The cabin crouched at the edge of a frozen lake, half swallowed by drifts taller than a man. Wind screamed across the ice, driving needles of snow against the warped logs until the whole structure groaned like something alive and in pain. Inside, a single oil lamp flickered on a rickety table, throwing long shadows that crawled over walls black with decades of soot.
We had not spoken in hours.
Ryan stood by the door, shoulders filling the frame, staring out at the white nothing as if answers might materialize from the storm. Every few minutes his gaze slid sideways, sharp, measuring, to where Damon sat cleaning his rifle with mechanical precision. Damon never looked up, but his jaw flexed each time he felt the weight of that stare.
I sat on the floor in the farthest corner, back against the wall, Leo asleep across my lap. I had pulled the hood of his parka over his face to shield him from the draft that sneaked through every crack. My own coat was open; the cold no longer bit me the way it once had. Something older than fire kept me warm now. My eyes never left the two men.
Trust, so hard-won over years of blood and battle, had shattered in the Oracle's cave with eight whispered words.
Beware the shadow that walks beside you.
Damon set the rifle aside and reached into his inner pocket. The soft glow of a satellite phone lit his face as he thumbed the screen. He angled the device away from Ryan, away from me, fingers moving fast.
My pulse slowed to something cold and lethal.
Ryan stepped outside an hour ago to check the perimeter, boots crunching through knee-deep snow, breath pluming silver. The moment the door shut behind him, I rose. Leo stirred but did not wake; I settled him gently onto the pile of blankets and crossed the room in four silent strides.
Damon sensed me too late. When he looked up, I was already there, hand over his, pinning the phone to the table.
"Who were you texting, Damon?"
The Beta's eyes flicked to the door, to the rifle, to my face. For the first time in all the years I had known him, uncertainty lived in that steady gaze.
"Trying to pull weather data and maps," he said, voice low. "Signal's shit up here. Takes forever to load."
"Show me."
"Aria—"
"Show me."
He hesitated a fraction too long. Then he turned the screen toward me.
A blank messaging app. No sent texts. No signal bars. Just the endless spinning wheel of death.
My fingers tightened until the plastic case creaked.
"Don't let the witch get in your head, Luna," he murmured. "We're all tired. We're all scared."
I opened my mouth to answer, and the window exploded.
Glass showered the room like deadly snow. A silver-tipped arrow thudded into the floorboards exactly where Leo's head had been moments before. The fletching still quivered.
Leo screamed awake.
Ryan crashed through the door, snow exploding off his shoulders, eyes wild. "We're surrounded! At least twelve, maybe more. Royal hunters, full silver gear. How the hell did they find us this fast?"
Another arrow punched through the wall beside his head, burying itself to the feathers.
Damon was already moving, scooping Leo into one arm, rifle into the other. "North wall's weakest, we break there—"
Ryan rounded on him, fangs bared, voice a snarl that rattled the lamp. "You led them here."
For one terrible heartbeat the cabin held its breath.
Damon's pistol cleared leather and rose, muzzle steady, aimed straight at Ryan's heart.
I stepped between them, dagger drawn, not sure which man I would bury it in.
Then the back door splintered inward. A rogue hunter in matte-black armor filled the gap, crossbow raised.
Damon pivoted and fired without hesitation. The hunter dropped, face gone.
"Less talking, more fighting, Alpha!" Damon roared. He shoved Leo into my arms and kicked the table onto its side for cover. "Get the boy down!"
The night detonated.
Arrows hissed through every gap. One sliced Ryan's bicep, silver burning instantly. He snarled but did not slow, shifting mid-lunge, black wolf bursting free of clothes, crashing into two hunters who dared breach the doorway. Bone crunched. Blood steamed on snow.
I dragged Leo behind the iron stove, shielding him with my body. My own claws lengthened, silver fur rippling beneath my skin, power surging hot and sweet and terrifying. I wanted to join the fight, needed to, but Leo's small hands clutched my coat and anchored me.
Damon fought like a demon, rifle barking, each shot precise, lethal. He moved to cover Ryan's blind side without being asked, the way he had a thousand times before. When a hunter leapt through the shattered window, Damon met him with a knife to the throat, dropping the body across the threshold to slow the others.
Ryan tore free of his latest kill and shifted back, naked, bleeding, magnificent in rage. His eyes found Damon across the chaos.
The suspicion was still there, raw and bleeding worse than any arrow wound.
Outside, a hunting horn sounded, low and cruel. The signal to close the circle.
I rose, Leo pressed tight to my chest. Snow whirled through the ruined cabin, painting everything white and red.
"We can't hold here," I shouted over the wind. "The lake, go!"
Ryan met my eyes and nodded once. He knew what I meant: open ice, no cover, but no scent trails either. A desperate gamble.
Damon was already at the back wall, kicking out loose boards. "Single file, stay low. I'll bring up the rear."
Ryan's growl was almost too low to hear. "Like hell you will."
But there was no time to argue.
I ran first, Leo's arms locked around my neck, his face buried against my throat. The cold hit like a slap, but I welcomed it. Behind me, Ryan's massive wolf form guarded our backs, Damon in human shape beside him, rifle up, picking off shadows that moved too close.
We spilled onto the frozen lake just as fresh torches flared along the treeline. More hunters. Too many.
The ice groaned beneath our weight, protesting, but held.
Halfway across, I risked a glance back.
Damon was limping now, blood darkening his left leg, yet he still fired, still covered Ryan, still screamed for us to keep moving.
Hero or traitor, I could not tell.
The horn sounded again, closer.
The storm swallowed everything behind a curtain of white.
And somewhere in that blinding darkness, the shadow that walked beside us kept pace, patient, smiling, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.