CHAPTER 107: YOU ARE ONE OF US NOW

"...a war between continents."

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. Shock struck me harder than any blow. My mind spun, unable to grasp the weight of what he had just revealed.

A war between continents? Thoughts stirred up my mind.

When I finally snapped back into myself, my first thought was defensive, calculating.

Our continent was large. We had many packs, we had strong wolves. Even without the Celestial Wolf’s intervention, surely we wouldn’t be at a disadvantage... right?

But one look at Rion told me otherwise. His face was grim, carved with shadows, as though he were staring at the ruin of a world only he had glimpsed.

This wasn’t some border skirmish or an Alpha’s posturing for dominance. Whatever this was, it wasn’t ordinary.

He must have read the doubt flashing across my expression, because his voice cut through my thoughts.

"Yes," he said, "this isn’t a simple war. The Arysians plan to destroy our continent. They don’t want to enslave, or rule us. They want a massacre. They’re preparing for it even now. From our investigations, their Alpha King, Darec, has gotten hold of a very ancient relic—something powerful enough to be deadly even to our strongest wolves."

Arysians.

The word rattled inside my head. That was what the wolves from across the western seas called themselves—the shifters of the continent a thousand miles away.

Unlike us, the Diaj wolves, they weren’t divided by individual packs with their own Alphas or ruled by a group of alphas like the Unified Alliance. They were united under a single Alpha King who ruled over them all.

I had read about them in books, heard from teachers during lessons. Long ago, many centuries before, there had been war between our people and theirs.

The Diaj wolves had won. Our ancestors had driven the Arysians back into the sea, back across their own lands, and left them to lick their wounds.

History recorded that since then, the Arysians had kept to themselves. No mingling, no alliances, no claws reaching across the sea. They had suffered too many losses.

I swallowed, my voice a whisper of disbelief. "Why would they want all Diaj wolves dead? Because of history? Is that it?"

I shook my head, anger rising despite the fear clawing at me. "Isn’t it foolish to cling to a grudge for something that happened centuries ago? For something no living Arysian even witnessed?"

The words echoed in the quiet of my room, but they felt hollow, fragile. Because deep down, I knew grudges never died easily. Not in our kind. Wolves carried memory through blood, through oath, through vengeance whispered from one generation to the next.

I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself though the room was not cold.

If the Arysians truly wanted us gone, then every laugh in the streets of the Undercity tonight, every lantern burning for the Moon Festival, was standing at the edge of an abyss.

"People can be petty," Rion said, his tone flat, almost bitter. "And Darec doesn’t mind killing someone for breathing wrong."

The casual cruelty in those words made my skin prickle.

"We’re still investigating," he continued. "There may be a bigger reason behind all this. But we can’t be sure for now."

That’s why he wanted the Celestial Wolf. It was the root of his obsession. It wasn’t about pride or his thirst for power. It was a shield he was desperate to wield before the storm broke.

"That’s why you want to be the chosen mate of the Celestial Wolf..." My voice trailed off as the realization settled like ice in my chest.

His obsession finally made sense.

"I honestly couldn’t care less about those people up above," he said quietly, almost humorous. "But I know the Arysians wouldn’t think twice about ruining this place. My place. And I cannot afford that—not for my people."

Something shifted inside me at those words. He wasn’t speaking as the arrogant Alpha who wore smirks to irk other people. He was speaking as a man who carried the weight of an entire city on his shoulders.

To see the grimness in his eyes, the way the shadows themselves seemed to cling to him as if sensing the burden, told me this was beyond serious. This wasn’t a warning—it was a promise of devastation.

Because if Rion Morrigan, the strongest Alpha among the Diaj wolves, looked wary of what the Arysian Alpha King had in his grasp, then every pack on our continent had reason to tremble.

"You should have told me this sooner," I blurted, anger and disbelief coiling together in my chest. "When I first came here, when I entered your lands, you should have told me. I would have understood—"

He smirked then, like lightning splitting a stormcloud. For just a moment, the heaviness in the room cracked.

"I doubt you’d have believed me, Vivien." His lips curled slightly, almost taunting, though softer than usual. "And besides, I didn’t trust you enough back then to tell you about the keys... or this."

His honesty stung more than I expected. I pressed my lips together and forced myself to nod, even though a part of me hated the way he was right.

I wouldn’t have believed him, yes.

Still, understanding did nothing to soften the bitter taste in my mouth.

"What do you know about this relic the Arysians hold?" I asked.

"Not much," he admitted. "We don’t even know what form it takes. All I know is that it’s a relic bound to an ancient entity that once walked their lands. A being whose power could match a god." His tone dropped lower, almost unwilling. "If such a thing exists... Darec has it."

I shook my head, disbelief clawing at me.

"That’s insane..." The words were barely a whisper. "Could something like that truly exist?"

Rion didn’t answer. He only stared at me, as if he too didn’t want to believe it but the evidences he had proved it true.

"Do you still misunderstand me?" he asked softly.

The sudden shift in his voice caught me off guard. I blinked.

"Why does it matter?"

Why did it matter to him if I misunderstood? What difference did my judgment make?

"Because..." He cleared his throat, and something flickered in his gaze. It vanished in a heartbeat, replaced by the steel that always defined him. "...because you are an ally. You are one of the seven keys, Vivien. And I need us to be in sync. If we’re going to work together, there cannot be doubt between us. We need to understand each other because for me, you are one of us now. One of mine."