Exile in the Wild

|DIAN|

The forest swallowed me whole as I ran until my lungs went weak, my paws striking the ground over and over. Every sound made me jump. A branch cracking. Leaves rustling. Even the wind through the trees felt like it was whispering about me, about what happened in shadowcrest , about how pathetic I was for running.

The moon watched me from above. I wondered if the Moon Goddess was happy at me now.

Alone. I was completely alone.

The reality of it hit me harder than the earlier rejection. Back in Shadowcrest, even when they hated me, at least there were people who cared. My parents. Mara. Familiar faces, familiar paths. I knew which streets to avoid, which wolves would spit at me and which would just look away. But here? Nothing. Just trees and darkness and the cold every direction.

Then I heard it. Howling sound.

My whole body went rigid. That wasn't Shadowcrest. The sound was off, wild, like wolves who'd forgotten what it meant to have a pack. Or maybe they just didn't care.

I ran faster forward.

Being a small wolf helped me for once. I could slip through small gaps between the trees, duck under branches that would catch bigger wolves. But I was so tired. I hadn't eaten since yesterday morning, before the ceremony, before Kael looked at me like I was something disgusting he'd stepped on.

Stop. Don't think about him.

The air got colder. My breath puffed out in little clouds and my chest ached. I needed to stop. Just for a little while to catch my breath before my legs gave out.

There's an old oak tree with a hollow at the bottom. I shifted back to human form and immediately regretted i did. The cold bit into my bare skin but I didn't have a choice. I crawled into the hollow, pulling myself into a tight ball. The bark scratched my arms and back but at least I was hidden. At least I was out of sight.

Sleep dragged me under before I could fight it.

Luna Seraphine came to me in my dreams. Her white and gold fur seemed to glow, and her eyes were so sad they made my chest hurt.

"Find Thea." Her voice sounded far away, like she was calling from the bottom of a well. "She knows the truth."

"What truth?" I wanted to ask more but the words wouldn't come.

"About what you are. About why they want you. Find Thea before they find you first."

I jerked awake, gasping. My heart was trying to break through my ribs. Morning light came through the opening in thin gray streaks. Everything hurt. My neck, my back, my legs. I'd slept curled up so tight my muscles had locked.

I started to move, then stopped.

There were tracks. Wolf tracks, everywhere around the tree. Fresh ones. Deep prints in the soft dirt. They'd been here. Multiple wolves, circling while I slept, and I hadn't heard a thing.

My blood went cold. They could have killed me. Could have dragged me out and torn me apart while I was dreaming.

So why didn't they?

I made myself crawl out even though every instinct screamed at me to stay hidden. That's when I saw the rabbit. Dead, neck broken clean, lying right at the entrance like someone had placed it there on purpose.

..qqr,n, .n.!

My stomach growled. I was so hungry it hurt,But I stared at that rabbit and couldn't make myself touch it.

This wasn't kindness. Couldn't be. Who gives gifts to exiles? Maybe it was poisoned. Maybe it was a trap. Maybe someone was watching right now, waiting to see if I was stupid enough to take the bait.

I shifted back to wolf form. My senses sharpened and I caught the scents around the tree. Multiple wolves, definitely. But their smell was strange. Not pack wolves. Not exactly rogues either. Something else I didn't have a name for.

My wolf whimpered. We needed to move. North. Keep going north to Frostgale Ridge. Whatever waited there had to be better than this.

I made it maybe three steps before someone spoke.

"You're the one from Shadowcrest."

I spun around so fast I almost tripped over my own paws. A grey wolf stood in the trees, covered in old scars. He wasn't growling or advancing. Just sitting there watching me like I was some kind of puzzle he was trying to figure out.

"The empath's bloodline." He said it casual, like he was commenting on the weather. "They said you'd come this way."

Empath? Bloodline? What was he talking about? I shifted back to human form because I needed to speak, needed answers. "I don't know what you mean."

Something that might have been amusement flickered in his eyes. "No. I guess you wouldn't."