Chapter 112 Talia’s test 1

Chapter 112: Chapter 112 Talia’s test 1

Talia’s POV

The rogue’s claws were inches from my face.

I threw myself to the ground, and I rolled to the side just as his claws sliced through the air where my throat had been. Dirt kicked up around me, and I scrambled backward on my hands and knees, with my heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.

The rogue snarled and turned to face me again.

He was faster than I expected. His eyes were black with hunger, and his teeth were yellow and sharp, and he looked at me like I was meat, not a person or a wolf.

The other rogues were still circling the wounded wolves, but this one wanted me. He had chosen me, and he was not going to let me go.

I pushed myself to my feet.

My hands were shaking. My breath was shallow, and every part of my body was screaming at me to run, to hide, and to do anything but stand here and fight.

But I could not run.

There was a young wolf on the ground behind me. A boy with a twisted leg and blood pooling beneath him. He was watching me with wide, terrified eyes.

I knew that if I ran, he would die.

So I raised my fists.

The rogue laughed. His laugh was rough and broken, like he had not used it in years.

"A little girl," he said. "The Alpha sends a little girl to fight us."

I did not answer.

I remembered Kaelen’s voice in my ear from our training sessions. "Do not talk. Do not threaten. Just move."

The rogue lunged again, but this time I was ready.

He came at me with his claws wide, aiming for my throat. I stepped back just in time, and his claws whistled past my ear. My heart slammed against my ribs, and my wolf growled inside my chest.

"Move left," my wolf said. Her voice was sharp and urgent. "He is slower on his right side, and you would get an opening to hit."

I did not think for a second, I just moved.

The rogue swung again, and I ducked left. His claws scraped against a tree trunk behind me, and splinters of bark flew through the air. He grunted in frustration, and I saw the opening my wolf had promised me.

"Now," my wolf said. "Hit him now."

I ducked under his swing, and I drove my fist into his ribs. Something cracked beneath my knuckles, and the rogue stumbled back with his eyes wide and his mouth open in surprise.

He had not expected me to fight back, but I did not give him time to recover.

I kicked his knee with every ounce of strength and rage within me, and his leg buckled beneath him. He fell to the ground with a grunt, and I kicked his face.

Instantly, his head snapped to the side, his body went limp, and he stopped moving.

The forest immediately went silent.

I stood over him, breathing hard, with my knuckles bloody and my heart still pounding. Blood dripped from my split knuckles onto the dirt, and my whole arm trembled from the force of the punch.

I stood in shock, as I realized that I had killed him.

I had actually killed him.

My hands were shaking non stop. Not from fear, but from the weight of what I had just done.

A life was gone, because of me.

I pushed the thought away, because there was no time for guilt, and no time for regret. Only survival, only Finn, and only getting out alive.

My wolf stirred inside my chest, but she was not growling anymore. She was silent, and her silence was worse than any sound she could have made.

"I know," I thought at her. "I know I just killed someone."

She did not answer. She just pressed against my ribs, warm and steady, and I felt her approval washing through me. He would have killed us, she seemed to say. You did what you had to do.

I looked down at the rogue’s body. His eyes were still open, black and empty, staring at nothing. Blood pooled beneath his head, dark and thick, and the smell of it made my stomach turn.

I had never killed anyone before.

I thought I would feel different. Guilty, maybe. Or sick. Or something other than this cold, hollow calm that had settled into my bones.

But I did not have time to think about what I felt.

Because the other rogues were staring at me now. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

I raised my head, and saw that the other rogues had stopped circling the wounded wolves. They were all staring at me now, and their black eyes were no longer hungry. They were shocked.

One of them took a step back.

I did not wait to see what they would do next, as I picked up my pace, and I ran to the young wolf.

His name was Finn. I had heard one of the wounded wolves call him that before I started fighting with the rogue I had just killed.

I dropped to my knees beside him, and I grabbed his hand. His fingers were cold, and his face was pale, and his leg was twisted at an angle that made my stomach turn.

"Finn," I said. "I need you to look at me."

His eyes found mine. They were full of tears and fear, but he was awake, and he was breathing, and that was enough.