Chapter 22: Vengeance is Ours

*Ariel Levine* As I stood there in the clearing, tension coiling like a spring, I gripped my blades tightly, heart pounding from the remnants of battle. The scent of cedar and smoke wafted through the air, that unmistakable essence that sent shivers down my spine. My breath caught in my throat as I recognized it—the scent of Gage, my past, the mate I had thought I could forget. In that decisive moment, time slowed. I should have lunged forward, should have embraced the adrenaline surging through me as the new wave of rogues emerged from the treeline, snarling and ready to pounce. Instead, I stood frozen, entranced by the hulking black wolf that bounded forward, tearing through our enemies as if they were nothing but paper. Gage's wolf. Even in the chaos, he radiated a raw power that capt