<h4>Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Fury Unleashed</h4>


    The skin-walker prince circled them like a shark, his movements smooth and unnatural. Though he wore Darian’s face, everything about him felt wrong—from his too-wide smile to the way his joints seemed to bend in impossible directions.


    "How touching," he mocked, ncing at the real Darian chained to the bone throne. "A family reunion."


    Kael stepped forward, cing himself between the creature and ra. "Release my brother."


    The princeughed, the sound echoing off the cave walls. "After keeping him for eighteen years? I think not." He turned his ck eyes to ra. "Besides, I’m more interested in our silver-eyed guest."


    Ronan growled, his muscles tensing like he might pounce any second.


    "Careful," Tobias warned under his breath. "This is his domain. He’s stronger here."


    The prince smiled as if he’d heard. "The wise guardian speaks truth. Here, I am king." He snapped his fingers, and shadows rose from the ground, forming twisted wolf shapes around them.


    ra’s heart hammered in her chest, but she kept her eyes on the real Darian. He looked weak, his clothes torn, his face gaunt—but his eyes burned with the same fierce light as his brothers. The moment their gazes met, she felt a spark inside her chest—the third mate bond stirring to life.


    "Let me guess," the prince said, watching her. "You think you can save him, free the real Luna Evelyn, and live happily ever after?" He shook his head. "My mother has other ns for you, little Luna."


    "Your mother won’t win," ra replied, her voice steadier than she felt. "I know what I am now."


    The prince’s smile vanished. "A half-trained child with powers she can’t control." He moved closer, ignoring Kael and Ronan’s warning growls. "Do you really think you’re the first silver-eyed Luna to challenge us? We’ve broken stronger wolves than you."


    ra stood her ground. "Then why are you afraid of me?"


    The prince’s face twisted with rage. Without warning, he lunged at her.


    Several things happened at once. Kael shouted. Tobias raised his hands, green light ring. But it was Ronan who moved fastest, throwing himself between ra and the prince.


    The two crashed together with bone-jarring force. Ronan, wild and fearless,shed out with ws that had partly shifted. The prince hissed, ck blood oozing from scratch marks on his cheek.


    "Run!" Tobias yelled, pulling ra toward the bone throne. "Free Darian while Ronan keeps him busy!"


    Kael joined his brother in the fight, the two of them driving the prince back. The shadow wolves howled and attacked, but Tobias threw handfuls of some glittering powder that made them shriek and dissolve.


    ra reached the bone throne. Up close, it was even more gruesome—made from the bones of fallen wolves, bound together with something that looked like dried ck vines.


    "You came," Darian whispered, his voice rough from disuse. "I saw you in my dreams, but I never thought..."


    "Hold still," ra said, examining the shadow chains that bound him. They weren’t solid—more like living darkness wrapped around his wrists and ankles. When she touched one, it writhed like a snake, and pain shot up her arm.


    "You can’t break them with touch," Darian warned. "They feed on pain."


    ra remembered Luna Evelyn’s words: The ne is a key. And a weapon.


    She grasped the silver crescent at her throat. As soon as her fingers touched it, it zed with light. Acting on instinct, she pressed the ne against the shadow chains.


    The darkness hissed and recoiled like it was being burned. The chain holding Darian’s right arm dissolved into smoke.


    Behind her, she heard a howl of fury. The skin-walker prince had noticed what she was doing.


    "Stop her!" he screamed, his voice no longer human.


    More shadow wolves materialized around them. Tobias fought them off while Kael and Ronan battled the prince, who was now changing—his skin rippling as he struggled to maintain Darian’s form.


    ra worked quickly, touching the ne to each chain. One by one, they dissolved, freeing Darian’s limbs. As the final chain broke, Darian slumped forward into her arms.


    The moment they touched, the third mate bond red to life—a warm, golden thread connecting their hearts. Unlike the bonds with Kael and Ronan, this one felt likeing home after a long journey.


    "It’s true," Darian murmured, staring at her with wonder. "You really are our mate."


    A crash made them both turn. The skin-walker prince had thrown Ronan against the cave wall. Rocks tumbled down around him as he struggled to stand.


    "We need to go," ra said, helping Darian to his feet. "Can you walk?"


    He nodded, though he leaned heavily on her. "There’s a tunnel behind the throne. It leads to the surface."


    Tobias appeared beside them, his green magic flickering around his hands. "I’ll cover you. Get to the tunnel!"


    ra and Darian staggered toward the hidden exit, but before they could reach it, the ground beneath them shook. Stctites crashed down from the ceiling.


    "He’s bringing down the cave!" Kael shouted, dodging falling rocks as he fought his way toward them.


    The skin-walker prince’sughter rose above the chaos. He’d given up Darian’s formpletely now, revealing his true shape—a twisted, skeletal creature with too many limbs and eyes that burned like coals.


    "None of you are leaving!" he howled. "Mother wants the silver-eyed girl, and what mother wants, she gets!"


    He leaped over Kael, moving with terrifying speed straight for ra and Darian. ra raised her hand, calling on the silver fire, but she was too slow.


    The creature mmed into them, sending them sprawling. Darian, too weak from his long captivity, couldn’t keep his feet. He crashed to the ground.


    The prince seized ra by the throat, lifting her off her feet. His touch burned like ice, and darkness crept into the edges of her vision.


    "I’ll take you to mother myself," he hissed, his breath foul against her face. "She’ll wear your skin like a new dress."


    Suddenly, a roar shook the cave—not the howl of a wolf, but something deeper, more primal. More terrifying.


    Ronan charged across the chamber, but he wasn’t just Ronan anymore. He’d shifted, not into a wolf, but something elserger, more powerful, a beast of legend that ra had only heard about in stories.


    The Dire Wolf form—the ancient shape that only the strongest wolves could achieve.


    His massive jaws mped around the prince’s arm that held ra. Bones crunched, and the skin-walker shrieked. He dropped ra, who gasped for air as she hit the ground.


    "Impossible!" the prince screamed. "No wolf has taken the Dire form in centuries!"


    Ronan didn’t answer. His eyes, now glowing red with rage, were fixed on the creature that had dared hurt his mate. He attacked again, his massive paws swiping with enough force to shatter stone.


    The prince stumbled backward, ck blood pouring from multiple wounds. For the first time, fear showed in his coal-ck eyes.


    "Retreat!" hemanded his shadow wolves. "Back to the queen!"


    Kael reached ra, helping her up while Tobias supported Darian. "We need to go. Now!"


    They ran for the tunnel, the sounds of Ronan’s savage battle with the prince echoing behind them. The passage was narrow and dark, but ra’s ne lit the way, casting silver light on the rough walls.


    "What about Ronan?" ra gasped, ncing back. "We can’t leave him!"


    "He’ll follow," Kael assured her, though worry lined his face. "He always does."


    They stumbled through the tunnel as the cave continued to copse around them. After what felt like forever, fresh air hit their faces. They emerged into early dawn light, the forest around them quiet except for distant howls—the pack still searching.


    "Help me with him," Tobias said, easing Darian to the ground. He looked even worse in daylight, his skin pale and marked with old scars.


    "Will he be okay?" ra asked, kneeling beside him.


    Tobias nodded. "With rest and proper care."


    Kael paced at the tunnel entrance, his gaze fixed on the darkness. "He should have been right behind us."


    As if summoned by his words, a shape emerged from the tunnel—but it wasn’t the massive Dire Wolf they expected. It was Ronan in human form, his clothes torn and bloody, his face a mask of rage that hadn’t faded with his shift.


    He staggered toward them, then copsed to his knees. ra rushed to his side, her hands gentle on his shoulders.


    "Ronan," she whispered. "Are you hurt?"


    His eyes, still tinged with red, met hers. "No one touches you," he growled, his voice rough and not quite human. "No one."


    "You shifted into Dire form," Kael said, awe in his voice. "Father always said it was impossible."


    "Not impossible," Darian spoke up weakly. "Just rare. It only happens when..."


    "When what?" ra asked.


    Darian’s eyes moved from Ronan to ra and back. "When a wolf’s mate is in mortal danger. When the need to protect overwhelms everything else."


    Ronan’s breathing slowed, the red gradually fading from his eyes. "I couldn’t control it. I just saw him hurting you, and something... broke loose inside me."


    ra touched his face gently. The bond between them pulsed, stronger than before.


    "What happened to the prince?" Tobias asked.


    A grim smile touched Ronan’s lips. "He won’t be wearing anyone’s face for a while."


    Before anyone could respond, a howl cut through the dawn—not a shadow wolf or pack wolf, but something else.


    "The queen," Darian whispered, fear in his voice. "She knows her son has failed."


    As if to confirm his words, a cold wind swept through the trees. The leaves turned ck where it touched, withering and falling to the ground.


    "We need to move," Kael said urgently. "Back to pack territory. She’s weaker there."


    ra helped Ronan to his feet while Kael supported Darian. As they turned to leave, something caught ra’s eye—a sh of movement at the edge of the clearing.


    A figure stepped out from behind a tree. Not the skin-walker queen, but almost as unwee.


    Celeste stood watching them, her eyes wide with shock as she stared at the real Darian. The spell Tobias had ced on her must have worn off early.


    "Two Darians?" she gasped. "How is this possible?"


    Before anyone could stop her, she turned and ran, heading straight for the pack house—where the false Luna Evelyn waited.


    "She’ll warn the queen," Tobias said grimly.


    Ronan’s eyes shed red again. "Let her try. I’ll stop her."


    He pulled away from ra, preparing to chase after Celeste, but Kael caught his arm.


    "No," he said firmly. "We stay together. All of us."


    The brothers locked eyes, tension crackling between them. For a moment, ra feared Ronan might challenge Kael right there. The Dire Wolf rage hadn’t fully left him.


    "Please," she said softly, taking Ronan’s hand. "We need you with us."


    Something in her voice reached him. The tension in his body eased slightly.


    "Fine," he growled. "But when the queenes—and she will—I won’t hold back."


    As they moved through the forest, three brothers and their mate united atst, ra couldn’t shake the feeling that they were walking into a trap. The skin-walker queen had been nning for eighteen years. She wouldn’t give up now.


    And somewhere behind them, Celeste was running to tell her exactly where they were.