Chapter 45

The ruins still pulsed with the remnants of power, the air thick with the weight of everything that had just happened. The battle had ended, but the war had only just begun.

Riley stood at the center of it all, heart pounding, breath slow, feeling the weight of a thousand choices pressing down on her.

She had won.

She had driven Caius back, forcing him to retreat.

But he hadn't left in fear.

He had left knowing something.

Something she hadn't figured out yet.

That alone sent a slow, sharp unease curling through her veins.

Because if he wasn't afraid, it meant he still had control over something.

And whatever that was

She had to take it from him.

The pack was still watching her, standing at the edges of the ruins, their golden eyes reflecting the flickering torchlight.

They had followed her this far, but now?

Now, they needed more than just a leader.

They needed a reason to keep fighting.

A reason to believe this war wasn't already lost.

She turned to face them, her pulse steady, her voice clear.

"I won't lie to you," she said, scanning the crowd. "What happened tonight wasn't a victory."

Some of the wolves shifted uneasily.

But she wasn't here to comfort them.

She was here to tell them the truth.

"Caius left because he wanted to," she continued. "Because this was never the real fight. Because he thinks he's already won."

She let the words settle.

She let the weight of them sink into the silence.

Then she took a step forward.

"But he's wrong."

A flicker of something passed through the pack, a spark, a question.

Good.

"Do you feel it?" she asked, her voice quieter now. "The shift? The way the ruins responded to me?"

No one spoke.

But they felt it.

She could see it in their eyes.

The understanding.

The acceptance.

The slow realization that the past wasn't just something to be uncovered.

It was something that could be rewritten.

"We're not just fighting against him," Riley said. "We're fighting against the ones who erased me before. The ones who controlled Tobias. The ones who still believe they own this war."

She let the silence stretch, let the wind carry the weight of her words.

"Let them believe that," she murmured. "Let them think they still hold the leash."

Her gaze sharpened.

"Because the moment they see what we've become it'll be too late for them to stop us."

A low growl rumbled through the crowd, the tension shifting.

Not fear.

Not uncertainty.

Something else.

Something dangerous.

Something ready.

Lena let out a low whistle, smirking. "Damn, sweetheart. That was almost inspiring."

Riley shot her a look, but she could see it in Lena's eyes.

She wasn't mocking her.

She was impressed.

And so was the rest of the pack.

Kieran stepped forward, his golden eyes dark and unreadable. "So what's the plan?"

Because that's what they needed now.

Not speeches.

Not just words.

A plan.

And Riley had one.

She had spent too long playing defense.

It was time to move first.

She lifted her chin.

"We find out what Caius is after," she said. "And then we take it from him."

A Past Worth Burning

The pack didn't hesitate.

They moved as one, leaving the ruins behind, following Riley through the thick forest.

They didn't need to ask where they were going.

Because they already knew.

If there were answers to be found, they weren't in the ruins anymore.

They were in the one place Tobias had always refused to let her see.

The Alpha's estate.

Silverwood had always had secrets, but none ran deeper than the ones buried inside the walls of the pack's fortress.

And Riley was done waiting for permission.

The moonlight barely pierced through the thick canopy above them, but she could see perfectly.

She could feel everything.

The presence of the wolves at her back.

The distant, lingering scent of Caius's wolves, now miles behind them.

The heartbeat of the forest itself.

She was awake now.

And nothing could stop her from taking what was hers.

The estate was just ahead, the massive structure barely visible through the trees.

Kieran slowed beside her. "Are we sure about this?"

Riley didn't hesitate. "No."

Lena grinned. "Good enough for me."

They reached the perimeter, where the dense forest met the open clearing of the estate's grounds.

The pack fanned out, silent, waiting.

Tobias had ruled from inside those walls.

Caius had hunted her from the shadows beyond them.

And now?

She was walking straight through the front door.

Kieran's jaw tightened. "If we do this, we don't get to undo it."

Riley exhaled slowly.

"Then let's make it count."

A reckoning in the dark

The first guard never saw her coming.

One moment he was standing watch

The next, Riley slammed him into the ground.

No time for hesitation. No time for warnings.

They had been hunting her since the beginning.

Now, it was her turn.

The pack swept forward, silent and lethal, slipping through the shadows like they had always belonged here.

And maybe, in a way, they had.

Riley moved fast, slipping past the outer walls, her heart steady, her pulse even.

The estate was built from stone and wood, an old fortress that had stood long before Tobias had ever called himself Alpha.

It had always felt like a cage.

Tonight, it felt like a battlefield.

Kieran caught up beside her. "Where are we going?"

Riley didn't hesitate.

Down.

To the part of the estate that only Tobias and his most trusted wolves had ever seen.

To the part that held secrets, no one had ever spoken of.

To the part where, if she was right

She would finally learn why they had erased her in the first place.

The halls were eerily silent as they moved deeper into the fortress.

But Riley could feel it.

The presence in the dark.

The watching eyes.

Then

A door.

Heavy, iron-bound, old as the estate itself.

Her fingers grazed over the surface, and a sharp shock of energy pulsed through her.

Recognition.

A memory trying to surface.

This door.

She had been here before.

And whatever was on the other side

It was meant for her.

Kieran glanced at her, waiting.

Lena cracked her knuckles, grinning. "I swear, if there's some ancient monster in there, I'm gonna be pissed."

Riley huffed a quiet breath.

Then

She pushed the door open.

And everything changed.

The chamber beyond the door was vast, lined with torches that burned too bright, too strong.

And at the center

A massive stone tablet.

Not just any tablet.

A history.

Her history.

Carved into stone, telling the story they had tried to erase.

She stepped forward, her heart slamming against her ribs.

The words were in a language she shouldn't have understood.

But she did.

Because they were hers.

And they told the truth.

The truth of who she had been.

The truth of who Caius had been.

And the truth of why he had betrayed her.

Riley inhaled sharply.

Because in that moment, as the past unraveled before her, one thing became clear.

Caius hadn't been hunting her just to kill her.

He had been hunting her because he was afraid.

Afraid of what she would become if she remembered.

Afraid of the war she would bring to his doorstep.

And now?

Now he had every reason to be afraid.

Because Riley wasn't just going to win.

She was going to burn them all down.

Every lie.

Every secret.

Every piece of the past they had buried and thought she would never find.

The truth was carved into the stone before her, etched into time itself.

And now that she had seen it, there was no undoing it.

The flickering torchlight cast deep shadows across the chamber, making the carvings on the tablet shift and move as if they were alive.

Riley's breath came slow and steady, but her pulse was roaring.

Because this wasn't just history.

This was a warning.

Lena stepped up beside her, her golden eyes scanning the tablet. "So, sweetheart, you gonna tell us what's got you looking like you just saw a ghost?"

Riley swallowed hard.

Because in a way she had.

She turned to face them, her pack standing behind her, Kieran closest of all, his body tense with expectation.

They were waiting.

Waiting for her to explain.

Waiting for her to give them their next move.

Waiting for her to step into the truth of who she was.

She let the silence stretch.

Then, finally, she spoke.

"They didn't just erase me."

Her voice was quiet, dangerous.

"They erased an entire war."

Kieran's expression darkened. "What are you saying?"

Riley turned back to the carvings, her fingers tracing the edges of the stone.

"I'm saying this war didn't start with me and Tobias. Or even with Caius."

Her green eyes burned as she looked at them.

"It started long before any of us were reborn into it."

A slow, sharp hush settled over the chamber.

And then

The ground shook.

Not like before.

Not from the weight of memory.

But from something alive.

Something that had felt her return.

Something that had been waiting for her to remember.

And Riley knew

She had just woken up to something far worse than in the past.

The tremors beneath her feet weren't random.

They weren't just the shifting of old stone or the weight of time pressing down on forgotten history.

This was something alive.

Something ancient.

Something waiting.

The pack tensed around her, their golden eyes flickering in the dim torchlight.

Kieran stepped closer, muscles coiled, his stance protective. "Riley," he said carefully. "Tell me that's just the ruins settling."

Riley exhaled, slow and steady.

"It's not."

The carvings on the stone tablet glowed.

Faint, barely noticeable, but enough to make the breath catch in her throat.

And then the words moved.

Not physically.

Not in a way that should have been possible.

But the symbols on the stone shifted and twisted, forming new shapes, and new meanings.

Like they were rewriting themselves for her.

Like they had been waiting for her to see them again.

Lena let out a low whistle. "Okay, yeah. Some ancient supernatural bullshit happening right now."

Riley didn't respond.

Because she wasn't just seeing the symbols anymore.

She was remembering them.

The stone beneath her fingers was cold and rough, but somewhere, deep in her bones, she knew what it should have felt like.

Smooth. New.

Like it had been when she had last stood here.

Before everything had been ripped apart.

A sharp breath left her lips as images flashed behind her eyes.

The same ruins but not broken.

The same words but freshly carved.

The same war but not yet lost.

And standing before her

Caius.

Not as an enemy.

Not as the betrayer.

As something else.

Something that made her chest ache in ways she didn't understand.

"You have to trust me."

His voice was soft, urgent, desperate.

"If you stay, they will kill you."

She gasped, ripping herself out of the vision, and stumbling back from the stone.

The ruins groaned around them, the shaking intensifying.

Something was coming.

Something had felt her presence, her memories, her return.

Kieran caught her wrist, grounding her. "What did you see?"

Riley's throat was dry.

But the truth burned inside her now, undeniable.

"They didn't just erase me," she whispered. "They made sure no one would ever find out what happened."

She turned back to the tablet, the glowing symbols reflecting in her green eyes.

"This isn't just history."

She looked at them all now her pack, her wolves, her army.

"This is a warning."

The trembling beneath them grew stronger.

Something was waking up.

Something that had been waiting for her return.

And Riley knew

She wasn't leaving these ruins without a fight.

The shaking grew worse, the deep groan of stone grinding against stone echoing through the cavern like the earth itself was coming undone.

Dust rained from the ceiling, and the torches lining the walls flickered wildly, their flames dancing as if they, too, could feel the shift in the air.

Riley stood her ground.

She had faced Tobias. She had faced Caius.

But this was different.

This wasn't a war waged between rival packs.

This wasn't about dominance, power, or revenge.

This was something older.

Something that I had been watching. Waiting.

And now that she had touched the past, now that she had begun to piece together what had been stolen from her

It had found her again.

Kieran's grip on her wrist tightened. "Riley, we need to move."

But she couldn't.

Not yet.

Because the tablet was still glowing.

Because it was speaking to her.

The symbols burned brighter, and suddenly

A voice.

Not in her head.

Not from the wolves behind her.

From the ruins themselves.

"The past is never buried."

"It only waits."

"And now, it has come for you."

A pulse of pure energy slammed into her chest, knocking her back.

Kieran lunged to catch her, but she barely felt his hands on her shoulders.

Because the moment she hit the ground

The past crashed over her like a tidal wave.

The ruins were gone.

She was somewhere else.

Somewhere golden and burning.

The throne room.

The banners of her kingdom fluttered in the wind, embroidered with symbols she had once known as well as her own name.

And standing before her

Him.

Caius.

But not like before.

Not as the man she had fought.

Not as the enemy she had sworn to destroy.

But as someone who had once stood beside her.

"This was never supposed to happen," he said, his voice raw, his golden eyes dark with something too heavy to name.

Riley felt herself answering.

Not as she was now.

As she had been before.

"Then why did you betray me?"

Caius flinched.

And at that moment, she saw it.

The truth.

The betrayal had never been about power.

It had never been about control.

It had been about saving her.

Or at least, that's what he had believed.

Because in the next instant, the doors to the throne room burst open.

A wave of darkness crashed inside.

Not wolves.

Not soldiers.

Something else.

Something that had come to erase her from history.

And Caius

Caius had chosen their side to stop them from killing her.

But it didn't work.

Because she had died anyway.

The vision ripped away as a deafening crack split the air.

Riley gasped, snapping back into the present, Kieran shouting her name.

The ruins were collapsing.

The past was trying to bury her again.

But this time

She refused to be erased.

She shoved herself upright, eyes blazing.

"We're getting out of here," she said, voice sharper than steel.

Lena cursed. "Finally. Thought you were gonna let yourself get crushed for a second."

The wolves were already moving, following her lead, sprinting for the exit as the ruins continued to shake, stone crumbling around them.

Kieran stayed beside her, his golden eyes flicking toward her, worried, questioning.

But Riley couldn't look at him yet.

Because she wasn't just running out of the ruins.

She was running straight into a truth she could no longer deny.

Caius hadn't betrayed her out of cruelty.

He had betrayed her because he had thought it was the only way to save her.

And now, after all these years

He had come back to finish what he started.