Chapter 48
The fire swallowed the battlefield whole.
The night burned, shadows writhing and twisting as flames roared higher, consuming everything in their path.
The figure's golden eyes widened, their body caught in the inferno's grasp. For the first time, they looked uncertain.
Not invincible.
Not untouchable.
Just mortal.
Riley stood at the center of it all, unmoving, unshaken.
The fire didn't hurt her.
Because it wasn't just fire.
It was her.
She had been born in it, erased by it, buried in its embers and now, she was rising from it.
The pack stood frozen behind her, their golden eyes reflecting the blaze, caught somewhere between awe and fear.
Because this wasn't just another battle.
This was the moment everything changed.
The figure's lips parted as if to speak, but Riley was done listening.
"You should've killed me when you had the chance," she murmured.
And then, she let go.
The fire roared, closing in.
The figure twisted, recoiling, trying to fight it, trying to escape.
But there was nowhere left to run.
This wasn't just a battle of strength.
It wasn't just about power.
This was retribution.
This was the end of their story.
They had spent centuries rewriting the past, controlling the truth, playing god over time itself.
But even gods could burn.
And as the flames consumed them, they finally understood.
Riley saw it in their eyes the recognition, the acceptance.
The moment they realized that they had lost.
That she wasn't the girl they had erased.
That she wasn't the weapon they had once controlled.
That she was something else entirely.
And then
They were gone.
The fire burned too bright, too hot, turning them to ash.
And just like that, they were erased from history.
For the first time, Riley had erased them.
The Silence After the Storm
The fire crackled, embers floating into the air like fallen stars.
The wind carried the last remnants of smoke into the night.
And Riley?
She still stood.
Alive.
Unbroken.
Changed.
She exhaled slowly, her body thrumming with something new, something raw, something powerful.
For the first time since stepping into this war, since discovering who she was, she felt whole.
Like she wasn't just chasing the past anymore.
Like she wasn't running from something she didn't understand.
She understood now.
This wasn't just about remembering.
This was about becoming.
A slow hush settled over the battlefield, broken only by the distant crackle of dying flames.
The pack was still watching her, waiting for her to speak.
Waiting for her to tell them what came next.
But for a long moment, she didn't say anything.
Because she had felt it.
In the fire.
In the final moments before the figure had vanished.
She had felt something worse.
A presence still watching.
Still waiting.
Because this wasn't the end.
It was only the beginning.
The War That Had Just Begun
Kieran was the first to step forward, his golden eyes locked onto hers.
"Riley," he said, voice low, steady. Controlled, but edged with something raw.
He had seen it too.
He had felt it.
The truth hangs in the air between them.
Riley swallowed hard.
"It's not over," she murmured.
Lena scoffed, wiping blood from her cheek. "No offense, sweetheart, but what the hell does 'not over' even mean? You just turned that asshole into a pile of ash. That sure looked like an ending to me."
Riley shook her head. "It wasn't."
She turned, scanning the trees, the wind shifting around them. Waiting. Watching.
"The real enemy is still out there," she said.
Kieran tensed. "Caius."
Her chest ached at the mention of his name.
Because after everything, after all the battles and betrayals, after all the hatred she had clung to
She wasn't sure if Caius had ever been the true enemy at all.
Riley exhaled, steadying herself. "Not just him."
She turned back to the pack, her wolves, her soldiers.
"The ones who erased me," she said, her voice steady, sharp as a blade. "The ones who have been controlling this war from the shadows. The ones who did this to all of us."
She lifted her chin, letting the truth settle.
"They're still watching. Still waiting. And now, they know I remember."
A heavy silence stretched through the clearing.
She saw it in their faces the realization, the understanding.
The war they had thought they were fighting was nothing compared to the one coming.
The enemy wasn't just Tobias.
Or Caius.
Or the traitors lurking in the shadows.
It was the ones who had written the past itself.
And Riley?
She was going to tear them apart.
Kieran exhaled sharply, golden eyes unreadable. "Then what do we do?"
The fire flickered in Riley's hands, golden embers curling around her fingers.
She knew exactly what came next.
No more waiting.
No more playing by their rules.
She turned to the pack.
"We take the war to them."
And this time no one was going to stop her.
The air crackled around her, thick with the lingering scent of smoke and something heavier the weight of fate shifting.
The wolves watched her with new eyes.
Not just as their leader.
Not just as the girl who had survived.
But as the one who had set the war in motion.
And Riley could feel it too.
Something inside her had broken open in that fire, something they had tried to erase but couldn't.
Not now.
Not ever again.
Lena exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through her hair. "Alright, sweetheart. I'm with you. But let's be honest who the hell are we fighting now?"
That was the question.
The one that had been hanging in the air since the moment the fire had turned to ash.
Because it wasn't just one person.
It wasn't just Caius or Tobias or the wolves they had spent so long chasing.
This war was older than them.
Older than any of them remembered.
Older than even the ones who had been writing the story in the first place.
Riley straightened, her fingers flexing at her sides.
"They're the ones who made sure I died the first time," she said. "And they're the ones who have been watching ever since."
Kieran's expression darkened. "The ones who control history."
Riley nodded.
The ones who had rewritten the past.
The ones who had erased her name.
The ones who had taken everything.
And now?
She was taking it back.
Her green eyes burned as she turned to her pack, the ones who had followed her through fire and blood, the ones who were still here, still standing.
"They've been playing gods for centuries," she said. "Deciding who remembers. Deciding who disappears. Deciding how this war ends before it even begins."
Her breath curled in the cold night air.
"But they made a mistake."
She took a slow, deliberate step forward.
"They let me come back."
Silence stretched over the pack.
No hesitation.
Not fear.
Something else.
Anticipation.
Kieran met her gaze, steady, unyielding. "Then let's make them regret it."
Riley felt the fire rise again, not around her but inside her.
She lifted her chin.
"We will."
She turned to the horizon, where the night was still heavy, still waiting.
And she knew.
This wasn't just about revenge.
This wasn't just about winning.
This was about taking back the world they had stolen.
And she wouldn't stop
Not until every last one of them burned.
The words settled over the pack like a prophecy, sinking deep into the bones of every wolf standing in the clearing. The fire still smoldered behind them, casting long, twisting shadows, and Riley stood at the center of it all unmoved, unbroken, unstoppable.
The war wasn't coming.
It had already begun.
And this time, it wouldn't end with her being erased.
It wouldn't end with her name being forgotten.
It wouldn't end with them winning.
Because Riley wasn't just a fighter anymore.
She was the thing they had feared all along.
The mistake they had tried to bury.
The force they had tried to control.
The story they could no longer rewrite.
Lena let out a sharp breath, her usual smirk returning, but this time it was sharper, meaner. "Well, sweetheart, if we're doing this, I hope you've got a plan. 'Cause I'm tired of playing defense."
Riley's lips curled. "We don't play defense anymore."
Lena grinned. "That's what I like to hear."
The other wolves shifted, standing taller, watching Riley differently now.
They weren't just waiting for orders.
They were waiting for war.
Kieran stepped forward, golden eyes locked on her, unshaken, unwavering. "Where do we start?"
Riley turned, scanning the dark horizon, where the night stretched endlessly before them.
For so long, she had been searching.
For answers.
For the truth.
In the past, they had stolen from her.
But now?
Now she wasn't looking back.
She was looking forward to it.
And she knew exactly where they needed to go.
"The city," she said. "The one that was mine before they erased it."
Kieran's gaze sharpened. "You think there's something left?"
Riley exhaled.
She didn't just think.
She knew.
"They tried to bury it. Just like they tried to bury me."
She let the fire curl between her fingers, watching as the embers danced in the cold night air.
"But nothing stays buried forever."
She met their gazes, one by one, making sure they saw the truth in her eyes.
"We're going to the ruins of the first war," she said.
She turned toward the night.
"And we're going to finish it."
A slow, rising growl rippled through the wolves.
Not of fear.
Of readiness.
Of war.
The past had been rewritten.
The future was hers to claim.
And this time, when the fire rose
She would be the one lighting the match.
The night pulsed around them, thick with the scent of burning earth and the weight of something new, something inevitable.
The war had always belonged to them.
Now, it was hers to win.
The wolves moved closer, their golden eyes reflecting the dying embers, their bodies tense with anticipation. No one spoke. No one needed to.
Because they understood.
Because for the first time in centuries, the hunted had become the hunters.
Kieran exhaled slowly, his gaze locked on hers. "If we do this, there's no turning back."
Riley lifted her chin.
"Good."
A slow grin crept across Lena's face. "Well, damn. I think I just fell in love a little."
Riley huffed a quiet breath, but her heart was hammering.
Not from fear.
Not from doubt.
From certainty.
She had never felt it before not like this.
She had spent her life searching.
For who she was.
For what had been stolen from her.
For why they had erased her in the first place.
But she wasn't searching anymore.
She knew.
And soon would they.
She turned toward the distant horizon, where the ruins of her past lay buried beneath time and lies.
The city that had once been hers.
The city that still remembered her name.
The city that was waiting for her return.
"We move at dawn," she said.
The pack didn't hesitate.
Because this wasn't just a fight.
This was the reckoning.
And when the sun rose
The world would finally remember Riley Hayes.
No more hiding.
No more running.
No more fighting battles on someone else's terms.
The fire inside her had been reignited, not just in her hands, not just in the ruins they left behind but in her very soul.
The past was done taking from her.
Now, she was taking everything back.
The pack around her was silent, but it wasn't a silence of uncertainty.
It was a silence of understanding.
A silence of readiness.
A silence that carried the weight of wolves who knew that war was no longer something to avoid but something to end.
And Riley?
She was going to end it.
Kieran stepped closer, his golden eyes flickering in the torchlight, his breath steady, controlled.
But she could feel it in him.
The storm beneath his skin.
The unspoken words lingered between them.
He had followed her through fire and blood.
And now he would follow her into the heart of war itself.
Lena stretched, cracking her knuckles. "Dawn, huh? You know, sweetheart, that doesn't give me a whole lot of time to sleep."
Riley's lips curled. "Then don't."
A slow, sharp grin spread across Lena's face. "God, I do love you."
The other wolves shifted, a murmur of anticipation rippling through them.
Because they weren't waiting anymore.
They weren't questioning.
They weren't hesitating.
This was their moment.
Riley turned toward the darkness stretching ahead of them, toward the ruins that had been waiting for her, toward the truth that had been buried for far too long.
She had spent too much time searching for answers.
Now?
She was going to take them.
The fire in her hands burned hotter, brighter, casting their path forward in gold and crimson.
"We leave at first light," she said, her voice steady.
She met each of their eyes, one by one, making sure they understood.
"This time, we aren't fighting for survival."
She exhaled slowly, the flames flickering in her grip, her power thrumming beneath her skin.
"This time we're fighting to win."
The pack didn't cheer.
They didn't celebrate.
They simply stood taller, shoulders squared, eyes gleaming in the night.
Because this wasn't the end.
This was the beginning of the real war.
And when the sun finally rose
It would rise on the ashes of those who had tried to erase her.
The wind shifted, carrying the last traces of smoke from the battlefield into the night as if the world itself knew what was coming.
Riley stood unmoving, feeling the weight of it all the past, the present, and the war waiting beyond the horizon.
No more chains.
No more stolen memories.
No more fighting a battle she didn't understand.
She understood now.
She had been born for this.
She turned, locking eyes with Kieran, with Lena, with the wolves who had bled and fought beside her, the ones who had chosen her before she had even fully chosen herself.
She saw it in them.
The trust.
The determination.
The rage.
They weren't just her pack anymore.
They were her army.
And she was going to lead them straight into the heart of history
To tear it apart and rewrite it in fire and blood.
The night was quiet now, the echoes of battle nothing more than embers smoldering in the cold air. But the silence wasn’t peaceful. It wasn’t the kind of quiet that came with victory. It was the kind of silence that came before the next storm. Riley stood at the edge of the battlefield, where the fire had begun to die down, leaving behind the blackened remains of the enemies she had burned away. The wind carried the scent of ash and earth, a whisper of the destruction she had left in her wake. But it didn’t feel like enough. It never did. Not when the war wasn’t over. Not when the true enemy was still out there, watching, waiting. She tightened her fists, feeling the warmth still lingering beneath her skin, the fire that refused to go out. For so long, she had been searching for the truth. And now, she has it. But knowing the truth and acting on it were two very different things. Kieran stepped beside her, his golden eyes still fierce, still unwavering. “You haven’t said a word since it ended.” Riley didn’t turn. Because she wasn’t sure what she would say. How could she? How could she explain what she had seen? The visions, the memories clawing at the edges of her mind, the past that refused to stay buried? For a moment, she thought about lying. Telling him she was fine. But she was tired of pretending. “It didn’t feel like the end,” she admitted, voice low. “It felt like the beginning.” Kieran studied her, silent for a moment, then nodded. “Because it is.” The truth settled between them, heavy, unspoken. And Riley hated it. Hated the way this fight kept pulling her deeper. Hated that no matter how many battles she won, there was always another war waiting. Lena’s voice cut through the night. “Well, if you two are done brooding over there, we should probably figure out where the hell we’re going next.” Riley turned, finding Lena standing over the remains of one of the creatures, nudging the ash with the toe of her boot. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being dragged into this mess,” Lena continued, “it’s that whenever we think we’ve won, something worse is already on the way.” She wasn’t wrong. The enemy was still out there. The ones who had erased her, rewritten history, tried to wipe her from existence. And they wouldn’t stop. Not unless Riley gave them a reason to be afraid. The pack moved through the charred remains of the battlefield, their golden eyes sharp, bodies tense. Even in victory, they didn’t let their guard down. Because this wasn’t the end. And they all knew it. The ruins were waiting for them. The past was waiting for them. And Riley was finally ready to face it. The road was long, stretching through the endless darkness of the forest, the trees looming like silent sentinels. But she wasn’t afraid. Not anymore. Not of the truth. Not of the war ahead. Because this time She was the one bringing the fire. The forest stretched before them, dark and endless, the trees standing like ancient sentinels watching their every move. But Riley didn’t feel hunted anymore. Not like before, when the past had been something she couldn’t grasp when every step forward felt like she was walking blind into a war she didn’t understand. Now? Now, she understood everything. The war wasn’t something new. It wasn’t something Tobias had started or even something Caius had been trying to finish. It had begun long before any of them. And now that she knew the truth they couldn’t stop her from burning it all down. She walked at the front of the pack, her boots pressing into damp earth, her senses razor-sharp, her breath slow and measured. Every step forward felt like stepping deeper into something bigger than herself. Not just into battle. Not just into war. But into her history. And for the first time in her life She wasn’t afraid of it. She glanced back, just for a moment. The pack was silent, steady, waiting. They had followed her into fire and blood. They had chosen her over Tobias. They had seen what she had done back there. And yet, they were still here. That should have scared her. The way they looked at her now. Not just as a leader. Not just as the girl who had survived. But as something more. As something they could believe in. It was a kind of loyalty she had never asked for. A kind of power she had never wanted. And yet She couldn’t deny that she needed it now. Because the ones who had erased her? The ones who had rewritten history? They weren’t just going to let her walk away. They weren’t going to let her exist. So she had to be ready. She had to make sure the next time they came for her they were the ones who wouldn’t survive it. Kieran walked just behind her, close enough that she could feel the weight of his presence, steady and unshaken. He hadn’t said much since the fight ended. But he didn’t have to. Because she knew. Knew he had seen what she had seen. Knew he had felt it, too the shift in the air, the change in the war. She wasn’t the same girl who had stepped into this fight. And he wasn’t the same wolf who had tried to protect her from it. They had both changed. And neither of them was turning back. The ruins were closed now. She could feel them. Not just in the earth beneath her feet, not just in the scent of stone and time lingering in the wind But inside her. Like a memory trying to surface. Like something pulling her back. The others didn’t feel it the way she did. They didn’t hear the whispers of the past curling through the trees, or the distant echo of something lost, something waiting. But Riley did. Because the ruins weren’t just another battlefield. They weren’t just another graveyard of the past. They had been hers once. And soon They would be again. As the first broken stones appeared between the trees, as the weight of something ancient, something powerful settled over the land, Riley let out a slow breath. No more running. No more hiding. No more waiting for the past to catch up with her. She was here. And this time She was going to finish what she started. The ruins rose before her, half-buried in the earth, but not forgotten. Not by her. Not by the ones who had erased her. Not by the past that refused to stay buried. The stones were ancient, cracked, and weathered by time, but the moment Riley stepped forward, she knew they still remembered her. The air shifted, thick with something unseen, something that had been waiting. She could feel it curling around her ribs, pressing against her skin not fear, not hesitation, but recognition. Like the ruins knew what she had come for. Like they had been waiting for her to return. The pack slowed behind her, golden eyes flickering in the dim moonlight. No one spoke. Because they felt it too. Not like she did not with the same deep, visceral pull that had wrapped around her the moment she set foot on this land but they felt something. Something is shifting. Something awakening. Lena let out a slow, sharp breath. “I don’t like this,” she muttered. “Too quiet. Too… expectant.” Kieran was watching Riley carefully, his stance tense, ready. “You’re sure about this?” he asked. She wasn’t. But that didn’t matter. Because she had no other choice. She stepped forward. And the ground beneath her hummed. A deep, pulsing thrum, like a heartbeat beneath the earth. The ruins were alive. Or at least something inside them was. And as Riley pressed her palm against the nearest stone, something in the air snapped. The doors to the past swung opened A rush of heat, of memory, of something vast and ancient slammed into her chest. She staggered back, gasping, her vision flashing gold and white, the ruins around her blurring. No, not blurring. Changing. The cracks in the stones disappeared. The vines recoiled, vanishing as if time itself was unraveling. And suddenly, she wasn’t standing in ruins anymore. She was standing in the past. The city wasn’t dead. It was alive. The banners still flew, their sigils catching the wind. The torches still burned, lining the great stone walls. And the streets They were full of people. Her people. She could hear their voices, their laughter, the sound of wolves moving through the city, their eyes bright with something that had once felt like home. This wasn’t just a memory. It was a warning. Because she had lived here once. Because she had ruled here once. And because she had lost it all. The air shifted again. And then, she saw him. Standing at the edge of the city, his golden eyes darker than she had ever seen them, his body coiled, tense, like he already knew how this was going to end. Caius. Not as the enemy. Not yet. Not like the man she had been hunting through fire and blood. But as something else. As someone who had once stood beside her. As someone who had once fought for her. As someone who had once tried to save her. And just like that The vision shattered. Riley gasped, stumbling back into the present, the weight of the memory slamming into her like a blade to the ribs. The ruins were silent again. Dead again. But she wasn’t. She was alive. She was awake. And she remembered. She lifted her gaze, meeting Kieran’s eyes, steady and unshaken. “They weren’t just trying to erase me,” she said, voice quiet, fierce. “They were trying to erase all of this.” Lena let out a slow breath. “What did you see?” Riley swallowed hard. “My home,” she said. “My city.” She turned back to the ruins, her ruins. And she knew she wasn’t here to uncover the past. She was here to take it back. The past was hers. The war was hers. And now, so was the future. She exhaled, slow and steady. “We’re done searching,” she said. She turned back to the pack. “Now, we start fighting.” And this time they would be the ones rewriting history. No more waiting. No more running. No more letting someone else decide what was remembered and what was erased. This war had started centuries ago, but it would end with her. And this time, they wouldn’t take her name. They wouldn’t take her city. They wouldn’t take anything. Because Riley Hayes wasn’t just a survivor. She was the reckoning. She was the fire they thought they had extinguished. And she was going to burn everything they had built to the ground. The pack stood before her, watching, waiting. They had followed her through the shadows, through the lies, through the ghosts of a history they had never been allowed to know. But they knew it now. And they weren’t afraid. The moment she had spoken those words “Now, we start fighting” something in the air had shifted. The pack wasn’t just following her anymore. They were ready to fight beside her. To die beside her. Because this war wasn’t just hers anymore. It belonged to all of them. It had been stolen from all of them. And now? They were going to take it back. A city waiting to rise again Riley turned to the ruins, her green eyes sharp, scanning the remnants of what had once been a kingdom. She could still feel it the echo of power, the weight of what had been lost. The city had been left to crumble, but it wasn’t dead. Not yet. Not if she had anything to say about it. She stepped forward, brushing her fingers over the stone, feeling the warmth beneath her skin, the whispers of something waiting to wake. And she knew This place was still hers. Even after all this time. Even after they had tried to bury it. It had been waiting for her to come back. And now, she has. Kieran moved beside her, silent, steady. “What do we do first?” Riley didn’t hesitate. “We make them remember,” she said. She turned back to the pack, her wolves, her soldiers. Her army. The ones who had chosen her. The ones who had fought for her. The ones who would help her burn their enemies to the ground. She lifted her chin, voice clear, unshaken. “We don’t just fight them,” she said. “We take back what’s ours.” She glanced back at the ruins, at the broken stone, at the ghosts of a kingdom that refused to stay buried. She smiled. And this time It wasn’t a promise. It was a warning. “Let’s go remind the world who we are.” A slow, powerful hush fell over the pack, the weight of Riley’s words settling deep into their bones. Because they knew what this meant. This wasn’t just another battle. This wasn’t just revenge. This was a resurrection. The ruins stood before them, silent and waiting, but they would not stay that way for long. Because Riley wasn’t just reclaiming what was lost. She was rebuilding it. And when the world saw what she was about to do They would never forget her again. The first steps of war The wind howled through the broken stones, carrying the scent of old magic and forgotten history. Riley stepped forward, her boots pressing into the damp earth, her heart beating with something deep, something ancient. The pack followed. Kieran was just behind her, his golden eyes sharp, steady. Lena walked beside him, twirling a dagger between her fingers, her smirk gone, replaced by something colder, hungrier. Even the younger wolves, the ones who had once hesitated, stood taller now. Because Riley had given them something they had never had before. A truth that could not be erased. A leader that could not be stopped. A war that could not be avoided. They passed beneath a crumbling archway, the remains of an entrance that had once led to a kingdom. The carvings were worn, faded but as Riley’s fingers brushed The moment Riley’s fingers brushed against the worn stone, a pulse of heat rippled beneath her skin. Not fire. Not magic. Something deeper. Something alive. The carvings were almost unreadable now, eroded by time, but the second she touched them they weren’t just symbols anymore. They were words. They were names. Her name. Not the one she carried now. The one they had erased. A sharp breath left her lips as the stone reacted to her presence, the dust falling away, the letters glowing faintly in the dim light. The wolves behind her shifted, murmuring among themselves, but Riley couldn’t look away. Because she had stood here before. Not in this life. But in the one they had stolen from her. This had been her home. Her kingdom. And they had tried to bury it beneath time and silence. A slow rage curled through her chest, the fire inside her flaring hotter, sharper. Lena let out a low whistle, stepping closer. “Okay, that’s new.” Kieran didn’t say anything, but Riley could feel his gaze on her, steady, questioning. Because they all knew. They could all see it now. This wasn’t just some ancient ruin. It was a graveyard. A graveyard for a kingdom that had once ruled these lands. A graveyard for her. A throne stolen, a war forgotten Riley exhaled slowly, dragging her fingers away from the stone, her pulse roaring. “I’ve been here before,” she admitted, voice quiet but unshaken. No one doubted her. How could they? The ruins had already spoken for her. Kieran stepped forward, his golden eyes flickering over the glowing carvings, his body coiled like he was waiting for the past to reach out and take her again. “What does it say?” he asked. Riley swallowed, staring at the letters, their meaning so clear now. “It says I was supposed to die here,” she murmured. Lena stiffened. “That’s not unsettling at all.” “But I didn’t,” Riley continued, voice growing stronger. “And that’s why they erased it.” The air thickened, the weight of her words pressing against the ruins, against the night itself. Because this was the truth they had never wanted her to find. She had been their greatest threat once. A ruler. A warrior. Someone powerful enough to change the course of history. And when they had failed to kill her They had buried her instead. But now? Now, she was unburing herself. Now, they would have to face her again. And this time She was the one who would decide how the story ended. Riley turned back to the others, fire curling between her fingers, her green eyes burning like embers in the dark. They were waiting. For orders. For a path forward. For her. She was their leader now. Not just because she had survived Tobias. Not just because she had beaten the ones who came before. But because she had shown them the truth. And the truth was more powerful than any lie history had written. “We take this place back,” she said, her voice carrying over the ruins, over the silent stone that had once belonged to her. The pack stood taller. No hesitation. No fear. Because this wasn’t just her fight anymore. This was theirs. And when the dust settled The world would remember their names. A war that could no longer be hidden The wind howled through the ruins, carrying whispers of the past, the scent of fire and vengeance. They would come for her again. She knew that now. The ones who had rewritten history, who had controlled fate, who had erased her once before They would try again. But this time She was ready for them. Because she wasn’t a lost queen anymore. She wasn’t a ghost of the past. She was something new. Something they couldn’t erase. Something they should fear. She turned toward the rising moon, toward the path ahead, toward the war that was finally here's to win. And she smiled. “Let them try.”
The night was quiet now, the echoes of battle nothing more than embers smoldering in the cold air. But the silence wasn't peaceful. It wasn't the kind of quiet that came with victory.
It was the kind of silence that came before the next storm.
Riley stood at the edge of the battlefield, where the fire had begun to die down, leaving behind the blackened remains of the enemies she had burned away.
The wind carried the scent of ash and earth, a whisper of the destruction she had left in her wake.
But it didn't feel like enough.
It never did.
Not when the war wasn't over.
Not when the true enemy was still out there, watching, waiting.
She tightened her fists, feeling the warmth still lingering beneath her skin, the fire that refused to go out.
For so long, she had been searching for the truth.
And now, she has it.
But knowing the truth and acting on it were two very different things.
Kieran stepped beside her, his golden eyes still fierce, still unwavering. "You haven't said a word since it ended."
Riley didn't turn.
Because she wasn't sure what she would say.
How could she?
How could she explain what she had seen?
The visions, the memories clawing at the edges of her mind, the past that refused to stay buried?
For a moment, she thought about lying.
Telling him she was fine.
But she was tired of pretending.
"It didn't feel like the end," she admitted, voice low. "It felt like the beginning."
Kieran studied her, silent for a moment, then nodded. "Because it is."
The truth settled between them, heavy, unspoken.
And Riley hated it.
Hated the way this fight kept pulling her deeper.
Hated that no matter how many battles she won, there was always another war waiting.
Lena's voice cut through the night. "Well, if you two are done brooding over there, we should probably figure out where the hell we're going next."
Riley turned, finding Lena standing over the remains of one of the creatures, nudging the ash with the toe of her boot.
"If there's one thing I've learned from being dragged into this mess," Lena continued, "it's that whenever we think we've won, something worse is already on the way."
She wasn't wrong.
The enemy was still out there.
The ones who had erased her, rewritten history, tried to wipe her from existence.
And they wouldn't stop.
Not unless Riley gave them a reason to be afraid.
The pack moved through the charred remains of the battlefield, their golden eyes sharp, bodies tense. Even in victory, they didn't let their guard down.
Because this wasn't the end.
And they all knew it.
The ruins were waiting for them.
The past was waiting for them.
And Riley was finally ready to face it.
The road was long, stretching through the endless darkness of the forest, the trees looming like silent sentinels.
But she wasn't afraid.
Not anymore.
Not of the truth.
Not of the war ahead.
Because this time
She was the one bringing the fire.
The forest stretched before them, dark and endless, the trees standing like ancient sentinels watching their every move.
But Riley didn't feel hunted anymore.
Not like before, when the past had been something she couldn't grasp when every step forward felt like she was walking blind into a war she didn't understand.
Now?
Now, she understood everything.
The war wasn't something new.
It wasn't something Tobias had started or even something Caius had been trying to finish.
It had begun long before any of them.
And now that she knew the truth they couldn't stop her from burning it all down.
She walked at the front of the pack, her boots pressing into damp earth, her senses razor-sharp, her breath slow and measured.
Every step forward felt like stepping deeper into something bigger than herself.
Not just into battle.
Not just into war.
But into her history.
And for the first time in her life
She wasn't afraid of it.
She glanced back, just for a moment.
The pack was silent, steady, waiting.
They had followed her into fire and blood.
They had chosen her over Tobias.
They had seen what she had done back there.
And yet, they were still here.
That should have scared her.
The way they looked at her now.
Not just as a leader.
Not just as the girl who had survived.
But as something more.
As something they could believe in.
It was a kind of loyalty she had never asked for.
A kind of power she had never wanted.
And yet
She couldn't deny that she needed it now.
Because the ones who had erased her?
The ones who had rewritten history?
They weren't just going to let her walk away.
They weren't going to let her exist.
So she had to be ready.
She had to make sure the next time they came for her they were the ones who wouldn't survive it.
Kieran walked just behind her, close enough that she could feel the weight of his presence, steady and unshaken.
He hadn't said much since the fight ended.
But he didn't have to.
Because she knew.
Knew he had seen what she had seen.
Knew he had felt it, too the shift in the air, the change in the war.
She wasn't the same girl who had stepped into this fight.
And he wasn't the same wolf who had tried to protect her from it.
They had both changed.
And neither of them was turning back.
The ruins were closed now.
She could feel them.
Not just in the earth beneath her feet, not just in the scent of stone and time lingering in the wind
But inside her.
Like a memory trying to surface.
Like something pulling her back.
The others didn't feel it the way she did.
They didn't hear the whispers of the past curling through the trees, or the distant echo of something lost, something waiting.
But Riley did.
Because the ruins weren't just another battlefield.
They weren't just another graveyard of the past.
They had been hers once.
And soon
They would be again.
As the first broken stones appeared between the trees, as the weight of something ancient, something powerful settled over the land, Riley let out a slow breath.
No more running.
No more hiding.
No more waiting for the past to catch up with her.
She was here.
And this time
She was going to finish what she started.
The ruins rose before her, half-buried in the earth, but not forgotten.
Not by her.
Not by the ones who had erased her.
Not by the past that refused to stay buried.
The stones were ancient, cracked, and weathered by time, but the moment Riley stepped forward, she knew they still remembered her.
The air shifted, thick with something unseen, something that had been waiting.
She could feel it curling around her ribs, pressing against her skin not fear, not hesitation, but recognition.
Like the ruins knew what she had come for.
Like they had been waiting for her to return.
The pack slowed behind her, golden eyes flickering in the dim moonlight.
No one spoke.
Because they felt it too.
Not like she did not with the same deep, visceral pull that had wrapped around her the moment she set foot on this land but they felt something.
Something is shifting.
Something awakening.
Lena let out a slow, sharp breath. "I don't like this," she muttered. "Too quiet. Too expectant."
Kieran was watching Riley carefully, his stance tense, ready.
"You're sure about this?" he asked.
She wasn't.
But that didn't matter.
Because she had no other choice.
She stepped forward.
And the ground beneath her hummed.
A deep, pulsing thrum, like a heartbeat beneath the earth.
The ruins were alive.
Or at least something inside them was.
And as Riley pressed her palm against the nearest stone, something in the air snapped.
The doors to the past swung opened
A rush of heat, of memory, of something vast and ancient slammed into her chest.
She staggered back, gasping, her vision flashing gold and white, the ruins around her blurring.
No, not blurring.
Changing.
The cracks in the stones disappeared.
The vines recoiled, vanishing as if time itself was unraveling.
And suddenly, she wasn't standing in ruins anymore.
She was standing in the past.
The city wasn't dead.
It was alive.
The banners still flew, their sigils catching the wind.
The torches still burned, lining the great stone walls.
And the streets
They were full of people.
Her people.
She could hear their voices, their laughter, the sound of wolves moving through the city, their eyes bright with something that had once felt like home.
This wasn't just a memory.
It was a warning.
Because she had lived here once.
Because she had ruled here once.
And because she had lost it all.
The air shifted again.
And then, she saw him.
Standing at the edge of the city, his golden eyes darker than she had ever seen them, his body coiled, tense, like he already knew how this was going to end.
Caius.
Not as the enemy.
Not yet.
Not like the man she had been hunting through fire and blood.
But as something else.
As someone who had once stood beside her.
As someone who had once fought for her.
As someone who had once tried to save her.
And just like that
The vision shattered.
Riley gasped, stumbling back into the present, the weight of the memory slamming into her like a blade to the ribs.
The ruins were silent again.
Dead again.
But she wasn't.
She was alive.
She was awake.
And she remembered.
She lifted her gaze, meeting Kieran's eyes, steady and unshaken.
"They weren't just trying to erase me," she said, voice quiet, fierce.
"They were trying to erase all of this."
Lena let out a slow breath. "What did you see?"
Riley swallowed hard.
"My home," she said.
"My city."
She turned back to the ruins, her ruins.
And she knew she wasn't here to uncover the past.
She was here to take it back.
The past was hers.
The war was hers.
And now, so was the future.
She exhaled, slow and steady.
"We're done searching," she said.
She turned back to the pack.
"Now, we start fighting."
And this time they would be the ones rewriting history.
No more waiting.
No more running.
No more letting someone else decide what was remembered and what was erased.
This war had started centuries ago, but it would end with her.
And this time, they wouldn't take her name.
They wouldn't take her city.
They wouldn't take anything.
Because Riley Hayes wasn't just a survivor.
She was the reckoning.
She was the fire they thought they had extinguished.
And she was going to burn everything they had built to the ground.
The pack stood before her, watching, waiting.
They had followed her through the shadows, through the lies, through the ghosts of a history they had never been allowed to know.
But they knew it now.
And they weren't afraid.
The moment she had spoken those words "Now, we start fighting" something in the air had shifted.
The pack wasn't just following her anymore.
They were ready to fight beside her.
To die beside her.
Because this war wasn't just hers anymore.
It belonged to all of them.
It had been stolen from all of them.
And now?
They were going to take it back.
A city waiting to rise again
Riley turned to the ruins, her green eyes sharp, scanning the remnants of what had once been a kingdom.
She could still feel it the echo of power, the weight of what had been lost.
The city had been left to crumble, but it wasn't dead.
Not yet.
Not if she had anything to say about it.
She stepped forward, brushing her fingers over the stone, feeling the warmth beneath her skin, the whispers of something waiting to wake.
And she knew
This place was still hers.
Even after all this time.
Even after they had tried to bury it.
It had been waiting for her to come back.
And now, she has.
Kieran moved beside her, silent, steady. "What do we do first?"
Riley didn't hesitate.
"We make them remember," she said.
She turned back to the pack, her wolves, her soldiers.
Her army.
The ones who had chosen her.
The ones who had fought for her.
The ones who would help her burn their enemies to the ground.
She lifted her chin, voice clear, unshaken.
"We don't just fight them," she said. "We take back what's ours."
She glanced back at the ruins, at the broken stone, at the ghosts of a kingdom that refused to stay buried.
She smiled.
And this time
It wasn't a promise.
It was a warning.
"Let's go remind the world who we are."
A slow, powerful hush fell over the pack, the weight of Riley's words settling deep into their bones.
Because they knew what this meant.
This wasn't just another battle.
This wasn't just revenge.
This was a resurrection.
The ruins stood before them, silent and waiting, but they would not stay that way for long.
Because Riley wasn't just reclaiming what was lost.
She was rebuilding it.
And when the world saw what she was about to do
They would never forget her again.
The wind howled through the broken stones, carrying the scent of old magic and forgotten history.
Riley stepped forward, her boots pressing into the damp earth, her heart beating with something deep, something ancient.
The pack followed.
Kieran was just behind her, his golden eyes sharp, steady.
Lena walked beside him, twirling a dagger between her fingers, her smirk gone, replaced by something colder, hungrier.
Even the younger wolves, the ones who had once hesitated, stood taller now.
Because Riley had given them something they had never had been
A leader that could not be stopped.
A war that could not be avoided.
They passed beneath a crumbling archway, the remains of an entrance that had once led to a kingdom.
The carvings were worn, faded but as Riley's fingers brushed
The moment Riley's fingers brushed against the worn stone, a pulse of heat rippled beneath her skin.
Not fire.
Not magic.
Something deeper.
Something alive.
The carvings were almost unreadable now, eroded by time, but the second she touched them they weren't just symbols anymore.
They were words.
They were names.
Her name.
Not the one she carried now.
The one they had erased.
A sharp breath left her lips as the stone reacted to her presence, the dust falling away, the letters glowing faintly in the dim light.
The wolves behind her shifted, murmuring among themselves, but Riley couldn't look away.
Because she had stood here before.
Not in this life.
But in the one they had stolen from her.
This had been her home.
Her kingdom.
And they had tried to bury it beneath time and silence.
A slow rage curled through her chest, the fire inside her flaring hotter, sharper.
Lena let out a low whistle, stepping closer. "Okay, that's new."
Kieran didn't say anything, but Riley could feel his gaze on her, steady, questioning.
Because they all knew.
They could all see it now.
This wasn't just some ancient ruin.
It was a graveyard.
A graveyard for a kingdom that had once ruled these lands.
Riley exhaled slowly, dragging her fingers away from the stone, her pulse roaring.
"I've been here before," she admitted, voice quiet but unshaken.
No one doubted her.
How could they?
The ruins had already spoken for her.
Kieran stepped forward, his golden eyes flickering over the glowing carvings, his body coiled like he was waiting for the past to reach out and take her again.
"What does it say?" he asked.
Riley swallowed, staring at the letters, their meaning so clear now.
"It says I was supposed to die here," she murmured.
Lena stiffened. "That's not unsettling at all."
"But I didn't," Riley continued, voice growing stronger. "And that's why they erased it."
The air thickened, the weight of her words pressing against the ruins, against the night itself.
Because this was the truth they had never wanted her to find.
She had been their greatest threat once.
Someone powerful enough to change the course of history.
And when they had failed to kill her
They had buried her instead.
But now?
Now, she was unburing herself.
Now, they would have to face her again.
And this time
She was the one who would decide how the story ended.
Riley turned back to the others, fire curling between her fingers, her green eyes burning like embers in the dark.
They were waiting.
For orders.
For a path forward.
For her.
She was their leader now.
Not just because she had survived Tobias.
Not just because she had beaten the ones who came before.
But because she had shown them the truth.
And the truth was more powerful than any lie history had written.
"We take this place back," she said, her voice carrying over the ruins, over the silent stone that had once belonged to her.
The pack stood taller.
No hesitation.
No fear.
Because this wasn't just her fight anymore.
This was theirs.
And when the dust settled
The world would remember their names.
A war that could no longer be hidden
The wind howled through the ruins, carrying whispers of the past, the scent of fire and vengeance.
They would come for her again.
She knew that now.
The ones who had rewritten history, who had controlled fate, who had erased her once before
They would try again.
But this time
She was ready for them.
Because she wasn't a lost queen anymore.
She wasn't a ghost of the past.
She was something new.
Something they couldn't erase.