Instinct’s eyes snapped open in absolute darkness.
Something was wrong.
He didn’t move.
Beside him, Arwen’s breathing remained slow and even, but every instinct in his body screamed that they were no longer alone.
The fire had died down to faint embers.
Moonlight filtered through the canopy in broken fragments, barely illuminating the trees surrounding the pond.
Instinct listened.
Nothing.
No insects.
No distant calls.
No leaves shifting beneath small animals.
The forest had gone silent.
His hand closed around Moonfall.
Beside him, Arwen moved.
Her eyes opened.
“You feel it too,” she whispered.
Instinct nodded.
Arwen slowly sat up, one hand reaching for the slender dagger at her side.
A branch cracked somewhere beyond the firelight.
Then another.
Instinct rose.
Two cyan-blue eyes appeared between the trees.
Then another pair.
And another.
Shapes moved through the darkness.
Large.
Silent.
Circling.
Instinct drew Moonfall.
The blade whispered free of its sheath.
The first creature stepped into the moonlight.
At first glance, it resembled an enormous black wolf—tall, lean, and powerfully built, with a heavy mane of dark fur framing its neck and shoulders.
Then Instinct saw the antlers.
Vast black branches swept upward from its skull, twisting like the limbs of a dead tree.
A faint marking glimmered across its forehead, and beneath it two cyan-blue eyes burned through the darkness with an intelligence that felt entirely wrong for an animal.
Another emerged behind it.
Then another.
Instinct counted.
Ten.
” THOSE ARE DEFINITELY NOT NORMAL WOLVES.
”
Helpful.
” I TRY.
”
Arwen rose beside him, dagger in hand.
“Wolftlers.”
“You know them?”
“I know what they’re called.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“It shouldn’t be.”
The creatures spread out.
Not randomly.
Deliberately.
Instinct noticed the movement almost immediately.
“They’re surrounding us.”
“Yes.”
Arwen shifted slightly, placing herself at an angle to him rather than directly beside him.
“They’re coordinated.”
Instinct’s grip tightened around Moonfall.
One of the Wolftlers stepped forward.
Larger than the others.
Its body stood taller, its dark mane thicker around its neck and shoulders.
The black antlers rising from its skull spread wider than those of the rest, their twisted branches cutting a jagged silhouette against the moonlight.
A pale cyan marking glimmered across its forehead.
Its luminous eyes remained fixed on Instinct.
The others adjusted when it moved.
The alpha.
Watching.
Assessing.
Instinct felt Arwen shift beside him.
“This is what we trained for today.”
He glanced at her.
A faint smile touched her lips.
“Show me what you have learned.”
The alpha growled.
Three Wolftlers attacked.
Instinct moved.
The first came directly for him.
Yesterday, he might have met it head-on.
Instead, Arwen’s voice returned to him.
Don’t chase the enemy with the blade.
He stepped aside.
The creature’s jaws snapped shut where his arm had been.
Moonfall moved along the shortest path.
The blade opened its side.
Blood sprayed across the ground.
Instinct continued moving rather than stopping to admire the strike.
The second Wolftler came from his left.
He turned.
Too late.
Its antlers swept toward his chest.
Instinct leaned back, one black point passing close enough for him to feel the air move across his skin.
He slashed.
Moonfall struck an antler.
The impact traveled through his arms.
The Wolftler twisted violently.
Instinct’s balance shifted forward.
Wrong.
He corrected before committing his weight.
The creature lunged.
Instinct stepped outside its reach and cut across its throat.
It collapsed.
Movement flashed at the edge of his vision.
Third.
Instinct turned—
A blur passed between them.
Arwen.
Her dagger entered beneath the Wolftler’s jaw.
She twisted once and withdrew.
The creature hit the ground before Instinct had fully registered what happened.
Arwen was already moving toward another.
Fast.
Precise.
Effortless.
Instinct had known she was Level Eighty.
Knowing it and seeing it were entirely different things.
Two more Wolftlers charged him.
He adjusted his stance.
Shoulders.
Balance.
The first leaped.
Instinct waited.
Not yet.
Closer.
Closer.
Now.
He stepped aside and Moonfall flashed upward.
The blade cut through flesh.
The Wolftler crashed behind him.
The second was already there.
Instinct pivoted.
Its antlers struck Moonfall.
The force pushed him backward.
His foot slid across the damp soil.
The creature pressed forward.
Instinct gave ground rather than fighting the force.
One step.
Two.
Then he turned his wrists and redirected the antlers past him.
The Wolftler stumbled forward.
Moonfall descended.
The blade entered behind its shoulder.
The creature released a sharp cry.
Instinct ripped Moonfall free and moved away before it could turn.
It staggered.
Then collapsed.
His breathing had quickened.
Not from exhaustion.
Focus.
Everything around him seemed sharper.
The movement of branches.
The scrape of claws against earth.
The direction of each growl.
The shift of weight before an attack.
Absolute Sense fed him information faster than he consciously understood it.
But Arwen’s training gave that information somewhere to go.
A shape attacked from behind.
Instinct ducked.
Black antlers passed over his head.
He turned and slashed.
Too wide.
The creature pulled away.
Instinct immediately recognized the mistake.
He had chased it.
Arwen had warned him about that.
The Wolftler attacked again.
This time Instinct waited.
One step.
A short movement.
Moonfall entered its chest.
The creature’s momentum carried it farther onto the blade.
Instinct twisted aside, pulled Moonfall free, and let the body crash past him.
For half a heartbeat, everything stopped.
Instinct looked across the clearing.
Arwen stood several meters away.
Two Wolftlers lay dead near her.
Another circled cautiously beyond the reach of her dagger.
Her eyes weren’t on it.
They were on him.
There was something different in her expression.
Surprise.
Not at his speed.
She already knew he was fast.
Not at his strength.
Something else.
For the first time, she was seeing him fight when someone—or something—was actually trying to kill him.
And whatever she saw clearly wasn’t what she had expected.
The Wolftler lunged at her.
Arwen moved without looking.
One step.
A flash of steel.
The creature collapsed.
Instinct stared.
Arwen looked at him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Then pay attention.”
The alpha released a deep howl.
Every remaining Wolftler moved at once.
Three.
Instinct shifted his grip.
The alpha stayed back.
Watching.
One came for Arwen.
Two came for him.
Instinct moved toward the first.
It lunged.
He stepped aside.
Moonfall cut across its shoulder, but the creature twisted before he could deepen the strike.
The second attacked immediately.
Instinct turned.
Too slow.
Antlers slammed into his side.
Pain exploded through his ribs.
His body left the ground.
He hit hard and rolled.
” INSTINCT!
”
I’m fine.
” THAT WAS A VERY CONVINCING IMPRESSION OF NOT BEING FINE.
”
The Wolftler charged again.
Instinct pushed himself upright.
Pain pulsed through his side.
His body was already repairing the damage.
No time.
The creature leaped.
Instinct didn’t retreat.
He stepped forward.
The Wolftler had committed completely.
No room to change direction.
Moonfall thrust upward.
The blade entered beneath its ribs.
The creature’s weight struck him anyway.
Instinct twisted as they fell, forcing the body aside.
He hit the ground again.
The Wolftler didn’t rise.
Instinct pulled Moonfall free and pushed himself to his feet.
Its cyan-blue eyes shifted toward the bodies scattered across the clearing.
Then toward the alpha.
A low sound came from the larger Wolftler.
The wounded creature attacked.
Instinct exhaled.
Wait.
Distance.
Timing.
The Wolftler crossed the space between them.
Instinct moved once.
Moonfall flashed.
The creature continued for another two steps before collapsing.
Silence returned to the clearing.
Instinct breathed slowly.
Seven bodies lay across the ground.
Three Wolftlers remained.
The alpha and two others.
Arwen stood to his left, dagger wet with blood.
The three creatures didn’t attack.
They watched.
Instinct adjusted his grip on Moonfall.
The alpha’s luminous gaze moved from him to Arwen.
Then to the bodies of its pack.
Its lips pulled back from its teeth.
Instinct stepped forward.
The alpha retreated one step.
He stopped.
The creature stopped.
Something about that bothered him.
It wasn’t afraid.
Not exactly.
It was thinking.
Learning.
Instinct took another step.
The alpha released a short growl.
The other two immediately began retreating toward the trees.
“They’re leaving,” Instinct said.
“Yes.”
“We can kill the rest.”
He started forward.
Arwen caught his arm.
“No.”
Instinct looked at her.
“They’re wounded.”
“And they know this forest better than you do.”
“The alpha—”
“Is trying to make you follow.”
Instinct looked toward the trees.
The alpha stood at the edge of the darkness.
Waiting.
Its cyan-blue eyes remained fixed on him.
Arwen released his arm.
“Never pursue forest creatures into terrain they know better than you.”
Instinct looked at her.
“Another lesson?”
“One you’ll survive long enough to remember.”
The alpha backed into the trees.
The other two disappeared with it.
For several seconds, Instinct could still see those two points of cyan light between the branches.
Then they vanished.
The forest became silent again.
Instinct lowered Moonfall.
His side still hurt, though the pain was already fading.
Arwen looked at him.
Not casually.
She studied him.
Instinct noticed.
“What?”
“You told me you had no training you could remember.”
“I don’t.”
“And that some things simply feel natural.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes moved briefly to Moonfall before returning to him.
“You were telling the truth.”
Instinct smiled faintly.
“You sound surprised.”
“I spent half the day correcting your stance.”
“That bad?”
“Worse.”
Instinct stared at her.
Arwen ignored the look.
“But when they attacked, you adapted.”
“I remembered what you taught me.”
“Some of it.”
“That almost sounded like praise.”
“It wasn’t.”
Instinct smiled.
Arwen looked toward the trees where the alpha had disappeared.
Her amusement faded.
“Something is wrong.”
“With me?”
“That remains undecided.”
Instinct almost laughed.
Arwen crouched beside one of the dead Wolftlers.
“With them.”
Instinct joined her.
“What?”
“I don’t know yet.”
She examined the creature, her gaze lingering on the black antlers and the faint cyan marking across its forehead.
“They fought like a pack.”
“They are a pack.”
“No.”
Arwen looked toward the darkness.
“They fought like they were trained.”
Instinct’s expression changed.
He looked at the bodies scattered around the clearing.
Then toward the trees.
The alpha had watched.
Adjusted.
Retreated when the fight turned against them.
And tried to draw him after it.
Instinct tightened his grip on Moonfall.
Somewhere beyond the firelight, a howl rolled through the forest.
Another answered.
Then another.
Arwen slowly stood.
Instinct looked into the darkness.
The night suddenly felt considerably less quiet.