Chapter 6

BRIE’S POV

I walked into the forest. My boots crunched over the dry leaves as I wandered deeper. My cloak clung to my shoulders, but I didn’t feel warm. My body was tired, yet restless. My soul was burning.

I’d walked for hours, maybe more. I wasn’t even sure where I was anymore.

When I came out from the trees, the land changed. The air grew heavy. The earth itself seemed wounded. The ground was cracked, gray, and lifeless.

The barren lands.

I froze at the edge of the territory. Every warrior knew this place was dangerous. No pack claimed it. It was too cursed, too wild. Only beasts and outlaws stayed here.

A small voice whispered in my head that I should turn back, but I straightened my spine.

“I’ve faced worse,” I muttered under my breath.

Even if I hadn’t trained in years, the steel in my veins was still mine. My body might not be at its peak, but the warrior in me hadn’t died. Alex hadn’t taken that.

I walked forward. Then, I heard a loud growl. My breath caught in my throat as a massive shadow came out from between the rocks. It was a bear. No… not just a bear. A feral, towering beast with fur matted from old scars and eyes glowing with madness. Its claws dug into the ground as it stepped into my path.

The hairs on my neck rose.

It snarled. My hand twitched toward a sword that wasn’t there. My heart pounded, but I didn’t move.

“Come on then,” I whispered, though my voice trembled.

The beast lunged halfway, roaring. My body reacted on instinct. I shifted my stance, ready to dodge—

But it stopped.

It shuddered. It let out a confused growl, stepping back. Its nostrils flared as if scenting something unseen. Its gaze locked on me again, but this time, it wasn’t rage I saw. It was fear.

My aura.

The realization sent chills down my spine. Despite years of being suppressed, broken down, manipulated… my true self was still there. And the beast recognized it. It backed away, growling low, and then retreated into the shadows.

I let out the breath I’d been holding and slumped against a rock. My body was  shaking.

“Still got it,” I whispered to myself,.

But then…

The dizziness hit.

It felt like a wave crashing through my skull. My chest tightened, my limbs trembled. The air seemed to warp around me. I knew what it was. The bond between Alex and I. since I rejected him, the bond was corrupted now. Every time I pushed myself, every time I tried to reclaim my strength, it struck.

I stumbled to a tree and slid down against it. My hands dug into the dirt. I tried to breathe through it, to fight it, but my body betrayed me.

“Not now… not now…” I whispered through gritted teeth.

But my vision spun, and the pain ripped through me until the only choice left was surrender. My eyes closed, and I drifted into darkness.

When I woke, the sunlight was weak. My body ached, but the worst of the dizziness had passed.

I forced myself up and staggered forward, deeper into the barren lands. It wasn’t long before I stumbled across something I never expected—

A village.

The village was hidden among the rocks. In it there were small houses made of clay and stone stood clustered together. Children played in the dirt. Women washed clothes at a well. Men carried baskets of wood. Their laughter, their chatter—it was like a spark of life in a place that should’ve been dead.

I stood there, stunned. These people… they didn’t look hardened or cruel. They looked like survivors. They looked….kind.  But then—screams split the air.

I turned my head toward the commotion.

Rogues. A group of warriors with cruel eyes stormed into the village, tearing down huts, dragging women by their hair, kicking men to the ground. The villagers were no match.

I froze.

It wasn’t my fight. I didn’t belong here. My body was weak. But as I watched a child scream while her mother was punched, something inside me snapped.

No. I couldn’t just stand there.

I ran towards them.

The rogues saw me before I reached them. One of them sneered. “Look what we’ve got here. Fresh meat.”

“Walk away,” I warned.

They laughed. And then they came at me.

The first swung his axe. He was sloppy. Too slow. I ducked, grabbed his wrist, and snapped it before he could blink. He howled, but my knee was already driving into his chest, knocking him flat.

Another came from behind. I spun, grabbed his hair, and slammed his skull into the dirt so hard blood poured to the ground.

The fight ignited something in me. My body remembered even though I hadn’t fought in a long time My muscles burned with familiarity. My instincts became sharp.

I twisted, elbowed, kicked. Bone cracked beneath my fists. Blood sprayed all over.

Three down. Four down. Five. But then— The corruption hit again.

 It was like a poison spreading through my veins. My arms slowed. My breath hitched. My legs trembled.

“No… not now,” I gasped, trying to force myself forward.

That was all the opening they needed. A fist slammed into my jaw. My knees buckled. Hands grabbed my arms, forcing me down into the dirt. I struggled, but my strength slipped through my fingers. They pinned me down. Their foul breath filled my lungs.

“Looks like the little hero ran out of steam,” one mocked, pressing my cheek into the ground.

“She’s pretty,” another sneered. “Bet she’ll scream nice.”

I struggled against them. I tried to summon every shred of my aura but it was too weak.

They laughed at my struggle.

“There’s no one here to save you, girl,” one whispered in my ear. “Scream all you want.”

And then— The air shifted. It was sudden. I felt a heavy presence all of a sudden.

The rogues froze. Their faces twisted in confusion. And then I smelled it.

That scent. It was powerful and intoxicating. It stirred something inside me. It felt like something I’d been searching for without knowing why.

Three auras. They were all overwhelming.

A voice cut through the silence.

“Touch her,” it said, “and you die.”

My heart slammed against my ribs.-

The voice did something to me.

My body shouldn’t have reacted this way. Not to a stranger’s voice. And yet, the sound wrapped around me like invisible chains—pulling, binding, commanding.

“Why…” I whispered under my breath, though the words were more thought than sound. My wolf pushed harder, restless, alive in a way she hadn’t been in so long. My skin burned. My chest tightened.

And then chaos broke loose.

I heard the clash of steel. I could hear multiple growls and the sounds of bones breaking. The heavy thuds of bodies hitting the ground. I gasped and stumbled backward, trying to get away from it all. I wanted to run, but my legs refused to obey me. The dizziness only grew worse. My body shook violently, caught between fear and whatever spell that voice had laced into my blood.

I pressed my palms to the dirt, trying to crawl away, when suddenly—silence.

My heart pounded against my ribs. My breath came out ragged. The sudden quiet was almost louder than the fighting had been.

Slowly, I raised my head.

The rogues were all dead. Their twisted bodies lay scattered across the ground like broken puppets. The smell of blood filled the air. None of them were moving.

My chest heaved as I forced myself to sit up. My eyes moved around,, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.

That’s when I saw them.

Three men stepped into view.

They moved as one. Their steps were perfectly in sync, almost unnatural. Power radiated from all three of them.

Even in my dizzy haze, I couldn’t ignore them.

They were tall and muscular. My wolf pricked her ears up inside me, alert, curious, desperate. I looked over at them and my throat went dry. They were handsome, devilishly gorgeous. Even with my blurred vision, I could see this.

My lips parted. I tried to speak, to ask who they were, what they wanted, why my body reacted like this, but my voice cracked and failed me. My head spun.

Before I could try again, one of them crouched down before me.

His eyes locked with mine. His eyes were dark, intense, impossible to look away from. He lifted his hand slowly, as though he already knew I wouldn’t resist. When his fingers brushed my cheek, the world tilted again.

But this time, it wasn’t the dizziness.

It was sparks.

White-hot sparks raced across my skin, trailing from where his fingertips touched me, curling down my neck, my spine, every inch of me lit up in fire. My breath hitched sharply, and my wolf howled inside me in response.

The man didn’t say a word. Not yet. Instead, he turned his head slightly to look at the others. They looked at him too.

And then—together—they looked back at me.

I froze. My heart pounded wildly against my ribs.

Another one knelt at my side. His hand hovered above my arm before lowering gently, deliberately. The moment he touched me, more sparks erupted. Not the same as the first—but different, warmer, deeper. They spread through my veins in a way I couldn’t explain.

The third came next and held my hand. My fingers trembled, but when he touched me, a strange calm washed over me.

Three touches.

Three different sensations.

Yet they didn’t fight each other. They wrapped around me, pulling together into something whole. Something terrifyingly beautiful.

My wolf whimpered and pressed harder against the walls of my chest, desperate to burst free.

The warmth built around me. My dizziness began to fade. My breathing steadied. I could feel it—the corruption, the dark poison inside me. Slowly, painfully, it started to fade away.

I gasped, For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt stronger. I felt me.

And then, one of them spoke. But how?

“Our mate.” One of them said. His voice was deeper than thunder, but gentler too.

The words slammed into me hard.

Mate.

Not one. But three of them.

My heart stopped. My wolf came to the surface, howling in recognition at the name he had called me before. A name I didn’t understand, but she did. She responded instantly, like it was carved into her very soul.

My lips parted but I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe. My entire body trembled beneath the weight of that truth.

Mate.