Chapter 5- THE HUNT TRIAL

The day of the Hunt Trial finally came. The entire pack gathered at the edge of the forest.

The Hunt Trial only happened once every generation. Every young she-wolf stood waiting to choose a partner. Every young male waited too, pretending not to be nervous. The winner would earn honor, respect, they would be gifted with a very rare item and the blessing of the Elders.

I stood near the back. Just like always with determination in my eyes.

Whispers floated through the crowd.

“Rhett will pick Cassia.”

“Don’t you think it'll be cheating because it won't be a challenge for the rest of us.”

“Yes I think you are right. They’ll win before the trial even begins.”

I didn’t look at either of them. It wasn’t my place.

The Head Elder stepped forward. “The Hunt Trial begins now. Choose your partners.”

Before anyone else moved, Rhett did.

The entire crowd watched him. He walked straight toward Cassia. She smiled confidently and held out her hand.

Then he walked past her.

Her smile froze. The clearing fell silent.

My heart skipped as he kept coming. He stopped right in front of me. “Nora.”

I stared at him. “What are you doing?”

“I’m choosing my partner.”

A laugh escaped someone in the crowd. “She’s wolfless.”

“Has he lost his mind?”

Rhett ignored every voice. “I want you to be my partner Nora.”

I looked into his eyes. He wasn’t joking.

For a second every painful memory flashed through my mind. Every insult. What happened last time with the alpha. I should refuse. I should walk away.

But something inside me stopped. I was tired of hiding. Tired of watching everyone else live while I stood in the shadows. I wanted one chance. One chance to prove I wasn’t useless. One chance to show the pack how useful I can be even without a wolf.

I lifted my chin. “…Fine.”

His eyes softened. “We’re partners.”

Gasps echoed around us. Cassia’s face turned white.

“What?” She looked between us as if she had heard wrong. “Rhett…”

He didn’t even look at her.

The Elder cleared his throat. “Partners are chosen. Prepare yourselves.”

Cassia forced a smile onto her face. It looked perfect. Only her eyes betrayed her, cold, sharp, full of hate. She walked toward the strongest young warrior left.

“Derek,” she said sweetly. “You’ll do.”

He nodded immediately. “I’d be honored.”

As she passed me she leaned close enough for only me to hear.

“You’ll regret agreeing to partner with him.”

I met her eyes. “I already regret being your sister.”

Her smile never changed. “Oh… you will.”

She walked away before I could answer.

Others quickly picked their partners and prepared. A horn echoed through the forest.

“The trial begins!”

Every pair ran. Branches whipped past my face as Rhett and I disappeared into the trees. For a while neither of us spoke. The silence felt strange.

Finally he broke it. “You’ve been here before.”

I nodded. “I came here when no one wanted me around. So I learned the trails.”

“I can tell.”

I crouched beside the ground. Broken leaves. Fresh paw prints. A snapped branch. “They went east.”

“You know that already?”

I stood. “They’re trying to trick everyone.”

Rhett smiled. “So we’re going north.”

I blinked. “You trust me?”

“I do.”

Heat rushed to my face. “We’re wasting time.”

I started running again. He laughed quietly before following. The deeper we went, the thicker the trees became. Ahead, voices echoed. Two teams burst through the bushes, arguing over who had found the trail first. Within seconds they were shoving each other.

Rhett glanced at them. “We should stop them.”

“No.” I kept moving. “They’re distracting themselves.”

He followed without another question. Minutes later I noticed something tied to a tree. A strip of blue cloth.

“That’s not natural.”

Rhett examined it. “A false trail?”

I nodded. “Someone wants people going this way.”

We turned away from it. Not long after I spotted tiny scratches on a rock, almost invisible. “The token passed here.”

“How can you tell?”

“The guards mark the safe path every year.”

His eyebrows lifted. “You really do know this forest.”

“I had a lot of free time.”

We moved faster. Soon the forest opened into a small clearing. In the middle stood an ancient oak. Something shimmered beneath its roots. The pack token. “We found it,” Rhett whispered.

My heart raced. “We actually found it, now we just need to get back to the pack first.”

He stepped forward, then stopped.

“What is it?”

“The air.” I inhaled. A strange scent. Sweet. Too sweet. My stomach tightened. “Don’t move.”

Rhett instantly backed away. I looked around. The leaves were disturbed. Fresh footprints. Someone had been here recently. A thin rope disappeared beneath the leaves.

“Cassia—”

Before I could finish, something snapped.

The ground gave way beneath us.

“Nora!”

Rhett grabbed my wrist. For one second I thought he had saved me. Then the earth collapsed completely. We both fell.

The pit wasn’t deep, but the landing knocked the air from my lungs. A heavy iron cage crashed down over us with a deafening bang. Metal bars slammed into the ground and locked us in.

Dust filled the air. Outside, silence returned. Rhett shoved against the bars. They didn’t move.

Far above us, faint footsteps hurried past. Then a soft laugh drifted through the trees.

Cassia.

“Enjoy your failure down there sis.” She shouted and walked away, believing she had finally gotten rid of me.

She didn’t realize she’d trapped the future Alpha with me.

And for the first time since the Trial began… We were completely alone.