Chapter four

Chapter Four.

AINA

(Werewolf Realm) 

May 1st 2026.

It wasn't just a headache. It was a full scale invasion of my skull. It was a jagged, pulsing agony that felt like someone was trying to pry my brain apart with a rusted screwdriver. I groaned, attempting to bolt upright, but my cousin whirled into a sickening kaleidoscope of grey and black. I collapsed back onto the furs, a pathetic sound escaping my throat.

"Shhhh, you'll be fine," a gentle voice murmured.

Cool, thin fingers began to rub my temples, moving in slow, rhythmic circles. The relief was almost instantaneous. I let out a long, shuddering sigh, my muscles finally unclumping. "Thank you," I rasped.

"No problem, dear."

I forced my eyes open. A middle aged woman with kind, weathered eyes and hair the color of woodsmoke was hovering over me. I sat up slowly, waiting for the room- or the forest or whatever this was to stop spinning.

"Where the hell am I?"

The woman's eyes widened, a flicker of pity crossing her face. "Child, you're in the forbidden forest. Have you forgotten?"

"Forbidden what?" I groaned, the name sounding like something out of a bedtime fantasy novel.

"You should rest. You went through a lot when the rogues attacked two nights ago," She placed a firm hand on my shoulder, gently guiding me back down. "Sleep more. I'll go prepare some broth for you."

She slipped away, but as soon as I closed my eyes, the darkness wasn't empty. It was a frantic, strobe light mess of images that felt like they were being branded onto the back of my eyelids.

Kill him.

Remember us.

Me and you...Kill him.

As the words burned deep into my head, a man's face flickered into view- white hair, black eyes and a scar that looked like a jagged lightning bolt.

Zephyr. 

The name tasted like copper in mouth. I gasped, bolting upright as if I'd been shocked by electricity.

"What the fuck was that?!"

*

Five hours later, we were moving again.

Apparently, we were a group of refugees- wolves without a wolf. 'Forgotten By The Moon Goddess' The others whispered. We were the runts, the rejects, the harmless creatures the world had decided to step on. I couldn't remember a single thing about my life, not my parents, not where I came from, who I am exactly, nothing. My mind felt like a hollowed out shell.

Turns out, the old woman who was nursing me earlier was the group's healer. She told me I'd been caught in an ambush two days ago while trying to save a kid. Which sounded crazy, because based on my internal monologue, I didn't feel like a 'save the children' type of person. I felt more like a 'leave me alone or I'll bite you' type.

"Are you alright?"

I jumped slightly, turning to see a young man with ginger hair and deep brown eyes watching me. I realized I'd stopped dead in the middle of the trail, and the rest of the ragtag group was pulling ahead.

"Yeah," I lied, adjusting the heavy strap of my bag. "Just tired."

"Shall I assist?" He reached for my pack.

"No," I pulled away, my voice sharper than I intended. "You have got enough of your own shit to carry."

He chuckled, though there was a sad edge to it. "Still rejecting me even at your worst, eh, Aina?"

Aina.

The name felt right, yet it carried a weight I couldn't explain. I shook my head and started walking again, putting distance between us. "Better be fast so the rogues don't skin you alive," 

"Don't worry," he laughed, following me. "I'll protect you if that happens."

"Protect yourself first."

I wished I could stop being such a dick to him because he seemed nice, but there was a buzzing under my skin, a feeling that something was fundamentally wrong. Every tree looked like a threat. Every shadow looked like it was waiting to swallow me.

After four exhausting hours of trekking through dense undergrowth of the forest, the Elder finally called a halt.

"We will rest here for the night," he announced.

A collective groan went up as people literally dropped where they stood. I dropped my bag near a mossy log, my bladder feeling like it was about to explode.

"I need to pee," I announced.

"Shall I follow you?" An elderly man asked, leaning on a walking stick. He looked like he'd been through a war. "Don't look at me weirdly, child. It's late and you saved my grandkid. I'd hate for a stray cat to get you."

"Don't worry, sir. I'll be fine." I said, giving him a tight forced smile.

"Be back early or I'll send a search party." the Elder warned. I nodded and ducked into the forest.

I found a secluded tree a good distance from the camp. But just as I was about to drop my guard, a distant, low snarl ripped through the silence. My blood turned to ice.

Two wolves- massive, mangy, and smelling of rot, stepped out from the bush. Their eyes were bloodshot and hungry as they stared at me. I didn't think before I started running, I scrambled back toward the camp, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs.

But as I burst through the clearing, my breathing stopped.

The camp was gone. In its place was a slaughterhouse. The people I'd been walking with for hours- the healer, the old man, the children, the ginger haired boy from earlier were scattered across the dirt like broken dolls. Standing over their dismembered bodies were five huge wolves, their muzzles dropping with fresh, hot crimson blood.

"This one looks tasty," one wolf snarled, his voice a distorted, wet growl.

"She doesn't look from here," another answered, padding toward me. "However, we feast on her heart."

My knees gave out. I hit the dirt, my vision blurring with tears of pure unadulterated terror as I overheard the other two wolves running towards me from behind. I covered my head with my arms, curling into a ball, waiting for the teeth to sink in.

Just be fast and quick.

Please.

Just as the snarls grew louder, they suddenly stopped.

A heavy, unnatural silence fell over the woods followed by a silver thick fog that rolled in out of nowhere, swallowing the trees and the bodies. I looked up through my fingers.

From the heart of the mist, a figure emerged. He walked with a terrifying, predator-like calm, his silhouette tall and imposing. The wolves, who only seconds ago were ready to tear me apart, scrambled back. They weren't just surprised, they were terrified. They bristled, their tails tucking between their legs as the air grew freezing cold.

"Kill him!" The largest wolf roared, as if trying to break the spell of fear.

All seven lunged at once, jumping over me as they hurtled towards the man in the mist. The man didn't flinch, instead a blade appeared in his hand, a silver flash that moved faster than the eye could follow. Two wolves were gutted even before they landed. Then, with a roar that shook the very earth making me whimper as I held onto the ground, he launched himself into the air. Mid-flight his skin tore and reshaped, his bones snapping into place as a massive, obsidian black wolf slammed into the remaining pack tearing them bits by bits.

My eyes widened in terror as I watched him dismember the rogues, ripping their throat outs with his teeth until the dirt was more red than brown. The black wolf turned towards me, snarling deeply. 

Move!

Move!

I wanted to get up, scream, run away, anything! But I couldn't. I stayed, frozen to the ground with my eyes wide and body trembling.

Slowly the wolf shifted, rising as a man, naked and lethal in the silver light. He was tall, with a sculpted body that had ancient silver tattoos that gleamed under the moonlight, his hair was long, wild and raven dark.

He stepped closer towards me, knelt down, his hand reaching to cup my jaw. The moment his skin touched mine, my head exploded with fractured images.

Him holding me in his arms in a garden.

Me...with him...smiling...sitting together on a throne.

And then...a wall of fire, him standing over me, watching me as I burned to death with cold, indifferent eyes.

Kill him.   

The voice hissed in my mind.

Kill him before he kills you again.

"H-harrow..." I whispered, the name twisting a sharp, inexplicable pain through my chest that I couldn't understand.

The world suddenly tilted and I fell forward into his arms, the darkness claiming me before I could see the expression on his face.

As the darkness closed in, the voice ran deeper in my head.

Kill Harrow.