CHAPTER 2 — The Night the Forest Answered
Mason bolted upright before the echo of the gunshots faded.
His wife, Emily, grabbed his arm.
"That was Titan!"
Mason didn't answer.
He was already pulling on his boots.
Outside, panic spread across the ranch.
The cattle stampeded through the fields.
Horses kicked against their stalls.
Dogs hid beneath porches, whimpering.
Only Titan was missing.
Mason jumped into his truck and raced toward the north pasture.
The headlights sliced through the darkness.
Then...
His heart nearly stopped.
Blood.
Fresh blood stained the grass.
Huge paw prints circled the clearing.
There were empty rifle cartridges everywhere.
But no body.
No Titan.
Only drag marks leading toward the mountains.
Emily gasped.
"They took him..."
Mason dropped to one knee and touched the blood.
Still warm.
He whispered,
"Hold on, boy."
Less than a mile away...
Victor Hale laughed around a campfire.
One of the hunters held up a torn piece of Titan's thick fur.
"Told you he wasn't invincible."
Another hunter shook his head nervously.
"We shot him three times."
Victor smirked.
"Then he's dead."
"No animal survives that."
But the oldest hunter stared into the forest.
"I've hunted forty years."
"I've never seen a wounded animal..."
"...leave no body."
Victor rolled his eyes.
"You're scared of a dog?"
The old hunter didn't answer.
Instead...
He quietly loaded another magazine.
At dawn...
The ranch looked like a battlefield.
Several calves had vanished.
Fence posts lay snapped in half.
But something else caught Mason's attention.
Tracks.
Hundreds of them.
Not cattle.
Not horses.
Large canine prints.
Everywhere.
Emily counted silently.
"There are too many..."
The local sheriff arrived.
He examined the ground for several minutes.
Then slowly stood.
"I don't understand."
"What?"
"These aren't from one animal."
Mason frowned.
"How many?"
The sheriff swallowed hard.
"At least..."
"...thirty."
Thirty wolves?
Impossible.
There hadn't been a pack that large in Montana for over a century.
Yet every track pointed toward one place.
The Black Ridge Forest.
The place locals refused to enter after sunset.
That evening...
Victor decided to finish what he started.
"If the dog's alive..."
"We kill him tonight."
The hunters reluctantly followed.
Deep inside Black Ridge...
The forest became unnaturally quiet.
No birds.
No insects.
No wind.
Only silence.
Then...
One hunter froze.
"Did you hear that?"
A twig snapped.
Another behind them.
Then another.
Then another.
From every direction.
Victor raised his flashlight.
Nothing.
Only trees.
Then...
Hundreds of golden eyes slowly appeared between the trunks.
Watching.
Waiting.
The hunters lifted their rifles.
But no one fired.
Because standing at the very front...
Scarred.
Bleeding.
Yet somehow still standing...
...was Titan.
He wasn't alone anymore.
Behind him stood the largest wolf pack anyone had ever seen.
And every single wolf...
...waited for Titan's command.
Victor suddenly realized something horrifying.
They hadn't killed the guardian.
They had awakened...
May you like
...the king.
END OF CHAPTER 2
