Chapter 39

The forest breathed around her, thick with the scent of wolves and something older, something deeper.

Riley moved without hesitation, without fear. She was done being hunted.

Now, she was the one they were waiting for.

The night was alive with shadows shifting between the trees, bodies moving in silence, golden eyes flickering like embers in the dark. Tobias's wolves.

But not all of them.

She could feel it now.

Some still followed him.

Some were still loyal.

But others?

Others were waiting to see what she would do.

Waiting to see if she was the one they had been missing all along.

Kieran moved beside her, his breath slow, and controlled, but she could feel the anger coiled beneath his skin.

"You don't have to do this," he murmured, low enough that only she could hear.

Riley's fingers curled at her sides. "Yes, I do."

Kieran exhaled sharply, shaking his head. "You don't even know what you're stepping into."

She glanced at him, green eyes burning. "Neither do they."

A flicker of frustration, fear, or something else crossed his face, but he didn't argue.

Because he knew.

They had already crossed the point of no return.

A movement in the darkness caught her attention.

Then a shape emerged.

Broad shoulders. A slow, measured gait. Golden eyes that burned with something too sharp to be amusement, too calm to be rage.

Tobias.

Riley's pulse didn't spike.

It didn't falter.

Because she wasn't afraid of him.

Not anymore.

Tobias came to a stop just feet away from her, his lips curving into something that wasn't quite a smirk.

"Well," he said smoothly. "I was wondering when you'd stop running."

Riley didn't blink. "I was wondering when you'd stop pretending you had control of them."

A muscle in Tobias's jaw twitched, but his expression didn't crack.

Riley saw it, though.

The way some of the wolves behind him shifted.

The way some of them barely smelled like him anymore.

Tobias wasn't just here to remind them of their place.

He was here because he was losing his grip on them.

And they both knew it.

Tobias tilted his head slightly. "So what's the plan, then?" His golden gaze flickered past her, toward the wolves watching from the shadows. "You think you can just take them?"

Riley smiled, slow and sharp. "I don't have to take anything."

Tobias exhaled through his nose, something cold curling at the edges of his smirk. "You don't get it, do you?"

He stepped closer, just enough that the space between them tightened, his voice lowering.

"They're not looking for a leader, Riley. They're looking for a winner."

The words settled deep, pressing against her ribs like a challenge.

She felt it then the shift in the air.

It wasn't about who had the strongest claim.

It was about who would walk away standing.

Kieran stiffened beside her. "This isn't necessary."

Tobias didn't even look at him. "It's the only thing that ever mattered."

Riley held Tobias's gaze, her pulse steady.

Then, softly, she asked, "Is that how you took them from me before?"

The smirk on Tobias's lips faltered.

For a second, just a second his golden eyes darkened.

And that was all the confirmation she needed.

She had been their leader once.

She had stood where he stood now.

And Tobias had taken it.

Riley inhaled slowly. "Then let's finish what you started."

A slow, dangerous silence stretched between them.

Then Tobias smiled.

"Fine," he murmured.

Then he lunged.

The Breaking Point

The impact came fast, too fast.

But Riley didn't stumble.

She moved with it, twisting at the last second, sidestepping the first strike as Tobias's claws barely missed her ribs.

She reacted before she thought, her body moving on instinct.

Because she had fought him before.

Because she had known about this fight once, long ago.

Tobias came at her again, faster this time, but she was ready.

She blocked, spun, countered.

The wolves around them were silent, watching.

Not interfering.

Because this wasn't about them anymore.

This was a fight for dominance.

A fight for who they would follow.

Tobias snarled, his movements sharper now, angrier.

But Riley wasn't angry.

She was focused.

She dodged another strike, then struck back, her claws raking across his shoulder. The scent of blood hit the air.

And the moment it did everything changed.

The watching wolves reacted.

Some flinched.

Some leaned forward.

Some of the ones who had been waiting were still completely asleep.

Riley saw it.

Felt it.

They weren't watching Tobias anymore.

They were watching her.

And Tobias saw it too.

His golden eyes flashed, and suddenly he wasn't attacking out of strategy anymore.

He was attacking out of desperation.

Because he was losing.

And he knew it.

Riley let out a slow, steady breath, dodging the next strike, twisting, moving faster than before.

Then she struck.

Hard.

Tobias's body hit the ground.

Silence.

The air was thick and electric.

Riley stared down at him, her breath heavy, her body still thrumming with power.

She had won.

But that wasn't the part that mattered.

The part that mattered was what happened next.

She could feel the wolves watching.

Waiting.

Tobias had lost.

And that meant they were no longer his.

Riley swallowed hard, the weight of the moment pressing into her.

Marcus's words came back to her, sharp and inevitable.

"If you want them, they're already yours."

She lifted her gaze.

And the wolves bowed.

It wasn't instant.

It wasn't a choreographed movement, some display of loyalty forced upon them.

It was hesitant at first, some shifting uncertainty, others watching the fallen Alpha as if waiting for him to rise, waiting for him to snarl, to reassert control

But Tobias didn't move.

He stayed where he had fallen, his breath ragged, his body trembling from the force of their fight. His golden eyes flickered, shifting between her and the pack that had once been his.

And he saw it.

The moment he had lost them.

Riley felt it, too.

The wolves weren't looking at Tobias anymore.

They were looking at her.

Then, one by one, they lowered their heads.

Not in fear.

Not in defeat.

In recognition.

It sent a sharp pulse of something electric through her.

Not power.

Something older, heavier, undeniable.

A memory buried deep inside her bones, stirring like an ember brought back to life.

She had stood here before.

She had won before.

And now, she was taking it back.

Kieran hadn't moved beside her, but she could feel the weight of his stare, the storm of emotions tangled behind his golden eyes.

She knew what he was thinking.

What this meant.

What she had just become.

But she couldn't focus on that now.

Not yet.

She stepped forward, her breath slow, controlled, until she stood over Tobias.

He stiffened.

Not in pain.

In rage.

His fingers curled into the dirt, his body trembling from the effort of keeping himself upright.

She could see the sheer defiance in his gaze, the refusal to accept what had just happened.

"You think this is over?" he rasped, voice raw, barely more than a growl.

Riley tilted her head slightly. "I think it was over the second your pack stopped looking at you."

A sharp snarl ripped from his throat.

But even now, as wounded as he was, as furious as he was he didn't lunge for her.

Because he knew.

If he challenged her now he wouldn't walk away.

And he wasn't willing to die for this.

That was the difference between them.

She would have.

The moment she stepped into the clearing, she had already accepted her fate.

Tobias never had.

Riley exhaled softly, then she turned away.

Tobias's breath caught.

"You're sparing me?" he asked like he couldn't believe it.

She didn't look back.

"I'm not you."

Then, without another word, she faced the wolves still watching her.

Waiting.

Because they knew what she had to say next.

What she had to do next.

She had claimed victory.

Now, she had to claim them.

Her chest tightened, something sharp curling beneath her ribs as the weight of the moment settled fully onto her shoulders.

She hadn't wanted this.

She hadn't planned for it.

But this had never been about what she wanted.

It was about who she was.

She inhaled slowly.

Then she spoke.

"I am not Tobias," she said, her voice steady, certain. "I will not lead you the way he did."

Silence.

The wind stirred around them, a single leaf spiraling to the ground between her and the waiting wolves.

Riley took another step forward, closing the last of the space between them.

"But if you follow me, know this"

She let her gaze drift over them, letting every one of them feel the weight of her next words.

"There is no running from what's coming."

Some shifted uncomfortably.

Others stayed still.

Waiting.

"If you choose to follow me," she continued, voice like a knife cutting through the cold night air, "then you choose to stand. To fight. To end what should have ended long ago."

She let the words settle.

She saw the ones who hesitated.

The ones who already knew their answer.

And the ones who were still waiting to see if she meant it.

Her gaze flickered once more to Tobias, still crouched in the dirt, his breath heavy but silent now.

Then, she turned back to the pack.

And extended her hand.

A moment passed.

Then another.

Then

A single wolf stepped forward.

It was one of the first to lower its head when Tobias had fallen. A tall, lean male with thick gray fur and piercing amber eyes.

He didn't speak.

He didn't ask questions.

He just lowered himself to one knee.

A murmur spread through the crowd.

Another wolf followed.

Then another.

And another.

Riley's breath came sharp and steady as one by one, they knelt.

Not out of weakness.

Not out of fear.

But out of recognition.

They weren't just accepting her.

They were accepting what she had always been.

And just like that, the war had changed.

Tobias had lost his army

And Riley had just gained one.

The weight of it settled deep in her bones, a quiet, steady hum beneath her skin.

This wasn't just about winning.

This wasn't just about survival.

This was a reckoning.

She let her gaze drift over them, the wolves who had once been Tobias's, the ones who had chased her, hunted her, doubted her.

And now?

They belonged to her.

The fire inside her didn't rage this time.

It burned slowly. Controlled. Powerful.

Because this was what Tobias had feared.

Not her strength.

Not her return.

But the fact that she was never supposed to lose them in the first place.

A slow, sharp breath left her lips.

And as the last wolf bowed, she knew

There was no stopping this now.