Chapter 119

• Darius’ Pov
• For how long are we going to stalk them like ghosts in the shadows? I’m starting to feel like we’re the ones running, not them. Every dawn bleeds into dusk with us moving like hunted prey, slipping between territories, staying ahead of warriors that aren’t even chasing us as hard as they should. It’s pathetic. This isn’t who we are supposed to be.
• I can still smell the iron tang of my father’s blood in my memory, the Alpha of Ironclaw, reduced to whispers and pain, laid up in a bed of weakness while the world moved on without him. Father, Alpha Xerves… my mind burns with the image of him, proud and broad-shouldered, now a shadow I’m not even sure is still alive. I don’t even know if he’s breathing, if his heart still beats, or if he has finally given in to death’s call. My chest tightens every time I imagine it. He deserves better than this. If he has fallen, I should be there to lay him to rest properly, to honor him as a son should.