The horns sounded again, closer this time, low and ugly like something dragged up from the dead mountains. I pushed off the bed before the brothers could stop me, my cloak already half on. My hand went straight to my belly out of habit now. The flutter answered, stronger than yesterday, like the unborn child could hear the threat and didn't like it.
Darius was on his feet in the same heartbeat, ice-blue eyes locked on the window. "Not Shadowpine. That's witch-work. She's testing the mark she put on you already."
Kane strapped on his knives without a word, his stare flat. Rylan grabbed his axe from the wall, grin gone sharp and mean. "She said the child quickens fast. Guess she wants to see if we'll crack before the moon even turns red."
My chest burned where the witch's mark sat, a low throb that matched the bond's pulse. I could feel it pulling at me, like invisible claws trying to drag the spark inside me out into the open. "Then we don't give her the show she wants. We ride out and meet whatever she sent before it reaches the walls."
Darius caught my arm, grip hard but careful. "You stay inside the gates Elena. The child — "
"I'm not hiding," I cut in, voice low and raw. "I killed Thorne with my own hands. I bit Marek's ear off in chains. This mark on me is mine to carry. If the witch wants to test it, she can do it while I'm looking her in the eye."
Kane's jaw tightened. He didn't argue. Just handed me a fresh knife and a short bow.
Rylan tossed me a quiver. I felt the bond hummed between us, it was tight with that new protective edge they couldn't turn off anymore. It wasn't just about me. It was about the small life growing in my belly. I felt their wolves pacing right under their skin, ready to tear apart anything that came near it.
We moved fast through the halls. Wolves were already gathering in the bailey, torches flaring against the dark. The eastern horns sounded once more, closer, almost mocking. We took the wall again, but this time we didn't stop at the top.
Darius gave the order to open the gates just wide enough for the four of us and a small guard.
The snow had stopped and the wind from the east carried the smell of burned herbs and old blood. We rode out in tight formation, me between the brothers like always. My gray mare horse snorted steam, ears pinned back. The bond fed me their tension in flashes: Darius calculating distance and kill counts, Kane already picking targets, Rylan wanting to laugh and charge straight at whatever waited.
The tree line opened up after half a mile. A single rider waited on the frozen ground. No banner. No armor. Just a tall, thin figure wrapped in black robes, his face hidden under a hood. The horse it rode had eyes that glowed faint red. Witch-work indeed. I could smell the magic on the wind.
The figure pushed back the hood. It was a woman, younger than the crone in the mountains but with the same cracked-ice eyes. Her daughter's line?... maybe. She looked straight at me.
"The mother sends a message," she called, voice carrying like dry leaves. "The mark on your chest is only the beginning. The unborn child in your belly quickens. Do you feel it yet? It already carries my blood. Refuse the bargain and the full moon will take one of your kings. Choose which one dies, or I take the child at birth. You have eight days -- eight days to decide."
My stomach twisted. The flutter inside me kicked harder, like the kid heard her and hated it. The mark on my chest burned for a second. I pressed my palm over it and felt the bond roar in my head.
Darius's horse stepped forward. "Tell your mother the answer is still no. We don't bargain with dead women's grudges."
The messenger smiled, thin and terrible. "Then watch them break. The curse remembers every scream my aunt gave before she died. It will make your kings feel it tenfold unless the child is mine."
She lifted one hand. The air crackled and a shadow lunged from the trees behind her. It was something twisted, half-wolf, half-smoke, eyes glowing the same red as her horse. It charged straight at us.
Rylan met it first, his axe swinging to make contact. The thing screeched and raked claws down his stallion's flank. Kane was off his horse in the next breath, his knives flashing. Darius shoved me behind him and shifted mid-leap, black fur ripping through his clothes.
I didn't stay back.
I nocked an arrow and loosed. The shaft sank into the shadow-creature's shoulder. It howled and turned on me. Pain flared across my chest as the witch's mark burned hotter, like it was feeding on the fight. The latent alpha blood surged. I dropped the bow, drew my knife, and met the thing head-on.
Its claws caught my arm. I felt the tear but didn't stop. I drove the blade up under its jaw the way I'd learned in the ravine. Black blood sprayed across my face. The creature staggered. Darius came over and finished it with a snap of his jaws, tearing its throat out.
The messenger watched the whole thing without moving. Her smile never slipped. "Eight days, girl. Feel the child kick. Feel your kings start to slip. Then decide."
She turned her horse and rode east. The wind swallowed her before we could follow.
We stood in the snow, breathing hard. My arm bleeding. The mark on my chest throbbed in time with my heartbeat. Darius shifted back, naked and streaked with black blood, and pulled me against him. Kane pressed a strip of cloth to my arm. Rylan wiped his axe clean, but his eyes stayed on the eastern ridge.
"She's pushing the deadline," Darius said against my hair. His hand settled low on my belly, protective. "The child is making the curse fight harder. We feel it already."
I leaned into him, the bond wrapping around all four of us like iron. The flutter inside me kicked again, stronger. "Then we don't wait eight days. We go back to the dead mountains before the full moon. We end this on our terms."
Kane's storm-gray eyes met mine. "You're carrying our kid. The witch wants it. Riding straight into her lair again is —"
"Necessary," I cut in. My voice didn't shake. "I'm not losing any of you. And I'm not giving her my child. We ride at first light. All four of us."
Rylan's grin came back, slow and mean. "That's my girl."
We turned the horses back toward Frostfang. The eastern wind followed us, cold and smelling of smoke and old grudges. My arm hurt like hell. My chest burned. But the spark inside me burned hotter.
My father was coming from the south. The witch was coming from the east. And somewhere between them I was growing something that tied me to three feral kings in a way no curse could break.
We finally reached Ironfang.
The gates closed behind us with a heavy boom. Wolves watched from the walls, silent and waiting.
I kept my hand on my belly the whole way back to the chambers.
Eight days....
We had eight days to make the witch regret ever laying eyes on me or one of my kings die.
And I planned to use every single one of them.