Chapter 12: My Rival. Here's a Reward

  The lava field still hissed where Rassith had sunk, molten bubbles cracking the silence with faint pops. There were no roars, no shrieks, no clash of bone and horn.

  Only the rasp of Hirohowl's breathing, ragged but steady, as he bled.

  Idalia clung to his mane, her small frame and paws still trembling. She wanted to cheer, to roar, but her chest only quivered with aftershocks. The world hadn't caught up yet. She hadn't caught up yet.

  Hirohowl lowered himself onto his haunches, wincing as blood streaked his flank. His eyes burned, not with rage now, but with a kind of stunned disbelief.

  Idalia chose this moment to slide off of his back. Hirohowl at that moment turned his head slowly, meeting her wide stare.

  "…Idalia. How… how in the ashlands did you do that?"

  "Do what?"

  "That." His tail lashed once toward the lava pit where the Hollow Lord had vanished. "You bent the air, caught him in it, and—"

  He broke off, shaking his head. "Not wild, not scattered. Precise. You shaped it. Like a trap."

  Idalia shifted uneasily under his gaze. Her ears drooped. "I… don't know. I just… remembered the rocks. The rivers of lava. Where he was. Where you were. And then… I thought, if I open the way right there, he'll fall. So I did."

  Her words tumbled out as if she were explaining how she'd tripped while running, not how she'd felled an Alpha Phantom.

  Hirohowl stared at her. The heat shimmered between them, but his silence weighed heavier than the lava's breath. Finally, he let out a low, humorless huff.

  "I've never seen a Liorex do that. Not in all the battles I've fought, not even in the stories the elders roar." His mane bristled faintly. "We fight with instinct. With unity. We charge, we crash, we roar together. But you…" His eyes lidded slightly in suspicion, "…you fought like Alpha Pawail."

  Idalia's ears shot upright. "Grandpa?"

  Hirohowl's jaw clenched, frustration evident.

  "Yes. The Alpha. He alone can focus like that in the frenzy. He can see the battlefield, hold it in his mind, and move us all like claws of the same paw. That's what makes him Alpha. And yet—"

  His gaze sharpened, burning into her as if he could pierce her chest and see what stirred inside. "You are a kit. And you just did the same."

  Idalia shrank back, her tail curling around her paws. "I-I wasn't trying to be like Alpha Pawail. I was just… scared."

  "Exactly!" Hirohowl growled, though his eyes softened a heartbeat later. "Fear should scatter us. Break us. That's what the Phantoms are built on. But you… you turned it into focus. Into… something else."

  Idalia tilted her head, confused. "Isn't that what anyone would do?"

  Hirohowl barked a short laugh. "No, cub. Not anyone. Not any Liorex I've ever known. Except him and… mother."

  His voice sounded dark and ominous.

  Idalia dared to meet Hirohowl's gaze again. His eyes no longer looked at her as a reckless cub chasing after him. They looked at her as something she didn't yet understand. That frightened her more than the Hollow Lord ever had.

  Her fur prickled with the heat. Not because of the lava's warmth.

  But because Hirohowl's eyes never left her. They were sharp, too sharp, watching her like she was prey that had wandered into his hunting grounds.

  Idalia shifted her paws, ears twitching, folding back. She didn't understand. She was supposed to feel proud; she had helped, hadn't she?

  She had saved him. But the way his shoulders tensed, the way his mane bristled in uneven flickers of flame, made her stomach clench.

  He paced. Slowly, then faster, circling her in heavy steps.

  The basalt cracked under his claws, tail lashing with a rhythm that was too deliberate to be just pain. She followed him with her eyes, feeling smaller with every turn. His body moved like a warrior on the edge of challenge, every line tight with something she didn't have a word for.

  Why is he looking at me like that?

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Idalia lowered her head, confused, her paws curling against the stone. "H-Hirohowl? Did I… do something wrong?"

  He didn't answer. His jaw worked, teeth flashing in the glow, but no words came. Only the sound of his steps, the low growl of his breath. The way his gaze dragged over her, measuring her, not as an ally but as something else.

  A rival.

  The thought slipped unbidden into her mind, and she hated it. She wanted to shake it away, to laugh at herself, but her chest tightened. His stance, the way he stalked, the way he sized her. It was how warriors behaved before a duel.

  But why me? I don't want to fight him… I don't want to fight anyone.

  She took a small step back. His ears flicked, catching it, and for an instant his lips curled as though he had won some invisible exchange. The sight chilled her more than Rassith's roar.

  Then, just as suddenly, his eyes dropped to the ground. He muttered under his breath, words almost lost beneath the bubbling of lava.

  "…Bloombark promised… my path to Alpha…"

  Idalia's ears perked despite herself. She caught only fragments, but the meaning rattled in her chest. Ascension? Bloombark? That was Hirohowl's mother, wasn't it? Why was he speaking of her now, here, while circling her like a threat?

  She swallowed, unable to ask. Her tongue felt too heavy. She only stood, claws digging at the black stone, trying to steady herself as Hirohowl paced, as though she had become a wall in the way of something he had always believed was his.

  Weird. That was what she must be. Weird enough to unsettle him, weird enough that he looked at her not as a cub or a comrade, but as if she had stepped where she did not belong.

  The thought stung. It made her tail curl tight around her legs. She hadn't meant to be strange. She hadn't meant to be anything at all.

  Yet Hirohowl kept circling. And Idalia couldn't shake the feeling that in his eyes, she was no longer just Idalia. She was something dangerous.

  Her paws wouldn't stop shaking.

  Her eyes burned, and before she could stop it a small sniffle and a whimpering meow escaped her throat. Embarrassing.

  She bit down hard on her tongue, but it didn't silence the trembling that rolled through her chest.

  Hirohowl's steps echoed as he circled. Again. Again. Always watching, always measuring. The air felt tighter with every turn, like he was drawing an invisible line around her, closing her in.

  She hated it. Hated feeling small. Hated the way her tail wanted to curl under her belly, the way her body wanted to bolt for the caverns and hide beside Mama.

  But beneath the fear, something else stirred. Stubborn and unyielding. No. She would not cower. Not now. Not after facing the Hollow Lord!

  Her voice cracked as she forced it out, but she lifted her chin anyway.

  "I–I don't care what you think, Hirohowl!" She swallowed hard, chest trembling. "I know I'm weird. I know I'm not like the others. But I won't run from it!"

  His pacing slowed. The heat now shimmered intense between them, his eyes gleaming like fire through ash. Idalia's breath hitched, but she pushed on. "I'll stay true to my dream! I'll fight for it. I will become Alpha one day!" Her tail lashed once, fierce even as her legs quivered. "No matter how strange that seems to you! Or to anyone!"

  The words left her raw, shuddering. She half-expected him to laugh, to sneer, to crush her with a roar. But she didn't look away. She couldn't.

  Hirohowl froze, muscles taut, mane bristling with heat. His eyes flickered with something sharper, harder to name. Shock? Anger? Respect?

  Idalia's heart thundered so loud she thought it might burst. But she held his gaze, trembling, sniffling, refusing to fold. Even if he tore her apart with his claws, at least he would see her standing.

  Finally, he let out a low, harsh growl, but not one of challenge. It rumbled like stone shifting deep underground.

  He circled one last time, then stopped. His shoulders sagged slightly, just enough to show he wasn't about to strike.

  "You… You actually mean it. You're not bluffing, not even a little."

  Idalia swallowed, trying to steady her trembling limbs. She nodded faintly, unsure if her chin was high enough to show her determination, or if she only looked smaller in his gaze.

  He lowered his massive head until his muzzle was level with hers. His eyes softened just a fraction.

  "I'll keep watching you. Not as a predator, not as an enemy… but as a rival. And maybe… one day, as someone who proves me wrong."

  Idalia's heart skipped. "A rival?" she whispered.

  He bared his teeth in a faint, bloodied grin.

  "Yes. A rival. Don't think I'll let you surpass me without testing you first. That's how it works for those who aim for Alpha."

  "Then I'll be ready," she said, voice firmer despite the tremble. "I'll fight. I'll learn. And I will become your Alpha."

  "You just survived where most would have been eaten," Hirohowl continued, his tone grudging but steady. "The nerve!" He hummed afterward, tilting his head thoughtfully.

  "But you did it without screaming for someone to save you. Without falling apart. That… is worth noticing." Hirohowl's eyes lingered on her a long, tense moment longer. Then, with a final grunt, he pivoted and loped toward the edge of the lava field. "Stay put. I need to scout the place. Vanish if you need."

  Idalia watched him go, her tail curling around her paws. She was trembling still, but the fire inside her chest was stronger now. She could feel it; a spark of something bigger than fear. Something she could grow into.

  And she would.

  "Would? Or will?"

  Idalia jumped with a start. That voice did not belong to Hirohowl. She turned her head, searching for its owner, but found nothing. No one! Perhaps she had imagined it.

  "Hm. Probably. But you—your imagination is a wonderful thing."

  Idalia's fur bristled, and her ears stood up, swiveling. Just then, a baby fox, not much larger than herself, hovered toward her with the eeriness of an errant flame.

  "Easy. Easy. I am… an ally, Miss Idalia. Tell me, how much do you truly believe in your ambition?"

  Idalia fixed her gaze on the beast, scrutinizing it. White, fluffy, sleek. Too clean. And worst of all, the fox's sly smile… she didn't like it! She snarled, dropping to all fours.

  "I'll become Alpha! Who are you, and why are you asking such strange questions?"

  The silver-furred creature merely shrugged, floating closer, its eyes slightly lidded. Idalia didn't like its sharp focus; it almost bordered on smugness and felt condescending, as if she were beneath it! Like a speck of dirt. She growled at the insult.

  The fox leaned its head forward, unbothered.

  "Inquisitive. Good. Here, I have a reward."

  Idalia's ears perked up the moment she saw the fox wave its paw, materializing a large, juicy thigh on the ground. It sizzled with steam and was covered in golden-brown flakes, resembling a crinkled and craggy surface. She salivated as she stared at the leg.

  It smelled savory and alien. It confused and perplexed her in a wondrous way, but most importantly, she wondered why the meat had been heated.

  Thank you everyone for the favs, comments, ratings, and follow! ^_^

  Extra chapter today because we're heading into serious developments for Idalia :)