Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Zara Fen POV

The woods swallowed me the second I crossed the boundary.

The light faded fast under the trees. Branches tangled overhead, choking out the rising sun. The air smelled damp and sour, thick with rot and old blood. My boots sank into the soft ground with every step.

I didn’t slow down.

Hesitation got wolves killed.

The blade felt heavy in my hand, the handle worn smooth from years of use. I kept it low and ready, every sense stretched tight. Every sound felt too loud.

Every silence felt worse.

The bond burned under my skin as a warning.

I pushed deeper into the woods, following the faint signs left behind by the Dawnridge patrol. Broken branches. Drag marks in the dirt. Dark stains where blood had soaked into the ground and dried.

Someone had been hurt here and hadn’t made it back.

A sharp crack snapped to my left.

I froze as something moved between the trees. It was too slow to be the wind at the same time too careful to be some animal wandering through.

I lowered my stance, raising the blade slightly.

My wolf stirred inside me, tense and restless. Fear coiled in my chest, tight but controlled.

Panic would get me killed so I waited while the forest breathed around me.

Nothing came.

After a few seconds, I exhaled slowly and started moving again, angling toward higher ground. Staying low made it too easy to get ambushed. I needed to see what was coming, even if it meant exposing myself.

The ground sloped upward, roots twisting across the dirt like traps. I stepped carefully, listening, and counting each breath then I smelled it.

The fresh scent of blood that made my pulse jump.

I followed the scent, every instinct on edge. The trees began to thin, opening into a small clearing tangled with ferns and fallen branches.

The carved token lay near the center dark with drying blood.

Relief hit me too fast and that was my mistake.

Something moved again and I heard a low growl rolled through the clearing, deep enough that I felt it in the ground.

I spun.

Three shapes stepped out of the shadows.

Three Wolves.

But not pack wolves.

Their eyes were glowy beastly wide and their bodies moved strangely, jerky and unbalanced, like something inside them had broken.

There were ferals. My grip tightened on the blade.

They began circling slowly, testing the distance. One of them limped badly, its side torn open and dripping blood. The others didn’t care.

Weakness meant nothing to rogues.

I backed toward a fallen tree, keeping it to my side so they couldn’t surround me.

My wolf pushed forward inside me, snarling, desperate to break free.

One of them lunged.

I barely moved in time, sidestepping as my blade sliced across the shoulder. It howled, but the sound came out wrong. Hollow and empty.

The second wolf attacked before the first even recovered.

I dropped low and drove the blade upward. It sank deep into flesh. Hot blood poured over my hand.

The wolf collapsed instantly, its body twitching before going still.

The third didn’t hesitate before he charged.

Pain exploded through my arm as its teeth tore into me. I screamed and drove the blade down again and again until he finally let go, collapsing into the dirt.

Silence slammed into the clearing around me, I spun anxiously while wincing.

My arm burned. Blood soaked my sleeve, warm and slick against my skin. I staggered back, breathing hard as my vision started to blur.

But I didn’t stop, stopping meant dying and never returning.

I grabbed the token and shoved it inside my jacket before forcing my legs to move again.

The bond flared suddenly, sharp pain threading through my chest like it was reacting to the fight.

I felt something wasn’t right at the silences that covered the wood and made the woods go quiet again. It was too quiet with no sight of insects or distant animals.

Nothing.

That’s when I felt that something was watching me.

Not wolves. Something heavier.

The ground trembled under my feet.

Slowly, I turned.

A massive shape shifted between the trees.

It was bigger than any wolf I had ever seen with eyes that glowed dull red, locked completely on me.

A corrupted beast.

Half-shifted. Twisted from too long in feral territory.

Its breath steamed in the cold air.

I ran.

Branches tore at my skin as I pushed through the undergrowth. My lungs burned. My injured arm throbbed with every step.

Behind me, the beast crashed through the forest, fast and relentless.

I burst into another clearing and skidded to a stop.

A ravine split the ground in front of me, deep and jagged.

No way around it.

The beast lunged and I jumped.

Pain tore through my body when I hit the other side, rolling down rough rock before slamming hard into a tree. Stars burst across my vision.

I forced myself up anyway.

The beast snarled from the other side of the ravine, pacing along the edge, looking for a way across.

I didn’t wait to see if it would find one.

I staggered away, every step in agony. My vision blurred from exhaustion and blood loss.

I looked up to the sun that was climbing now, it was a reminder that I was running out of time.

I broke through the final line of trees and stumbled into the clearing.

Dawnridge stood ahead.

Wolves had already gathered. I staggered forwards before collapsing to my knees at the edge of the clearing, gasping for air as blood soaked into the dirt beneath me.

Hands reached for me and I could hear the muffled voices around me.

“She’s alive.”

“She came back.”

With shaking fingers, I reached into my jacket and pulled out the token, dropping it onto the ground in front of me.

The bone struck the stone and the crowd went silent.

Slowly, I lifted my head to look ahead of me at the Alpha as one of his betas stepped towards me.

“Wait, I’m not finished,” I rasped.

Then everything went black.