The kiss still lingered on my lips when I sensed them.
Not wolves.
Not humans.
Something older. Sharper. Predatory in a way that made even the runes carved into the cliffs retreat.
Rhydan stiffened beside me. "They're here."
I didn't need to ask who they were.
The High Wolves.
Not just leaders. Not Alphas.
Ancient beasts whose bloodlines hadn't thinned in centuries. They didn't just govern — they ruled. Without mercy.
"They're early," I whispered.
"They always are."
Rhydan grabbed my hand. "We have to move."
But we were too late.
The sky above us cracked with sound — not thunder.
Howls.
Not the kind that called to the moon.
But the kind that warned of death.
Wolves emerged from the treeline, large as bears, fur silver and black like armor. Their eyes glowed not gold, but white — a mark of pure Alpha heritage.
And then, through the mist, they appeared.
Four figures in black cloaks. Not a speck of dirt on their boots. Their presence didn't just command attention — it demanded submission.
The one in front, a tall, broad-shouldered man with hair like iron and a scar splitting his left brow, looked directly at me.
"She's smaller than I expected," he said.
Rhydan growled. "If you're here for blood, you'll have to earn it."
The man's eyes twinkled. "Still as wild as ever, Rhydan. I expected you to be dead by now."
"I got distracted," Rhydan replied coldly. "By surviving."
"And the girl?"
I stepped forward. "The girl has a name."
The High Wolf turned fully to me, intrigued. "Aeryn, is it?"
I nodded.
He studied me for a long time. "You've caused quite the storm."
"I've only just begun."
A ghost of a smile touched his lips. "Ah. So she has her fire after all."
I froze. "You know who I am?"
"Not who," he said. "What."
Rhydan stepped between us. "She's under my protection."
"Of course," the man said, as if Rhydan were a child making grand declarations. "But protection has a cost."
He glanced at the other High Wolves.
And that's when I saw it — the one on the far left.
She lowered her hood.
And my entire world tilted.
Because her face…
Was mine.
Older. Harsher. But mine.
My knees buckled.
Rhydan caught me. "What is it?"
"She looks like me," I whispered.
The woman stepped forward, her voice softer than the others. "That's because I am your mother."
"No," I said immediately. "That's impossible. My mother died when I was a baby."
"She disappeared," the woman corrected. "To protect you."
The runes beneath the stone flared again, reacting to her voice.
"I gave you to the human world," she said. "To hide you. To keep you safe from what I knew would come. But I couldn't stay away forever. When your power awakened… I felt it."
"You abandoned me."
"I saved you."
I backed away, dizzy.
My mother?
Alive?
A High Wolf?
"You're one of them?" I asked. "You're working with them?"
"I am one of them," she said quietly. "I always was."
My heart felt like it was cracking.
Rhydan stepped in. "Why now? Why reveal yourself now?"
"Because the balance is breaking," she said. "Aeryn is the first flame reborn. If her power falls into the wrong hands, everything will burn."
"So you're here to help?" I asked.
A pause.
"No," she said. "I'm here to offer a choice."
The oldest of the High Wolves stepped forward now. He had a beard like steel wool and a voice like crumbling rock.
"Come with us, girl," he said. "Train under our guidance. Learn to master what you are. And we will spare Rhydan and what remains of his pack."
I blinked. "Spare?"
"You've already caused rebellion," he snapped. "The packs are fracturing. Garrick's coup is only the beginning."
I turned to Rhydan, whose jaw was clenched tight.
"They're lying," he muttered. "They'll kill you the moment you're no longer useful."
"I'm offering her a place in our world," my mother said. "The rightful place."
"And if I say no?" I asked.
The High Wolf's eyes darkened. "Then we take you by force. You're too dangerous to walk free."
"I'd burn before I bow," I said.
The air thickened. Magic trembled.
Then Rhydan spoke, voice ice cold. "Then you'll have to go through me."
Weapons came out.
The High Wolves' guards drew silver blades, ancient and gleaming.
The forest behind us howled with more wolves.
Rhydan pushed me behind him. "Run if I tell you."
"No," I said.
"Aeryn—"
"I'm not leaving you."
His eyes flashed. "Don't be stupid."
"Don't be noble," I snapped. "This is our fight."
Our bond surged. Magic circled us both — silver for him, white fire for me.
A wall of light rose between us and the High Wolves, holding them back.
My mother's voice cut through it. "You can't keep it up forever."
"Maybe not," I said. "But I only need long enough."
"For what?"
"For the mountain to choose."
The runes beneath our feet pulsed like a heartbeat.
And then… the earth shook.
A roar echoed through the forest.
Wolves — not aligned with any pack — burst from the trees. Feral, ancient, wild.
Their eyes weren't gold or white.
They were flame-colored.
And they bowed to me.
The High Wolves staggered back.
"What is this?" one of them snarled.
"Old blood," my mother whispered. "The Forgotten Fangs. They were said to have died with the Flame."
"They didn't die," I said.
"They waited."
Rhydan looked at me like I was a storm. "You summoned them."
"I didn't mean to."
"But you did."
And the truth settled in my bones.
I wasn't just the rebirth of the Flame.
I was her evolution.
I wasn't meant to rule under them.
I was meant to end them.
The High Wolves retreated for now.
Not out of fear.
But out of calculation.
They'd be back.
But so would I.
And next time… I wouldn't be a girl learning to walk in fire.
I'd be the blaze itself.