Chapter 4

He lunged at her, his claws aimed directly at her throat.

He expected her to cower or try to run like she used to.

Seraphina didn’t even flinch.

She simply raised her left hand and snapped her fingers.

A sudden, violent burst of flame erupted from the dirt directly in front of Marcus, creating a vertical wall of fire.

Marcus shrieked, throwing himself backward as the heat singed his hair and clothes.

He hit the ground hard, rolling to put out the sparks on his vest.

The other two warriors growled, shifting fully into their massive brown wolves.

They charged at her from both sides, trying to flank her.

Before they could reach her, Talia materialized from the shadows near the creek.

With a swift upward motion of her arms, two massive torrents of water rose from the stream, twisting through the air like liquid ropes.

With a flick of her wrists, the water slammed into the two wolves, lifting them off their feet and pinning them against the high branches of the trees, trapping them in pressurized spheres of water.

The wolves thrashed wildly, unable to breathe or break free from the liquid cages.

Marcus scrambled to his feet, staring at Talia and then back at Seraphina.

His face was pale, his arrogance completely gone.

He had never seen shifters command the elements like this.

It defied everything he knew about the werewolf hierarchy.

“What… what are you monsters?” he whispered, his voice trembling.

Seraphina walked over to him, stopping just inches away.

She leaned down, her eyes flashing a bright, menacing orange.

“Tell Drake that the female he threw away is building an army.

Tell him that if I see another Blood Moon warrior within ten miles of these ruins, I won’t just singe their clothes.

I will burn his entire territory to the ground.”

With a wave of her hand, the fire wall vanished.

Talia dropped her hands, releasing the two drowning wolves from their liquid cages.

They hit the forest floor, coughing up water and gasping for air.

“Run,” Talia said coldly.

The three warriors didn’t hesitate.

They scrambled to their feet and fled back toward the Blood Moon border, not once looking back.

Seraphina turned her attention to the young rogue girl, who was staring at them with wide, worshipful eyes.

The girl was trembling, but she wasn’t looking at them with fear.

She was looking at them as if they were saviors.

“Are you alright?” Talia asked gently, kneeling beside the girl and placing a hand near her bleeding arm.

With a soft focus of her mind, Talia drew the moisture from the air, using a cool, soothing layer of water to wash away the dirt from the wound, stopping the bleeding instantly.

“You… you’re the Goddesses,” the girl whispered, her voice cracking.

“The rumors are true.

There is a pack of rejected females living in the stones.”

“We are not goddesses,” Seraphina said, helping the girl stand up.

“We are just wolves who refused to die.

What is your name?”

“Maren,” the girl said, clutching her fabric bag tightly.

“I ran away from the Autumn Leaf pack three weeks ago.

I was searching for you.

But I got lost, and those Blood Moon warriors spotted me.

They wanted this.” She opened her bag and pulled out an old, yellowed piece of parchment covered in strange, glowing runes.

Talia took the parchment, her eyes scanning the ancient symbols.

“What is this?”

“It’s a map to the Ancient Rogue King’s tomb,” Maren said, her voice dropping to a whisper.

“He wasn’t just a rogue.

He was the first Lycan who tried to unite the elements centuries ago.

The Alphas think it’s just a myth, but Alpha Drake found a clue last month.

He’s been hunting for this map because he wants the weapon hidden inside the tomb to destroy the Dark Sea pack.”

Seraphina and Talia exchanged a long, serious look.

The fast-paced peace they had built over the last six months was about to end.

If Drake got his hands on an ancient weapon, their small sanctuary would be the first thing he destroyed to clear his path to the sea.

“Can you read these runes, Maren?” Seraphina asked, her voice tight.

“Some of them,” Maren nodded.

“But we have to be fast.

Drake’s main army is already moving toward the neutral borders.

They think the tomb is near the valley.

If they don’t find it there, they will start burning the forest to force everyone out.”

“Then we don’t have time to waste,” Talia said, turning toward the fortress.

“We need to get back, prepare the girls, and figure out exactly what Drake is looking for before he realizes his warriors failed.”

As they walked back to the stone fortress, the sky above them began to darken, heavy with the threat of an impending storm.

The quiet life they had fought so hard to create was crashing down, but this time, they weren’t the helpless, rejected girls who had been cast out into the mud.

They had a fortress, they had an army of outcasts, and they had the power of nature on their side.

The Alphas were coming for a war, but they had no idea that the elements were already waiting for them.

The stone fortress was buzzing with a quiet, intense energy by the time the sun fully set behind the jagged cliffs.

Heavy iron pots filled with stew bubbled over small fires that Seraphina had kindled with a flick of her fingers, while Talia worked near the center cistern, allocating fresh water to the newcomers.

In six months, their numbers had grown, but the arrival of Maren and the ancient map changed everything.

The atmosphere of a hidden sanctuary had instantly shifted into the tense readiness of a military camp.