The woman pulled back her hood. Her hair was silver like the moon, braided with tiny bones. Her eyes_ white, ancient, sightless, hollow.
"I felt it," she said, voice echoing as if layered with a thousand whispers. "The bond. It has awakened."
"Why are you here?" Jedrek asked.
"I came to see the girl." Her gaze turned toward Eleanor, though her eyes never moved. "You, child, are far from ordinary."
"Eleanor frowned "I'm human"
"No." Iria stepped forward "You carry a blood that hasn't walked this realm for centuries. A line that was once bound to the Lycan kind through curse, fire, blood and betrayal."
Jerek turned to Eleanor, eyes wide. "Your mother. She was from the vale family?"
"Yes," Eleanor whispered. "Why?"
"Because the vales were once a line of witches," Iria said, "before they were hunted, broken and disappeared amongst humans. And your blood…it is the only blood that can either break a true Lycan prince's curse- or bind it forever."
Silence dropped like a blade.
Eleanor felt the ground shift beneath her feet.
"You mean…" She said slowly, "I'm the key…to Jedrek's curse?"
"No," Iria said. "You are the lock and the key. And Kael…He knows. That's why he sent the bloodfangs. He wants to sacrifice you under the next blood moon. To absorb your magic. And become a god."
Eleanor staggered back. "A god?"
Jedrek placed himself between her and Iria. "Over my dead body."
Iria's blind eyes gleamed. "That can be arranged, Prince."
The fire behind them flared violently, casting shadows like wings.
"You must choose," Iria said. "Break the bond, and she may live a mortal life. Keep it, and the world will bleed before Kael lets her go."
Then she vanished-just like that. Like smoke in the wind.
Eleanor stared at the place she'd been, breath shaking.
"Jedrek…"
"I won't let him have you," he said, voice like steel. "But now you know what this is. what it could cost you."
She looked into his eyes-haunted, fiery, afraid.
"I'm not afraid of you," she said. "I'm afraid of how I'd feel without you."
And outside, the clouds parted.
The red moon rose again.
Watching.
Waiting.
The wind outside was different now-wilder, more violent. It slammed against the cabin walls like a warning. The kind that didn't need words.
Eleanor stood at the edge of the porch, her arms wrapped around herself, eyes lost in the darkness beyond the trees outside. Something was coming. She could feel it in her bones.
Behind her, Jedrek stood silently, watching her like she was the only thing left keeping him tethered to the earth.
"She'll be back," Eleanor said quietly. "The witch."
Jedrek's voice was low. "Iria never visits unless fate is shifting. And when she leaves a message like that, It means blood will follow."
Eleanor turned "How many will come for me?"
He didn't lie. "All of them."
She swallowed hard "Then we fight!"
Jedrek's gaze darkened. "You still don't understand what Kael is capable of. He has an army. Alphas who swore oaths of blood and death. My entire bloodline was destroyed at his command without mercy."
"You really think I care about bloodlines right now?" She said, stepping towards him. "If they're coming for me, I'll make damn sure they remember who they're dealing with."
Something flickered in his eyes. Admiration. And something deeper-like hunger but not the type that craved flesh. The kind that craved something real in a world that had taken too much from him.
He stepped closer, slowly, as if afraid that one wrong move would send her running.
"I should hate the bond," he murmured. "But it feels like the first thing in my life that wasn't chosen for me…and still feels…feels so right."
Eleanor's heart stuttered.
She looked up at him, searching his face, but there was no lie there. Just honesty… Raw… Aching. Quiet and Longing.
She didn't pull away when he touched her cheek. His fingers were rough, calloused, but gentle.
"I don't know what this is…" she whispered, "but if it burns, let it burn us both."
His forehead touched hers, breath hot and shallow. "Then stay with me. Even when the war begins. Even if it means me crawling towards my death_ I'll crawl towards you."
Before she could answer, a rumble split the night.
A sound like thunder- but not from the sky.
From the forest grounds.
She stepped back, her heart racing. "What was that?"
Jedrek's eyes glowed silver. "They're here."
"No, they're early!"
He turned towards the woods, his entire body tensing, bones snapping, transforming before her eyes- not into the beast she'd seen before, but into something stronger, calmer. A Lycan warrior born of shadows and moonlight.
"We need to leave," he said. "Now."
She grabbed her bag. "Where?"
"To the ruins. The old castle my ancestors died in. their magic still lingers there. It might protect us _ or kill us faster."
"Comforting," she muttered and followed him into the woods.
As they ran, the scent of ash and metal filled the air.
The forest behind them was no longer silent.
The war had begun with footsteps and it would end with blood.
_The night air was thick with smoke.
Not from fire- but from warfare. The scent clung to Eleanor's skin like a second layer. Bark cracked in the distance and predators moved in the shadows like leashes.
Jedrek moved ahead of her, fast, silent, a ghost among the trees. His silver eyes scanned the path, always alert, always ready to kill if needed.
But when he looked back at her- just for a second- there was something else in his eyes.
Something soft.
"Not far now," he said. "The ruins are beyond the ridge. There's old magic there. Deep magic. It doesn't like strangers."
"Then it's going to love me," Eleanor muttered, stepping carefully over a fallen log.
They didn't speak again until they reached it.
The castle ruins loomed like broken bones against the night sky- collapsed towers, walls split by time, blood and battle.