Ashfang's gates opened before them like a welcome home.
Word had spread during their absence—messengers carrying news of the queen's mission, of the Alpha's family rescued, of bonds broken and hope restored. Wolves lined the fortress walls, watching their approach with expressions Elara had learned to recognize.
Awe. Hope. The beginning of belief.
Cedric walked at the front of their small group, Mira at his side, their children clutched between them. He'd insisted on carrying his youngest—a girl of perhaps five, with her mother's eyes and her father's stubborn chin. The boy, older at eight, walked with a dignity beyond his years, though his hand never left his mother's.
As they passed through the gates, the crowd erupted.
Not cheers—not yet. But something close. Murmurs of wonder, of relief, of joy as wolves saw their Alpha returned, his family alive, the impossible made real.
Cedric stopped in the center of the courtyard. Looked around at his pack—the wolves he'd ruled under duress, the ones he'd failed to protect, the ones who'd never stopped hoping.
"I have no words." His voice carried across the sudden silence. "No apology big enough for the years of service I gave to our enemy. No explanation that excuses what I did to survive." He paused, his jaw working. "But I have something else. Something I thought I'd never have again."
He looked at Mira. At his children.
"I have hope. Because of her." He turned to Elara, and before she could move, he knelt. "The queen broke my bonds. She risked her life to save my family. She gave me back everything I'd lost." His voice broke. "I am hers. Ashfang is hers. For as long as she'll have us."
Behind him, the pack knelt.
Hundreds of wolves, dropping to their knees in the mountain fortress, pledging loyalty to a queen they'd only just met.
Elara's eyes burned.
"Rise," she said softly. "Please. I don't want subjects on their knees. I want allies on their feet."
Slowly, they rose.
And for the first time, Elara saw smiles among them.
---
The celebration lasted into the night.
Not a formal feast—there wasn't time or resources for that. But wolves gathered in the great hall, sharing what food they had, telling stories, hoping. Children ran between legs, their laughter a sound Elara hadn't heard in too long.
Mira found her at the edge of the crowd.
"Your Highness." The she-wolf's voice was soft. "I wanted to thank you. Properly. For what you did."
Elara shook her head. "You don't need to thank me. I did what anyone should have done."
"No." Mira's eyes held hers. "No one came for us. For years. We waited, we hoped, we prayed—and no one came." Tears streamed down her face. "Until you. You came. You risked everything for wolves you didn't know."
Elara reached out, took her hands. "You're free now. That's what matters."
Mira squeezed back. "Because of you. I won't forget. Neither will my children. Neither will their children's children." She stepped closer. "You have allies here, Your Highness. For life."
For life. The words were a gift Elara hadn't expected.
"Then call me Elara," she said softly. "When it's just us. Please."
Mira's smile was like sunrise. "Elara."
---
Kael found her much later, standing on a balcony overlooking the fortress.
"You're hiding."
"Thinking." She leaned against the railing. "There are two more camps like that one. Dozens more prisoners. And four more packs still bound to the master's memory."
"We'll free them. One at a time." He came to stand beside her. "You can't do it all tonight."
"I know. I just—" She shook her head. "Every day we wait, more wolves suffer. More families stay broken. More hope dies."
Kael was quiet for a moment.
Then: "Then we don't wait. We plan. We gather allies. We move faster." He turned her to face him. "You're not alone in this, Elara. You have me. You have Cassian and Lyra and Bran and Viktor. You have Cedric now. You have hundreds of wolves who believe in you."
Through the bond, his love flowed into her—steady and warm and absolutely unshakeable.
"I know." She leaned into him. "I just needed to hear it."
"You'll hear it as often as you need." He kissed her forehead. "That's what mates are for."
---
The war council gathered at dawn.
A larger group this time—Cedric and his top advisors, Kress with his knowledge of the remaining camps, Dace with his ever-growing chronicles. Maps spread across the table, marking territories and targets.
"There are two more camps." Kress pointed at locations deep in the wastelands. "Both larger than the first. Both heavily guarded. The master designed them to hold prisoners he considered... valuable."
"Valuable how?" Kael asked.
"Wolves with special abilities. Bloodlines he wanted to control. Families he used as leverage." Kress's jaw tightened. "I helped guard them. I know the layouts. I know the guard rotations. I know—" He stopped. Swallowed. "I know the ward systems. Every one."
Elara studied the maps. "Can we free them the same way? Small group, stealth approach, break the wards?"
"First camp, maybe. Second—" Kress shook his head. "It's deeper in the wastelands. More exposed. A small group would be spotted long before they reached it."
"Then we go with a larger force." Cedric's voice was firm. "Ashfang will provide warriors. We owe them that."
"Shadowfang too." The voice came from the doorway.
Viktor stood there, travel-worn but steady. Behind him, a dozen Shadowfang warriors filled the corridor.
"You came." Elara's voice was surprised.
"You didn't think I'd let you have all the fun, did you?" Viktor's scarred face creased in something like a smile. "Shadowfang pledged loyalty. That means we fight beside you. Not just watch from a distance."
Elara's throat tightened. "Thank you."
"Thank me when we're done." Viktor moved to the table, studying the maps. "Now—where do we start?"
---
The planning took all day.
By nightfall, they had a strategy. The first camp—the smaller one—would be freed by a strike team, using the same approach that had worked before. The second camp required a full assault, with warriors from Ashfang and Shadowfang attacking from multiple directions while Elara and Kress broke the wards.
And the third camp—the largest, the deepest, the most dangerous—would wait. For now.
"We need more allies." Viktor's voice was grim. "Stonecrest and the other bound packs—if we can free them, if they join us—"
"Then we have the numbers we need." Elara nodded slowly. "It's a risk. Approaching packs still bound to the master's memory. But if we can break their bonds the way I broke Cedric's—"
"They become allies instead of enemies." Cedric finished the thought. "It could work. If we're careful. If we choose the right pack next."
"Which one?" Kael asked.
All eyes turned to the map.
Stonecrest. Eastern badlands. Their Alpha, a wolf named Onyx, was rumored to be even more resistant to the master's control than Cedric had been. If they could reach him—if they could offer freedom—
"That's our next target." Elara pointed. "Stonecrest. We go as we went to Ashfang—small group, stealth approach, offer a choice."
"And if Onyx refuses?" Viktor's voice was quiet.
"Then we try something else." Elara met his eyes. "But I'm hoping he won't."
---
That night, Elara dreamed of cages.
Dozens of them, stretching into darkness. Faces pressed against bars—wolves she didn't know, wolves she'd never met, all waiting. All hoping.
Soon, she promised them. Soon we're coming.
We know. The answer came from everywhere and nowhere. We've been waiting.
For what?
For you.
She woke with tears on her face and fire in her heart.
Kael was there instantly, pulling her close. "Another dream?"
"The prisoners. All of them. Waiting for me." She looked at him. "We can't fail them, Kael. We can't."
"We won't." His voice was absolute. "I swear it."
She held onto him like a lifeline.
Outside, dawn began to break over Ashfang.
Another day. Another step toward freedom.
---
End of Chapter 32🐺