The pass just kept squeezing tighter, until it was basically a single-file wolf conga line. Ice and stone crowding in, the kind of jagged that makes you suck in your breath and hope you don't snag your fur. The air changed. Not just cold, but that sharp, thin kind that bites right through, all the way to the marrow.
Kael rode up front, eyes always darting up at the cliffs. His voice floated back, quiet but somehow clear over the crunch of paws. "She'll see us first."
June tried to play it cool. "That's the idea." She said it, but her knuckles were white on the reins.
Then the world just sort of opened up, like they'd stumbled into some half-finished dream. Mist curling everywhere, trees stripped bare, branches looking like someone tried to paint them but gave up halfway. Stones jabbed out of the ground all crooked, and right at the middle: this ice arch, tall as a nightmare, shiny and dark. Not the friendly kind of dark either. You stared at it too long, your brain started to feel fuzzy, like it was stealing your thoughts along with the light.
The wolves buried their paws under the snow, signalling fear. The pale one's ears went flat, the black one sounded like a thunderstorm about to break loose.
Kael just swung down like it was nothing. "On foot from here."
June followed, boots crunching over the icy mess. Every step closer, the air got thicker, heavier, like the cold itself was trying to shove her back.
Halfway across, the mist twitched weirdly.
And something came out from under the arch: massive, black as the void, so much wolf it made everything else shrink. Its eyes were silver, dead calm, staring right through her.
The Wolf of Shadows.
Then it's voice. Not out loud, but inside her skull, rich and low and about as comforting as midnight in a graveyard, spoke: "You have come to bind me".
She answered. Out loud, even. "I have." Didn't let her voice shake, miracle of miracles.
"Then you will be bound first".
The world disappeared.
Suddenly, she was back at the palace. Smoke everywhere, blood smeared on the walls, sky on fire, some monster's wings eating the sun.
Sword in her hand, sticky warm. Couldn't remember picking it up.
Then she saw him.
Her dad, sprawled by the gates, armor smashed, crown half-buried. Barely breathing, eyes locked on her. "June," he said, all raspy and broken. "Go."
She didn't go. She froze. Demon dragon screaming, world ending, her own heartbeat drowning everything. By the time she moved, it was over. Her father's eyes, already empty.
The whole scene snapped. She was nowhere, just darkness pressing in, demon's roar echoing.
Wolf's voice again, curling through her, smoke in her veins: "You carry this like a wound that never closes".
"I failed him," she got out, barely.
"And you will fail again if you do not stand when fear tells you to fall".
"I'm not scared of dying," she whispered.
"No. You are afraid of not being enough".
That landed. She wanted to snap back, but those silver eyes held her, and she just… couldn't.
Darkness tore, cold came rushing back, she was in the hollow again, arch looming. Kael stood at the edge, looking ready to fight or run, hand twitching near his knife.
The Wolf circled her, silent as a nightmare. Stopped. Eyes burning.
"You are not ready. But you may be".
June sucked in a breath. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Find the others. Return when your shadow does not own you".
And just like that, the Wolf disappeared. The mist settled, quiet as grave dirt.
Kael edged closer, eyebrow doing its best skeptical arch. "That looked… unpleasant."
She flexed her fingers… they were shaking. "She'll come when I'm ready."
"And how's that work?"
"Find the rest," she said, already moving. "And don't freeze next time."
Kael's mouth twisted up, but he wasn't laughing. "Better hope the next one's got a sense of hu