terrible tension draining away, leaving only the profound exhaustion and the stark reality of the broken leg.
00:18:09The leg was a worse problem.
00:18:10The leg was a worse problem.
00:18:11I had nothing, no splints, no bandages, no knowledge.
00:18:15Just desperation.
00:18:17My eyes fell on several straight, sturdy branches caught in the same log jam.
00:18:22Moving quickly, driven by a clarity of purpose I'd never known, I snapped them to length.
00:18:28Then, without hesitation, I grabbed the hem of my underskirt, the only relatively clean cloth I had, and tore it into long, rough strips.
00:18:38Fashioning a splint for a mythical wolf on a riverbank was the most surreal moment of my life.
00:18:44I worked as gently as I could, aligning the broken bones as best I understood, wrapping the branches tight with my makeshift bandages.
00:18:53Throughout, that strange, warm current of connection hummed between us.
00:18:58It was a lifeline, a silent conversation, here, yes, steady.
00:19:04When it was done, I sat back on my heels, utterly spent.
00:19:08My dress was ruined, a sodden wreck of blood.
00:19:12My hands stung and throbbed.
00:19:14I was shivering violently from cold and from the aftershock of terror and adrenaline.
00:19:20But beneath it all, glowing like an ember in my chest, was a fierce, defiant satisfaction.
00:19:27The wolf lifted its head again.
00:19:29Those intelligent amber eyes studied me.
00:19:32My hands, the crude splint.
00:19:35Then, to my horror, it tried to rise.
00:19:37No, wait, you can't.
00:19:40I reached out, but it was already moving.
00:19:43With a grunt of immense effort, it pushed itself up onto three legs, keeping the splinted limb carefully raised.
00:19:50Standing, it was truly awe-inspiring.
00:19:53It towered over me, a living piece of the night sky given form.
00:19:58I could smell the iron-rich scent of its blood, the wild, musky odor of its fur now matted with river mud.
00:20:06I was eye-to-eye with its broad chest, close enough to feel the heat radiating from its body, to see the individual hairs of its dense, black pelt.
00:20:16I should have been terrified, and I was, but it was a clean fear now, mixed with a staggering awe.
00:20:23Then, it did something that stopped my heart.
00:20:27It slowly, deliberately lowered its massive head, pressing its broad, warm forehead directly against mine.
00:20:35The gesture was unmistakable, ancient, sacred.
00:20:39It was a bow of gratitude.
00:20:41It was an acknowledgement.
00:20:43It was a seal.
00:20:45The electric warmth in my chest bloomed into a sun.
00:20:49The forest sounds, the river, the birds, the wind, faded into a soft hum.
00:20:54In that silent, connected space, I wasn't an outcast.
00:20:59I wasn't alone.
00:21:00I was seen, truly seen, for the first time in my life.
00:21:05And I saw him, not just the wolf, but the profound, weary, noble spirit within.
00:21:12Tears streamed down my face, mingling with the river water on my cheeks.
00:21:17I didn't wipe them away.
00:21:19After a moment that could have been a second or a century, he pulled back.
00:21:23His gaze held mine for one last searing second, full of unspoken things.
00:21:29Then he turned, and with a powerful, limping gait, he vanished into the green shadows of the thornwood.
00:21:36I stood there in the cooling river, water swirling around my knees for a long, long time.
00:21:43The sun moved.
00:21:44The shadows lengthened.
00:21:46The ember in my chest slowly cooled to a persistent, warm glow.
00:21:51I had touched the wolf.
00:21:52I had saved him.
00:21:54And as I finally, slowly, made my way back to a village that would now see me as a confirmed demon,
00:22:01a treacherous part in their mist, a treacherous part of my soul whispered the truth I was too afraid to fully grasp.
00:22:09He had saved me too.
00:22:10And he would be back for me.
00:22:12The warmth of the wolf's forehead against mine lingered on my skin like a brand long after I stumbled back to my cottage.
00:22:21It was a phantom touch, a secret I carried in the very marrow of my bones.
00:22:26For three days, I moved through the village like a ghost haunted by a living memory.
00:22:31Every shadow between the cottages seemed to hold the promise of amber eyes.
00:22:37Every rustle in the hedgerow was the whisper of a black pelt moving through ferns.
00:22:42The villagers' suspicion, which always been a low, constant hum, now sharpened into pointed glances and conversations that died the moment I approached.
00:22:52They had seen me run from the tavern.
00:22:55They had heard Willem's accusations.
00:22:56I was no longer just the curse-maker.
00:22:59I was the ally of beasts, the traitor in their mist.
00:23:03My hands healed slowly.
00:23:06The thin cuts from the barbed wire became faint pink lines.
00:23:10But when I traced them, I didn't feel pain.
00:23:13I felt the echo of that electric connection, the hum of the forest's pulse under my fingertips.
00:23:19At night, I dreamed not in images, but in sensations, the crush of cold river water, the coarse texture of wet fur, the profound, weighty silence of that shared gaze.
00:23:34I'd wake with a start, my chest aching with a loneliness so acute it was physical, only to realize it wasn't my loneliness I was feeling.
00:23:43It was a vast, centuries-old solitude that echoed from the heart of the thornwood.
00:23:48It was his.
00:23:50On the fourth evening, as a monstrous full moon swelled above the treeline, painting the world in shades of silver and ink, the waiting ended.
00:23:59I was stirring a meager pot of broth over my hearth when the first howl split the night.
00:24:05It was close, so close the very timbers of my cottage seemed to vibrate.
00:24:10It wasn't the long, lonely cry of a distant hunter.
00:24:13It was a declaration, deep and resonant, that shook the air and made the pot rattle on its hook.
00:24:20Then another joined it, and another, a chorus of voices, weaving a complex, terrifying song just beyond my door.
00:24:29My blood turned to ice water.
00:24:32Every warning, every childhood nightmare came rushing back.
00:24:35The pack had come.
00:24:37For the sheep?
00:24:38For vengeance?
00:24:39For me?
00:24:41Trembling so violently I could barely stand, I crept to my small, thick-paned window and pulled the ragged curtain aside an inch.
00:24:49The breath left my body in a silent rush.
00:24:53They filled the small clearing before my cottage.
00:24:56Not one or two, but a dozen wolves, maybe more, their forms sleek and powerful in the moonlight.
00:25:02They stood in a loose, perfect semicircle, a living wall of fur and muscle and gleaming eyes.
00:25:10They were all sizes, all shades of gray and brown and tawny gold, but they were united in an absolute predatory stillness.
00:25:19This was no random gathering.
00:25:21This was a display, an audience.
00:25:24And at their center, standing apart, was the black wolf, my wolf.
00:25:29His splint was gone.
00:25:30He stood four-square, powerful and whole, his massive head held high.
00:25:36The moonlight loved him, caressing the jet planes of his shoulders, sparking in the amber depths of his eyes.
00:25:43He was no longer a wounded creature.
00:25:45He was a king holding court.
00:25:48But he was not alone.
00:25:50Beside him stood a man.
00:25:52My mind scrabbled for purchase, denying what my eyes so clearly saw.
00:25:57He was tall, impossibly so, with a breath of shoulder that spoke of raw, untamed strength.
00:26:04His hair was the same absolute black as the wolf's pelt, falling in a wild cascade past his shoulders.
00:26:11He was dressed in garments that seemed born of the forest itself, dark, supple leather, patches of gray fur, straps and ties that held no hint of village tailoring.
00:26:22Symbols were tooled into the leather, shapes that echoed leaves and claws and crescent moons, and in the strange lunar light they seemed to shift and shimmer, as if alive.
00:26:34But it was his face that held me captive.
00:26:37It was a face carved by wind and time, achingly beautiful in a way that had nothing to do with softness.
00:26:44High, sharp cheekbones, a strong jaw shadowed with stubble, a mouth set in a line of severe authority.
00:26:52And his eyes?
00:26:53They caught the moonlight and threw it back as molten gold.
00:26:57They were the wolf's eyes, the same intelligence, the same ancient awareness, but now layered with a crushing weight of command, and a loneliness so deep it was a yawning chasm.
00:27:08The Alpha King!
00:27:10The stories were true, all of them.
00:27:12Paralyzing terror should have consumed me.
00:27:16I should have barred the door, piled furniture against it, hidden in the root cellar.
00:27:21But a different force took hold of me, the same inexorable pull that had drawn me into the river.
00:27:27It was a cord in my chest, tugging me forward, thrumming in time with the glow of the amber pendant I now realized I was clutching through my dress.
00:27:36The bond!
00:27:37It was real, and it was calling.
00:27:39My hand, moving of its own volition, lifted the latch.
00:27:44The wooden door creaked open on protesting hinges.
00:27:47The night air was cold, but the gaze of twenty-two wolves and one impossible man was colder.
00:27:54I stepped on to the rough-hewn planks of my small porch, feeling smaller and more fragile than a sapling in a storm.
00:28:02The pack didn't move, but their collective focus was a pressure against my skin.
00:28:07The Alpha King's eyes locked onto mine.
00:28:10Time didn't just stop.
00:28:12It shattered and reformed around that connection.
00:28:16The world reduced to the space between us, charged with a silent, roaring energy.
00:28:22You saved him.
00:28:23His voice was like the forest speaking, deep, resonant, layered with the rustle of leaves and the grind of continental stone.
00:28:31It wasn't loud, yet it carried with absolute clarity, weaving through the chorus of night insects.
00:28:37I tried to speak, my throat was dust, I swallowed, the sound painfully loud in the stillness.
00:28:45I couldn't leave him to suffer.
00:28:48You saved me.
00:28:49Two words, they held the weight of the confession.
00:28:53The man and the wolf were one.
00:28:55The magnificent, wounded creature I had comforted, and this terrifying, majestic king standing before me, were a single soul.
00:29:03The realization didn't come as a shock, it settled into me like a missing piece of my own self, clicking into place with a sense of rightness that was more frightening than any surprise.
00:29:16I see, I whispered, the words meant only for him.
00:29:20He took a step forward.
00:29:22The wolves behind him remained statues.
00:29:24I fought the instinct to retreat, to flee back into the pathetic safety of my hut.
00:29:29To run would be an insult, to this, to him, to the connection that was humming between us like a plucked harp string.
00:29:38The humans of your village fear us, he said, his voice lowering, becoming more intimate, though it still carried that edge of immutable power.
00:29:48They hunt us, they set traps of cruel, biting metal in our own territories.
00:29:53They would see my pack driven into the barren mountains, or wiped from memory entirely.
00:30:00He took another step.
00:30:01Now I could see the finer details, a pale, thin scar cutting through his left eyebrow, the faint silver strands woven through the black of his hair, the astounding clarity of the gold in his irises.
00:30:14Yet you, a woman alone, with everything to lose, waded into a cold river to free a monster.
00:30:22Why?
00:30:23His question wasn't an accusation.
00:30:26It was a genuine bewildered inquiry, as if my actions were a riddle from a species he could not comprehend.
00:30:33Because it was the right thing to do, I said, and for the first time my voice didn't tremble.
00:30:40It found a core of steel I didn't know I possessed.
00:30:44Because I have known suffering, I will not turn away from it in another's eyes, no matter what skin they wear.
00:30:51He studied me, his gaze so penetrating I felt laid bare, every secret thought, every hidden shame and hope exposed to that golden light.
00:31:04I didn't look away.
00:31:05Let him see.
00:31:06Let him see the orphan, the outcast, the girl who talked to rivers and trees because people had no use for her.
00:31:14Let him see the stubborn, foolish empathy that had just upended my world.
00:31:19What is your name? he asked, his voice softening by a degree.
00:31:25Isla. Isla Thornwood.
00:31:28Isla.
00:31:29He said my name as if testing the flavor of a rare fruit, rolling it over his tongue, feeling its shape.
00:31:37A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold traced my spine.
00:31:41I am Kael, Alpha of the Thornwood Pack, Guardian of the Deep Wood.
00:31:47I have led my people for three hundred years.
00:31:51Three hundred years?
00:31:53The numbers should have been absurd.
00:31:56Standing before him, feeling the centuries of wisdom and sorrow bleeding from him?
00:32:01It was simply a fact.
00:32:04In all that time, he continued, taking one final step that brought him to the very edge of my porch,
00:32:10so close I could feel the heat radiating from him, smell his scent, pine needle, frost, wild sage, and something fundamentally wild and old.
00:32:22No human has shown my kind mercy.
00:32:26You are unique, Isla Thornwood, and now I find myself in your debt.
00:32:31I don't want anything from you, I said quickly, the words tumbling out.
00:32:37I didn't help you for a reward.
00:32:40I know.
00:32:41His lips, so severe a moment before, quirked in the faintest, most fleeting shadow of a smile.
00:32:48Your heart is written plainly in your eyes.
00:32:51It is why the bond could form.
00:32:53But a debt exists nonetheless, and there is something you must understand.
00:32:58He reached out then, slowly, giving me every opportunity to flinch away.
00:33:04His hand was large, calloused, marked with old scars.
00:33:08He didn't touch my face.
00:33:10Instead, his fingertips hovered just above the skin of my temple.
00:33:15When you touched me, when you pulled that hateful metal from my flesh, something awoke.
00:33:21An ancient magic, older than my pack, older than the first stones of your village.
00:33:27I felt it, and you did too.
00:33:30His gaze dropped to my chest, where the amber pendant lay hidden.
00:33:34You feel it still.
00:33:36I couldn't deny it.
00:33:38The warm glow was a constant presence now, a second heartbeat.
00:33:43I feel something.
00:33:45I don't understand it.
00:33:47It is a bond, he said.
00:33:49And for the first time, a crack appeared in his regal composure.
00:33:53A raw, vulnerable emotion flashed in his eyes.
00:33:57Awe, fear, hope?
00:34:00A fated bond.
00:34:01They are rare, even among my kind.
00:34:04They form only between souls that recognize one another across the barriers of flesh and time.
00:34:11You are my fated mate, Isla, and I am yours.
00:34:14The world tilted.
00:34:17The moon swam in my vision.
00:34:20Mate.
00:34:20The word was too small, too human for the enormity of what he described.
00:34:26It sounded like a farmer claiming a bride.
00:34:29This was something else.
00:34:30This was cosmic.
00:34:32Terrifying.
00:34:33That's impossible, I breathed, shaking my head, taking a step back onto the rough boards of the porch.
00:34:41I'm nobody.
00:34:42A village girl with mud on her skirts and herbs in her pocket.
00:34:47You're a king.
00:34:48An immortal.
00:34:49There must be a mistake.
00:34:51There is no mistake.
00:34:53His voice was iron again.
00:34:55But the vulnerability still shimmered beneath.
00:34:58I have lived three centuries.
00:35:00I have watched generations of your people bloom and wither like summer grass.
00:35:05I have felt nothing but a distant curiosity for them.
00:35:09But from the moment your hand brushed my side, I knew.
00:35:13The bond exists.
00:35:15It will grow stronger, pulling us together with a force that cannot be denied, whether you accept it now or not.
00:35:23My mind was a riot of panic and a strange, traitorous joy.
00:35:27This was madness, a fairy tale with claws.
00:35:32But the evidence was in my chest, in the way my soul quieted when I looked at him,
00:35:37in the way the lonely ache I'd carried since my mother's death had begun to dissolve the moment I saw him in the river.
00:35:45The practical part of me, the survivor, clawed its way to the surface.
00:35:49The village, they've formed a hunting party.
00:35:53Willem leads them.
00:35:54They'll enter the forest at dawn.
00:35:56They want to kill all of you.
00:35:59Kael's expression hardened, the king fully reasserting himself.
00:36:03The air around him seemed to grow colder.
00:36:06I know.
00:36:07My scouts have watched them gather.
00:36:09They will not find us easy prey.
00:36:11People will die, I pleaded, taking a step toward him now, driven by a sudden desperate urgency.
00:36:19Good men, fathers, sons, and your people too.
00:36:23Please, there has to be another way.
00:36:26What would you have me do?
00:36:28He asked, a flicker of frustration.
00:36:30Or was it pain?
00:36:31We have retreated deeper into the forest for decades, yielding ground, hoping the conflict would fade.
00:36:39But the humans keep coming.
00:36:41Their axes bite deeper.
00:36:43Their flocks graze closer.
00:36:45Their traps grow more cruel.
00:36:47How much more can we yield before there is nothing left, before my people have no home?
00:36:54I heard it then.
00:36:55Beneath the king's anger, the protector's despair.
00:36:58The weight of three hundred years of holding a line, of losing ground, inch by bloody inch.
00:37:06I don't have the answers, I admitted, my shoulders slumping.
00:37:10But I know more violence won't solve it.
00:37:13It will only breed more hatred, more fear, until one side is ashes.
00:37:19Then what do you propose?
00:37:21The challenge was back, but it was an invitation, not a dismissal.
00:37:25Give me time, I said, the idea forming as I spoke it.
00:37:30Give me a chance to find a solution, to talk to them, to make them see.
00:37:36He was silent for a long moment, his golden eyes searching the forest, as if the ancient trees themselves held council.
00:37:44The pack waited, utterly still.
00:37:47Finally, he nodded, a single, decisive dip of his chin.
00:37:51I will give you until the next full moon, one month.
00:37:55If you can find a way to bring peace, to stop this hunt before it begins in earnest, I will listen.
00:38:02I will meet with your elders under a flag of truth.
00:38:05His gaze swung back at me, piercing.
00:38:08But know this, Isla, if your hunters venture too deep, if they threaten my pack, I will defend what is mine with every breath in my body.
00:38:18I am the Alpha.
00:38:20I will not let my people be slaughtered.
00:38:23I understand, I whispered.
00:38:25He closed the last small distance between us.
00:38:28He didn't reach for my hand.
00:38:30He lifted his own hand, and with a tenderness that belied his fearsome presence, brushed his knuckles lightly down the curve of my cheek.
00:38:38The contact was a lightning strike, a benediction, a promise.
00:38:42My skin sang where he touched it.
00:38:45One month, he repeated, his voice a low rumble that vibrated in my own chest.
00:38:50And then, whether there is peace or war, you and I must address this bond between us.
00:38:56It will not fade.
00:38:57It will only grow stronger.
00:38:58Eventually, we will have to choose.
00:39:01To accept what fate has given us, or to fight against it until it tears us both apart.
00:39:07Before I could find any words, acceptance, denial, a scream, Kale stepped back.
00:39:13His body seemed to blur at the edges.
00:39:15There was no violent transformation, no sound of cracking bones.
00:39:19It was a ripple in the moonlight, a seamless flowing of form, man to wolf in the space of a heartbeat.
00:39:25The great black wolf stood before me once more.
00:39:29He held my gaze, those familiar amber eyes now holding the weight of a king's soul.
00:39:35Then he turned, and with a soft chuff to his pack, he melted into the tree line.
00:39:40The others flowed after him, silent as smoke, until the clearing was empty, holding only moonlight in the echo of their presence.
00:39:47I stood on my porch until the cold seeped through my thin dress, and my teeth began to chatter.
00:39:54The night was vast and silent again, but it was no longer empty.
00:39:58It was full of him, of the bond, of an impossible task and an even more impossible future.
00:40:05I had one month to prevent a war, and one month to decide if I belonged to the world of men or to the wolf king who had claimed my soul by a river.
00:40:14The month that followed was a study in silent agony.
00:40:18I moved through my days in the village like a prisoner awaiting sentence.
00:40:23The memory of Kale, the touch of his knuckles on my cheek, the depth of his voice, the impossible weight of his gaze,
00:40:31was a ghost that walked with me, sat with me by the hearth, haunted my dreams.
00:40:35The warm glow of the bond in my chest was a constant, humming reminder of a world that existed just beyond the tree line,
00:40:44a world of ancient magic and profound connection that made the petty suspicions of the village feel like children squabbling in the dirt.
00:40:52But the village was my reality, and my reality was turning to stone around me.
00:40:59Willem's hunting party had returned empty-handed after three days, frustrated and sullen.
00:41:04Their failure did nothing to soften their hearts.
00:41:07It only sharpened their blame.
00:41:09I was the reason.
00:41:10My witchcraft had hidden the beasts.
00:41:13My alliance had warned them away.
00:41:15The story mutated with each telling, growing thorns and claws,
00:41:20until I was no longer just a cursed girl, but an active, malevolent force in league with the forest demons.
00:41:27I could not go to the tavern.
00:41:29I could not draw water from the well without a circle of silence forming around me.
00:41:33Even the children, who had once been merely curious, now eyed me with a fear taught to them by their parents' hissed warnings.
00:41:41The only person who still met my eyes was Father Aldrich, and even his kindness was tempered with a deep, unspoken worry.
00:41:49I had to try.
00:41:50The promise I'd made to Kale was a chain around my heart, pulling me toward the forest, as in the village pushed me away.
00:41:58I began my feudal campaign with the only tool I had, words.
00:42:03I cornered Ilara, the weaver's daughter, as she hung linens in the weak spring sun.
00:42:09The wolves, the Varen, I began, using the name Kale had given his people.
00:42:14They aren't what the stories say.
00:42:16They have families.
00:42:17They have laws.
00:42:18She stared at me, a damp sheet frozen in her hands, her face pale.
00:42:24They killed Mara's sheep, Isla.
00:42:26They're monsters.
00:42:27They were defending their border.
00:42:29If a wolf came into your garden and threatened your child, wouldn't you fight?
00:42:34I pleaded.
00:42:35She shook her head, her lips pressed into a thin, frightened line.
00:42:39You sound like one of them.
00:42:41You've been changed.
00:42:42She gathered her laundry basket and hurried inside, the door closing with a final hollow thud.
00:42:49I tried with old man Tarly, appealing to his memory of his grandfather's tales of cooperation.
00:42:55He spat a stream of brown tobacco juice at the feet of my dress.
00:43:00Cooperation?
00:43:01Aye, we cooperated by staying out of their woods, and they cooperated by not eating our young.
00:43:07That's the only peace possible with animals, girl, and you'd do well to remember which side of the tree line you were born on.
00:43:15Each rejection was a stone added to the burden on my back, hope that fragile ember began to smother under the damp weight of their fear.
00:43:24I walked to the forest edge every evening, staring into the green gloom, feeling the bond pull at me like a physical tether.
00:43:31I ached to cross the boundary, to flee the cold hostility of my own kind for the terrifying, honest wildness that called to me.
00:43:40But I had promised to build a bridge, and you cannot build a bridge by abandoning one shore.
00:43:47The breaking point came a week before the full moon.
00:43:50A child, Jory, the miller's youngest son, fell terribly ill with a fever that turned his skin to fire and stole the breath from his lungs.
00:43:59The village healer, a stern woman named Agnes, tried every poultice and tincture she knew, but the boy grew weaker.
00:44:07Desperation hung over the millhouse like a shroud.
00:44:10I stood at the back of a crowd of worried women, my basket of herbs feeling suddenly stupidly inadequate.
00:44:17But I knew of a plant, shadow moss.
00:44:19It grew only in the deepest, wettest crevices near the river's source, a place where the thornwood grew dense and watchful.
00:44:26It was said to break the fiercest fevers.
00:44:29It was also said to be guarded.
00:44:32There's a chance, I heard myself say into the hushed room.
00:44:36Shadow moss, from the deep wood.
00:44:38Agnes turned her sharp eyes on me.
00:44:40Shadow moss is a legend, and the place it grows is death.
00:44:45It's not a legend, I insisted, my voice gaining strength from the memory of Kale's knowledge,
00:44:50whispered to me through the bond in my dreams.
00:44:53I know where it is.
00:44:54I can fetch it.
00:44:55A stunned silence fell.
00:44:58Then Willem, who had been standing by the door, let out a harsh bark of laughter.
00:45:03Of course you know where it is, you and your forest friends.
00:45:06This is a pretty trap, witch.
00:45:08Send you into the woods so you can lead them back to us when our guard is down.
00:45:13Or perhaps the moss is poison, and you finish what their beasts started.
00:45:17The accusation was so vile, so perfectly crafted to prey on their deepest fears, that it stuck.
00:45:25I saw it in their eyes, the calculation, the terrible choice between a child's life and the fear of betrayal.
00:45:33Even the boy's mother looked at me with a torn, tortured expression, love for her son warring with a terror Willem had sown.
00:45:41Father Aldrich stepped forward, his face grave.
00:45:45The child is dying.
00:45:47Isle offers a chance, a slim one, but a chance.
00:45:51Will we let fear kill him as surely as the fever?
00:45:55We'll send our own men, Willem declared.
00:45:58Your men couldn't find a wolf pack in an open field, I snapped, a flash of temper breaking through my despair.
00:46:04The deep wood will kill them before they've gone a mile.
00:46:08I know the way.
00:46:09I am the only one who can do this.
00:46:12The truth of it hung in the air, ugly and undeniable.
00:46:15They needed the outcast.
00:46:17They needed the witch.
00:46:19After a long, agonized minute, the boy's mother, her face streaked with tears, nodded.
00:46:25Go, she whispered.
00:46:27It was not permission born of trust.
00:46:30It was a surrender to despair.
00:46:32I left before they could change their minds.
00:46:34I did not take the main path, but a deer trail known only to me, my heart a frantic drum against my ribs.
00:46:42This was no longer about proving a point.
00:46:44This was about saving a life.
00:46:46And it was my last desperate bid to show them that the forest and the beings within it were not purely agents of death.
00:46:55The deeper I went, the more the world changed.
00:46:58The cheerful, sun-dappled woods of the border gave way to an older, grander, and more silent realm.
00:47:05The trees here were giants.
00:47:07The trunks wider than cottages, their roots like great knuckled fists gripping the earth.
00:47:13The air grew cool and thick, smelling of loam and stone.
00:47:17Light fell and scattered cathedral beams.
00:47:20This was the true Thornwood, K.L.'s domain.
00:47:24I felt eyes on me, not the imagined prickling of paranoia, but the actual palpable weight of observation from the shadows.
00:47:33I was being watched, tracked by unseen sentinels.
00:47:36The bond in my chest flared, a warm beacon in the green gloom.
00:47:40I am here, it seemed to pulse.
00:47:43I am one of yours.
00:47:44Let me pass.
00:47:46I reached the river's source, a place where cold water wept from a mossy cliff face,
00:47:51collecting in a black, mirror-still pool before beginning its journey to the village.
00:47:57The shadow moss grew in velvety, blue-black clumps in the darkest, wettest cracks of the rock.
00:48:03As I reached for it, a low growl resonated through the clearing.
00:48:07From behind a fallen monolith of stone, a wolf emerged.
00:48:11It was not K.L.
00:48:13This one was a grizzled gray, smaller but radiating a lethal, experienced danger.
00:48:19It was a sentry.
00:48:20Its lips peeled back from yellowed fangs, and a warning rumble vibrated in its chest.
00:48:26This was the guardian Agnes had spoken of.
00:48:29I froze, my hand outstretched.
00:48:31I had no weapon, no defense but the truth.
00:48:34Slowly, I lowered my basket.
00:48:37I met the wolf's green-eyed gaze and did not look away.
00:48:41I opened my mind, my intention, pushing it toward the bond,
00:48:45toward the awareness I knew watched from somewhere in this vast wood.
00:48:49I am Isla.
00:48:50I come from medicine, to save a human child, not to harm, not to trespass, in mercy.
00:48:57The standoff lasted an eternity.
00:49:01The wolf took a step forward, sniffing the air.
00:49:04It circled me, its growl never ceasing.
00:49:06I remained still, my heart pounding so loudly I was sure it could hear it.
00:49:12Then a new presence filled the clearing.
00:49:14It was not a sound, but a settling of the silence.
00:49:17The gray wolf immediately stopped its circling, dipped its head, and melted back into the shadows.
00:49:24K.L. stepped from between two ancient oaks.
00:49:27He was in human form, and he looked furious.
00:49:31His golden eyes blazed.
00:49:33His expression was a mask of carved stone.
00:49:36He crossed the clearing in three swift strides, looming over me.
00:49:40You foolish woman, he hissed, the words low and venomous.
00:49:44Do you have any idea of the danger?
00:49:47This is not the riverbank.
00:49:49This is the heart's edge.
00:49:51My sentries have orders to kill intruders.
00:49:53The child is dying, I said, my voice shaking only slightly.
00:49:58They need shadow moss.
00:50:00I am the only one who could come.
00:50:03And you thought that would protect you?
00:50:05That our bond is a shield against claws and teeth?
00:50:08He was close enough that I could see the flecks of darker gold in his irises, feel the heat
00:50:14of his anger.
00:50:15Gareth is three hundred years old.
00:50:17He has killed more humans than you have seen in your lifetime.
00:50:21He does not care for your intentions.
00:50:23But you do, I whispered.
00:50:25The fire in his eyes flickered.
00:50:27The rigid anger in his posture softened by a fraction.
00:50:31He looked from my face to the shadow moss, then back to my basket.
00:50:35The struggle within him was visible.
00:50:37The outcast who must protect his territory, and the soul who was bound to mine.
00:50:43You risk your life for them, he asked, his voice gravelly.
00:50:48After how they have treated you?
00:50:50I risk my life for a child who has done no wrong, I corrected.
00:50:54I do it to show them that not everything from the forest brings death, that there can be compassion.
00:51:00He stared at me for a long moment, and I saw the kingly mask fall away completely, leaving
00:51:07only K.L., the being who had pressed his forehead to mine.
00:51:11He sighed, a sigh of immense weariness.
00:51:14You are going to be the death of me, Isla Thornwood.
00:51:18He turned to the cliff face.
00:51:19With a swift, sure motion, he scraped a large handful of the precious moss from the rock,
00:51:25his own hands careful and expert.
00:51:27He placed it in my basket, his fingers brushing mine.
00:51:31The contact sent the now-familiar jolt through me, but tempered now with the shared, desperate
00:51:37purpose.
00:51:38Go, he said, his voice quiet.
00:51:41Take your medicine.
00:51:42Save your child.
00:51:43He caught my wrist as I turned, his grip firm but not painful.
00:51:48But know this, the moon waxes, your time runs out, and when you come to the next full moon
00:51:54gathering, you will not come as a petitioner, you will come as my mate.
00:51:59The pact must see you, they must accept you, or the peace you seek will be stillborn.
00:52:05The ultimatum hung between us, heavier than the basket of moss.
00:52:08He wasn't just asking me to broker peace, he was asking me to choose sides, publicly
00:52:14and irrevocably.
00:52:16I understand, I said.
00:52:18He released me, and I fled.
00:52:20The shadow moss clutched to my chest, his final words echoing in my soul with every step.
00:52:26Jory lived.
00:52:28The shadow moss broke his fever in a single, sweating, miraculous night.
00:52:33The village was shocked into a silence more profound than any hostility.
00:52:37They looked at me as I delivered the remaining moss to Agnes, not with gratitude, but with
00:52:43a kind of superstitious awe.
00:52:47I had walked into the deep wood and returned with a legend.
00:52:50I had faced the guardians and survived.
00:52:53It confirmed, for many, that I was not merely in league with the beasts.
00:52:58I commanded them.
00:53:00It was a worse kind of isolation.
00:53:02The night of the full moon arrived, a great silver coin pinned to the vell-lit sky.
00:53:08My promise to Kael was a lead weight in my stomach.
00:53:12I had failed to sway the village.
00:53:14I had no peace to offer, only my own fractured self.
00:53:18Dressed in my only clean dress, my mother's amber pendant warm against my skin, I slipped
00:53:24from my cottage and walked toward the forest.
00:53:26The gathering was not at the edge, but in a sacred clearing I had never seen, a place where
00:53:32the trees formed a natural amphitheater around a flat stone altar.
00:53:37Torches of strange, smokeless flame burned, casting long, dancing shadows.
00:53:44And they were all there.
00:53:46Dozens of the Varan, in both forms.
00:53:49Wolves of every description lounged on the periphery, eyes gleaming.
00:53:53In the center, around the altar, stood perhaps thirty in human form.
00:53:58I saw faces young and old, fierce and gentle.
00:54:02I saw Mira, the silver-haired elder from my dream visions, her gaze analytical and unreadable.
00:54:09I saw Sarah, the young scout who offered me a small, encouraging nod.
00:54:14And I saw Kael.
00:54:16He stood by the altar stone, dressed in a formal jerkin of darkest leather, adorned with
00:54:21silver clasps.
00:54:23He was every inch the Alpha King, remote and powerful.
00:54:27But when his eyes found me, the mask slipped, and I saw the vulnerability, the hope, the
00:54:33fear that mirrored my own.
00:54:36All conversation ceased as I entered the clearing.
00:54:39Dozens of pairs of eyes, human and wolf, fixed on me.
00:54:43The weight of their judgment, their curiosity, their suspicion, was a physical force.
00:54:49I was an alien creature in their most sacred space.
00:54:54Kael extended a hand.
00:54:55Come, Isla.
00:54:57My legs felt like water, but I walked forward, my footsteps silent on the moss.
00:55:02I stopped before him, the altar stone between us.
00:55:05The pack watched, a silent, breathing jury.
00:55:10The moon is full, Kael said, his voice carrying to the farthest shadows.
00:55:15The time for the human's peace has come.
00:55:18Speak, Isla Thornwood.
00:55:19What terms do your people offer?
00:55:22This was the moment.
00:55:23I had rehearsed nothing because there was nothing to rehearse.
00:55:27I had only the raw, unvarnished truth.
00:55:30I lifted my chin and met the gaze of the assembly.
00:55:34My people offer nothing, I said, my voice clear in the hushed glade.
00:55:39A ripple of displeasure went through the crowd.
00:55:42Kael's expression didn't change, but I felt a spike of disappointment through the bond.
00:55:47I pressed on.
00:55:48They offer fear.
00:55:49They offer suspicion.
00:55:51They offer more hunting parties, better weapons, a determination to see you as monsters
00:55:57until the last of you is driven from these woods.
00:56:00The ripple became a wave of angry murmurs.
00:56:03A young male with fiery hair took a step forward, his eyes glowing with resentment.
00:56:09Then why are you here?
00:56:10To deliver a declaration of war?
00:56:12I am here, I said, turning to face him, to tell you that they are wrong.
00:56:18I swept my gaze around the circle.
00:56:21I am here to tell you what I have seen.
00:56:23I have seen a king who accepted the help of a helpless girl rather than kill her.
00:56:28I have seen a people who guard their homes with fierce loyalty.
00:56:32I have seen compassion in the granting of medicine to save a child of the very village
00:56:38that hates you.
00:56:40You are not monsters.
00:56:42You are a people.
00:56:43You are the Varan.
00:56:44I turned back to Kael, my heart in my throat.
00:56:48I have no peace for my village to give.
00:56:51I failed in that.
00:56:52The bridge I tried to build, they burned it from their side.
00:56:56I took a deep, shuddering breath.
00:56:58So I come with only myself, Isla Thornwood, the woman who saved her alpha, the woman bound
00:57:06to him.
00:57:07If you will have me, I would be your bridge, not from the village to the pack, but from
00:57:14the human heart to the Varan soul.
00:57:17I will stand in both worlds, and I will speak the truth of you for as long as I have breath.
00:57:22The silence that followed was absolute.
00:57:26I had not offered a treaty.
00:57:28I had offered myself, a lone, flawed human woman as a conduit for understanding.
00:57:34Kael's golden eyes were luminous.
00:57:37He moved around the altar stone until he stood before me.
00:57:41And what of the bond, Isla?
00:57:43Do you accept it?
00:57:44Do you accept me, not as a king seeking an alliance, but as a man, as a wolf, whose soul
00:57:51has called for yours for three centuries?
00:57:54This was the true cliff's edge.
00:57:57To say yes was to leap into the abyss, to turn my back on everything I had ever known,
00:58:03to embrace a life of magic, danger, and immortal love.
00:58:08To say no was to sever the most profound connection I would ever feel, to return to the gray half-life
00:58:15of the village, and to likely condemn both our peoples to war.
00:58:19I looked into his eyes, and I saw my future.
00:58:23It was not safe.
00:58:24It was not simple.
00:58:25It was a path through deep, shadowed woods.
00:58:28But it was alive.
00:58:30It was real.
00:58:32I placed my hand in his.
00:58:33The connection flared.
00:58:35A sunburst in my chest.
00:58:37So bright and sure it stole my breath.
00:58:40I accept, I said.
00:58:42And the words were a vow.
00:58:44I accept the bond.
00:58:46I accept you, Kael, my mate.
00:58:50A sound went through the pack.
00:58:51Not a cheer, but a deep, unified exhale.
00:58:55A rumble of approval that seemed to rise from the earth.
00:58:59Kael's face transformed.
00:59:01The stern lines melting into an expression of such pure, unguarded joy that it was like
00:59:07seeing the sun for the first time.
00:59:09He pulled me to him, his arms wrapping around me, and for a moment, the world narrowed to
00:59:16the solid warmth of his chest, the scent of him, the rightness of being held.
00:59:22When he released me, he kept hold of my hand and turned to face his people.
00:59:27You have heard her.
00:59:28She comes to us not with the lies of her kin, but with the truth of her heart.
00:59:33She is Isla, my fated mate.
00:59:36You're Luna.
00:59:37Will you accept her?
00:59:38Mira stepped forward first.
00:59:41Her sharp eyes assessed me once more, and then she did something astonishing.
00:59:46She placed her fist over her heart and bowed her head.
00:59:49The alpha has chosen.
00:59:51The bond is true.
00:59:52Welcome, Luna.
00:59:54One by one, the others followed suit, a gesture of respect, of acceptance.
00:59:59The fiery-haired young males still looked skeptical, but he bowed his head last, a grudging acknowledgement.
01:00:06The ceremony that followed was simple and ancient.
01:00:10Kale placed a circlet of woven, night-blooming vines upon my head.
01:00:14We shared a drink of spring water from a single, carved wooden cup.
01:00:19He spoke vows in the old tongue, words that flowed like river water, promising protection,
01:00:25loyalty, and a love as enduring as the stones.
01:00:28I had no words of my own that felt adequate, so I poured my promise into the bond, a flood
01:00:34of emotion, trust, hope, love, and I saw his eyes widen as he received it.
01:00:40It was done.
01:00:41I was no longer Isla of the village.
01:00:43I was Isla, Luna, of the Thornwood Pack.
01:00:47As the pack began a low, harmonious chant, Kale led me away from the clearing, up a hidden
01:00:53path to a high outcrop that looked over the moon-drenched forest.
01:00:57The world was a tapestry of silver and black below us.
01:01:01It will not be easy, he said quietly, his arm around my shoulders.
01:01:06The village will see this as the ultimate betrayal.
01:01:10The pack will test you.
01:01:11There will be days you will doubt.
01:01:13I know, I whispered, leaning into him.
01:01:17But you will not be alone, he promised, his lips brushing my temple.
01:01:21Every step, every breath.
01:01:23We are one now, Isla.
01:01:25Through the bond, I am with you.
01:01:27Always.
01:01:28Below, in the clearing, the howls began.
01:01:31Not the hunting cry, but the song of the pack.
01:01:34A complex, beautiful harmony of voices rising to the moon.
01:01:38It was a song of family.
01:01:40Of territory.
01:01:41Of joy.
01:01:42And now it was my song, too.
01:01:44Kale tilted his head back and joined them, his human voice blending into a deep, resonant
01:01:50howl that spoke of kingship and home.
01:01:53As the sound washed over me, I felt not fear, but a belonging so profound it ached.
01:01:59I had crossed the bridge.
01:02:01There was no going back.
01:02:02And as I stood there with my wolf king under the full moon, the first seed of a new plan
01:02:07began to germinate in my heart.
01:02:09I had failed to bring peace as a village girl, but perhaps, perhaps I could forge it
01:02:16as a luna, not by pleading with my people, but by proving the worth of his.
01:02:21The real work began now, and it would begin at dawn, with the one thing the village understood
01:02:27better than words, an act of undeniable, breathtaking sacrifice.
01:02:33Dawn in the heart of the thornwood was not a single event, but a slow, green unfurling.
01:02:38Light didn't break here.
01:02:40It seeped, filtering down through layers of canopy like water through stone, illuminating
01:02:46floating motes of life and the intricate, dewy webs of spiders.
01:02:50I awoke in Kale's dwelling, a vast chamber high in the central, ancient tree, lined with
01:02:56firs and lit by the first pale gleam of morning.
01:03:00His arm was a heavy, warm weight across my waist, his breathing deep and even against
01:03:05my back.
01:03:06The reality of the previous night, the ceremony, the vows, the howls, settled over me not as
01:03:12a dream, but as a new and terrifying skin I had to learn to inhabit.
01:03:17Luna, the title echoed in the quiet.
01:03:20It felt foreign, too grand for a herb-gatherer from a village of thatch and fear.
01:03:25But the bond in my chest, a steady golden pulse beside my own heartbeat, affirmed its truth.
01:03:31I could feel Kale's sleeping consciousness, a vast, quiet forest of thought beside the
01:03:37quicker, flickering stream of my own.
01:03:39It was intimate beyond anything I had ever known.
01:03:43As if sensing my wakefulness, his arm tightened slightly.
01:03:47Your thoughts are loud, my mate, he murmured, his voice sleep-roughened a vibration against
01:03:52my spine.
01:03:53They're terrified, I whispered back to the dim room.
01:03:57He shifted, turning me to face him.
01:04:00In the soft light, his features were less the severe lines of a king and more those of
01:04:05a man, a tired, ancient, hopeful man.
01:04:09He traced the line of my jaw with a calloused thumb.
01:04:12Fear is the companion of courage.
01:04:15You stood before my entire pack and claimed your place.
01:04:18There is more steel in you than you know.
01:04:20Claiming a place here is one thing, I said, the plan that had taken root in the moonlight,
01:04:26now sprouting thorns of doubt in the daylight.
01:04:29Getting your pack and my village to see past three hundred years of blood and fear is another.
01:04:35They won't listen to words, Kale, not from me anymore.
01:04:39Then what will they listen to?
01:04:40He asked, his golden eyes watchful.
01:04:43Action, I said, sitting up, the furs pooling around my waist.
01:04:47A sacrifice, not from them, but for them.
01:04:51An undeniable proof that the Varen are not just predators, but protectors.
01:04:56A wary interest sharpened his gaze.
01:04:59Explain.
01:05:01I took a deep breath.
01:05:02The village's fear is rooted in vulnerability.
01:05:05Their sheep, their children, their safety.
01:05:08What if the pack didn't just stop hunting their sheep, but actively protected them?
01:05:13What if we stopped a threat they couldn't see coming?
01:05:16Kale was fully awake now, propping himself on an elbow.
01:05:20What threat?
01:05:21When I was a child, before the fever took my parents, there were stories of raiders from the northern passes.
01:05:27They haven't come in years, but the fear of them remains.
01:05:31The village militia is a joke.
01:05:33Willem and a few farmers with pitchforks.
01:05:35They rely on the forest being a barrier.
01:05:38I met his eyes.
01:05:39What if that barrier became a shield?
01:05:41What if the Varen became the defenders they never knew they needed?
01:05:46He was silent for a long moment, his mind working behind those luminous eyes.
01:05:51I could feel the cascade of his thoughts through our bond.
01:05:54Strategic calculations, assessments of risk, the stubborn pride of a people who had been hunted, not hailed as heroes.
01:06:02You propose we fight for the humans who set snares for our children.
01:06:06I propose, I said carefully, that we change the story.
01:06:11Instead of the monsters in the wood, we become the guardians of the wood.
01:06:15Not for their sake alone, but for the sake of a true peace.
01:06:19For a border that isn't a bleeding line, but a shared space of respect.
01:06:23We save their lives, and in doing so, we force them to see ours.
01:06:28He swung his legs out of the bed.
01:06:31The powerful muscles of his back corded with tension.
01:06:35He stood at the opening of the dwelling, looking out over the waking heart of his territory.
01:06:41The silence stretched, filled with the distant sounds of the pack beginning their day.
01:06:47The chatter of children.
01:06:49The soft calls of hunters preparing to shift.
01:06:52It is a dangerous gamble, he said finally, without turning.
01:06:58We would be exposing ourselves, trusting those who have shown no capacity for trust.
01:07:04If it fails, we reveal our strength and our location, making us a clearer target.
01:07:10And if we do nothing, I said, joining him at the opening, placing a hand on the hard plane of his back,
01:07:17the hunting parties will continue, the traps will grow more clever, the hatred will fester until it explodes.
01:07:25You've held the line for centuries, Kale.
01:07:28I am asking you to redraw it.
01:07:30He turned, capturing my hand in his.
01:07:34His expression was fierce, torn.
01:07:37You ask me to risk my pack, my family, on the hope that human hearts can change?
01:07:43I am asking you to trust me, I said, pouring every ounce of my conviction into the bond, into my gaze,
01:07:52and to give them a reason to change, not a vague promise, but a truth written in saved lives.
01:08:00The conflict in him was a storm I could feel raging.
01:08:04The Alpha's caution warred with the vision of the future I painted,
01:08:08a future where his people could walk without fear, where the forest was truly a home, not a fortress under siege.
01:08:17Finally, the tension in his shoulders eased by a degree.
01:08:21We would need a true threat, he said, his voice pragmatic now.
01:08:26We cannot manufacture raiders.
01:08:28You've patrolled these woods for three hundred years.
01:08:33You know every rock in shadow.
01:08:35Is there a danger?
01:08:37Something real that moves in the deep passes that the village does not yet see?
01:08:43A grim light entered his eyes.
01:08:45There is always danger.
01:08:48But yes, to the north, beyond the Black Ridge,
01:08:51the Ungor.
01:08:52Not men, not beasts.
01:08:55Something older, twisted.
01:08:57They are scavengers, cave dwellers.
01:09:00But when their numbers swell, they raid.
01:09:03For flesh, for metal, for the sport of cruelty.
01:09:07Their scent has been drifting stronger on the north wind this past moon.
01:09:12A cold shiver, unrelated to the morning chill, traced my spine.
01:09:17I had heard whispers of the Ungor in the village's oldest, most terrified tales.
01:09:22Bogiemen used to scare children into obedience.
01:09:25To hear kale confirm their existence made the world feel darker, more crowded with teeth.
01:09:32They are coming, I stated, feeling the truth of it.
01:09:36They are gathering.
01:09:38My scouts have seen their signs.
01:09:40Gnawed bones, strange fetishes hung from trees.
01:09:44The smell of rot and cold stone.
01:09:46They will move when they have the numbers.
01:09:49Perhaps in a week.
01:09:51Perhaps two.
01:09:51Then that is our moment, I said, the plan crystallizing with a frightening clarity.
01:09:58We don't wait for them to hit the village.
01:10:01We meet them in the forest.
01:10:03Your pack and... and me.
01:10:05We stop them at the border.
01:10:07And we let the village see it.
01:10:09Or at least see the aftermath.
01:10:12Kale's gaze was piercing.
01:10:14You would fight?
01:10:15I would stand with my pack, I said, the words feeling utterly true.
01:10:21I would bear witness, and I would show the village that Yerluna does not hide behind her alpha, but stands beside him.
01:10:30A slow, proud smile touched his lips.
01:10:33The first true smile I had seen from him.
01:10:36It transformed his face, carving away centuries of loneliness.
01:10:40Then we prepare, and we pray to the old gods that your people's eyes are finally open enough to see.
01:10:49The next days were a whirlwind of quiet, purposeful activity.
01:10:54I was immersed in the life of the pack, a crash course in being Varan.
01:10:59Sarah became my shadow and my tutor, teaching me the basics of their silent language of gestures and chuffs,
01:11:06showing me how to move through the forest without a sound, which plants were edible, which were poison.
01:11:14I learned that the bond with Kale gave me an instinctive, low-level awareness of the other pack members,
01:11:20a sense of their general location and emotional state, like feeling the heat from nearby candles.
01:11:27I also felt the lingering reservations.
01:11:30While most of the pack had accepted me as their alpha's choice, acceptance was not the same as trust.
01:11:37The elder, Mira, was courteous but distant, watching me like a hawk watching a new, unfamiliar creature in its territory.
01:11:46The fiery-haired young male, whose name was Rylan, was openly skeptical,
01:11:52challenging my presence on hunts and questioning my knowledge at every turn.
01:11:56The human thinks she can track the ungor, he sneered one afternoon as scouts reported back.
01:12:03She'll startle a squirrel and give us all away.
01:12:06Before I could form a retort, Kale's voice cut through the clearing, soft but edged with frost.
01:12:13Your Luna has walked the deep wood alone and returned with shadow moss.
01:12:17She has the scent of the river and the iron of the trap on her spirit.
01:12:21She is pack.
01:12:23You will remember that, or you will answer to me.
01:12:27Rylan dipped his head, chastised but not convinced.
01:12:31The exchange showed me the delicate line Kale walked,
01:12:35honoring the pack's traditional skepticism while forcefully integrating me.
01:12:40At night, in the privacy of our dwelling, the bond deepened in other ways.
01:12:45Our connection was not just emotional or strategic, it was a merging of senses.
01:12:50I began to see the world through his wolf's eyes at times, the sharp, vivid tapestry of scent trails painting the air,
01:12:59the heat signatures of small creatures hiding in burrows.
01:13:02I felt the exhilarating power of his four-legged form, the rush of wind through fur, the primal joy of the hunt.
01:13:11In return, he shared in my human memories the crushing loneliness of my parents' death,
01:13:18the sting of the villagers' taunts, the simple joy of sun on my face by the river.
01:13:23We were weaving our lives together, tread by painful, beautiful thread.
01:13:30A week after my arrival, the scouts returned with urgent news.
01:13:34The Ungor were on the move.
01:13:36A war band of twenty, maybe thirty, was creeping through the high passes,
01:13:42heading directly for the valley where the village lay, oblivious.
01:13:46They would reach the forest's northern fringe by the next night.
01:13:50The time for preparation was over.
01:13:53A council was called in the great hollow tree.
01:13:56The atmosphere was thick with tension, and the sharp, clean scent of impending battle.
01:14:01Kale stood before the assembled warriors, both in human and wolf form.
01:14:07I stood at his right hand, my simple dress exchanged for soft leather trousers and a tunic Sarah had lent me.
01:14:15I felt absurdly human, hopelessly fragile.
01:14:19The Ungor come, Kale announced, his voice ringing against the living wood.
01:14:25They seek easy prey.
01:14:26They will find none.
01:14:28We meet M at the stone sentinel, where the pass narrows.
01:14:32We stop them there.
01:14:34His gaze swept the room, landing on me.
01:14:37The Luna's plan stands.
01:14:39We do not merely defeat them.
01:14:41We leave a message.
01:14:43For the Ungor and for the humans.
01:14:46We fight as one pack.
01:14:48We protect what is ours.
01:14:50And our borders.
01:14:51There were nods, grim and determined.
01:14:55This was a threat they understood.
01:14:56A clear, vile enemy from outside.
01:15:00Fighting them was in their blood.
01:15:02Using that fight to send a message to the village was the novel, uneasy part.
01:15:07Mira stepped forward.
01:15:09And the human village.
01:15:10How do we ensure they see this message, Alpha?
01:15:14All eyes turned to me.
01:15:15This was my moment.
01:15:16They have a woodcutter's camp near the stone sentinel, I said, my voice surprisingly steady.
01:15:24Old Brennan.
01:15:25He's half deaf and goes there every week.
01:15:27He'll be there tomorrow to check his traps.
01:15:30He'll see the battle, or he'll see its aftermath.
01:15:33He's a gossip of the highest order.
01:15:35If he sees Varin protecting the forest from true monsters, the whole village will know by sundown.
01:15:41Kale gave a sharp nod.
01:15:44Then it is settled.
01:15:45We move at dusk.
01:15:47Hunt in pairs.
01:15:48Shield formation at the narrows.
01:15:50Let the rocks and the trees be your allies.
01:15:53No heroics.
01:15:54We fight smart, and we fight to win.
01:15:57As the pack dispersed to ready their weapons and their spirits, Kale pulled me aside, into
01:16:03a small, secluded alcove.
01:16:05His hands framed my face, his touch desperately gentle.
01:16:10Isla, you do not have to be on the front line.
01:16:13You can stay at the rear with the scouts.
01:16:16I shook my head, leaning into his touch.
01:16:19I can't ask them to risk their lives for a human idea if I'm not willing to stand with
01:16:24them.
01:16:24I'm not a warrior, Kale, but I can be a witness, and I can fight if I have to.
01:16:30He searched my eyes, and I felt his fear for me, a cold, sharp terror that was entirely
01:16:36new to him, flow through the bond, along with a fierce, blazing pride.
01:16:41Then stay by my side, he whispered, his forehead coming to rest against mine.
01:16:47Always.
01:16:48If the battle turns, you run.
01:16:50You promise me.
01:16:52I promised.
01:16:53I knew I would do no such thing.
01:16:55He kissed me then, deep and desperate.
01:16:58A kiss that tasted of love and fear and the wild, dark future rushing toward us.
01:17:04The stone sentinel was a massive, weathered pillar of rock that stood like a crumbling
01:17:09watchtower at the mouth of a narrow defile.
01:17:13The setting sun painted it in bloody orange and long, stretching shadows.
01:17:17The air here was different, colder, thinner, carrying a faint, foul odor of damp fur and
01:17:24spoiled meat, the ungore stench.
01:17:27The Varan warriors were ghosts in the gathering gloom.
01:17:30Some, like Kale and Rylan, remained in human form, armed with bows and long, wicked-looking
01:17:36knives.
01:17:37Others were in wolf form, including the grizzled sentry, Gareth, who gave me a curt, acknowledging
01:17:43dip of his head as I took my position behind a large boulder beside Kale.
01:17:47Sarah, in wolf form, pressed her warm flank against my leg, a silent offer of support.
01:17:54We didn't have to wait long.
01:17:56The first sign was a skittering of loose pebbles from the pass.
01:17:59Then shapes emerged from the shadows.
01:18:02The ungore were nightmares given form.
01:18:05They walked upright, but with a crooked, stalking gait.
01:18:08Their skin was a mottled gray, hairless and slick-looking.
01:18:12Their faces were elongated, mouths too full of needle-like teeth, and eyes like black pits
01:18:18that reflected no light.
01:18:20They were armed with crude clubs studded with flint and rusted metal, and they communicated
01:18:25with cliques and guttural grunts.
01:18:27A primal, instinctive revulsion rose in my throat.
01:18:31These were not beings you could reason with.
01:18:33They were pure, mindless avarice and cruelty.
01:18:37Seeing them, any last doubt about our purpose vanished.
01:18:40If they reached the village, it would be a slaughterhouse.
01:18:45Kale raised a closed fist.
01:18:47The pack held, a collective breath drawn.
01:18:50The ungore scouts entered the kill zone, sniffing the air suspiciously.
01:18:54They sensed something was wrong, but their hunger and arrogance drove them forward.
01:18:59The main warband, about 25 strong, shuffled into the narrow space between the high rock walls.
01:19:06Kale's fist dropped.
01:19:07Silence exploded into chaos.
01:19:09Arrows whistled from the rocks above, finding ungore throats and eyes with deadly accuracy.
01:19:15From hidden crevices, wolves launched themselves, silent and deadly, going for hamstrings and
01:19:21throats.
01:19:22The ungores shrieked, a sound that clawed at the ears, and their formation dissolved into
01:19:27a panicked, furious mob.
01:19:29Kale shifted.
01:19:30Kale shifted.
01:19:31One moment he was a man beside me.
01:19:32The next, the great black wolf was leaping down from our perch, a living shadow of vengeance.
01:19:38He moved with a terrifying, beautiful grace, a force of nature cutting through the ungore
01:19:43ranks.
01:19:44Rylan, still in human form, fought with two knives, a whirlwind of flashing steel.
01:19:50It was horrifying.
01:19:51It was mesmerizing.
01:19:52The efficiency of the pack was breathtaking.
01:19:56They fought as a single organism, a dance of death where every member knew their part.
01:20:01A wolf would harry an ungore, driving it toward a waiting warrior with a knife.
01:20:06An archer would cover a retreat.
01:20:08But the ungore were strong and vicious.
01:20:10One broke through, clubbing a young wolf with a sickening crack.
01:20:14The wolf yelped and went down.
01:20:16Another ungore raised its club for the killing blow.
01:20:18I didn't think.
01:20:20I moved.
01:20:21Snatching up a heavy, sharp-edged stone, I screamed, a raw human sound that cut through
01:20:27the animal snarls and hurled it with all my strength.
01:20:31It struck the ungore in the temple.
01:20:33It wasn't a killing blow, but it staggered him, spoiling his strike.
01:20:37In that instant, Sarah was there, her jaws closing on his arm, bone crunching.
01:20:42I had drawn attention.
01:20:44Two ungore, their black eyes fixing on me, broke from the melee and began scrambling
01:20:49up the rocks towards my position.
01:20:51Their intent was plain in their hungry gazes.
01:20:54I was exposed.
01:20:55Human.
01:20:56Weak.
01:20:57Terror, cold and absolute, locked my limbs.
01:21:00I fumbled for the small eating knife at my belt.
01:21:03It was a pathetic tool against these monsters.
01:21:06A roar filled my senses.
01:21:08Not through my ears, but through the bond.
01:21:10A wave of protective fury, so potent it burned.
01:21:14A black blur intercepted the lead ungore mid-leap, Kale.
01:21:18His jaws closed around its neck, and with a powerful shake, he snapped its spine.
01:21:23The second ungore lunged at his exposed side.
01:21:27Kale!
01:21:28I screamed.
01:21:29But Gareth was there.
01:21:31The old sentry met the ungore's charge head-on, taking a brutal blow from its club on his shoulder.
01:21:37But his own teeth found its throat.
01:21:39The fight was short, ugly, and final.
01:21:43The battle, in truth, lasted only minutes.
01:21:46The disciplined ferocity of the Varen overwhelmed the disorganized brutality of the ungore.
01:21:52When the last gurgling shriek faded, the defile was silent, but for the heavy panting of wolves
01:21:58and the moans of the dying ungore, which were swiftly, mercifully silenced.
01:22:04The cost?
01:22:05First, Lysander had a broken leg.
01:22:08Gareth bore a deep, bloody gash on his shoulder.
01:22:11Others had minor cuts and bruises.
01:22:14Against a warband of ungore, it was a miraculous victory.
01:22:18But the victory felt hollow as I climbed down on shaking legs into the charnel house of the defile.
01:22:24The stench of blood and voided bowels was overwhelming.
01:22:28I stumbled to Lysander, kneeling beside him, my hands hovering over his injury.
01:22:35His pain echoed dully in the pack bond, a throbbing ache.
01:22:39Kale shifted back to human form, his chest heaving, his skin splattered with dark blood, came to my side.
01:22:47He gripped my shoulder, his touch grounding me.
01:22:51Are you hurt?
01:22:53I shook my head, unable to speak, my eyes scanning the scene of carnage.
01:22:58This was what I had asked for.
01:23:00This violence, this blood-soaked ground was to be our message of peace.
01:23:05It felt like a grotesque contradiction.
01:23:08Then, a sound.
01:23:10A gasp, quickly stifled.
01:23:12We all turned.
01:23:14On the ridge above the defile, half hidden by a stunted pine, stood old Brennan.
01:23:20His woodcutter's axe was slack in his hand.
01:23:23His mouth hung open, his face a mask of utter, stupefied terror and dawning, bewildered comprehension.
01:23:32He had seen it all.
01:23:33The monsters from the deepest nightmares and the wolves, the Varen, fighting like legendary heroes to destroy them.
01:23:41He had seen his outcast village girl standing among them, protected by them, throwing a stone in their defense.
01:23:49He had seen the great black wolf that was his alpha defend her with a fury that was more than animal.
01:23:55Our eyes met across the blood-streaked rocks.
01:23:58In his, I saw the shattering of a lifetime of assumptions.
01:24:03Kale's hand tightened on my shoulder.
01:24:05He gave a low, soft growl.
01:24:07A signal.
01:24:08The pack began to move, melting away into the forest, carrying their wounded, leaving the scene of the battle and the stunned human witness behind.
01:24:18We retreated to a safe distance, to a clearing upstream where we could tend our wounds.
01:24:24As Sarah and Mira saw to Lysander and Gareth, Kale led me to the river's edge.
01:24:29He knelt, washing the blood from his hands and face.
01:24:32The water ran pink, then clear.
01:24:34He saw, I said, my voice thin.
01:24:38He did, Kale confirmed, standing and facing me.
01:24:42In the twilight, he looked more like an ancient warrior god than ever, but his eyes were only for me.
01:24:49Now we see if your faith in human nature is justified.
01:24:52Exhaustion, delayed and total, crashed over me.
01:24:57My knees buckled.
01:24:58Kale caught me, lifting me into his arms as if I weighed nothing.
01:25:02He carried me away from the water, back toward the heart of the forest, toward home.
01:25:08Cradled against his chest, listening to the steady, strong beat of his heart, I sent a silent, desperate prayer into the darkening sky.
01:25:16Let him tell them, let them believe, let this blood mean something more than just survival.
01:25:23Let it be the start.
01:25:25The bridge was built.
01:25:26It was forged in violence and sealed in blood.
01:25:30Now we would see if anyone dared to walk across it.
01:25:33The bridge was built.
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