The courtyard still smelled like smoke and spilled guts. Bodies lay where they fell, ours and theirs mixed together in the dirt. The crevice I'd ripped open gaped ten feet wide, black and hungry, swallowing the weak morning light.
Gunnar didn't let go. He squeezed once, calluses rough against my new scales, then turned to the others. "Matthías. Nina. Get the dead burned before the crows come. Sunna, patch the wounded. Elva stays with me."
No one argued. They'd seen what I did to the ground. Seen the elders run with their tails between their legs. I followed him through the chaos, boots crunching on broken stone. My legs still felt shaky but the fire in my chest had settled into a low, steady burn. Not raging anymore. Just waiting.
We ended up in the war room off the main hall. Maps covered the big table, marked with fresh red ink where Jakob's line had been. Gunnar shut the door hard enough the lantern swung. Then he looked at me, his silver eyes tracing the silver scales climbing my right arm to the shoulder.
"You're not hiding that anymore," he said.
"I wasn't planning to." I flexed my fingers. The claws slid out easy, black and gleaming. "Feels like it's mine now. Hurts less when you're touching me, though. That bond shit your elders warned about?"
He stepped closer. Close enough that his pine-smoke smell cut through the blood on my clothes. "Yeah. And it's only getting stronger. We finish it proper and you'll control that power without cracking the damn ground every time you get pissed."
I laughed once, short and raw. "Proper? You mean fuck and seal the deal? After I just grew scales and swallowed half their army?"
His mouth twitched. Almost a smile. "After. When you're not bleeding and the elders aren't two miles out planning how to skin us both." He tapped the map. "We don't wait for them to regroup. We hit first. Small raid tonight. Take out their shamans before the Black Council brings the big spells."
The door banged open. Matthías walked in, still wiping blood off his neck. "Scouts say Jakob pulled back to the old mill by the river. Got maybe eighty left, plus the twelve elders. They're licking their wounds but the green smoke's still rising. Calling in more packs."
Nina followed right behind him, crossbow slung over her shoulder. "We've got forty fit fighters. Enough for a fast strike if we move quiet."
Sunna slipped in last, carrying a fresh bandage roll. She didn't say anything, just started wrapping the fresh cuts on my arm like it was normal now. Her hands shook a little but I didn't blame her. Yesterday I was the broken girl in a cell. Today I was the one who opened the earth.
I watched Gunnar's finger trace the river on the map. "We go at dusk. Elva rides with me. She stays behind the line unless that power wakes up again. Sunna, you keep her grounded if it does."
Sunna nodded. "Merja said the bond's the only anchor. Touch him when it gets bad, Elva. Skin to skin if you have to."
My face heated. I shot her a look but she just smirked and tied off the bandage. *Great. Everyone knows my body's got a mind of its own around the Lycan King.*
The rest of the day blurred into work. We buried our dead on the north hill while the sun climbed. I helped carry one of the younger wolves, a kid who couldn't have been older than eighteen. His blood soaked my fresh shirt. I felt the fire flare hotter and promised the elders they'd pay double.
By mid-afternoon the walls were patched with fresh timber and iron. I spent two hours in the training yard with Gunnar, slamming my claws into thick wooden posts until splinters flew. He circled me the whole time, correcting my stance, showing me how to roll with the power instead of fighting it.
"Again," he growled when I missed and the post only cracked instead of exploding. "Feel me. The bond. Pull from it."
I did. I pictured his hand on my back during the lightning strike and swung. The post shattered clean. Wood chips rained down. Gunnar caught my wrist before I could swing again, thumb pressing right over the scales. The contact sent that warm spark straight to my gut.
"Better," he said, voice low. "Keep that in your head tonight. You lose control out there, we both die."
I yanked my hand free but didn't step back. "I'm not the weak one anymore, Gunnar. Don't treat me like I am."
He looked at me for a long second, then nodded once. "Good. Because I need the storm, not the girl who got rejected."
We ate quick after that; a meal of roast venison and hard bread in the hall while the sun dipped.
Sveinn got dragged in for one last round of questions, still chained and half-starved. He laughed when he saw my scales.
"Pretty new skin, Elva. But it won't save you when the council gets here. They'll peel it off slow."
Gunnar backhanded him across the face. "Names. Who else is riding with Jakob?"
Sveinn spat blood and grinned anyway. "The whole eastern alliance. They heard what she did. They're scared shitless of one queen ruling them all. You two finish that bond and they'll burn the continent to stop it."
I stepped close enough to smell his fear under the bravado. "Then tell them I'm coming anyway. Tell them the match is lit."
Matthías hauled him back to the pit. We didn't need him anymore. The plan was set.
Dusk came fast. We rode out twenty strong, black cloaks blending with the trees. I sat behind Gunnar again, arms around his waist, feeling the bond hum steady under my ribs. The scales on my arm itched in the cool air but stayed quiet. Sunna rode beside us, dagger ready. Nina took point with the scouts.
The river mill loomed after an hour's hard ride. Torches flickered inside the broken walls. Jakob's camp looked sloppy; tents half-pitched, wolves pacing nervously. The elders had set up in the center, green light glowing faint around their circle.
Gunnar reined in at the tree line. "We go in quiet. Kill the shamans first. Elva, you stay back until I signal. No hero shit."
I nodded but my claws were already out. The fire stirred, warm and ready.
We slipped through the shadows like ghosts. Matthías took down the first sentry with a knife to the throat. Nina dropped two more with silent crossbow bolts. I stayed glued to Gunnar's back, heart pounding but mind clear. When we reached the elder circle I felt the green magic push against my skin like cold fingers.
One of the white-haired bitches looked up at the last second. Her eyes widened. "The half-breed —"
Gunnar's sword took her head before she finished. Chaos exploded after that. Wolves shifted and lunged. Steel clashed into each other. I let the power out, just enough: roots shot from the dirt under three shamans and yanked them screaming into the ground. Not a full crevice this time but controlled. The bond with Gunnar kept it leashed.
Jakob roared from the far tent and charged straight at us. His sword was raised, face twisted with the same hate I remembered from the gate. "Elva! You'll die for this!"
I met him halfway. Claws out. Scales flashing. We crashed together and I raked his chest before he could swing. Blood gushed across his armor. He stumbled back, eyes wide.
"You're not my daughter anymore," he gasped.
"Never was, apparently." I kicked him hard in the knee. He dropped.
Gunnar was there in a blink, boot on Jakob's chest, sword at his throat. "Call them off. Now. Or I end you here and send your head back to the council."
Jakob laughed wet and broken. "Too late. They're already coming. The full council. Every pack that matters. You two bonded freaks won't last the week."
I crouched beside him. My claws hovered over his eyes. "Then we'll make it a short week."
Nina whistled from the treeline. "Time's up. More coming from the east."
We pulled back fast, dragging two captured shamans and leaving Jakob alive on purpose. Let him crawl back and tell them what we did. Let him carry the fear.
The ride home was quiet except for the horses breathing hard. Sunna rode close, checking my arm every few minutes. The scales hadn't spread. The power felt… steadier. Like it knew me now.
Back at the keep the sky was full dark. We tossed the prisoners in the pit with Sveinn and gathered in the hall. Gunnar slammed a tankard down on the table.
"They know we hit back. They'll come harder. But we bought days. Maybe a week if we're lucky."
I sat on the bench beside him, shoulder brushing his. The bond hummed warm. "A week's enough to train. Enough to finish what we started."
He looked at me sideways. No words. Just that look that said he knew exactly what I meant.
Matthías raised his cup. "To the match that's gonna burn the elders' whole world down."
I drank with them. The fire in my chest flared once, bright and sure.
Outside, the moon hung full again. Same moon that watched me get rejected. Same moon that watched me get claimed.
This time it felt like it was on my side.
And somewhere out there Jakob was riding back to his masters with my claws marks across his chest and the knowledge that the girl he tried to bury was now the one hunting him.
The real storm was still coming.
But for the first time I wasn't running from it.
I was riding straight into it with the Lycan King at my back and fire in my blood.