Raina's hands were raw.
Blisters throbbed under the skin of her palms as she clutched the training staff tighter, forcing herself not to show the pain. She stood in a wide stone courtyard surrounded by frost, sweat running down her spine as the cold wind bit into her soaked shirt.
"You're slow," the woman across from her said flatly.
Raina scowled.
Her opponent was a tall she-wolf named Vanya — lean, scarred, with a permanent sneer on her lips and eyes the color of a steel trap. She had greeted Raina that morning by tossing her a training staff and saying, "Try not to cry."
So far, Raina hadn't. But her arms ached, her legs were sore, and every swing Vanya blocked echoed like an insult.
"You fight like someone who was pampered," Vanya said, circling her. "Did your pack just feed you compliments and expect you to breed?"
Raina snapped. She lunged forward with a reckless swing, but Vanya knocked her staff aside with one swift blow and sent Raina stumbling to the ground.
The other trainees — a mix of males and females in black tunics — didn't laugh, but their silence was louder than mockery.
Raina stayed on the ground for a second longer than she wanted.
Then stood.
"Again," she said.
Vanya raised an eyebrow. "You'll bleed."
"Then I bleed."
From the balcony above the courtyard, Theron stood with his arms folded, watching.
"She's determined," said Cassian, his second-in-command. "But stubbornness doesn't keep a wolf alive in a war."
"She doesn't need to be alive yet," Theron replied. "She needs to be broken in the right way. Rebuilt from the ashes."
Cassian tilted his head. "And if she doesn't rise?"
"She will."
Theron's tone left no room for doubt.
By evening, Raina sat on the edge of her bed in the guest wing, wrapping her hands in cloth. Her knuckles were scraped, and her legs felt like someone had beaten them with iron rods.
But she hadn't cried.
Not once.
Her wolf was restless inside her — not angry, just watching. Observing.
For the first time, it felt like they were working together.
Her wolf wasn't begging for Kael. She wasn't mourning anymore. She was… waiting. For something. For someone.
Raina looked at herself in the mirror.
The bruises, the tangled hair, the tired eyes.
She didn't look like a queen.
She didn't even look like herself.
But she didn't look weak, either.
There was something in her reflection now that hadn't been there before.
A spark.
That night, she dreamed of Kael.
He was standing in the woods alone, shirtless, his hands covered in blood. His wolf eyes glowed yellow in the dark.
"Raina," he said.
But it wasn't a call. It was a warning.
When she tried to step toward him, the ground cracked beneath her, and the forest caught fire.
She woke with a gasp, heart racing, the sheets tangled around her legs.
A knock came at her door.
"Raina?" Theron's voice was quiet.
She pulled herself out of bed, still shaky, and opened the door.
"You okay?" he asked.
"I had a dream. Kael."
Theron's jaw clenched. "Come with me."
He led her through a side hallway lit with cold blue flames. They passed no guards. No servants. Just silence and stone.
Eventually, they came to a small chamber with a carved stone table in the center.
On the table was a single scroll.
Theron opened it.
"This arrived by crow from Kael's Beta. He's asking for help."
Raina blinked. "What?"
"Rogues are attacking their borders. Their wolves are collapsing. Some say the Alpha is unstable."
She stared at the message, rereading the words.
She didn't feel satisfied.
She felt nothing.
"You think this is because of me?" she asked quietly.
Theron didn't answer.
Instead, he asked, "Do you want to respond?"
"I want to sleep."
He didn't press her. "Then sleep."
As she turned to leave, he added, "Raina… you're not responsible for his fall. He threw you away."
She looked back at him, eyes hard. "Then I won't lift a finger to catch him."
But the message wasn't the only thing sent from the North.
Later that night, a shadow passed through the gates of Crescent Fortress — unnoticed, unchallenged.
A scent followed it.
Familiar. Too familiar.
On a balcony far above, a silver-eyed wolf watched Raina's room from the roofline — breathing in the air she had touched.
Watching.
Waiting.