Chapter 167- When the Trap Snaps Shut

Lexy

When the first pale threads of dawn touched the sky, I heard it — the deep, steady blast of a horn in the distance.

Three notes.

CJ’s lips curved in a rare, fierce smile. “Reinforcements.”

Relief ran through me, but I didn’t let it show. “Hold until they join the line,” I ordered.

Within minutes, warriors spilled down the northern slope, forming an unbroken wall behind Adrian’s position. The last escape route was gone.

And for the first time, I saw real movement in the tree line — urgent, unsettled. They knew dawn had trapped them.

I stepped forward, just far enough for my voice to carry. “Adrian, this is your last chance. Lay down your weapons.”

For a moment, there was only stillness. Then he stepped into view — tall, defiant, eyes sharp as knives.

“Then come take me,” he said.

I tightened my grip on my sword, every warrior around me ready.

“Gladly,” I answered.

The line moved as one, and the hunt began.

The moment the line surged forward, the air shattered with the clash of steel and the growl of warriors.

My boots pounded the frozen earth as I kept my eyes locked on Adrian. He didn’t move at first — just stood there, waiting for me to close the distance, that same maddening confidence etched into his face. It was bait. I knew it, and I lunged anyway.

The first wave of my warriors collided with his men in a crash of weapons and snarls. The scent of blood hit almost immediately — copper and iron mixing with the faint sting of the smoke they’d set earlier in the night.

CJ was at my side, cutting down one of Adrian’s fighters with a clean, brutal swing of his sword. “Keep pushing!” he barked to the line.

Adrian stepped back, drawing me deeper into the fight, forcing me to weave through his men. I struck one down, then another, each step closing the gap between us. He was quick, his movements deliberate, as if every retreat was calculated to lure me somewhere.

“Don’t let him separate you!” CJ shouted, but I was already moving faster, my wolf’s energy flooding my limbs.

Adrian’s gaze met mine, and for a heartbeat, the chaos around us faded. His smirk widened — infuriating, smug — then he spun away, striking down one of my warriors who’d come too close.

“Block the west side!” I called, sensing his shift.

We moved like a wall, pressing them back toward the marsh. His men fought like cornered animals, desperation in every swing. That was fine. Desperation made mistakes.

Steel rang against steel as I met one of his lieutenants head-on, parrying a strike meant to gut me. My counter cut across his chest, sending him stumbling back into two of my warriors, who finished him off without hesitation.

Adrian was retreating toward the tree line now, his remaining fighters clustering around him. I could smell his sweat, hear the measured rhythm of his breathing even over the battle. He was holding something back — waiting for something.

“Don’t let him reach the cover!” I shouted, surging forward. CJ matched my pace, the two of us breaking through their thinning defense.

For a moment, I thought we had him. The net had tightened, the circle closing. Reinforcements from the northern slope were already pushing into the fray, cutting down the last men guarding his back.

Adrian glanced over his shoulder at the ridge, then back at me. “Almost impressive,” he said under his breath, though I still caught it.

“Almost?” I hissed.

His smirk returned. “You’ll see.”

Before I could press him, a sound split through the morning — a deep, rolling horn blasted from the western forest.

Not ours.

CJ stiffened beside me. “That’s not—”

The undergrowth on the far side of the marsh exploded with movement. Dozens of figures emerged, their armor catching the rising sun, their banners snapping in the wind.

Kael.

I recognized him instantly — tall, broad, with that wolfish grin he wore like armor. His presence was a punch to the gut. We had closed every path, every escape route — except the one I hadn’t expected reinforcements to come from.

Kael’s forces swept into the battlefield like a second tide, slamming into my warriors’ flank before they could fully turn to face the threat.

“Hold the line!” I shouted, but the formation was already buckling. Warriors who’d been pressing forward to crush Adrian now found themselves pivoting hard to defend against Kael’s sudden assault.

Adrian’s smirk deepened. “Told you you’d see.”

“Stay on him!” CJ yelled, but Adrian was already moving — not running blindly but threading his way through the chaos toward the gap Kael had torn open.

I cut down a fighter trying to block me, my eyes never leaving Adrian. Every instinct screamed to follow, to end it here, but Kael’s men were spilling into the center, and my warriors were scattering to meet them.

One of Kael’s soldiers lunged at me — fast, well-trained. I parried, twisted, and dropped him with a strike to the side. Another came immediately after. My sword arm burned with the effort, but I didn’t slow.

CJ’s voice cut through the noise. “Lexy! They’ll link up if we don’t split them!”

He was right. If Adrian reached Kael’s line, they’d be twice as dangerous — organized instead of desperate.

“Push the center!” I called, shoving forward with the warriors nearest me. We drove into the gap, trying to wedge ourselves between Adrian and Kael. For a moment, it worked — Kael’s forces met our resistance with a jarring clash, the two sides grinding against each other.

Then Adrian’s voice rose above it all. “Break left!”

Like water finding a crack, his men shifted, flowing toward a thinner part of my defense. Kael’s warriors surged to meet them, creating a shielded corridor through the chaos.

“No—!” I lunged after him, cutting down another enemy in my path, but I was too far. Adrian slipped through, Kael’s soldiers closing ranks behind him.

By the time I broke free, he was standing beside Kael, both of them framed against the morning sun. Kael’s grin widened when he spotted me.

“Nice trap,” he called across the battlefield, his voice carrying over the noise. “Shame about the hole in the side.”

I took a step forward, rage coiling tight in my chest. “You won’t leave this field alive.”

Kael laughed. “We’ll see about that.”

Adrian didn’t laugh — but his eyes told me everything. He had been waiting for this. Every step, every retreat through the night had been measured to lead to this exact moment.

Around us, the battle raged on. My warriors fought fiercely, refusing to give ground, but with Kael’s sudden arrival, the fight had shifted. What had been a cornered predator was now a coordinated pack.

CJ joined me, blood streaking his cheek, his spear tip dripping red. “We can still take them,” he said, but his tone told me he knew how much harder it had just become.

I forced my breathing to steady. “Then we don’t stop until we do.”

Kael gave Adrian a nod, and together they began pulling their forces into a tighter, more defensible formation. The marsh at their back, the forest at their side — they were securing their own choke point now.

The trap had reversed.

But dawn wasn’t done yet, and neither was I.