Chapter 44
The air in the ruins was thick with silence.
Not empty.
Not still.
Waiting.
For a decision. For the first strike. For the moment everything that had been buried broke free.
Riley stood in the center of it, her heart pounding like a war drum, her breath slow, controlled, even though every instinct inside her screamed to act.
Caius stood before her, his golden eyes steady and unreadable, his presence too calm for a man who had just admitted to betraying her.
For a man who had once stood over her with blood on his hands.
And behind him, in the depths of the ruins, the shadows moved.
Figures stepped forward, their presence slow and deliberate, cloaked in darkness, golden eyes gleaming from beneath their hoods.
Not wolves.
Not Tobias's pack.
Something else.
Something ancient.
Riley's pack shifted behind her, their bodies tense, low growls vibrating through the air, but they didn't move first.
Because this wasn't just a fight.
This was a claim.
A moment that would decide who she was and where she belonged.
And Caius knew it.
That was why he wasn't attacking.
That was why his wolves weren't lunging.
Because he wasn't here to kill her.
He was here to take her back.
And Riley wasn't sure which was worse.
Caius took another step forward, slow, deliberate. Measured.
"You feel it, don't you?"
Riley stiffened.
Because she did.
It was crawling under her skin, curling around her ribs, sinking into her bones like it had always been there.
A pull.
A connection.
The past was trying to close in on her, dragging her back to where she had been before.
Before Tobias. Before Kieran. Before she died.
But she wasn't that girl anymore.
She wasn't someone to be erased.
She wasn't something to be claimed.
Her jaw tightened, fingers twitching at her sides. "I feel nothing."
Caius exhaled softly, shaking his head. "Liar."
The word settled deep.
Because he was right.
She had spent so long searching for the truth, clawing at the broken pieces of her past, and now here it was.
Standing in front of her.
Calling her back.
But she wasn't going.
Kieran moved beside her, muscles tensed, claws extended. "You need to leave," he growled, voice low, controlled. "Now."
Caius finally turned his gaze to Kieran, something sharp flickering behind his golden eyes.
"You're protective," he murmured. "That's sweet."
Kieran's snarl deepened, his golden eyes flashing dangerously. "I'll be something else if you take one more step."
Caius smirked.
Like he was amused.
He didn't see Kieran as a threat or worse like he already knew how this would end.
Riley's blood turned to fire.
Because that was the problem, wasn't it?
Caius had been waiting for this.
He had known she would come.
And now that she was here, he wasn't leaving without her.
She took a slow breath, steadying herself.
Then, she stepped forward.
Kieran stiffened beside her, but he didn't stop her.
Because this was hers.
Her past.
Her war.
She met Caius's gaze, steady and unyielding.
"I don't belong to you."
Caius smiled, but this time, it wasn't amusing.
It was something softer.
Something worse.
"You did once."
Riley's chest ached.
Because the past wasn't just chasing her anymore.
It was standing right in front of her.
Waiting for her to remember.
Waiting for her to choose.
But her choice had already been made.
She inhaled, sharp and certain.
"Not anymore."
Caius tilted his head, studying her like she was something fragile like she was something to be handled carefully.
Like she was his.
And then
He sighed.
"Shame," he murmured.
And then he moved.
Fast.
And this time she was going to finish it.
The ruins trembled beneath her feet, a slow pulse of energy thrumming through the cracked stone like an ancient heart beating for the first time in centuries.
Something had changed.
Something had woken up.
Not just her memories.
Not just her past.
Her power.
The air between them thickened, charged with something deep and raw, something that had been buried alongside her history.
Caius had felt it too.
His golden eyes flickered not with fear, but with something close to understanding.
Like he had been waiting for this moment.
Like he had known it would come.
And that infuriated her.
Because he wasn't supposed to look at her like that.
Like he still had the upper hand.
Like he still believed he had a claim to her.
Riley bared her teeth, her claws curling at her sides.
"You don't get to stand there and act like you know me," she hissed.
Caius tilted his head slightly. "Don't I?"
Rage curled inside her.
Because the worst part?
He did know her.
Once.
Before he had taken everything from her.
Before he had killed her.
Before he had left her buried and forgotten.
But now
Now, she was standing here, alive.
And she was going to make him pay for every second she had been erased.
Caius exhaled slowly, flexing his fingers, blood dripping from the wound she had carved into his shoulder.
"You're different," he murmured, voice calm.
Riley smiled, sharp and deadly.
"Good."
Then she attacked.
She moved faster this time not just with instinct, but with certainty.
Caius dodged, but not fast enough.
She struck again, claws slicing through the fabric of his cloak, forcing him back, forcing him to react.
Forcing him to realize
She wasn't fighting like she had before.
Because she wasn't just a girl reclaiming her past.
She was a wolf reclaiming her throne.
And Caius had just lost his.
The moment his blood hit the ground, the ruins trembled.
Not just from the fight.
Not just from the power unraveling between them.
But from something older.
Something that had been waiting.
A shift rippled through the air, deep and ancient, the kind of change that couldn't be undone.
And Riley felt it.
Caius did too.
For the first time, his golden eyes darkened not with confidence, not with amusement but with something colder.
Something close to realization.
Because this wasn't like last time.
This wasn't like before.
Before, he had been the one with the power.
Before, he had been the one controlling the outcome.
Before, she had been his to destroy.
But now
Now, the ruins didn't recognize him.
They recognized her.
The power curling in the air wasn't his.
It was hers.
Caius took a slow step back, his fingers flexing, blood still dripping from his wound.
A second ago, he had been standing in front of her like he had already won.
Now, he was reconsidering.
Riley felt it settle inside her, the truth sinking deep into her bones.
He thought he could claim her.
But she wasn't his to take.
She never had been.
And now, he finally understood that.
She took a step forward.
Caius still.
Not in fear.
But in recognition.
Like something inside him was finally catching up to the reality of what had just happened.
He exhaled softly, his golden gaze flickering across her face, searching.
"You really don't remember everything yet," he murmured, voice quiet.
Riley's nails dug into her palms, fury curling beneath her ribs.
"I remember enough."
Caius held her gaze. Unmoving.
Then, after a long, slow moment
He smiled.
Not in amusement.
Not in arrogance.
But like someone who had just lost a battle but knew the war was far from over.
"Not yet," he said simply.
And then he moved.
Not to attack.
Not to fight.
To retreat.
The moment his wolves saw him step back, they followed.
A calculated, controlled withdrawal.
Like he hadn't just lost
Like he had seen enough.
Like he had gotten what he came for.
Riley's breathing was heavy, her muscles coiled, her blood still burning with the need to finish this.
But something inside her held her back.
Because this
This wasn't over.
Caius had let her win this fight.
But he wasn't gone.
He was waiting.
Watching.
And the next time they met
She wouldn't just be remembering the past.
She would be rewriting it.
Not as the girl who had been erased.
Not as the ghost of a past they tried to bury.
But as the one who would burn it all down and build something new.
The ruins still trembled, as if they, too, had felt the shift as if they knew the war had just changed.
The wolves around her stood frozen, watching Caius and his forces disappear into the darkness. Not fleeing. Not afraid. But waiting.
Like they already had another plan.
Like they already knew this wasn't an end, but a beginning.
Riley's chest heaved, her breath sharp, but she forced herself to stand taller.
To hold the ground she had just won.
The wind howled through the open archways of the ruins, rustling the ivy that clung to the crumbling stone.
She wasn't just standing in a graveyard of the past.
She was standing where something had once been stolen from her.
And now, she was taking it back.
Kieran stepped closer, his golden eyes dark and storming with emotions she couldn't name.
"Why did he leave?" he asked, voice quiet but edged with something rough.
Riley didn't answer right away.
Because the truth was she didn't know.
Caius had walked away, not because he feared her, not because he had lost, but because he had seen something.
Something in her.
And that was what unsettled her the most.
Lena let out a low whistle, rolling her shoulders. "That was fun. Let's never do it again."
Riley exhaled sharply, grounding herself. "This isn't over."
Lena smirked. "Yeah, sweetheart, I got that part."
Kieran's gaze never left her.
"Are you okay?" he asked, voice lower now, steadier, but still weighted with something unspoken.
Riley clenched her jaw.
She wanted to say yes.
Wanted to tell him she was fine.
But she wasn't.
Because Caius was supposed to be her enemy.
And yet, when she had looked into his eyes
Something inside her had remembered him.
Not just as a traitor.
Not just as the one who had betrayed her.
But as something else.
Something dangerous.
Something unforgivable.
And that realization sat like ice in her chest.
Kieran's fingers curled at his sides, his jaw tightening. "Riley."
She swallowed hard.
Then she turned to face the wolves still watching her.
Still waiting for her next move.
Because they had followed her here.
They had chosen her.
And now, they needed to know what came next.
She lifted her chin.
"We're done letting them control the game."
The pack stilled.
The words settled.
She wasn't just talking about Caius.
She was talking about all of it.
Tobias.
The ones who had erased her.
The war that had never truly ended.
Kieran's expression was unreadable. "And what exactly do we do now?"
Riley's lips curled, slow and sharp.
She turned back toward the ruins, toward the history she refused to be a prisoner to.
"We take back what was ours."
And this time no one was going to stop her.
Not Caius.
Not Tobias.
Not the ghosts of the past that still whispered through the ruins.
She had spent too long being hunted, too long running from answers, too long being a step behind the forces pulling the strings of a war she had been born to win.
That ended now.
The wolves around her could feel the shift, the certainty.
They had followed Tobias because they thought he was strong.
They had hesitated before choosing her because they weren't sure she was.
But now?
Now they knew.
Because she wasn't just a leader.
She was a reckoning.
She was the war itself.
Lena smirked, her golden eyes glinting in the moonlight. "Sweetheart, I gotta say something is terrifying about you when you make that face."
Riley glanced at her. "Good."
Kieran was still watching her, his golden eyes unreadable, but he didn't look at her like the others did.
Not with fear.
Not with hesitation.
With understanding.
Because he knew.
Because from the moment he had met her, from the moment she had stepped into the world of wolves and war, this was always where she was meant to end up.
Kieran exhaled sharply. "Then tell us what comes next."
Riley turned to face them all-the wolves who had once been her enemies, the ones who had watched her rise from the ashes of a past that refused to let her go.
She let the silence stretch, let the weight of the moment settle over them like a blade waiting to strike.
Then, she gave them her answer.
"We stop playing by their rules."
"We make our own."
The wind howled through the ruins.
And Riley knew wherever Caius was, he had felt it.
The first true war had just begun.
And this time she was the one they should fear.
Because she wasn't just reclaiming her past.
She was rewriting the future.
The ruins stood silent behind her, the echoes of history shifting, changing, bending to her will.
The wolves before her watched, waiting not with doubt, not with hesitation, but with trust.
Because she had proven herself.
Because they had seen what she was capable of.
Because they knew, just as she did
This war wouldn't be won by the strongest.
It would be won by the one who refused to break.
And she would never break again.