Chapter 407: Fangs of the Inevitable

Orion didn’t hesitate.

He gave a single sharp nod, jaw set, eyes burning with restrained urgency. "I know, shorty."

Sophia paused and gave him a look. "What?"

"I’ll explain later," he told her.

Sophia looked around and noticed it was just the both of them there.

"Where’s everyone?" she asked him.

"I instructed them to move ahead of us," he told her.

Sophia blinked at him. "Really?" she asked, eyes wide in shock.

"Yes, shorty, and before you ask me more questions, we need to move," he told her.

Sophia nodded once just as Orion extended his hand.

She took it, fingers curling tightly around his as he pulled her upright. The world tilted briefly. Her vision swayed, and her knees threatened to betray her.

She wobbled, but Orion caught her instantly, steady hands anchoring her at the waist. "Easy," he murmured. His gaze sharpened. "Are you sure you can continue?"

She sucked in a breath, forcing the lingering dizziness back into submission. "I’m not stopping," she said firmly. "Not until I know Ronan and the others are safe."

Something fierce flickered through his eyes — pride tangled with worry.

Orion was quiet and just studied her face, her eyes filled with determination. Then he closed the distance between them and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Alright," he told her as he put a little distance between them.

His body shifted fluidly — bones folding, muscles reshaping — silver-black fur surging where skin had been seconds before.

Noctis stood where Orion had been.

Power coiled beneath the wolf’s massive frame, sunlight catching faintly on the crescent marking etched on his head.

Sophia mounted him in one smooth motion.

Noctis launched forward like a released arrow.

The forest became chaos.

Trees blurred into streaks of shadow and frost. Branches whipped past in violent flashes. Snow exploded beneath pounding paws. The wind tore tears from Sophia’s eyes as speed swallowed everything else.

Her fingers sank deep into Noctis’s thick fur, anchoring herself against the brutal acceleration.

Faster.

Still faster.

Her heart hammered painfully against her ribs.

She prayed to the Moon Goddess that what she saw wasn’t real. That what she saw wouldn’t happen. That Ronan would be safe. Sam would be safe, and everyone else who had gone into the forest who belonged to the Nightshade Pack.

Noctis angled sharply, muscles tightening beneath her grip as his senses locked onto something ahead.

Just one more step and they reached the clearing, but what hit them first, blocking their path, was a Trihydra. It wasn’t the same size as the one that had gone after Sophia when she was in the cave. This one was different — it was an adult.

It hissed loudly, and Noctis’s ears twitched in irritation.

Sounds of a fight echoed in the clearing while the Trihydra blocked the path to reach the others.

Its massive body coiled at the entrance, three enormous heads weaving independently, fangs dripping venom that hissed where it struck the snow. Each head moved with predatory intelligence, striking at anything that came too close.

Sophia swallowed. She was nervous, but she wouldn’t let that stop her from protecting the people she cared about.

Noctis didn’t slow either.

He surged straight toward it.

Sophia drew both shortswords in one fluid motion.

The moment stretched thin.

Then she jumped.

Her body launched forward off Noctis’s back, air screaming past her ears as she twisted mid-flight and slammed onto the nearest head. Her blades bit deep into thick scales, embedding into muscle and tendon.

The head reared violently, shrieking in pain.

Sophia clung tightly, boots skidding against slick scales as the creature thrashed.

She held it, though, forcing its attention on her.

The second head lunged toward Noctis, but that was a miscalculation. Noctis leapt in one swift motion.

His massive jaws clamped around the creature’s neck with crushing force. Muscles bunched violently as he twisted his entire weight into the motion as the bone of the Trihydra made a cracking sound. His fangs tore into the flesh of the Trihydra and ripped the head free in a violent spray of dark blood and shattered scale.

The Trihydra screamed — a monstrous sound that shook the clearing.

The third head reared back to strike—

Noctis shifted mid-motion, Orion surging forward in a blur of steel and momentum. His sword drove cleanly through the skull of the third head, piercing scale and bone with brutal precision.

The head fell instantly to the floor in a heap.

But the first head — the one Sophia was latched onto — went berserk.

It thrashed violently, twisting its massive neck in a desperate attempt to dislodge her. Venom sprayed wildly into the snow. Its body slammed against the frozen ground with earth-shaking force.

Sophia’s grip slipped.

Her boots lost traction.

Her blades tore free as the creature bucked violently, and her body pitched backward.

For a terrifying heartbeat, she was weightless as she fell from the Trihydra. Her heart rate increased in fear — but then, Orion caught her.

Orion caught her.

His arm locked around her waist mid-fall, his other hand bracing her shoulder as he twisted with her momentum instead of fighting it, redirecting her falling force into controlled rotation.

"Now," he snapped.

Sophia didn’t hesitate.

Using the spin Orion had given her, she drove both shortswords forward with everything she had — channeling her falling momentum straight into the strike.

Her swords punched through the final head.

The blades sank deep into its skull.

The head convulsed violently once, jaws snapping uselessly — then went limp.

The Trihydra collapsed.

Its massive body crashed into the snow in a thunderous heap, blood steaming against the frozen ground.

Silence hit for half a breath.

Then the battlefield surged back into chaos.

Orion released Sophia as he shifted again. Sophia barely had time to remount before the wolf was already moving again, muscles coiling and releasing like a living weapon.

Her heart was still pounding violently.

Her hands trembled slightly around her blades.

They charged forward toward the next cluster of movement — shadows colliding near the edge of the clearing — just as a cloaked figure approached them.