The forest was eerily still and quiet.
There was no bird calling in the trees.
Even the rain seemed to soften as Kael led six of his most trusted warriors past the northern border of the estate.
Lord Vale protested but Seraphina walked along with him.
“You’ll stay inside the manor,” Kael had warned.
“I’d rather know what we’re up against than wait around blind if the thing crossed our border,” she said.
He had not fought again.
Now all the senses of the warriors were stretched to the limit.
The patrol pulled up beside a patch of churned earth.
“”There,” whispered the captain.
Kael dropped down.
Deep wolf prints in the mud, each one bigger than an Alpha’s.
A few paces further on…
The tracks were not the same.
The pawprints stopped.
Human footprints went on.
Barefoot.
Big strides.
No sign of hesitation.
Seraphina stared at them.
“It morphed while it was moving.”
One of the warriors swallowed.
“I have never seen anything like it.
“Neither have I,” Kael admitted.
He started to take one of the prints but Seraphina caught his wrist.
“Don’t.”
He looked at her.
“The earth.
She indicated a faint shimmer clinging to the edges of the footprint.
It’s not mud.
Kael leaned closer.
Silver dust.
Almost invisible beneath the rain.
He rubbed a little between his fingers.
His wolf immediately growled inside him.
He threw it away.
“What is that?”
Seraphina’s expression darkened.
“Moonshade ash.”
The captain frowned.
“The same powder we found earlier?” “Yes.” “But this is fresh.”
Which meant whoever had crossed into the forest had scattered it deliberately.
Not to hide.
To confuse anyone tracking by scent.
Kael stood.
“Our wolves won’t be able to follow him.”
Seraphina nodded.
“That was the intention.”
A sudden crack echoed deeper in the woods.
Every head turned.
A branch had snapped.
No…
Someone had stepped on it.
“Formation,” Kael ordered quietly.
His warriors spread out immediately.
Seraphina slipped one of the silver daggers from beneath her cloak.
Kael noticed.
“You carry a blade now.” “I’ve learned that hope isn’t a weapon.”
For a brief second, something unreadable crossed his face.
Then another sound came.
This time…
A child’s laugh.
Soft.
Distant.
Impossible.
One of the younger warriors stiffened.
“I heard it.” “So did I.” “There shouldn’t be children out here.” “There aren’t,” Seraphina said.
Her voice remained calm, but every instinct screamed at her.
“Don’t follow the sound.”
The captain frowned.
“You know what it is?” “I know what it wants.” “What?” “It wants us to separate.”
The laughter came again.
Closer.
It drifted between the trees as though carried by the wind.
One warrior instinctively took a step toward it.
Seraphina grabbed his arm.
“If you value your life, stay where you are.”
The man’s face paled.
“You’ve seen this before?”
She released him.
“No.” Another careful half-truth.
“I’ve read about hunters who lure wolves by mimicking familiar voices.”
Kael didn’t take his eyes off the forest.
“Everyone stays together.”
No one argued.
They advanced slowly.
Every few steps, Seraphina checked the ground.
The footprints continued.
Then suddenly…
They stopped.
Not faded.
Stopped.
As if the man had vanished into thin air.
The captain looked around in disbelief.
“Where did he go?”
Kael’s gaze lifted toward the trees.
“Up.”
Every warrior looked skyward.
High above them, rain dripped from thick branches.
Nothing moved.
Nothing…
Until a single black feather floated silently from the canopy.
It landed at Seraphina’s feet.
Fresh.
Dry.
Untouched by the rain.
She slowly bent to pick it up.
Written across the feather’s shaft in crimson ink were four words.
“You’re remembering too quickly.”
Seraphina’s breath caught.
No one else reacted.
Kael looked at her.
“What does it say?”
She stared at the message.
Someone wasn’t merely watching her.
Someone knew exactly what was happening inside her mind.
And they wanted her to know it.
Seraphina closed her fingers around the feather before anyone else could see the writing.
“It says nothing,” she answered evenly.
Kael’s eyes lingered on her hand.
“Then why did you hide it?” “I didn’t.” “You folded your fingers the moment you picked it up.”
The captain glanced between them.
“Alpha?” Kael held out his hand.
“The feather.”
For a heartbeat, Seraphina considered refusing.
Not because she distrusted Kael.
If someone truly knew about her memories…
Then revealing the words too soon could expose far more than she was ready to explain.
Slowly, she opened her palm.
The feather lay across it.
Black.
Glossy.
Perfectly ordinary.
The crimson words were gone.
She frowned.
Impossible.
She turned it over.
Nothing.
Only the natural pattern of the feather remained.
The captain exhaled.
“It’s just a feather.”
Seraphina’s heartbeat quickened.
She hadn’t imagined the writing.
She knew she hadn’t.
Then why had it disappeared?
Kael studied her expression.
“You saw something.”
She met his gaze.
“For a second.” “What?” “I don’t know.”
It wasn’t entirely a lie.
She knew what she’d read.
She just didn’t know how it had appeared.
Kael took the feather.
It felt normal.
No scent.
No hidden markings.
Yet Seraphina’s reaction had been genuine.
He was becoming certain of one thing.
She wasn’t pretending.
Whatever she knew…
It frightened her.
A cold breeze swept through the trees.
Every wolf instinctively turned toward the eastern ridge.
The smell reached them first.
Blood.
Fresh.
“Move.”
Kael was already running.
The patrol followed.
Branches whipped against their faces as they pushed through the undergrowth.
The scent grew stronger.
Then they reached a small clearing.
Everyone stopped.
Three deer lay scattered across the grass.
None had been eaten.
None showed signs of struggle.
Each had been killed with a single precise wound through the heart.
The captain slowly lowered his weapon.
“This wasn’t hunting.” “No,” Kael agreed.
“It was practice.”
Seraphina’s stomach tightened.
Whoever had done this wasn’t hungry.
They were demonstrating skill.
Sending another message.
One of the warriors pointed toward a nearby oak.
“Alpha…”
A dagger had been driven into the trunk.
Its blade was buried almost to the hilt.
Kael pulled it free.
The steel was unfamiliar.
Balanced perfectly.
Made for throwing.
Wrapped around the handle was a narrow strip of parchment.
Lord Vale’s seal.
Kael unfolded it.
His expression hardened.
“What is it?” Seraphina asked.
Instead of answering, he handed her the note.
It contained only one sentence.
Lock every gate.
You’re already too late.
Before anyone could react—
A horn sounded from the direction of the estate.
Once.
Twice.
Then a third desperate blast.
The captain’s face drained of color.
“The emergency signal.”
Kael was already moving.
“Back to the manor!”
The patrol sprinted through the forest.
None of them noticed the silent figure standing high above the clearing.
Hidden among the branches.
Watching them leave.
Only after they disappeared did the stranger step into the open.
A black cloak concealed most of the figure’s body.
A leather glove reached up and removed the dagger’s empty sheath from the tree.
The stranger looked toward the distant manor.
Then smiled.
“They’re running to the wrong fire.”
With that whispered sentence…
The figure vanished into the forest.
The alarm horn echoed across the valley.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Each blast drove the warriors faster through the rain-soaked forest.
Branches snapped beneath their boots.
Mud splashed against their cloaks.
No one spoke.
No one wasted breath asking questions.
An emergency horn sounded only when the estate itself was under threat.
Kael reached the northern gate first.
His eyes swept across the walls.
The guards were in position.
Archers lined the battlements.
No attackers.
No fire.
No breach.
Something was wrong.
“Report!” Kael barked.
A guard rushed forward, breathing hard.
“Alpha, the alarm came from the eastern courtyard!” “What happened?” “We… we don’t know.”
Kael frowned.
“You sounded the emergency horn without knowing why?”
The guard swallowed.
“A servant came running. She said Lady Maris had collapsed.”
Seraphina stopped in her tracks. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Maris.
Kael immediately turned toward the manor.
“Captain, secure every entrance.
No one leaves the estate without my order.” “Yes, Alpha.”
He and Seraphina ran toward the eastern courtyard.
By the time they arrived, dozens of people had gathered.
Servants whispered anxiously.
Nobles stood clustered beneath the covered walkways to escape the rain.
The estate healer knelt beside Maris, who lay unconscious on the stone floor.
Lord Vale stood over her, his face filled with worry.
“What happened?” Kael asked.
The healer looked up.
“I don’t know.” “Was she attacked?” “No visible injuries.” “Poison?” “I’m not certain.”
Seraphina slowly approached.
She didn’t look at Maris first.
She looked at the people surrounding her.
Fear.
Confusion.
Curiosity.
Then…
She noticed one face missing.
“Mira.”
Liora, standing nearby, looked up.
“My Lady?” “Where is Mira?”
Liora’s expression changed instantly.
“I… I thought she was in the infirmary.”
Seraphina’s pulse quickened.
“So did I.”
She turned sharply toward Kael.
“Mira is gone.”
The words immediately changed the atmosphere.
Kael’s eyes hardened.
“Search the infirmary.”
Two warriors sprinted away.
Lord Vale looked between them.
“What does Mira have to do with this?”
Seraphina answered without hesitation.
“If someone wanted to silence the only witness…”
She didn’t finish.
She didn’t need to.
Everyone understood.
Minutes later, the warriors returned.
Their expressions said everything before they spoke.
“The infirmary is empty.” “The windows are open.” “The guards outside saw no one leave.”
Liora covered her mouth.
“Oh, Moon Goddess…”
Kael’s jaw tightened.
“A missing witness.”
Seraphina looked down at Maris.
The timing was too perfect.
Just as the estate’s strongest fighters had been drawn into the forest…
Maris collapsed.
At the exact same time…
Mira disappeared.
Two distractions.
One objective.
Someone was separating every piece on the board.
The healer suddenly spoke.
“Lady Maris is waking.”
Everyone moved closer.
Maris blinked weakly.
Her breathing was uneven.
“Father…”
Lord Vale immediately knelt beside her.
“I’m here.”
She looked around as though frightened.
“W-Where’s Seraphina?”
The crowd instinctively turned toward Seraphina.
“I’m here,” Seraphina replied calmly.
Relief appeared on Maris’s face.
Then confusion.
“I saw…”
She hesitated.
Lord Vale gently squeezed her hand.
“What did you see?”
Maris closed her eyes briefly.
“I was walking through the courtyard…”
Her voice trembled convincingly.
“…and I saw someone dragging a servant toward the old chapel.”
Seraphina’s eyes narrowed.
“A servant?”
Maris nodded weakly.
“I think…”
Tears welled in her eyes.
“I think it was Mira.”
Gasps spread through the crowd.
Kael didn’t waste another second.
“The old chapel.”
He looked at Seraphina.
“You and I go.”
She nodded once.
Together they ran.
The old chapel stood at the far edge of the estate grounds.
Abandoned decades ago after the new shrine had been built.
Its wooden doors hung crooked on rusted hinges.
Rain dripped steadily through the cracked roof.
Kael pushed the doors open.
They groaned loudly.
The chapel was empty.
Or so it seemed.
Seraphina stepped carefully inside.
Something felt…
Wrong.
Too quiet.
Too still.
Her gaze swept across the broken pews.
The cracked altar.
Then— A faint sound.
A muffled cry.
“Behind the altar,” she whispered.
Kael drew his sword.
They rounded the stone altar together.
Mira lay on the floor.
Her wrists and ankles were bound.
A cloth had been tied over her mouth.
She was alive.
Kael cut the ropes immediately.
Seraphina removed the gag.
Mira burst into tears.
“They came back…”
She clutched Seraphina’s arm so tightly her knuckles turned white.
“They said you would never believe me.” “Who?” Seraphina asked gently.
“The hooded man.” “Was he alone?”
Mira nodded frantically.
“He left just before you arrived.”
Kael’s eyes swept the room.
“No footprints.” “No scent.”
Seraphina looked down.
There, beneath the broken altar…
A single black feather rested on the stone floor.
She and Kael saw it at exactly the same moment.
Neither moved.
Because beside the feather…
Someone had carved four fresh words into the ancient stone.
THE GAME HAS BEGUN.