The mist clung to our skin like a second layer, damp and unnatural. Every step deeper into the Vale made my wolf whimper in warning. The trees here didn't just grow they twisted, their bark blackened as if burned from within.
Callum's hand found mine, his grip crushing. "Stay close." His voice was rough, the Alpha command threading through it. But even his power felt muted here.
Something rustled in the underbrush. Too light for an animal. Too deliberate.
A child's giggle sliced through the silence.
I spun, dagger drawn, just as a girl in a tattered dress materialized from the fog. Her feet didn't touch the ground. Her eyes were voids.
"You're late," she singsonged. Blood dripped from her fingertips, splattering on ferns that withered instantly.
Callum shifted in front of me, a growl building in his chest. "What are you?"
Her head tilted, neck cracking at an impossible angle. "The first sacrifice." Her grin split her face too wide. "And you brought the last."
The ground swallowed her whole.
---
*The Witch's Hut*
Lysandra's hut stank of rotting herbs and copper. The door swung open before we knocked, revealing the seer stirring a cauldron of viscous black liquid.
"Took you long enough," she croaked. A raven perched on her shoulder, its beak clacking. "He's been waiting."
Callum's claws pricked my palm. "Who?"
The witch ladled steaming liquid into a skull cup. "The one who remembers." She thrust it at me. "Drink, Gatekeeper."
I recoiled. "No."
Lysandra's milky eyes gleamed. "Scared of the truth, girl? Or scared you'll like it?"
Callum snatched the cup. "Enough games"
The raven shrieked. The hut's walls breathed inward.
A whisper slithered from the shadows: *"Mine."*
---
*The Vision*
*Darkness* . Then
*```Fire. A battlefield drenched in silver moonlight. Callum stood at its center, antlers strapped to his temples, a dagger in his hand. Not my Callum ancient, feral. A king kneeling before an altar of bones.*
*"I pledge my blood," he roared. "My line. My eternity."*
*The shadows laughed. "And when the debt comes due?"*
*Callum bared his teeth. "I'll pay it."*
*"No." A clawed hand pointed to a woman in chains me, pregnant, screaming. "She will."*```
I wrenched free of the vision, gasping. The cup lay shattered, its contents eating through the floor like acid.
Callum gripped my shoulders. "What did you see?"
Lysandra answered for me: "The first Alpha's bargain. The one your soul remembers." She tapped his chest. "The Shadow is here to collect."
---
*The Howling Dark*
The forest erupted in screams not wolves, not humans, but the tormented wails of things that shouldn't exist.
Callum shoved me behind him as the trees moved Not wind. Not animals. The trunks split open, weeping black sap that formed grasping hands.
"Run," he snarled.
We ran.
The path twisted, the ground undulating beneath us. My mark burned hotter with every step, a compass needle dragging me toward him.
The Shadow Alpha stood ahead, wreathed in mist, his smile a knife-slash of white. "Hello, mate."
Callum attacked.
*The fight*
Teeth tore through shadow. Claws met smoke. Every strike Callum landed reformed instantly.
"You can't kill a memory, Alpha," the Shadow taunted. He flicked his wrist. Vines exploded from the earth, snaking around Callum's throat.
I lunged with my dagger
The mark on my back denoted in pain. I crumpled, the world narrowing to the Shadow's boots stopping inches from my face.
"Poor little Gatekeeper," he murmured. Cold fingers tilted my chin up. "You were never meant to fight it."
Behind him, Callum roared, his body contorting as the vines dragged him under the earth.
---
*The Choice*
The Shadow Alpha crouched, his breath frost on my lips. "Say the word, and I'll spare him."
My wolf howled. The mark pulsed in time with my heartbeat.
*Thud.*
*Thud.*
*Thud.*
Somewhere deep, the old gods stirred.