“ Layla, you’re not chaffing anyone, ” Tyrrell’s voice cut through the thick silence that had settled over them. His tone was sharper than usual, but his eyes those eyes she had always trusted were full of concern. Layla had tried to bury her emotions, tried to ignore the eating feeling in the hole of her stomach, but Tyrrell knew her too well.What do you mean? she asked, quiet, pretending innocence. She had no idea why she indeed bothered. Tyrrell could see right through her, anyway, and right now there was not indeed a point trying to hide it.“ You’ve been. different recently, ” he said, taking a step closer, his eyes narrowing slightly as he examined her. “ You’re not talking as important. You’re. distant. You’ve got this look in your eyes, like you’re nearly differently entirely. What’s going on, Layla ”She felt the weight of his aspect , felt the verity of his words sinking in. For the once many days, she had been keeping her distance from everyone. But the visions the whisper
" Are you sure about this?" Tyrrell's voice was low, edged with concern, as he looked over at Layla. The two of them stood on the edge of their camp, looking out at the darkened horizon, a sense of unease hanging between them like the weight of an approaching storm. His hand, steady but firm, rested on her shoulder, resting her as the silence around them pressed in.For several moments, Layla said nothing. She let out a pulsing breath, as if she shook off the feeling that eroded at her. She felt. different. There was no denying it presently. Her powers were coming- changeable, willful , inarguable. It felt as if, with Duncan's retreat only temporary, they were standing on the threshold of something so much worse.I do not know what is passing to me, Tyrrell, Layla eventually rumored, her voice soft but full of the weight of her words. It's like every day I feel. more. further power, further responsibility, further questions. And with Duncan still out there, I do not know what to antic
" You really suppose this is the right thing to do?" Tyrrell's voice sliced through the silent room, concern etched upon his words as he paced across the room, his hands strained at his sides, his knuckles white from the restraint of keeping them still.Layla did not turn to him incontinently. She had been looking at the door, staying. He'd promised to meet her tonight. In the quiet moments, her thoughts churned. The visions, the whispers, the power coursing through her- it was each too important. But the only way she was going to understand it was by reaching out to the one person who sounded to know something about it. The only one who had appeared during the fight, the one who had given her those cryptic words that dallied like an itch she could not scratch." I've to, Tyrrell," Layla said vocally, her voice pigmented with query, yet resoluteness. She eventually faced him, her eyes heavy with the weight of the decision she had made." I can not keep pretending that I've everything f
Layla sat at the edge of her bed, gaping blankly out the window, her mind a whirlwind of confusion and fear. The night had fallen quiet around her, the soft hum of the world outside only heightening the silence that pressed in on her from every side. Ever since the prophecy had started indurate up within her mind, she had not been suitable to get relieve of this feeling of dread nestled in her casket. It was as if it was gradationally crushing her down.She felt him before she heard him. Tyrrell. His presence was always like a steady palpitation, assuring, familiar. Yet, tonight, it felt ever different. There was something in the way he moved toward her, his movements acting to reach out across the space between them, the wall she had not meant to make but could not tear down." Layla," his voice was soft but thick with concern as he stopped just behind her." You’ve been over then for hours. Everything alright?"The question got to her heart and tensed it. She had not wanted him to no
Layla woke with a jolt, her breath coarse and labored, the echoes of the dream still rattling her veritably bones. She sat up in bed, her heart pounding against her caricature pen like some kind of crazy war barrel. The room was pitch black, save the dim moonlight that managed to slip its way through the curtains. She turned a regard at Tyrrell, who lay sleeping serenely beside her, his chest rising and falling in regular intervals. She begrudged the peace that always sounded to shirk her." Again," she murmured, her voice low, running a hand through the tangles of her hair. The dreams, they noway stopped. With each passing night, they came more pictorial, more pertinacious, drawing her further along a path she was n't at each certain she wished to traipse.Always that figure stood in her life altitudinous, covered by murk, with a voice deep and foreboding; he spoke to her in mysteries, each one making her skin bottleneck. It had formerly told her she was meant for something bigger, m
" Why do I feel like I am drowning?" Layla murmured to herself as she stood on the edge of the cliff, the wind whipping her hair around her face. Below her, the ocean roared like an angry beast, a constant memorial of the chaos swirling inside her.Her mind had been a maze of fancies, fears, and the vaticination that lay heavy upon her chest. For days, she had tried to erect together everything that had come too important to bear; the more she set up out, the more lost she felt." You’re not drowning," a voice said from behind her, pulling her from her thoughts. She did n’t need to turn around to know it was Tyrrell. His presence was constant, a steady anchor in a world that felt like it was falling piecemeal.She took a deep breath in, filling her lungs to capacity before exhaling sluggishly." Feels like I am," she confessed, her voice quieter than normal." I allowed I could handle this. Allowed it would make sense. But the more I try to figure it out, the worse it gets."Tyrrell ste
" You do not understand," Layla rumored, her voice slightly holding the fluctuate. All this the weight of her powers, the prophecy, the impending battle- was too important to bear alone. She stood at the window, a witness as the horizon darkened with each passing minute the sun traveled further west." It's noway been about us. It noway was."He stood a many bases down, his arms crossed over his casket as he watched her with an intensity she could not read. His silence only served to make the pressure between them heavier, thickening it, suffocating. She could feel the gap between them grow wider, every fleeting moment reminding her of the distance that had crept in since she would first learned the truth about her role." You are right," Tyrrell eventually said, his voice softer than usual." I do not understand it, and perhaps I noway will. But I do understand that I am losing you, Layla." His words were like a gut punch. The look in his eyes- pained, frustrated, defeated- nearly shat
" You prevaricated to me." Layla's voice was no further than a tale, but the weight within that unpretentious tone stilled the air around them. Her hands shook at her sides, gripped so tightly into fists that her nails dug into her triumphs. She slightly felt it. She slightly felt anything past the burning in her chest.Alexander was across from her, his face undecipherable, a flicker of something- regret? No. He did not get to lament this. Not after everything." Layla-" Do n't." Her voice whipped out, like a scourge cracking through whatever excuse he was about to throw at her." You do not get to explain. You do not get to twist this into something it's not. Just tell me the verity for formerly. Was any of it real? Any of it at all?"Alexander exhaled, his jaw tightening." It was noway meant to be like this."It was a sharp laugh that tasted of bane; it smelled at Layla's lingo." What does that indeed mean? You played me. You played all of us." She took another step closer, gaping
"You should've stopped me."Layla's voice pierced the silence of the war room, as sharp as the blade she had just driven into the wooden table. The candlelight danced, casting long shadows across the stone walls, but neither she nor Tyrrell paid it any mind.Tyrrell stood across from her, arms folded, his expression unreadable. "Stopped you from what? Saving what's left of us?"Layla huffed out an angry laugh as she ran her hand through her hair. "No, for making the damned decision in the first place-for sending Samira on that mission, for allowing myself to dream we had something of a possibility to win in this."Tyrrell's jaw clenched. "She knew the risk.""Don't." Layla pointed a shaking finger at Tyrrell. "Don't even dare act as if that does make it easy.Tyrrell let out a slow breath, the weight of the night bearing down on him. "You think I don't feel it? You think I don't hear her screaming in my head every time I close my damn eyes?"Layla's fists clenched. "Then why do you ke
"You sure about this?"Tyrrell looked up from his blade, running a cloth over its edge one last time. Elias was across from him, arms crossed, brows furrowed. The flickering torchlight in the room lent gravity to the tension between them."We don't have a choice," Tyrrell muttered, sliding the dagger into his belt.Elias let out a slow breath, shaking his head. "We always have a choice."Not this time."Layla stood at the far side of the war room, staring down at the map stretched across the wood table. The enemy's supply lines ran deep-carefully planned, well-guarded. Cutting them off wouldn't just weaken their hold on the siege. It could turn the tide completely.But it had to be done right.Layla dug her fingers into the surface of the table, her mind racing. "Infiltration won't be the hard part," she said finally. "It's getting back out."Tyrrell smirked. "Good thing I like a challenge."Elias wasn't amused. "This isn't a game."Layla raised her head, her gaze sharp. "That's enoug
" They are out there."Layla did not need Tyrrell to tell her that. She could feel it- the weight in the air, thick with expectation. The enemy forces had moved like murk in the night, girding the fort with ruthless perfection. Now they were staying, watching, tensing the mesh.She stood at the edge of the stone wall, surveying the treeline beyond the open field. The torches lining their defenses flitted, their light slightly pushing back the darkness." How numerous?" she asked, voice low.Tyrrell exhaled through his nose, his expression grim." further than we can count from over then. They have cut off every possible escape route. We are boxed in."A muscle in her jaw ticked." No reinforcements?"Tyrrell shook his head." Nothing. No dispatches getting in or out. They have got runners watching every path. The alternate anyone tries to break through, they'll be torn piecemeal."Layla's fingers coiled into fists. This was not just a siege. This was a slow, deliberate suffocation.A fig
" You should not be then." Layla's voice was a whip of sword, slicing through the night.The firelight danced across her face as she goggled at the figure standing just beyond its light. The people behind her were tense, ready to attack at her word, but she raised a hand, averting them. This was n't an ordinary enemy.The man before her took a slow step forward, his movements deliberate, as if testing the weight of her words. His dark eyes glistered with something undecipherable, something Layla did n’t trust.“ I came to talk, ” he said, voice smooth, calm. Too calm. “ That is, unless you’d rather continue this war alone. ”Besides her, Tyrrell shifted, fingers twitching on his belt to where his gun rested." You anticipate us to believe you came then just to sputter, Cassius?" His voice had a healthy quantum of doubt trickling from it.Cassius scowled and crossed his arms over his casket." What can I say? I am feeling generous tonight.Layla studied him, her instincts at war with her
" Move out, now!" Layla's voice cut through the pressure in the camp, sharp and commanding, like a cutter. Her eyes darted over her pack, surveying the faces of those who had gathered. Every one of them stood ready, but she could feel the unease in the air. There was no turning back now.Eerily silent, the camp fell as they came together, importing the storm above them that hung in the air. Everyone knew what was to be gained and lost. Every wolf, every fighter, understood the risk. But there was no fear. Not yet. Layla refused to let in the fear. Not today." Ready?" she rumoured, her voice low but indeed. She scrutinized around, again coming to rest on the figure that stood beside her- Jace deposited himself at her side, was formerly holding his armament, his eyes sharp and focused." Ready as we'll ever be," Jace said, slightly above a murmur in the still air." They are coming. Got to move out."In one nippy stir, Layla gave the order, and the pack surged forward. The earth sounded
" You ready?" Jace's voice was low, the question carrying an edge to it that had not been there ahead. It was the kind of question you ask when you know the answer is everything.Layla did not say anything right down. She dragged on the strips of her gear, and her fritters squeezed tight around the hilt of the brand hanging at her side. She felt its weight all the weight, really, of everything that had brought them to this point every decision, every fight, every defeat leading up to now. And the storm was about to hit.Just get this over with," she murmured, further to herself than to Jace. But he heard it, and the nod he gave her was slightly distinguishable. He knew what she was allowing, perhaps indeed better than she did.They were standing in the camp, the fire fluttering low, the air thick with tension. A many of the other wolves were scattered around, stropping weapons, agitating strategies in hushed tones. But Layla was not concentrated on them. Her eyes were fixed on the hor
"Where is he?"Layla's voice cut into the thick, heavy silence like a blade that had been whetted by the weight it carried within this war room. The room itself was dark-the only light an occasional flickering from the low-burning fire, dancing in shadows across old stone walls. Hard, cool eyes stared without blinking at a map laid flat before her; crumpled, yet serviceable. Plans were being rehashed, people regrouped, and answers were needed.The injuries to Tyrrell had been grievous, and still convalescing, he would not be much help in times to come anytime sooner. Finally, out of danger but still with dark circles beneath his eyes and shallow jerks of breath with movement, he did little good for Layla, who was running out of time after all-not with the threat of war looming in every direction.One of her most trusted warriors, Jace, spoke up, his voice low but firm. "Dorian's families holed up at their estate, a few miles to the west. But it's heavily guarded. No one's gotten in si
Layla felt her instincts kick in as she and her team moved through the dense forest. The air was heavier than it should be, thick with a silence that unnerved her. Even the leaves rustling sounded like they held their breath. She knew something was off, but she wasn't quite sure what. Yet."Something's off," she muttered, scanning around them.Tyrrell, walking a few paces ahead, didn’t respond right away. He was always the more level-headed of the two. “Keep moving,” he finally said, his voice steady, though his own sharp eyes darted to the treeline. “We’ve been through worse.”Layla nodded, but the knot in her stomach constricted. Every part of her was screaming that they were walking right into a trap-a trap she hadn't seen coming, not this one, not from this ally.But with the first chopper sound wave, her thoughts flashed to Dorian-a wolf, one of their staunchest allies who'd fought with them for months-run through her brain. He's the one brought the intel-insisted this route woul
“You’re sure this is the place” Layla asked, her voice tight with a blend of jitters and determination. She squinched low, her eyes surveying the darkened landscape beyond the trees, where the faintest figure of the enemy's fort impended. The night was still, save for the occasional howl of leaves. The air felt thick, as if it was holding its breath.Tyrrell jounced. His aspect cut through the murk sprucely." The information's good. The rogue wolves we've encountered are from this area. We cannot let them get any further, Layla. We need answers."Layla's jaw tensed, her heart pounding in her chest. also, we take them, she said, her voice firm. We get the answers we need, and we do it presto.Tyrrell's eyes darted to her." Stay focused. We need to move still.She smelled her teeth but said nothing. It had been a long way, and the last thing she wanted was to peril this chance at getting inside enemy home. Every step had been calculated, every moment measured. The enemy's operations wer