Knotted By The Three Feral Alphas

Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Party Came Early

We returned to our chambers as the sun dropped behind the western ridge. The children were already asleep in the big bed, tangled together in a pile of limbs and blankets. Lila had one arm flung over Thorne. Elara curled against her brother’s back. I stood in the doorway for a long moment, watching their small chests rise and fall.

The kings stayed close behind me. Darius rested a hand on my shoulder. Kane brushed his fingers along my arm. Rylan leaned in and pressed a kiss to the side of my neck.

We would ride at dusk tomorrow.

We would end this threat before they could complete their ritual.

I turned to the three of them and felt the bond settle deeper, stronger than it had been since the night I returned from Shadowpine. The children slept safe between us. The keep held. The wall I held inside myself was still standing.

Tomorrow we would take the fight to the northern triad.

And we would bring it to them on our terms.

The silence after victory felt different. It was not empty. It was full of the small sounds of the children breathing, the low crackle of the fire, the steady presence of the kings around me.

I let it wrap around me like a second cloak.

The Nightthorn Triad had drawn its line.

We had ended it.

And for the first time in months, the ridges felt truly ours. freёwebnoѵel.com

But something unexpected happened: the northern riders came at dusk, their horses dark against the horizon. I stood on the wall with the kings beside me, the children safe in the nursery under heavy guard.

The bond between us burned hot and steady, carrying their focus straight into my chest. Darius’s ice-blue eyes scanned the enemy line without blinking. Kane’s scarred hand rested on the hilt of his knife. Rylan’s fingers flexed on the reins of his horse, his axe strapped across his back.

"Ahhh shit, they came early. The party started early." I drew my sword. The steel caught the fading light. The northern triad charged.

The field erupted. Hooves thundered across the grass. Steel clashed. Wolves shifted mid-stride, snarling and snapping. I drove my mare straight into the center, blade swinging low.

A northern warrior lunged at me from the left. I saw him and parried and drove my sword through his shoulder, twisting as I pulled free. Blood sprayed across my arm as he screamed. I got closer to him on the ground and sliced his neck open killing him instantly.

Darius cut down the man who came at him from the right, his sword moving with cold precision. Kane slipped between two attackers, knife flashing in short, lethal arcs. Rylan’s axe sang through the air, splitting a shield and the man behind it in one swing.

I pushed deeper into the chaos, the heat of bodies and the clash of steel surrounding me. A northern warrior shifted into wolf form and leaped at my mare’s flank. I swung low and caught him across the side, sending him tumbling into the grass.

The bond between the four of us burned hot and steady, feeding me their focus, their rage, their determination to end this fast. I felt every strike they made as if it were my own.

The northern leader came for me through the fray. Her sword met mine with a ringing clash. She was fast, her blade a blur of steel and rage. I met her strike for strike, the bond between the four of us giving me strength I had never felt before. She snarled and pressed harder, her eyes locked on mine. "Your children will be ours," she hissed. "Their blood will make us eternal."

"Stupid bitch, not in your wildest dreams would I allow you lay a finger on my children!" I roared back.

I twisted under her swing and slashed across her side. Blood welled dark along her ribs. She screamed and staggered but did not fall. She roared and came at me again. I drove my sword into her thigh, twisting as I pulled free. She dropped to one knee, hand pressed to the wound, blood looking on the ground.

Darius appeared at my side and pinned her sword arm. Kane pressed his knife to her throat. Rylan stood over us, axe raised, blocking any rescue.

The leader glared up at me, breath ragged with a bloody mouth and body. "Hahaha, you think this ends us? The north will finish what we started."

I looked down at her, the bond between the four of us roaring in my chest. "We would be waiting for whoever comes and they will meet the same fate as you have you worthless fuck! Tell them this when you see them in whatever hell waits for you. We do not yield what is ours."

I signalled to Rylan to kill her and he grinned swinging down his axe in a clean chop of her head. The leader stopped moving.

The fight around us faltered. The northern warriors saw their leader fall and decided they were not ready to die today so they broke, fleeing into the rocks. We lost four men. They lost twenty-three. We burned their banners and took every map and supply we could carry. The ride back was quiet, the horses’ hooves the only sound against the grass.

We reached the gates as the sun climbed higher. Garrick met us in the bailey, his face grim as he saw the blood on my cloak and the empty saddles. The pack gathered quickly, eyes on the maps and supplies we carried.

I stood in the center of the bailey and unrolled the largest map. "We have their main camp location," I said. "The northern triad is there with the bulk of their force. We strike again before they can regroup."

The pack cheered, the sound raw and fierce. I stood there with the blood still drying on my cloak and the kings at my back and felt the keep shift beneath my feet. The northern triad had drawn its line.

We would draw ours in steel and fire.

Back in the chambers the children were waiting. Lila ran to me the moment I stepped through the door, her small arms wrapping around my legs.

Thorne and Elara crawled across the furs toward me, their knees and elbows working in determined little circles. They were more active every day, their babbles turning into strings of sounds that almost sounded like words. Lila pointed at them and said, "They try to stand again. Like me."

I knelt and pulled all three of them into my lap. Lila climbed higher, resting her head against my shoulder. Thorne pushed himself up on wobbly legs, hands gripping the edge of a low bench. He looked at me, eyes wide with surprise, and took one unsteady step. Then another. Elara saw him and pushed up beside him, her tiny feet finding the floor. She took three steps before dropping back to her knees with a delighted squeal.

Lila clapped her hands and cheered. "They walk! They walk like me!" freewёbnoνel.com

I opened my arms and let them tumble into me. Thorne fell against my chest, laughing. Elara crawled the rest of the way and grabbed my braid with both hands. I held them close, their small hearts beating fast against mine, and felt something loosen in my chest that had been tight since the last raid.

The kings joined us a few minutes later. Darius knelt beside me, one hand on Thorne’s back. Kane sat on the floor and let Elara climb all over him. Rylan stretched out with Lila on his chest, his fingers brushing my knee.

The bond between the four of us felt steady and warm. The strike had been fast and brutal, but we had come home with the information we needed. The twins babbled louder, their voices overlapping in excited sounds. Lila asked again about the bad wolves, her small face serious.

I held them close and let their warmth chase away the cold of the ride.

The northern triad was coming.

But we would be ready.

**********************

Three days later I rode out with a small scouting party before dawn, cloak pulled tight against the biting wind. Darius insisted on joining despite my protests. Kane and Rylan stayed behind to watch the keep and the children.

The four of us had argued late into the night about splitting up, but someone had to remain with Lila, Thorne, and Elara. The thought of leaving them twisted something sharp in my gut, yet knowledge mattered more than comfort right now.

We moved fast and quiet through the passes, sticking to game trails and shadowed tree lines. By midday the land opened into a wide valley none of our maps had marked clearly. I signaled a halt on a rocky outcrop and pulled out the spyglass.

The camp stretched farther than I had feared. Hundreds of tents, maybe more. Wolves patrolled the perimeter in both forms. Supply wagons rolled in from the east, loaded heavy. At the center stood a large black pavilion ringed by guards carrying banners I didn’t recognize. This wasn’t a raiding force. This was an army preparing to swallow us whole.

Darius crouched beside me, jaw tight. "They outnumber anything we can field quickly."

I lowered the glass, stomach sour. "Then we don’t fight them the way they expect. We hit smarter."