Chapter 4: In The Woods

Ophilia's POV

Without hesitation, I shoved Sydney out of my way with everything I had left in me. She hit the ground hard, a startled cry ripping from her throat, her composure shattering for the first time all night.

She scrambled up fast, whipping around to face the beast looming in front of her. "Get her."

Chase didn't stop. He advanced slow, deliberate, a low growl rolling from somewhere deep in his chest — the kind of sound that promised he wasn't in a hurry, that he intended to play with me first, chew on me like a bone before he finally decided I'd suffered enough. Literally.

I kept backing away, my legs shaking beneath me. Then, from behind, a second sound rose — one I recognized instantly, and my stomach dropped straight through the floor.

My breath came in short, panicked bursts. My cheek still burned where the Luna Mother had slapped me — twice, in a single night — and now I stood trapped, an Alpha in wolf form ahead of me and another closing in from behind, jaws already half-bared.

How much worse could this night possibly get?

"Please, let me go." My voice cracked wide open, fear soaking every word as I turned to face the Luna Mother one last time.

She only rose from the floor and laughed, brushing dust from her sleeve like I hadn't just knocked her flat. "You should have thought of that before laying your filthy fingers on my skin." She turned to her sons, and something twisted across her face — grief dressed up as pure, practiced wickedness.

"Finish her, boys..." Her voice trailed behind her as she swept toward the door, unhurried, elegant, like she was leaving a dinner party instead of ordering an execution.

A laugh burst out of me before I could stop it, sharp and disbelieving.

"They can't kill me, Sydney." I threw the words at her like a blade.

She paused at the threshold and turned just enough to catch my eye. "You'll wish you were dead once they're finished with you."

What did that mean? Before I could chase the thought, the growls behind me thickened, deepened, until I swore I could feel them vibrating straight through my bones. A fat Omega, standing alone between two Alphas. I had never felt so small, so disposable, in my entire life.

Then something surged through my blood — hot, sudden, electric. Something I had never felt before and had no name for.

I didn't think. I moved.

I bolted straight for Chase, whose back was turned toward the entrance Sydney was heading for, and dropped low, sliding beneath him between his legs before he even registered what was happening. By the time he spun around, snarling, I was already three strides toward the door, my lungs screaming, my legs burning.

I collided with Sydney on my way past, shoulder-first, sending her stumbling straight into him — just enough to tangle them together, just enough to buy myself one precious second I didn't deserve.

"Somebody help me!" I screamed, the words tearing raw out of my throat, past caring who saw me now, who judged me, who whispered about it later.

The door slammed shut behind me and I ran for the gathering grounds — the very same clearing where they'd humiliated me only hours before.

Behind me, the howling began. One voice first, low and mournful, then a second, then a dozen more, rising and layering until the whole night seemed to shake with it. I turned once, just once, and my heart stopped cold.

Over fifty wolves poured out into the open behind me, closing the gap fast, hunting me down like I'd stolen something sacred from every single one of them.

My pulse slammed against my ribs as I tore through the underbrush, branches clawing at my arms, my face, drawing thin lines of blood I didn't have time to feel. And somewhere beneath the terror, a colder thought surfaced, refusing to be buried — the way Chase had moved back there. Too clean. Too controlled. Almost *rehearsed*, like he'd known exactly which way I'd run before I did.

I shoved the thought down hard. I couldn't afford it. Not now. Maybe not ever.

I threw myself behind a wide sycamore, hands shaking so badly I could barely grip the bark, and clawed sap free to smear across every inch of exposed skin, masking my scent as best I could, praying it would be enough.

Minutes crawled past like hours. The howls faded, one by one, until there was nothing left but my own ragged breathing and the wind moving through the leaves.

I peeled myself away from the tree, legs trembling, and crept back into the woods, moving as quietly as I knew how.

I glanced over my shoulder one last time, checking the dark for movement, for eyes, for anything at all—

I didn't see the branch until it was already too late.

Pain exploded across my skull, white and blinding, and my vision fractured into static. My knees buckled beneath me and the ground rushed up sideways.

Through the blur, something moved. A black wolf, a single streak of white cutting through its fur, stepped out of the shadows and lowered its head to look at me. A smirk — impossible, unmistakable — curled across a face that shouldn't have been able to smile at all.

Chase.

The last thing I registered before the darkness swallowed me whole was that smirk. Patient. Satisfied. Like he'd known exactly where I would end up all along, and had simply been waiting for me to arrive.

Then there was nothing.