The summons came at dawn.
A single drumbeat echoed through the Lotus compound, heavy and low, shaking stone and bone alike. Wolves poured into the great yard, filling it until the air was thick with sweat and fear.
The thirteen captains stood along the upper dais, their presences suffocating, obsessions radiating like storms. The space between them was jagged — no unity, only jagged tension. One throne stood empty: Black Vulture's.
Reed stood apart, his silence muting the noise around him. Iron Veil's chains rattled. Widow's perfume choked the air. Crimson Flame's aura scorched even the stone beneath his feet. Silk Ghost's threads shimmered like pale veins in the light. The others glared, muttered, shifted — predators waiting for an excuse to strike.
But today was not for their war.
It was for ours.
* * * * * * * * *
Iron Veil stepped forward, his chains rattling against the stone as his voice cracked across the yard.
"Wolves. The Lotus bleeds. One throne is gone. War stirs. You are wolves of the Lotus — and wolves must belong to chains."
His Lein surged — black chains erupted from the ground, wrapping around the nearest pack. The wolves screamed as the bindings coiled around their necks, their eyes wide, their qi crushed beneath his obsession.
When the chains sank into their skin, their screams cut off. Their eyes glazed. They bowed, trembling.
"Mine," Iron Veil said.
* * * * * * * * *
Ink Widow followed. She glided forward, her blackened lips curving in a smile as her mist spread. Wolves coughed, choking, their veins darkening with venom. She bent low, her breath sliding across their ears.
"Swear to me… or choke."
Those who bent the knee breathed again. Those who hesitated fell foaming, their throats locked, their limbs blackened.
She laughed softly as her new wolves pressed their foreheads into the ground.
* * * * * * * * *
One by one, captains stepped forward.
Crimson Flame burned wolves alive until they swore.
Iron Hand smashed a wolf's jaw to prove his gauntlet owned them.
Silk Ghost threaded wolves like dolls, their bodies jerking on invisible strings until they submitted.
Blood ran across the stones. The screams rose and fell.
* * * * * * * * *
And Lin Zhen was there.
He stood not on the dais, but among the wolves, his face calm, his eyes sharp. When captains finished binding, he spoke softly to the shaken survivors.
"Serve them. Obey them. Their chains may hurt, but they give you life. Better a leash than a corpse."
Wolves listened. His words spread like balm after poison. Packs shuffled into lines, letting themselves be chained.
Everywhere I looked, wolves bent.
Everywhere but at my side.
* * * * * * * * *
Wei Lan spat on the ground, her eyes burning as she watched a pack kneel before Iron Veil. "Disgusting. They whimper like dogs."
Qiao Han's grip on his saber was tight enough to whiten his knuckles. "It's survival. They know refusing means death."
Shen Yu's quill scratched furiously, his voice hushed but urgent. "Wolves in chains. Wolves strangled. Wolf unchained breaks chains. Wolf bleeds red."
My blood boiled as I watched Lin Zhen, the one who had killed me in another life, guiding wolves into servitude with a calm smile.
Chains rattled in my ears.
Not mine.
Never mine.
* * * * * * * * *
Iron Veil's gaze swept the yard, landing on me. His chains rattled louder, slithering across the stone like serpents.
"Reed's wolves," he said, voice a growl. "You will swear."
The black chains writhed toward us, the weight of his obsession pressing against my chest. My wolves froze — Wei Lan trembling with excitement, Qiao Han with fury, Shen Yu scribbling madly.
I did not move.
The chains coiled around my ankles, cold, heavy, smothering. My breath caught as the pressure crushed my qi. For a moment, I could not breathe.
But then blood surged hot through my veins.
Threads flickered. Thin crimson lines cracked through the black chains, trembling, resisting.
Iron Veil's eyes narrowed.
"Break me," he hissed. His chains tightened, grinding against my bones.
I clenched my teeth, my palm tearing open as blood poured down my wrist. Crimson chains flickered again, sparking against his, fragile but defiant.
They shattered after only two breaths.
But the black chains recoiled slightly.
A murmur rippled through the yard. Wolves stared.
Iron Veil's eyes burned, but he did not press further. His chains withdrew with a rattle, slamming back into the earth.
* * * * * * * * *
I stood, blood dripping, chest heaving.
And I spoke loud enough for the yard to hear.
"I bend to no chain."
The silence that followed was heavier than Iron Veil's obsession.
Some wolves gasped. Others laughed nervously. Captains sneered.
Lin Zhen's eyes found me at last.
For a moment, our gazes locked.
His expression did not change.
But I saw the faintest flicker of recognition in his eyes.
A shadow of memory.
* * * * * * * * *
Wei Lan grinned, her teeth sharp in the dim light. "That's it, Leader. Break them all. Let them choke on their chains."
Qiao Han muttered through clenched teeth. "You've just painted a target on us."
Shen Yu's quill broke in his hand, black ink staining his fingers as he whispered: "Wolf not chained. Wolf hunted. Wolf bleeds red."
I let their words hang.
My blood still dripped, staining the stone beneath me.
The captains had their wolves.
Lin Zhen had his leash-bound following.
But I had only blood.
And blood was enough.
* * * * * * * * *
The yard did not forget.
Wolves knelt, wolves bled, wolves wore chains like collars. Yet one wolf — my wolf — stood unbound. The captains retreated to their thrones, satisfied, but their silence lingered like a noose.
I had not been executed. That alone made the wolves restless.
Whispers spread.
"He defied Iron Veil…"
"Reed shields him…"
"No. His blood shielded him…"
Each retelling grew sharper, heavier. My name — Lin Xuan — carried more weight now. Not admiration, not yet. But fear.
And fear drew hunters.
* * * * * * * * *
It began at night.
My wolves and I returned to our quarters, the old timber creaking under our steps. The halls were silent, the lanterns guttering. Wei Lan hummed tunelessly, still grinning from the day's defiance. Qiao Han walked stiff, hand never leaving his saber. Shen Yu trailed last, smearing ink-stained hands against the walls like he was leaving marks for fate to follow.
The door closed.
The floor creaked.
And shadows stirred.
Wolves stepped from the dark — three packs at least, twenty blades catching the lantern-light. Their leader was a tall brute with scars across his neck, one of Iron Veil's newly chained dogs. His eyes glowed faint under the brand of Veil's Lein — chains were etched into his flesh, black lines wrapping his throat.
He sneered. "Reed's strays. You think you can stand apart? No chain, no captain? You shame the Lotus."
Wei Lan giggled. "We shame you, you mean."
The brute snarled, pointing his blade at me. "Submit. Kneel and bind. Or we spill your blood here."
* * * * * * * * *
Qiao Han shifted forward, blade halfway drawn. "Leader…"
I raised a hand.
My blood still ached from earlier, wounds raw, veins burning with memory. My chains were fragile, barely flickers. Twenty wolves would tear us apart if we relied on steel alone.
But fear was a weapon too.
I stepped forward, letting the lantern light catch the dried crimson on my sleeve. Slowly, I drew the blade across my palm once more.
The wound split open, blood pouring hot.
Wei Lan moaned softly at the sight. Shen Yu shivered, scribbling on the wall with his fingers.
The wolves sneered at first — then froze when the air thickened.
Threads flickered.
Chains tore into being, crimson and sharp, lashing from my palm to the floor. The stone cracked under their weight. They rattled, hissed, quivered — not for long, but long enough.
I let the obsession surge.
I saw Lin Zhen's smile in the flames.
I felt his blade in my back.
I remembered the snow red with my blood.
The chains thickened, binding my forearm, stretching into the yard.
The branded wolves staggered back, their bravado faltering.
"This is… a Lein," one whispered, fear tightening his throat.
The scarred brute tried to laugh, but his voice cracked. "A flicker! You bleed yourself dry for sparks!"
"Enough to kill you," I said.
The chains lashed forward.
* * * * * * * * *
The clash was brief but brutal.
Wei Lan darted in, knives flashing, dancing among their hesitation. Qiao Han cut clean, precise strokes, his blade carving arcs of steel through panic. Shen Yu screamed as he scrawled with his own blood, distracting foes with his madness.
My chains struck once, twice, binding weapons, snapping a wolf's wrist, dragging another to his knees. Each lash drained me, every breath making my vision blur, but their terror grew faster than my weakness.
When the brute lunged for me, saber high, I bled deeper.
Chains burst upward, wrapping his throat, constricting. His blade fell as his eyes bulged, his brand pulsing black against the red. He clawed at his neck, choking, gurgling.
For three breaths I held him.
Three breaths where he tasted my obsession.
Then the chains shattered, exploding into sparks.
He fell, gasping, blood spraying from his torn skin.
The remaining wolves broke, fleeing into the night.
* * * * * * * * *
Silence settled over the room, broken only by my ragged breathing.
Blood dripped freely, pooling at my feet. My arms trembled, my chest burned. I had nothing left to give.
Wei Lan leaned against the wall, laughing breathlessly, eyes wild. "Beautiful… they ran like rabbits! Oh, Leader, your chains sing louder every time!"
Qiao Han knelt beside me, binding my wounds with strips of cloth. His hands were steady, but his voice low. "You can't keep doing this. Every chain you call tears you apart. You'll bleed yourself to death before you ever face a captain, let alone him."
Shen Yu smeared bloody fingers across his parchment, whispering. "Wolf breaks chains. Wolf bleeds. Wolf hunted. But wolf not bound."
I closed my eyes, fighting the dizziness.
He was right. I was hunted now. Every captain knew I had defied them. Wolves would come again, again, until chains or death claimed me.
But I would not bend.
Better to die free than live as another's leash.
* * * * * * * * *
A shadow lingered outside the shattered doorway. Silent. Watching.
Reed.
He did not step in. Did not speak.
But I felt his eyes, weighing me, measuring my blood, my chains, my resolve.
Then, without a word, he was gone.
* * * * * * * * *
I looked at my wolves, each marked by madness, loyalty, or prophecy.
Wei Lan's grin.
Qiao Han's grim eyes.
Shen Yu's trembling hand.
They had chosen already.
And so had I.
I whispered into the silence:
"We are not wolves on chains. We are the teeth that break them."