TO RUIN A KING

The forest breathed like a sleeping beast.

Magdalene moved through the mist-veiled trees with her heart thundering, every sound amplified, every scent sharp and primal. Cold bit at her bare arms, but she didn't slow. Couldn't. Maddox's howl still echoed inside her bones like a siren—low, mournful, and soul-wracking.

She didn't know where she was going.

She just knew.

The moon above was fractured, glowing through the thick canopy in ribbons of ghostlight. Shadows shifted unnaturally, as if watching her, judging her. The Veil was thinning here. She could feel it.

The Shadow Pass.

The place where fates were lost and rewritten.

Her boots squelched in the mud as she ran, panting, her wolf clawing just under her skin. Magdalene was trained to be quiet, restrained, collected. But now—now she was unraveling.

And not because she was afraid.

But because he was calling.

Her Maddox.

Not the Alpha King. Not the beast. But the boy she once knew—wounded, beautiful, still buried under layers of fury and fire.

She remembered his hands in hers as they climbed the old cliff outside Duskfall. They were just kids, seventeen and wild with dreams, bruised from the world but still foolish enough to believe love could fix anything.

Then the fire.

Then the betrayal.

Then everything fell apart.

A branch snapped ahead.

She froze.

Silence.

Then—another snap. Heavier. Closer.

"Come out," she whispered, her fingers twitching near her dagger. "If you're him, show me."

No answer.

She took a slow step forward.

Another.

A growl vibrated through the ground.

And then—he appeared.

Not fully man. Not fully wolf.

Maddox stood half-shifted beneath the trees, his body steaming in the cold, eyes glowing gold, claws extended, breathing ragged. The wolf and man warred beneath his skin—he was a creature of chaos, of ancient strength—and he was unraveling.

He didn't move.

Neither did she.

For a long time, they just stared.

Her heart was breaking and rebuilding with every second that passed.

He was beautiful in the most terrifying way.

"Selene…" he said at last. His voice cracked. "I smelled you. I felt you. And then—I remembered."

Her knees almost buckled.

"What did you remember?"

He blinked slowly. His chest rose and fell like a wave crashing against itself.

"You."

Just that. A single word. A blade wrapped in silk.

She took a careful step forward. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know how. Or why. But I saw… fire. And your face. And—" His breath hitched. "You were crying. You were saying goodbye."

Magdalene swallowed hard.

"I didn't know your name. Not really. But it hurt. Like I lost something I wasn't allowed to lose."

Her hand brushed the dagger at her side—then slowly fell away.

"It's the bond," she said gently. "You were never supposed to remember. Not yet."

"But I did." He took a step toward her. "And it won't stop."

Magdalene's wolf growled in warning. Her emotions were fraying.

She couldn't let him know yet. Not who she really was. Not why she was here.

But gods—how much longer could she pretend?

Maddox raised a hand. Slowly. Carefully.

"You're not like the others," he murmured. "You move like a ghost. You smell like prophecy."

Magdalene forced a tight smile. "Not exactly something a girl wants to hear from a man."

He didn't laugh. Didn't even smile.

He just stared at her like she held every answer he'd spent years bleeding for.

"I need to know who you are," he said.

She shook her head. "You think you do. But if I told you—everything would change."

His wolf surged in his chest. She could see it in his eyes.

He was struggling. The human in him wanted to trust her. The Alpha in him wanted answers. The wolf? The wolf only wanted truth.

"Don't lie to me," he whispered, stepping closer. "Not again."

"Again?" she breathed.

He hesitated. "I don't know why I said that."

But she did.

The memory was breaking through.

And that terrified her more than anything.

"Selene," he said, voice low, "what are you?"

She couldn't lie. Not fully.

But the truth would destroy them both.

"I'm not your enemy," she said softly. "But I am here for a reason."

He narrowed his eyes. "Are you the one sending the firewolves into my cities?"

"No," she said quickly. "But I am hunting the ones who are."

His muscles tensed. His claws twitched. "You expect me to believe that?"

"I expect you to trust your gut," she said, stepping forward until only inches separated them. "Do I feel like the enemy to you?"

He stared into her eyes.

"I don't know what you feel like. But I can't stop thinking about you. And that scares the hell out of me."

She let that hang in the air.

Let the ache between them thicken.

Let herself believe—for just one second—that this could be more than a war.

Then she stepped back.

"I have to go."

His hand caught her wrist.

"No."

She froze.

He wasn't gripping her hard. But the desperation in his voice was enough to silence the forest.

"I can't lose you," he whispered. "Not again."

Her heart cracked.

"You don't even know me," she said.

"I do," he said. "Some part of me does. And if you leave now—I don't think I'll ever find you again."

She looked down at his hand.

Felt the warmth of him bleeding into her skin.

She didn't want to leave.

Gods, she didn't.

But the mark on her wrist was growing hotter by the second. The Seer's warning echoed in her mind.

You are the key and the consequence.

"I'll come back," she promised. "But right now, I have to protect you."

He blinked. "Protect me?"

She nodded. "From what's coming."

Maddox exhaled a laugh—sharp, bitter. "I'm the Alpha King. I don't need protection."

"You all do," she said. "You just don't know it yet."

And then—

A crash.

A scream.

From the west.

Magdalene and Maddox both turned, instincts snapping into place.

"What the hell was that?" he growled.

Magdalene's eyes narrowed. "That's the direction of the Eastern Border."

Maddox sniffed the air.

His face went pale.

"Blood."

He shifted fully—bones snapping, fur erupting, eyes blazing gold.

Before she could speak, he leapt past her, a blur of power.

"Damn it—Maddox!"

She ran after him, her wolf screaming beneath her skin.

They burst through the treeline.

What they saw stopped them both cold.

A village. Burned. Wolves lying in the dirt, clawed open.

And at the center—an iron spike.

A message carved into it in blood.

"The Ruinbearer Walks. The King is Already Dead."

Maddox's breath caught.

Magdalene's entire body went cold.

The prophecy had leaked.

Someone knew.

And they were coming for both of them.

Maddox turned to her slowly, eyes filled with fury and fear.

"What the hell is a Ruinbearer?"

Magdalene didn't speak.

Couldn't.

Because the mark on her wrist was now glowing bright as fire—

—and he was staring straight at it.