Darkness took me the moment I saw him. My legs gave out. My vision blurred. The last thing I saw before everything faded was the silver flame in his eyes, Seven, and then… nothing.And then warmth. That was the first thing I felt.Not the biting cold of the forest, or the damp chill of night, but a slow, steady warmth that wrapped around me like a cocoon. I shifted, confused by the softness beneath meth, e velvet-like bed, the silk brushing against my arm.And then the scent, it hit me. Lavender. Oak. Something faintly metallic.It was familiar, too familiar.My eyes shot open. The room was dim, the windows covered by long, heavy curtains that danced in a soft breeze. A candle flickered beside the bed. The walls are stone, regal, and carved with intricate patterns. And the ceiling…My breath caught.I knew this place. I had been here before. Lived here for weeks and months, disguised behind someone else’s name. Someone else’s face. This was the castle where I had pretended to be Sabrin
I don’t remember when Amber slowed down.Only that, when I opened my eyes again, we were no longer crashing through the endless forest. The air was calmer, the scent of rot and blood faded into earth and pine.We’d stopped.I blinked, disoriented, my body sore and stiff. We were tucked between a jagged outcropping of stone and the thick roots of an ancient tree, a natural hollow, hidden from all sides unless you were practically standing on top of it. The brush above masked the space like a cocoon.A safe zone.Amber had shifted back, crouched nearby, her chest rising and falling in uneven bursts. She was breathing hard, drenched in sweat and rain, but she was watching the trees like a soldier on her last thread of strength. She heard me stir and turned her head. Her eyes softened when she saw I was awake.“We’re stopping here. Just for a bit,” she said, voice hoarse.I tried to sit up, groaning as my body protested. “Where... are we?”“Still deep in the forest,” she replied, handing
The rain didn’t let up. It fell in heavy sheets, soaking the forest in silence and steam. We followed the trail from the map for hours, pushing through underbrush and ducking under fallen trees, our legs aching, our bodies barely holding on.But we didn’t stop.We couldn’t.Amber glanced back every now and then, her hand never straying far from the blade strapped to her thigh. I didn’t need to ask. I felt it too. That pull. That invisible thread tugging at my spine, warning me that something was wrong. Again.By midday, we stopped near a thicket to catch our breath, our clothes clinging to our skin, breaths misting in the cold air.That’s when Amber stiffened.She didn’t say a word. She just turned slowly toward the northeast, toward the path behind us. I followed her gaze.Nothing. Just trees and fog. And then I smelled it. Rot. Wet fur. Blood.My throat tightened.“No,” I whispered.“It’s them,” Amber said, her voice sharp with disbelief. “How? We’ve been running for days. We masked o
A soft hand shook my shoulder.“Kayah.” Amber’s voice was low, but urgent. “Wake up. They’re gone.”I blinked hard, my brain slow to catch up. The dampness of the soil, the cold seeping into my bones, the overwhelming stench, it all came rushing back.“Gone?” I croaked.Amber nodded. “They stayed a while. Sniffed around. I thought we were dead for sure. But they gave up. Probably confused by the rot or lost our scent.”She offered her hand. I took it, groaning as I pulled myself from the shallow grave.“We need to move,” she said. “Opposite direction. If they circle back, we can’t be here.”We didn’t waste time. We shifted, our tired bones snapping back into fur and muscle, and we ran. Slower than before, sore and sluggish, but we moved. The trees blurred past in streaks of green and brown, the world quieter now. Still dangerous. Still hunted. But quiet.After an hour or two, the forest thinned, and we found it, a river. The sound of rushing water was the sweetest thing I’d heard in
No man’s land stretched wide and endless before us, untamed forest, broken earth, and shadows that whispered of the past. It was wild, yes, but free.We moved cautiously for two days, always in silence. Always watching. No patrols. No signs of trackers. Just trees and wind and the echo of our own breath.And for a brief, foolish moment, I let myself believe we’d made it. That maybe Axel hadn’t noticed. That maybe, just maybe… he didn’t care. But that night shattered the illusion.We’d made a tiny camp, just enough to rest and eat. Amber built a small fire, careful to shield it with rocks and branches. It barely flickered, barely glowed. Still… it was too much.The growl ripped through the forest like thunder. Low. Deep. Wrong. My blood turned to ice. Amber froze mid-bite. Her eyes met mine. We knew that sound.Ferals.Not rogue. Not Alpha.Ferals.An abomination of wolf and rage and madness. Creatures so far gone even the moon goddess had turned her back on them. Axel’s personal dogs.
I didn’t take clothes. Just stuffed everything into a plain black backpack. Something I could throw over my shoulder and run with. Clothes didn’t matter. Freedom did.I hid the bag in a loose panel behind the dresser in my room, then cleaned everything. Every step. Every breath. Every fingerprint.By the time night fell, I almost let myself believe this might work.Until I heard the door. I froze.The scent hit first, his scent. Axel. No. No no no..He wasn’t supposed to be here. Not yet. Not tonight. I shoved the panel back into place, threw myself onto the bed, and forced my body to go limp just as the door opened. He stepped in slowly, the weight of exhaustion dragging at his frame. His shirt was dirty, blood-streaked. His hair matted from sweat. He looked like he’d been through hell. But all I felt was fear.He looked at me.I smiled. Soft. Tender. Practiced.“You’re back,” I said gently, rising to my feet. “I was worried.”His eyes softened just a little. “You stayed up?”“I always