Age 15. The Ice Cave. The wind is a living thing here—a feral, snarling beast that gnaws at the edges of the world. It claws through layers of sealskin and caribou hide, needling my bones with a cold so sharp it feels like betrayal. My breath crystallizes before it leaves my lips, and the snow underfoot groans like a dying animal. The meat strapped to my chest is a furnace, its warmth leaching through my furs, a guilty secret pressed against my ribs. Rabbit. Fresh-killed. Stolen. The ice cave is a jagged scar in the glacier’s flank, its entrance half-buried under drifts. I dig with bare hands, the cold searing my fingertips raw. Inside, the walls glisten like the throat of some primordial creature, veins of cobalt and iron ore threading through the ice. Lira huddles in the deepest recess, her body swallowed by a nest of mangy pelts. Fox, maybe. Wolf. Discards. “Viktor?” Her voice is a moth’s wing, brittle and fraying. I toss the rabbit at her feet. The meat thuds dully, steam
The tundra is a liar. It promises nothing but takes everything—your warmth, your voice, your name. By the time the Unbound found me, seven years had hardened into ice inside my chest. Seven years of chewing leather belts until my gums bled, licking frost off jagged rocks just to wet my tongue. Seven years of listening to Vorath’s voice coil around my thoughts like smoke, whispering things that made the cold feel like a lover. I didn’t care if I lived. I didn’t care if I died. But then Mara stepped out of the snow, her scarred lips twisted into a grin, and something inside me cracked. A sliver of curiosity, sharp and cold, like the edge of a blade pressed to a thawing vein.She stood taller than the others, her shoulders draped in a pelt stitched from wolf hides and something darker—bear, maybe, or human. The scar splitting her lips gleamed in the weak light, a pale thread weaving through weathered skin. Her eyes were flint, sharp enough to spark.“Viktor Frostfang,” she said, her voic
The wind screamed through the whale’s ribs, a banshee’s wail that drowned the scrape of my blade against stone. Three nights in the Unbound’s belly had taught me this: ash choked the stew, lies choked the air, and Mara’s eyes never left my back.She found me in the skull’s shadow, sharpening a stolen dagger. The obsidian edge caught the firelight, fracturing her reflection into shards.“Elder Yrsa,” she said, flipping her own blade in her hand. The name was a knife.I kept sharpening. “What about her?”“Kill her.”The stone slipped. The dagger bit my palm. Blood welled, black in the dim light. Vorath hissed, a serpent coiling tighter. Yrsa. The singer. The liar.I forced my voice flat. “Why?”Mara’s boot crunched ice as she circled me. “You don’t ask why. You obey.”I laughed, bitter. “You’re not my Alpha.”“No.” She crouched, her scarred lips inches from my ear. “I’m worse.”Her dagger slammed into the ice between my legs. The hilt vibrated, humming like a struck chord.“Yrsa’s the l
The wind clawed at the tent’s remains, shredding smoke and memory into the endless gray. I knelt in the snow, retching until my throat burned raw. Yrsa’s blood had frozen midair, crimson icicles littering the ground like broken glass. The stew pot lay on its side, carrots scattered—tiny, accusing eyes.Pathetic, Vorath snarled. Not in my mind. In my teeth.Mara emerged from the blizzard, her pelt crusted with ice. She didn’t crouch. Didn’t smirk. Just stared, her scarred face a cliffside eroded by storms. “Crying?”I wiped my mouth with a trembling hand. “Frost.”“Frost doesn’t stink of shame.” She kicked the stew pot, sending it clattering into the dark. “You killed her. Now live with it.”Behind her, the Unbound picked Yrsa’s tent clean. A man with a split lip yanked the raven feather from its string, tucked it behind his ear. A woman with frost-rotted fingers hacked off Yrsa’s braid, stuffing it into a leather pouch. No ceremony. No words. Just the wet snick of blades and the creak
The Scholar’s Gambit (Viktor, Age: 28)The lab stank of antiseptic and thawing rot. I pressed my palm to the observation window, fogging the glass with my breath as I watched Dr. Elena Voss slice into the dead wolf’s chest. Her scalpel peeled back ribs like she was opening a gift. Too slow. Too careful. Humans always hesitated. “Femoral artery’s thicker than normal,” she said, gloved fingers prodding rubbery muscle. Her German accent sharpened every word, like she was lecturing a child. “Reinforced, almost. Like it evolved to withstand—” “Blood loss during shifts,” I cut in. My reflection grinned back at me in the glass—pale, gaunt, eyes too bright. “You’re wasting time. Cut deeper.” She stiffened, goggles flashing as she glanced up. “This isn’t a butcher shop. If you want progress, let me work properly.” I laughed. The sound bounced off the lab’s steel walls, harsh and hollow. “Proper? You think wolves die properly out here?” I descended the metal stairs, boots clanging. The
The Silver Claw (Viktor Age; 35)The trapper’s blood steamed in the cold, pooling around my boots like molten copper. I crouched over his corpse, fingers buried in his ribcage, prying loose the liver. The forest reeked of iron and pine sap. A twig snapped. I froze, knife slick in my grip. A girl stood at the tree line, her breath fogging the air. Sixteen, maybe. Skinny. Eyes sunken, like she hadn’t slept in weeks. Her parka was patched with wolf fur, her boots caked in mud. Blood Moon colors. “I know what you are,” she said, voice trembling. Not from fear—from hunger. I tossed the liver into the snow. It landed with a wet thud. “Then you know what happens to pups who wander too far.” She didn’t flinch. “They say you turn people into monsters.” I wiped the blade on my sleeve. “They say a lot of things.” “I want you to make me one.” I laughed. The sound startled a raven from the trees. “You don’t want what I am.” She stepped closer. The trapper’s blood soaked into her
The ruins swallowed me whole. Ice clawed up the pillars like frostbitten fingers, their jagged edges scraping a starless sky. My breath came in ragged bursts, each exhale a cloud of frost that hung in the air like a ghost. The bone dagger trembled in my grip—surgeon’s hands, steady once, now betraying me. The blade’s edge bit colder than the wind gnawing through my coat, colder than the void where Lira’s laugh used to live.Rot.It hit me first as a stench. My knuckles wept flesh, black veins spidering up my arms like cracks in a shattered window. Vorath writhed inside me, a thousand teeth grinding my bones to dust. I hadn’t eaten in days. Didn’t need to. The parasite feasted well.“You’re dying.”Angela’s voice cut through the silence, sharp as the dagger’s edge. She stood at the rim of the ruins, her silhouette warped by the thing festering inside her—claws too long, spine arched like a wolf mid-leap, eyes glowing sulfur-bright. But her voice… her voice was still hers. Soft. Human.
The blade bit deeper into my wrist. Blood spilling blood onto the ice with a hiss. The ritual circle flared acid-green. My bones snapping, fingers stretching into talons. Angela slammed against the barrier again with enough force to make it rattle from its foundation, her claws leaving smears of her own blood on the shimmering air.“You think this makes you strong?” she shouted, voice raw. “You’re just its tool now!”I tried to answer, but my jaw cracked, tendons snapping as it unhinged. Venom dripped from fangs that hadn’t been there seconds ago. The taste burned my tongue—rot and iron. Vorath’s laughter vibrated in my chest, louder than my own heartbeat.Angela lunged sideways, hunting for a weak spot in the barrier. Her mutated arm lashed out, talons raking the ice near the edge of the circle. The green light flickered.“Clever,” I rasped, the words slurred around too many teeth. My left eye was gone, replaced by a wet, bulging orb that saw in heat and shadows. “But you’re too late
The elders agreed to my terms, of course. What choice did they have? Silas would die without the ritual, and the pack needed both of us.The ceremony room was deep beneath the pack house, a circular chamber carved from bedrock, walls decorated with ancient symbols of the Moon Goddess. Moonlight filtered in through a shaft in the ceiling, illuminating a raised stone platform in the center. Behind it stood a carved altar bearing ceremonial knives, bowls, and herbs.Zeta Clara, the oldest of the pack elders, supervised the preparations. Pack members laid Silas on the platform, his body covered only by a thin sheet. The black poison lines stood out starkly against his pale skin, like veins of obsidian beneath the surface. I could see how they pulsed with each labored heartbeat."You understand what this ritual entails?" Zeta Clara asked me as I changed into the simple white shift they'd provided."Bella explained it.""Not just physically," she pressed. "Spiritually. Emotionally. You will
Three days. Three fucking days, and Silas hadn't opened his eyes.I hadn't left his side except to piss or when Zeta Ruth forced me to eat something. The room stank of sickness, silver poisoning, and my own unwashed body. Dark circles tattooed themselves under my eyes. I didn't care."His temperature's rising again," Zeta Ruth said, checking the digital thermometer. "103.8."The pack's head healer looked as exhausted as I felt. She'd been working around the clock, trying every treatment in the book and some that weren't. Nothing touched the silver poisoning. The black lines had spread across his entire torso now, up his neck, down his arms. Some had reached his face, thin dark veins like cracks in porcelain."More ice," she instructed her assistant, who hurried off to fetch it. She turned to me. "You need to rest, Stella. You're not helping him by making yourself sick.""I'm fine," I said for the thousandth time.She sighed but didn't argue. Smart woman.The door opened, and Bella wad
I couldn't wait any longer. I reached for that building pressure inside me and PUSHED, just as Rona had suggested.BOOM!The power exploded outward from my chest, following the paths of the needles and tubes. The burning silver became a conduit rather than a barrier. The black lines on my skin brightened to silver-white, spreading rapidly across my entire body."What the—" Logan began, but was cut off as the tubes connected to me burst, spraying blood in all directions.The restraints holding me shattered as the power wave hit them. I sat up, ripping the remaining needles from my body. Each extraction point sealed itself instantly, the white-silver lines on my skin concentrating around the wounds."Stop her!" Logan shouted.The human woman backed away, terror in her eyes. Angela rose from her chair, shifting as she moved. Her pregnant form distorted the shift, making it slower, awkward. Logan reached for something under the console—a weapon, probably.I couldn't worry about them. I tu
She smiled, a cold expression that reminded me of our father. "I made sure you and Silas never completed your mate bond. I made sure you ran. I arranged everything."A chill ran through me. "What?""The attack five years ago," she said, her voice matter-of-fact. "I arranged it. Aaron, Marcus, Jacob—they were all following my suggestion. 'Teach the wolfless bitch a lesson,' I told them. 'Show her what happens to omegas.'"My vision blurred with rage. Five years of nightmares, of trauma, of struggling to survive—all because my sister orchestrated my assault?"You fucking bitch," I snarled, thrashing against the restraints. "You set me up to be raped?""I set you up to be scared off," she corrected, unperturbed by my rage. "The rape wasn't the plan. That was the boys getting carried away. But your leaving was exactly what I wanted. You were supposed to die in the woods, vulnerable and alone. No one expected you to survive, much less thrive.""Why?" I demanded. "What did I ever do to you?
I'd heard enough. I needed to see what I was dealing with before bursting in. Near the ceiling was a ventilation grate. I jumped, grabbed the edge, and pulled myself up. The metal groaned under my weight but held. I peered through the slats.The room beyond was larger than the others, clearly the main lab. Scientific equipment lined the walls—centrifuges, computers, machines I didn't recognize. In the center was a metal table, and strapped to it was Silas.My breath caught in my throat. He was naked except for a cloth draped over his hips, his body covered in fresh cuts and burns. Silver-infused needles pierced his arms and chest, connected to tubes that ran to collection bags hanging beside the table. The bags were already half-filled with dark red blood.Logan stood at a workstation, examining something on a computer screen. He'd removed his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves, looking like a fucking corporate exec taking a casual Friday. Angela sat in a chair nearby, one hand res
I didn't go back to the pack house. There wasn't time.The fading scent trail led northeast, toward the old industrial district. I followed it at a dead run, not bothering with stealth. Logan had given me twelve hours, but the silver-laced blade he'd pressed against Silas's throat would still be burning, still be poisoning him. Every minute counted.That tiny thread of our broken bond pulled me forward like a compass needle. I could feel Silas's pain—distant, muffled, but there. It had surprised the hell out of me when our bond snapped partially back during the attack. Five years of nothing, and now this. Fucking inconvenient timing.I stuck to the woods when I could, avoiding the roads where someone might spot a blood-covered woman sprinting through the night. The last thing I needed was human interference. Luckily, at three in the morning, even the occasional passing car didn't slow down.The industrial district loomed ahead, a collection of abandoned warehouses and factories that h
The tunnel was narrow, barely wide enough for two wolves to walk side by side. The walls were rough-hewn stone, occasionally reinforced with rotting timber supports. Water dripped somewhere in the distance, and the air smelled of damp earth and mold. And blood. Fresh blood.We found the first body about fifty yards in—a young pack member named David. I'd seen him at training sessions, eager to please, always trying to impress the older wolves. Now his throat was torn out, his eyes staring sightlessly at the tunnel ceiling. He couldn't have been more than eighteen.Liam made a pained sound beside the body. I placed a hand on his trembling shoulder."We keep moving," I said, my voice harder than I intended. "We'll come back for him after."The tunnel forked ahead, splitting into three separate passages. I closed my eyes, focusing on my senses. The smell of chemicals and wrongness was stronger in the center tunnel."This way," I said, pointing.We moved deeper, the ceiling growing lower
Screams tore through the darkness, yanking me from sleep.Not nightmare screams—I knew those too well by now—but real ones. The wet, gurgling kind that meant someone was dying, and they were close. Too close.My limbs wouldn't fucking move. Heart pounding, lungs burning, but I couldn't even lift a finger. Couldn't blink. Sweat soaked the sheets under me while the screams got louder.Get up.Rona's voice cut through the fog in my head.GET UP NOW.Spots clouded my vision. I realized I hadn't breathed since the screams started. My lungs hurt.STELLA!I finally gasped for air, my body responding at last. I fell off the bed, shoulder hitting the floor hard. The pain shocked me alert. Adrenaline kicked in, my hand shaking as I grabbed the wall and pulled myself up.More screams, now closer, and beneath them a sound from below—stone grinding against stone. The tunnels. Someone was coming through the tunnels.I took one step toward the door, then my brain fractured. The hardwood under my fee
The hours before sunset passed in a blur of preparations. After Silas left to investigate the tunnel entrance, I forced myself to eat, knowing I'd need my strength for whatever came tonight. My body still ached from the wolfsbane withdrawal, muscles trembling occasionally as the last traces worked their way out of my system.I had just finished showering when a hesitant knock sounded at my door. I opened it to find a teenage girl, maybe sixteen, shifting nervously from foot to foot."Alpha Morrigan asked if you could come to the training hall," she said, eyes downcast. "Some of the younger wolves want to try shifting before..." She swallowed hard. "Before tonight."My first instinct was to refuse. These weren't my problems. This wasn't my pack. But the fear in the girl's eyes struck something in me—the memory of my own desperation to shift, years of failure and humiliation."Fine," I said. "Give me five minutes."The training hall was in the east wing of the pack house, a large open s