Chapter four: Mia and Axel

Mia's POV

The footsteps got louder. They were unmistakably human… and wolves.

"Shit," I whispered to myself, backing away slowly from the fire, my gaze locked in the direction of the noise.

How did they find me?

There was no time to think or even grab anything. The instant another footstep cracked through the damp brush, I turned and bolted.

“Hey!”

“Stop right there!”

“What the hell are you doing in our territory?!”

Oh no. I hadn’t realized they were this close. I ducked beneath a low branch and leapt over a broken log, but my right foot hit a sharp stone that sent me crashing hard into the ground. My palms scraped across bark and gravel. 

“Why… Why can’t I shift? Come on, shift into your wolf, goddamn it, Mia!” I sobbed, shaking as I looked down at my bleeding hands.

And then I understood.

My wolf was terrified. She was paralyzed somewhere deep inside me, buried under fear and exhaustion. I couldn’t reach her. My chest heaved. Territory. They said “our territory.” I’d heard that phrase before, from dangerous wolves who killed first and asked questions never.

Swallowing bile, I forced myself up. If I stayed here, I would die. Wolf or not, I had to move.

I sprinted into the trees, barefoot, half-numb, and bleeding. A mess. That was what I was… my whole life was. 

The leaves were slick with dew, and the ground felt like ice beneath my feet. But I didn’t care. My life was more important than pain. Damn! I had too many secrets I didn’t want buried with me.

Behind me, masculine voices pierced through the trees.

"Hey!"

"Just stop! Stop running!"

I would never stop running. Hell, I didn’t even glance back. From the way their footsteps closed in, I knew they were gaining fast which confirmed many of them were in wolf form. My thoughts scrambled for an escape route. Maybe they hadn’t seen my face. Maybe I could still disappear. Maybe…

A sharp branch tore across my cheek. I winced and stumbled. I was a hunter, and should know these woods better. But look at me spinning me in circles. My feet slammed into another cluster of rocks. I barely jumped in time, causing my knees to scream at the pressure. 

Still, I limped forward.

My body was shutting down. It was too cold, too hungry, and too human. I’d stayed in wolf form so long that now, in this fragile skin, I hardly knew how to survive. No, that was an understatement. The fact was… I wasn’t thinking like a person anymore. 

Shouts rang out again, closer than before.

"She can’t be far!"

"There’s blood… check the trees!"

I turned sharply. That tree again. I’d passed it earlier. Damn it. Taking a deep breath, I stopped… and saw what I had missed the first time. 

It was a massive tree with its branches hanging low, thick and wide. It was my only shot so I lunged, and grabbed the lowest branch with both hands. The bark dug deep into my raw skin. I hissed, but didn’t let go. With everything I had left, I pulled myself up. My bare feet slipped, leaving smears of blood on the bark, but I kept going branch after branch until I found one thick enough to crouch on.

I pressed myself into it, half-curled just to keep breathing. Below me, the footsteps slowed to a halt. They were here. Maybe fifty wolves… far too many for me to handle, even if I could shift.

"Wait... where the hell did they go?"

"This doesn’t make sense. The trail was fresh."

"Blood ends here."

I heard leaves crunching beneath boots. Someone stepped closer to the base of the tree. I clamped my hands over my mouth, breathing through my nose as quietly as I could.

"They were bleeding so there’s no way they got far. Maybe they climbed."

"Climbed? Who climbs trees when they’re bleeding?"

"A rogue would."

"They were living out here. There, under the trees. Even roasted a fucking deer... we saw! Ugh, the only deer in three fucking months. Whoever did that deserves death."

I hiccuped softly, praying they hadn’t heard me.

"Nah. Whoever did that is smart, dangerous, and definitely a rogue. Who the hell lives this deep off-grid and doesn’t get picked up by scent patrols?"

Scent patrols? I strained to listen.

"Frank went back to report. Said we should wait for reinforcements."

Reinforcements?!

“Fucking hell.” The other wolves muttered, definitely scanning the area with their sharp eyes. 

I exhaled quietly through my nose, gripping the branch tighter. My left knee throbbed, and the cut on my leg had reopened, dripping blood slowly down to my heel.

"Go back to the rogue’s camp. Tear it apart. If they’re still around, we’ll find something."

I heard branches snapping and objects being overturned. They were wrecking the spot I had spent weeks building. My pitiful home. My fire. My deer.

"Yo… who sleeps on moss and uses bark for bedding? This is some next-level rogue behavior."

"You think it’s male or female?”

Another grunt. "Doesn’t smell female. Too wild. Too rough."

"Check the waste pit. Maybe we’ll find something."

No.

Please, not the pit.

They moved deeper into my camp. I heard more rustling, laughing, and breaking.

"Wait a second…" a voice said, slower this time. “This is… a wrapper. For… female stuff.

Everything went still.

"You’re kidding."

"Nope. Look at that cloth over there. That’s not a guy’s setup."

"So it’s a woman?"

"Shit."

They knew.

"Frank’s gonna lose his mind. As for the Alpha… we are dead."

"Call for backup. Rogue female. Probably feral. Possibly injured." A man, probably higher in rank, ordered.

"Geez… I’ll alert the patrol leads. A male might last out here. But her?"

I pressed my forehead against the tree bark. They were wrong to assume I wouldn't last out here. They thought I was weak. But what they didn’t understand… was that I had already been through hell. And I was still here.

Still alive.

Still running.

And yet… as the pain spiked in my knee and the blood from my palms soaked into the branch beneath me, I felt my strength slipping. My arms gave the smallest shake.

This was it.

“It’s finished,” I whispered to myself. They would find me and tear me down until I had no one to call, nowhere left to go.

This was the end. I had fought so hard to keep my secrets buried. But now I’d be taking them with me to the grave. No one would ever know who I was. Why I had run or what I had seen.

The truth would die here, in this forest, with me.

Smiling bitterly, I closed my eyes and let myself fall.

______________________________________

Axel's POV

The forest was too quiet.

“Where’s the exact spot?” I growled through the mind link as I padded alongside Frank. We were all in wolf form, just in case this was a trap.

Frank’s head lowered. “Right here,” he said. “I caught the scent of deer and smoke… blood too.”

He was right.

We stepped into a clearing littered with strange signs of life. There was a makeshift firepit, moss flattened in the shape of a body, bark and stones arranged like bedding, and fresh blood… lots of it.

My wolf bristled. A rogue had been living here for a while.

“ARGHHHH!”

What the fuck? My legs moved before my mind did.

“Alpha, wait!” Frank called, but I ignored him. 

The moment I arrived, a feminine scent hit me… blood, pain, and fear. She was collapsed in the center of the clearing, clutching her leg. Her face was squeezed with pain, her body trembling like she was barely holding it together. Dirt streaked down her arms, blood smeared her temple, and tears clung to her cheeks. Her clothes were torn, her hair wild and tangled.

Damn… a lot was going on, but she was… my eyes widened.

... beautiful.

Despite the mess and the blood. But that wasn’t what shocked me the most. It was the way she looked up, like we were just vultures arriving too late.

I raised one hand, signaling for the others to fan out. They shifted immediately, scanning the perimeter while keeping a cautious distance.

Her leg bone was possibly fractured. There were older wounds on her body too—cuts, bruises, and a stitched-up gash near her ribs. I stepped closer, trying to make sense of it. Then it hit me.

She fell from the tree… and no one falls from a tree like that unless they’re running… or trying to end something.

My stomach turned. Was this a suicide attempt? 

Fucking hell.

What the hell had we walked into? Because something told me... this wasn't just any rogue.