chapter 3: The War Begins

~IVY~

I lay on my side, staring through at the trees, thinking about all I have been through. Ronan sat where he always does sit, he didn’t speak. He was staring into the dark

I wasn't scared of the dark but what I'm becoming and what's about to wake inside of me. I felt something burning on my wrist and I decided to check, it was the mark glowing faintly in silver lines, shaped like a crescent split in two.

I sat up slowly, unwrapping the bandage Ronan gave me two days ago. The skin was smooth now and the light began shining so bright that I had to touch it, and the visions came not slowly or gently.

I saw snow, Trees burning, Wolves running. A voice in the wind calling my name over and over. And a woman standing in a pool of moonlight, her hair wild, her dress stained red, her hands raised like she was calling down the sky.

She turned to face and I got shocked at what I saw. Her face was mine but the difference is that hers was colder and older.

The fire turned blue behind her, then everything went black. I fell back with a gasp, heart pounding so loud I thought it might break my ribs.

Ronan was at my side in seconds.

“What did you see?” he asked.

I couldn’t speak.

“Was it him?” he asked again. “Killian?”

I shook my head.

“No,” I whispered. “It was me.”

He watched me carefully.

I sat up again, holding my chest feeling scared of what I saw and what's waking inside of me

“I felt the moon,” I said.

“You always will now.”

“It wasn’t just light. It… it felt alive.”

“It is.”

I looked at him. “Why me?”

“Because you’re not just marked.”

“Then what am I?”

He paused.

Then said it, low and steady.

“You’re lunar-born.”

The words dropped like a bombshell, I can't seems to believe what he had just said.

“That’s a myth.” I said.

“No. It’s a bloodline.”

I looked at my hands. They glowed faintly now too. The light moved with my breath.

“I’m not supposed to have a wolf.”

“You don’t.”

“Then how….”

“You have something older and wilder.”

I stood slowly, barefoot in the dirt, and walked to the center of the clearing. I looked up staring at the moon

“Is this why Killian rejected me?” I asked. “Because I scared him?” “No,” Ronan said behind me. “Because he knew he couldn’t control you.”

Then suddenly something answered, not a voice or thought. It was a pulse, though low but steady and ancient. “I don’t feel like I’m growing stronger,” I said.

“What do you feel?” He asked. “I feel like something inside me is waking up.” Ronan came closer, trying to understand what I was trying to say.

“And what will you do when it does?” He asked. I turned to him. The mark on my wrist shined bright, my hair was lifting up. I didn’t think before I answered.

“I’ll rise.” I said

~KILLIAN~

I told myself it wasn’t about her, but it was about the insult and disrespect. The silence after I rejected her and the way it still came at me in my sleep. The truth is, it was all about her.

I stood at the war table, fists pressed against the map spread across the wood. My Beta waited across from me, waiting for my order.

“She’s with him,” I said.

Blaine wasn't shocked. “We confirmed it two days ago.”

“Where?” I asked. “The east border, ruins near the frost line.” He replied.

I stared down at the little markers we’d placed across the territory. Half of them didn’t matter. I only cared about the one carved in red stone, the mark Ronan left behind years ago when he walked away from the crown.

“She ran to a rogue,” I said lowly.

“She survived a rejection.”

I looked at him.

He added, quiet, “That doesn’t happen.”

I leaned back.

“She was supposed to die,” I said. “That was the point.”

“She didn’t.” He said.

“She’s more dangerous now.” I shot back.

“Then we move.”

I stared at the map.

I could still feel her. Faint. The bond hadn’t healed. But something inside it still lived and it was changing.

“She’s not the same girl we left bleeding,” Blaine said.

I nodded once. “She’s worse.”

I turned from the map and walked toward the fire. My coat dragged behind me. My wolf paced beneath my skin, restless.

“Send the scouts,” I said. “I want to know every step she takes. Every breath she draws.”

Blaine nodded. “And Ronan?”,“If we kill him, she’ll retaliate.”

“She’ll retaliate anyway.” I said

He hesitated. “Then this is war.”

I faced him, my voice didn’t shake. “It’s already started.”

He left without another word, I stood alone, filled with anger. Ivy was mine, I didn't want her out of love or guilt. I wanted her because she was the only thing that ever made me feel something other than power.

And now she was with him, laughing, training and changing. Ronan saw what I didn’t, He held what I threw away and I couldn’t live with that. I've made my decision not as Alpha or as a man, I'm ready to burn everything down until there is nothing left but her.

Then she’d come back.

Or there’d be nothing left to come back to.

So I decided to have a meeting with the council, I'm not meeting with them to get their blessing or opinion after all, I was Alpha and that was enough

The war room doors opened with a groan. The warriors inside fell silent when I stepped through. Not one of them raised their eyes. Not yet.

Good.

Respect should come with fear. And they feared me more now than ever.

Blaine followed close behind. He laid the scrolls across the table while I stood at the head, arms crossed.

“She’s hiding behind him,” Blaine said. “We know he’s armed on his side of the border. Three camps.”

“And she’s in one of them?”

“Likely the highest.”

“Then I’ll cut it first.”

I ran my finger along the old maps, the lines are deep with names of packs long buried. Black Moon, Bloodfang,Hollow tooth. All of them had histories.

But Ivy?

She’d make history.

One way or another.

“Mobilize the east wing,” I ordered. “I want scouts in the north caves. No one moves without my word.”

“And the treaty?”

“There is no treaty.”

“They’ll call it an unauthorized entry.”I looked at him.

He looked away.

It wasn’t an invasion.

It was a reclamation.

They took her from me.They thought rejection was a final word.But it wasn’t, It was the start of something worse.

“Send riders to the Luna Gate,” I said.

Blaine’s mouth moved suddenly. “You want to use the gate forces?”

“If she wants to play with fate,” I said lowly, “then I’ll rewrite it.”

He hesitated. “The gate wolves won’t like that.”

“Then let them bleed.” I said

The room fell silent, none of the soldiers dare to speak. I knew what they were thinking, this wasn’t about power anymore but about a bond with a girl, A wound I couldn’t close. Let them think whatever they want, or fear what's coming. I don't want loyalty from them, I want obedience.

“She has power now,” Blaine said carefully. “Not just strength. The kind the elders feared.”

“She doesn’t know how to use it.”

“But he does.”

I slammed my hand on the table.

Every scroll jumped.

“She’s not his.”

No one answered.

I moved around the table slowly. “She’s still tied to me.”

“She rejected it.” Blaine said, looking scared.

“She can’t kill the bond, Not completely. It’s burned into her.”

“And if she tries?”

“Then she’ll see what burns back.” I turned to the fire and stared into the flames.

“She was mine before she was anything,” I said. “And if I have to start a war to remind her of that, so be it.”

Blaine gave a short nod. “Then we begin at dawn.”

I didn’t respond.

My hands held the edge of the mantle so hard. My wolf moved in my chest again, feeling restless and hungry for her. And I knew that this wasn’t just war but madness.

And I’d walk straight into it if it meant hearing her say my name again.

Even if she hated me when she did.