CHAPTER 47: THE WARRIOR’S RAGE

Brock POV

The scream that cut through the night made my blood turn to ice.

I shot up from where I’d been crouched behind a fallen tree, my heart hammering against my chest. That wasn’t just any scream. That was Caleb.

My brother. My quiet, sweet brother who’d rather read a book than fight anyone.

"Caleb!" I roared, not caring if every Shadow Wolf in the forest heard me.

Aiden grabbed my arm as I started to charge toward the sound. "Brock, wait! We need a plan—"

I shook him off so hard he stumbled backward. "Plan? They have Caleb! I’m not waiting for a plan while they hurt him!"

Another scream echoed through the woods, weaker this time. Something inside my chest felt like it was breaking apart. Caleb had always been the one who fixed my scraped knees when we were kids. He’d stayed up all night helping me study when I was failing history. He’d never hurt anyone in his entire life.

And now those monsters had him.

"Brock, please," Aiden tried again. "If you go in there alone—"

"Then I go in alone," I snarled, my wolf trying to break free. "I’m not leaving him."

I changed before Aiden could stop me, my bones cracking and stretching as my wolf form took over. In this shape, I was bigger and stronger than most dogs. I was built for war, built for protecting my pack.

Built for protecting my boys.

I bolted through the forest, following Caleb’s scent mixed with the awful smell of shadow magic. Tree limbs whipped past my face, but I didn’t slow down. Every second I wasted was another second Caleb was in pain.

The trail led me deeper into the damaged part of the woods, where the trees looked sick and the air felt heavy. My paws hit the ground harder with each step, anger burning through my veins like fire.

How could I have let this happen? I was supposed to protect my family. That was my job, my mission. Dad had always said I was the guard for our pack, the one who stood between danger and the people we loved.

But I’d failed. While I was busy trying to be smart and careful, the Shadow Wolves had taken my brother.

The smell trail stopped at a rocky cliff face. I shifted back to human form, my chest heaving as I looked for a way up. There—hidden behind some dead bushes—was a small path carved into the stone.

I climbed without pause, even though my hands were shaking with rage. Every few feet, I caught another whiff of Caleb’s smell mixed with fear and pain. It made me want to howl until my throat was raw.

At the top of the cliff, I found a cave opening guarded by two Shadow Wolves. They looked like normal wolves at first glance, but their eyes were empty black holes, and dark mist swirled around their feet.

I didn’t think. I just attacked.

The first guard never saw me coming. I tackled him so hard we both went rolling across the rocky ground. My fist connected with his jaw, and he dissolved into shadow mist with a shocked yelp.

The second guard lunged at me, but I was already moving. Years of study with Dad had taught me to fight dirty when I had to. I grabbed a sharp rock and drove it into the creature’s chest. It screamed and disappeared just like the first one.

Too easy. Way too easy.

But I didn’t care about traps or tactics right then. I could hear Caleb’s voice from inside the cave, weak and scared. Nothing else mattered.

I crept into the cave, my wolf senses on high alert. The tube was darker than anything I’d ever seen, like the shadows were alive and trying to swallow the light. But I pushed forward, following my brother’s smell.

The tunnel opened into a huge underground room lit by torches that burned with green fire. And what I saw there made my stomach drop to my feet.

There had to be fifty Shadow Wolves in the cave. Maybe more. They stood in neat rows like some kind of army, all looking toward the center of the chamber where... Where Caleb hung from chains attached to the cave ceiling.

My brother looked terrible. His clothes were torn, there was blood on his face, and he was barely aware. But he was alive. That was all that mattered.

I started to charge forward, but then I heard something that stopped me cold.

"Excellent work, Brock Silver."

I spun around to find a Shadow Wolf standing right behind me. This one looked different from the others—bigger, more solid, with bright red eyes instead of empty black ones.

"You walked right into our trap," the monster continued, its voice like nails on a chalkboard. "Just as we knew you would."

My heart sank as I realized the truth. The guards outside hadn’t been weak. They’d been bait. The whole thing had been planned to lure me here.

"You see," the Shadow Wolf leader said, circling me like a hunter, "we studied your pack very carefully. We knew the brave brother would never let his family suffer. We knew you’d come charging in without thinking."

I clenched my fists, anger and fear warring in my chest. "Let him go. Your fight is with me now."

The thing laughed, a sound like breaking glass. "Oh, we’ll keep both of you. The scholar’s mind is useful for breaking magical defenses. But your strength? That will serve us very well once we break your spirit."

More Shadow Wolves began moving toward me from all sides. I counted at least twenty, and I could feel more lurking in the tunnel behind me. Even for me, those weren’t good chances.

But I didn’t back down. I never backed down.

"Brock?" Caleb’s voice was barely a whisper, but I heard it clearly. My brother was looking at me with eyes full of pain and worry. "You shouldn’t have come."

"Of course I came," I said, not taking my eyes off the coming enemies. "You’re my brother."

That’s when I noticed something that made my blood freeze. The chains holding Caleb weren’t just regular metal. They were glowing with the same green light as the flames, and I could see them draining something from him. His strength, his power, maybe even his life force.

And now they were going to do the same thing to me.

"The ritual requires three sources of power," the Shadow Wolf leader explained, like he was giving a lesson. "The diplomat’s charm, the scholar’s knowledge, and the warrior’s strength. With all three Silver brothers in our grasp, we can finally finish what we started."

I felt sick. This wasn’t just about catching us. They needed us for something bigger, something terrible.

"What ritual?" I demanded, though part of me didn’t want to know the answer.

The thing smiled, showing teeth like broken glass. "The one that will wake our master from his old sleep. The one that will give him enough power to devour every pack bond in existence."

The chains around Caleb pulsed brighter, and my brother cried out in pain. Without thinking, I lunged toward him, but shadow tendrils emerged from the ground and wrapped around my arms and legs, holding me in place.

"Soon, warrior," the Shadow Wolf boss hissed. "Soon you’ll join your brother in feeding our cause."

More chains began falling from the ceiling, glowing with that awful green light. I fought against the shadow tendrils, but they were stronger than they looked.

That’s when I heard it—a sound that made my heart skip with hope and fear at the same time.

Lily’s voice, echoing from somewhere deep in the cave system.

"I can feel all of you," she was saying, her words faraway but clear. "The pack bonds aren’t really broken—they’re just hidden under the shadow magic."

The Shadow Wolf leader spun around, his red eyes blazing with anger. "Impossible! The omega should be unconscious from the rite!"

But I could feel it too now. A warm pulse in my chest where my pack bond lived. Lily was doing something, reaching out to all of us through links I didn’t even know existed.

The green chains stalled for just a moment, their light flickering.

And in that moment, I understood what I had to do.

I looked at Caleb hanging powerless from his chains, then at the tunnel where Lily’s voice had come from, then at the dozens of Shadow Wolves surrounding us.

I had to make a choice. Try to free Caleb and probably get us both killed, or break free and warn the others about what the Shadow Wolves were really planned.

The pack bonds Lily was trying to repair pulsed again, stronger this time. Through them, I could feel Aiden somewhere above us, desperate and afraid. I could feel other pack members spread throughout the forest, all of them in danger.

And underneath it all, I could feel something else. Something huge and hungry and old, stirring to life far below the cave.

Whatever these Shadow Wolves were trying to wake up, Lily had just given it exactly what it needed.

The chains began falling toward me again, and I had maybe seconds to decide.

Save my brother, or save my pack.

The choice was going to destroy me either way.