Chapter 22 The Hunt Begins

Elara’s

I woke to the sound of voices, too sharp and hurried for the early morning. My body felt heavy, my head still fogged with restless dreams. My father’s stern eyes, Kael’s shadowed figure, and a sense of falling into endless darkness. The weight of it clung to me like damp air.

Something was wrong.

The Hidden Keep was never this loud at dawn. I pushed myself up, moving to the small window of the room. Outside, chaos rippled through the cobbled streets. Elders’ guards ran in tight formations, their armor catching the dim light, their voices barking orders. The air was pierced by the tolling of a bell. Deep, relentless, a sound of alarm.

Whispers drifted up from the crowd gathering below. One phrase repeated, carried like a curse through the city.

“The Codex… it’s gone.”

My stomach turned to stone.

I clutched the strap of my satchel and pulled it closer, my hand brushing against the hard, ancient cover inside. The Codex Nocturna. The book they were hunting. My heart slammed against my ribs, so loud I feared the walls themselves would hear.

It was heavier now, as if it knew it was wanted. As if it wanted to betray me.

I staggered back from the window, bile rising in my throat. They would search everywhere. Every inn, every home, every shadow. And when they found me. Because eventually, they would, what then?

The Elders wouldn’t forgive theft. And this wasn’t theft in their eyes, it was treason.

From below, a new voice boomed. One of the council’s heralds, his tone sharp and merciless.

“By decree of the Council, no one enters or leaves the city until the Codex is recovered. Every street, every dwelling will be searched. Those who shelter the thief will share their punishment.”

A cage. The Hidden Keep had always felt like a relic of another age, a city folded in on itself. But now, it was a snare.

I pressed my back to the door, trying to quiet my breathing as footsteps approached the inn. A knock rattled the wood downstairs. Voices, low, firm, demanding. The innkeeper stammered something in reply.

The creak of boots on the stairs made my blood freeze. I crouched by the bed, clutching the satchel against me, willing myself to vanish into the stone. The guards stopped at the door across the hall, voices muffled, questions asked.

I held my breath until my chest ached.

When at last their steps retreated, I sagged against the bedpost, trembling. Too close. Far too close.

I couldn’t stay.

But every exit was sealed. Every path watched. The Elders were not only after the Codex, they were hiding something else, something they feared the book might reveal. I could feel it in the way the air itself seemed to bristle with secrets.

By dusk, the city had grown tenser, the shadows stretching long over the streets. I waited until the noise below softened into a restless lull. My chance.

I slipped the satchel over my shoulder, wrapped my cloak tight, and eased open the door. The floorboards groaned, the innkeeper’s lantern flickered in the hall, but no guards stood nearby. With careful steps, I moved toward the back exit, where the alleyways pressed narrow and dark.

But just as I reached for the door, a whisper slithered from inside the satchel.

“They will come for you, lone wolf. Run, but nowhere will be safe.”

The Codex’s voice was not loud, but it struck like ice across my skin. My hand trembled on the handle.

This was no longer about me sneaking away unnoticed.

This was a hunt.

And I was the prey.

••

Kael's

The forest swallowed every sound but my own breath. Leaves crunched beneath my boots as I pushed forward, following the faintest thread of her scent. Elara. It lingered in the air like a ghost, taunting me, daring me to keep chasing.

I had no doubt now, she had come here. To this place. The very edges of the Hidden Keep.

My jaw clenched as I paused beneath the massive trees, their roots twisting like claws out of the earth. Beyond them, carved into the stone face of the cliff, stood the ancient gates of the city I had sworn never to cross again. The sight alone made the scars of old battles burn. Magic still bled from the stones, old and venomous, curling around me like smoke that wanted me gone.

Even from here, I felt it. The hum of protective wards, sharp as broken glass against my skin. My wolf growled low, restless, pacing within me.

Then I saw it.

The gates were no longer still, no longer silent. Guards in silver-etched armor crowded the entrance. Torches flared. Orders were shouted. It wasn’t just the usual patrol. Something had stirred the entire Keep.

Something or someone.

I drew in a breath, and there it was again, faint but undeniable. Elara’s scent, tangled in the chaos, drifting from beyond the walls. She had gone inside. And now… she was trapped.

A curse slipped between my teeth.

The Elders had noticed. Whatever they were protecting, whatever they feared losing, it was gone. And if Elara had taken it, if she was caught in the middle of their hunt, then she was already in more danger than she could possibly imagine.

My claws flexed at my sides, itching to tear through stone and spell alike. Yet even as my instincts screamed to charge forward, the wards on the gate pulsed like a warning. If I crossed recklessly, the city itself would spit me out, if it didn’t burn me alive first.

But walking away wasn’t an option. Not anymore.

I lowered myself, pressing a hand to the damp earth, inhaling the trail she’d left behind. The scent was weak, but it was hers. Always hers.

“Run if you must,” I muttered, my voice a growl only the trees could hear. “But no Elder, no wall of stone, no cursed magic will keep you from me.”

The moon broke through the clouds above, bathing the gates of the Keep in pale silver light. My eyes narrowed, and my wolf pushed harder, hungry to break the distance.

The hunt had already begun. And if the Elders thought they were the only ones searching for her… they were wrong.

A sudden shift in the air made me still. From the direction of the gates, a ripple of ancient power rolled outward, crawling over my skin like a thousand needles. The wards flared brighter, as though they sensed me lurking in the dark.

Then I heard it.

A whisper, low and serpentine, slithered past the barrier, brushing against my mind. Not hers. Not Elara’s. But the Codex itself.

“She carries me… she is mine. Come, Alpha of blood and ruin. Claim what is bound to you or lose her to the flames of the Elders.”

My heart slammed against my ribs. My wolf roared inside me, and the forest trembled with the force of it.

Elara wasn’t just in danger. She was the prize in a war that had already begun.

And the next move would be mine.