Updated Jan 5, 2026 • ~8 min read
POV: Fen
Rage wasn’t strong enough a word for what I felt when I found the wolves who’d poisoned Rory.
Three of them. Pack members—Zora’s enforcers, judging by the rank scent. Young wolves. Arrogant. Thought they were clever. Thought poisoning her would look like an accident. A tragic death of the half-breed abomination before she could corrupt more rogues.
They were wrong.
I’d left Rory sleeping at the cabin. Two days since the poisoning. She was healing—my blood had neutralized the worst of the toxins—but still weak. Vulnerable. And every second she’d spent fighting for her life had carved something dark and furious deeper into my chest.
Someone had tried to murder my mate.
That was unforgivable. Irredeemable. A death sentence by every law that governed wolf kind—pack or rogue.
I tracked them to an abandoned warehouse on the edge of pack territory. Stupid. They should have run farther. Should have crossed state lines. Left the country.
But arrogance made wolves sloppy. They thought I wouldn’t find them. Thought the pack would protect them. Thought attempting to kill a half-breed rogue’s mate would be celebrated rather than punished.
They didn’t understand what three hundred years of survival had taught me.
I didn’t need pack law to deliver justice. I was the law in Darkwood. And they’d violated it.
The warehouse reeked of fear-sweat and bravado. I could hear them inside—talking. Laughing. Congratulating themselves on a job well done.
“The abomination should be dead by now,” one said. Male. Young. Probably hadn’t seen his first decade as a wolf.
“Zora will reward us,” another agreed. Female. Slightly older but just as stupid. “Eliminating the half-breed before she breaks the curse. Before she gives rogues hope.”
“Did you see how much wolfsbane we used?” The third voice. Male. Nervous. “That’s enough to kill an alpha. No way she survives.”
She had survived. Because I’d fed her my blood. Because the mate bond had amplified the healing. Because I’d sat beside her for two days feeding her my immortal vitality and refusing to let her die.
But they didn’t know that. Didn’t know they’d failed.
I stepped through the warehouse door. Didn’t bother with stealth or surprise. Just walked in. Let them see me.
All three froze.
“Fenrir,” the young male said. Tried for confidence. Failed. “You’re trespassing on pack territory.”
“You’re breathing my air. I’d say we’re even.” I let my eyes shift. Amber. Wolf. Barely controlled. “But we both know I’m not here about territory.”
The female moved. Tried to flank me. “We were following orders. Pack law—”
“Pack law doesn’t authorize murdering mates. Doesn’t condone cowardly poisoning. You acted on your own. Probably without Zora’s knowledge. Definitely without her permission.”
They exchanged glances. Guilty. Terrified.
“She was an abomination,” the nervous one said. “Half-breed. Forbidden bloodline. Shouldn’t exist—”
“She’s my mate. My fated mate. You tried to kill her.” I shifted. Partially. Claws extending. Muscles bulking. The wolf rising to the surface. “That’s a death sentence. And I’m here to execute it.”
“We’re pack wolves,” the young male snarled. “Killing us will start a war—”
“There’s already a war. You started it when you poisoned her. Now I’m ending it.”
They shifted. All three. Coordinated. Trained.
It didn’t matter.
I’d been killing for three hundred years. They’d been alive for maybe thirty combined.
The young male lunged first. Fast. Strong. Good form.
I caught him mid-leap. Slammed him into the concrete floor hard enough to crack ribs. Heard the snap. Smelled blood.
The female came from behind. Teeth aiming for my throat. Classic pack attack pattern.
I spun. Caught her by the scruff. Threw her into a support beam. Metal crunched. She yelped. Tried to scramble up.
I didn’t give her the chance.
The nervous one ran. Tried to escape through a window.
I was faster. Caught him before he cleared the frame. Dragged him back. Threw him with the others.
“You poisoned my mate,” I said. Voice barely human. The wolf fully in control now. “Watched her collapse. Watched her suffer. Thought you’d killed her.”
“We were protecting the pack—” the female gasped.
“You were murdering an innocent woman because you’re too weak to accept change. Too frightened to imagine a world where rogues and pack wolves aren’t enemies.”
“She’s corrupting you,” the young male spat blood. “Making you weak. Making you think you can challenge pack law—”
I grabbed his throat. Lifted him off the ground. “She’s making me remember what it feels like to have something worth protecting. Something worth living for. And you tried to take that from me.”
His eyes widened. Realized I wasn’t bluffing. Wasn’t making threats.
I was delivering judgment.
“Three hundred years,” I said quietly. “I’ve been cursed for three hundred years. Alone. Isolated. Watching wolves live and love and die while I stayed frozen. Unchanging. And finally—finally—I have a chance at freedom. At happiness. At breaking this gods-damned curse.”
I squeezed. Felt his windpipe collapse. Watched the light start to fade from his eyes.
“You tried to take that from me. Tried to kill the one person in three centuries who matters. The one person who can save me.”
I dropped him. Let him gasp. Suffer.
Then I killed him anyway. Quick. Brutal. Snapped his neck.
The female screamed. Tried to run.
I was on her in seconds. She fought. Clawed. Bit. Drew blood.
It didn’t slow me down.
When she stopped moving, I turned to the last one. The nervous male. The one who’d questioned using so much wolfsbane.
He was crying. Shifted back to human. Hands raised.
“Please. Please I didn’t want to do it. They forced me. Said if I didn’t help they’d report me as a sympathizer—”
“Did you put the poison in the tea?”
“Yes but—”
“Did you package it? Send it to her?”
“Yes but I swear I didn’t want—”
“Your intentions don’t matter. Your regret doesn’t matter. You participated. You helped. You’re just as guilty as them.”
“I’m sorry—”
“Tell the Moon Goddess. Maybe she’ll forgive you.”
I killed him too. Faster than the others. Because despite everything, he had hesitated. Had questioned.
It was more mercy than they’d shown Rory.
When it was done, I stood among the bodies. Covered in their blood. Three pack wolves dead. By my hand. My choice.
No remorse. No guilt. Just grim satisfaction that the immediate threat was eliminated.
And cold certainty that there would be more. The pack wouldn’t stop. Zora wouldn’t stop. They’d keep coming. Keep trying to kill Rory.
Which meant I’d keep killing them. Until they learned. Until they understood that threatening my mate was suicide.
I shifted back to human. Found my clothes where I’d left them outside. Dressed. Walked back through the forest toward the cabin.
Toward Rory.
The bond pulsed. She was awake. Confused. Looking for me.
On my way, I sent through the connection. You’re safe.
Relief flooded back. She’d been worried. Afraid I’d left her.
Never. I’d never leave her. Never let anything hurt her again.
Even if it meant becoming exactly what the pack had always said I was.
A monster. A killer. An abomination who solved problems with violence and blood.
But a monster who’d kept her alive. Who’d avenged the attack. Who’d make damn sure no one ever tried to poison her again.
When I reached the cabin, she was standing at the window. Saw me approach. Saw the blood still staining my hands despite trying to wash it off in the creek.
Her wolf eyes met mine. Understood immediately what I’d done. Where I’d been.
Approval rippled through the bond. Her wolf was satisfied. Pleased that threats had been eliminated. That her mate had protected her.
But her human side—I could see the question forming. The concern. The processing of what I was. What I’d become.
I stopped at the door. Didn’t enter. Gave her space to decide.
“You killed them,” she said. Not a question. A statement.
“Yes.”
“All of them?”
“All three.”
She absorbed that. Touched the mark on her neck—still healing but permanent. “Good.”
The word surprised me. I’d expected horror. Condemnation. Fear.
Instead, she approved. Her human side and her wolf finally agreeing on something.
“They tried to murder you,” I said. “Tried to take you from me. That’s unforgivable.”
“I know.” She stepped aside. Let me enter. “I know what you are, Fen. What you’re capable of. And right now—after what they did—I’m grateful for it. Grateful you’re dangerous. Grateful you protect me.”
I moved to her. Carefully. Still giving her space to refuse.
She didn’t refuse. Pulled me close. Ignored the blood. The violence. The evidence of what I’d done.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “For keeping me alive. For avenging this.”
“I’ll always avenge threats to you. Always eliminate danger. That’s what mates do.”
“I’m starting to understand that. Starting to accept what this life means. What being bonded to you means.”
She kissed me. Soft. Certain. Choosing me despite the violence. Despite the darkness.
And for the first time since the poisoning, the fury started to ease. Because she was alive. Safe. Healing.
And she was mine.
Monster or not, I’d kept her alive.
And I’d do it again. A thousand times. However many threats came.
Because losing her wasn’t an option. Would never be an option.
Even if it meant bathing in the blood of everyone who tried to take her from me.
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