Chapter Seven - The Hunt Tightens (Kael )

The forest at dawn was thick with silence.

Mist curled low across the ground, clinging to Kael’s boots as he stalked through the underbrush, every muscle strung tight. His wolf paced within him, restless, pressing against his skin with a single demand: Protect her.

The rogues’ scent lingered on the air, feral, unwashed, desperate. They’d passed this way during the night. Too close to the human town. Too close to her.

Kael’s claws flexed involuntarily. If they touched Aria, if they even brushed her scent, he would tear them apart piece by piece.

Behind him, his two scouts moved quietly, trained to echo his silence. But even they could feel the storm rolling off him. The tension in the bond, the urgency in every step. Kael wasn’t just hunting rogues. He was protecting something, someone.

“Alpha,” one whispered as they paused at the crest of a ridge. “The tracks split here. Three went east, toward the hills. Two headed south… toward the river.”

The river meant the town. The river meant her.

Kael’s jaw tightened. “We take the south.”

The scouts nodded without hesitation. They didn’t ask why. They didn’t need to.

Hours passed, the sun climbing higher, burning away the mist. The rogues’ trail grew fresher, pawprints deep in the mud, the sharp musk of unclaimed wolves carried stronger on the breeze.

Kael’s wolf snarled in his chest, urging him faster. He could almost taste the hunt, almost see the moment their throats would be under his claws.

But beneath that hunger thrummed something deeper, more dangerous. A pull like gravity, steady and inescapable.

Aria.

He felt her like a whisper at the edge of his thoughts. Fear sharp, but tempered with iron will. She had heard the rumors, then. She knew wolves were near. She was bracing herself.

Kael closed his eyes briefly as the bond tugged taut between them. He imagined her standing at her window again, one hand curved protectively over her belly, her gaze searching the horizon for a threat only she could sense.

I’m here, he whispered into the thread of their connection, knowing she wouldn’t hear the words but would feel the weight of them.

His wolf rumbled in satisfaction.

By midday, they found signs of a kill.

A deer carcass lay torn open in the brush, half-eaten, its flanks shredded with savage claws. Not a clean hunt. Not the way wolves killed when they had honor, discipline.

Kael crouched low, baring his teeth at the scent. “They’re sloppy,” he muttered. “Hungry.”

Hungry rogues were dangerous. They wouldn’t distinguish between prey and threat, human or wolf. They’d tear into anything that crossed their path.

He straightened, eyes blazing. “They’re moving faster now. We’ll catch them before nightfall.”

The scouts nodded grimly.

The bond flared again as the sun dipped low, sending a jolt straight to Kael’s chest. This time, it wasn’t just Aria’s fear, it was her awareness. She felt him.

Kael froze mid-step, the air leaving his lungs.

For a moment, the forest around him vanished. He stood instead in the dim glow of her apartment, seeing her through the veil of their bond. She was pacing, lips pressed tight, her heartbeat loud in his ears though miles separated them.

Their eyes met across the invisible thread, and his wolf surged forward with a growl. Mine.

Then the vision snapped away, leaving Kael trembling in the shadows.

The scouts exchanged uneasy glances, sensing something they couldn’t name, but they didn’t dare speak.

Kael steadied himself, the air around him sharp with resolve. Every step forward brought him closer, not just to the rogues, but to her. The bond wasn’t a chain; it was an arrow, guiding him straight into the storm.

They caught up with the rogues at dusk.

The sun was bleeding out across the horizon when Kael spotted movement ahead, two wolves, lean and ragged, slinking through the trees toward the lights of the human town. Their ribs jutted, their eyes gleamed with hunger, their tails hung low with desperation.

Kael’s lip curled. Pathetic. But dangerous all the same.

He signaled the scouts to spread out, circling wide to cut off escape. Then he stepped forward, letting the rogues catch his scent.

The reaction was immediate. The smaller of the two froze, ears flattening, tail tucking tight. The other, older, scarred, snarled, hackles rising.

“Alpha,” the scarred one spat, voice rough. “This isn’t your land.”

Kael’s voice was low, lethal. “Everything you breathe on is mine if I decide it is.”

The rogue bristled. “We’re just hunting. We’re starving.”

Kael’s eyes flashed gold. “You’re too close to what’s mine.”

The rogue sneered, but unease flickered in his gaze. He felt the weight of Kael’s power, the fury simmering just below the surface. “What’s yours, Alpha? The humans? Or something hiding among them?”

A growl ripped from Kael’s chest before he could stop it. The slip of his control told the rogue enough. His eyes widened, a cruel smile stretching across his face.

“There is something here,” he hissed. “Something worth protecting.”

Kael struck before the words finished leaving his mouth.

Claws raked across flesh, blood spraying into the air. The rogue yelped, staggering back, but Kael was relentless. He slammed the wolf to the ground, teeth bared, fury pouring out in every strike.

The smaller rogue bolted, but one of Kael’s scouts cut him down with swift precision, ending him before he reached the trees.

Kael sank his claws deeper into the scarred rogue’s throat, his voice a low snarl. “If you or any of your kind come near this town again, I’ll flay you alive and scatter your bones across the river.”

The rogue wheezed, blood bubbling at his lips. Kael ended it quickly, snapping his neck with a decisive twist.

The forest fell silent.

Kael stood over the body, chest heaving, blood dripping from his claws. His wolf growled in satisfaction, but beneath the triumph burned something fiercer, more dangerous.

She’s close. She’s ours. And now nothing stands between us.

When they returned to camp, the scouts cleaned their blades in silence. Kael stood apart, staring down at the glow of the town below.

He knew Aria had felt it, the violence, the fury, the thread of his presence burning hot across the bond. He imagined her clutching her belly, whispering to the child inside, knowing the storm was coming closer.

Kael’s lips curved into something between a smile and a snarl.

“Soon,” he murmured. “I’ll tear down every wall between us. You can’t hide forever, Aria.”

The wind shifted, carrying her scent, faint, but undeniable. His wolf howled into the night, the sound rolling across the forest like thunder.

The hunt wasn’t over. It had only just begun.