HUNTED

Aria ran until her lungs burned.

The forest was dark. Really dark. No moon. Just trees and shadows and the sound of her feet hitting dirt. Branches whipped her face. Roots tried to trip her. She didn't slow down.

Behind her, voices. Shouting. Guards organizing. They'd realise she was gone soon. Would send trackers. Wolves who could follow her scent for miles.

She had maybe ten minutes before they caught her.

Her hands were still smoking from the silver. Blistered. Raw. Every step sent pain shooting up her legs from a bad landing. The cuts from squeezing through the window were bleeding through her dress.

None of it mattered.

She just had to get far enough. Fast enough. Find somewhere to—

A howl split the night.

Close. Too close.

Aria's heart slammed into her throat. She pushed harder. Faster. Her body screamed at her to stop, but she couldn't. Wouldn't.

Another howl. Different direction. They were coordinating. Surrounding her.

The trees started thinning ahead. She could see open ground. Moonlight breaking through the canopy.

Bad. The open ground was bad. Wolves were faster than humans. In the open, she'd be—

Something hit her from the side.

Aria went down hard. Face in the dirt. Weight on her back. Claws digging into her shoulders.

"Got her!" Male voice. Rough. "Southwest quadrant. Bring the Alpha."

No, no, no.

Aria thrashed. Tried to buck him off. He was too heavy. Too strong.

"Stop moving, cursed bitch." He pressed down harder. His claws dug deeper. Blood ran hot down her back. "You're done running."

The mark on her shoulder burned.

Hot. Hotter.

It seemed to be dissolving through her flesh.

"What the—" There was a choking sound from the wolf on her back.

Aria's body erupted in silver light.

The wolf flew backwards. Hit a tree. didn't get up.

Aria raced to her feet.

Stared at her hands. They were glowing. Actually glowing silver.

Under her skin, light pulsed as if she had swallowed the moon.

What on earth was that?

More howls. Closer now. They'd heard the commotion.

She ran.

The light faded as she moved, but the burning didn't stop. Her whole body felt wrong. Hot. Like something inside was trying to claw its way out.

The trees got thicker. Older. The air changed—heavier, colder. Aria realised where she was heading.

The Forbidden Forest.

The border where the territory ended and the cursed ground began. Nobody went in there. The wolves that never came out.

But behind her, she could hear them. Five. Maybe six. Getting closer.

Ahead, the trees looked different. Twisted. Wrong.

As if they had grown accustomed to being in the dark.

Aria didn't slow down.

She ran across the border.

The temperature dropped instantly. Twenty degrees. Thirty.

Her breath came out in clouds. The trees were enormous, with branches obstructing the sky and trunks broader than vehicles. The stench of ancient magic and rot permeated everything.

Her feet hit something soft. She looked down.

Bones.

A whole skeleton. Wolf. Picked clean.

She kept running.

Behind her, the howls stopped. Voices shouting. Arguing.

"She went into the Forbidden Forest!"

"So we follow her."

"Are you insane? Nothing survives in there."

"The Alpha said, bring her back. Dead or alive."

Silence. Then footsteps. Paws hitting ground. They were coming in after her.

Stupid. They were stupid to follow her in here.

Aria pushed deeper. The forest got darker. Weirder. She passed trees with faces carved in the bark. Symbols she didn't recognise. More bones. Some of them are arranged in patterns.

Something was watching her.

She sensed it. eyes in the dark.

She continued.

Ahead, a clearing appeared. tiny. circular. A stone altar covered with dried blood stood in the middle.

Aria's gut told her to avoid it. However, the wolves were not far behind her. Through the undergrowth, she could hear them colliding.

She dashed across the clearing.

Error.

The mark on her shoulder erupted in agony as soon as she entered the circle.

Aria let out a scream. fell to her knees.

It felt like someone was carving the mark deeper. Cutting it into her bones. Silver light burst from her skin again—brighter this time. Blinding.

"There!" A wolf burst into the clearing. Three more behind him. "She's down! Move move—"

The light pulsed.

The lead wolf stopped. Stared. His eyes went wide.

"What the fuck is she—"

The ground under Aria cracked.

Shadows poured out. Actual shadows. Thick and black and moving like they were alive. They wrapped around the wolves before they could run.

Screaming. So much screaming.

Aria watched through the pain as the shadows squeezed. The wolves thrashed. Tried to shift. Tried to fight. The shadows tightened.

Bones snapped. Wet. Loud.

The yelling ceased.

The shadows slithered back into the crack after dropping four bodies on the ground. They vanished as if they had never been.

Aria was shaking. Staring at the dead wolves. Their faces frozen in terror. Eyes still open.

She did that. She killed them.

The light under her skin flickered and died. The pain in her shoulder faded to a dull throb.

She pushed herself to her feet. Legs shaking. Dress soaked in blood—hers and theirs.

More howls in the distance. More wolves are coming.

She stumbled forward. Out of the clearing. Away from the bodies. Her mind wasn't working right. Couldn't process what just happened. Couldn't—

Her foot caught on something.

She went down. Face-first into the dirt. Again.

Aria lay there. Too tired to get up. Too broken to care.

This was it. This was where she died. In a cursed forest surrounded by bones and shadows and the evidence of what she'd become.

A monster.

Just like they said.

Footsteps. Light. Careful.

Aria didn't look up. Didn't move. If they wanted to kill her, fine. She was done running.

"Well." A woman's voice. Old. Amused. "You're not dead. That's surprising."

Hands touched her shoulders. Gentle. Turning her over.

Aria blinked. Focused.

A woman knelt beside her. Ancient. Had to be seventy at least. White hair down to her waist. Eyes that looked silver in the dark. Wearing robes that might've been black or might've been just really dirty.

"Who—" Aria's voice cracked.

"Lyra." The woman studied her face. Her eyes lingered on Aria's shoulder, where the dress had torn. Where the mark was visible. "And you're the first cursed wolf to make it this deep in three hundred years."

"I'm not—" Aria coughed. Tasted blood. "I'm not cursed. I'm just—"

"Broken? Weak? Unworthy?" Lyra smiled. Sad. "That's what they told you, isn't it?"

Aria didn't answer.

"Come on." Lyra stood. Offered her hand. "Can't have you dying here. You're far too interesting."

"The wolves—"

"Won't follow you past the altar. They're not that stupid."

She yanked Aria to her feet. "You used shadows you were unaware you had to kill four of them. That usually causes people to reconsider their decisions.

Aria swayed. The world tilted.

Lyra caught her. "Easy. You've lost a lot of blood. And your body's going through the first stage of awakening. It's not pleasant."

"Awakening?" Aria's vision was getting blurry. "What are you—"

"Later. Right now, we need to get you somewhere safe before you pass out and bleed all over my forest."

"Your forest?"

"I've lived here longer than you've been alive, girl. I've earned it." Lyra started walking. Half-dragging Aria with her. "Now shut up and walk.

Before the blood loss renders you worthless, we have roughly ten minutes.

Aria made an effort to concentrate on taking one step at a time.

Failed. The ground kept moving.

"The wolves," she mumbled. "I killed them. I didn't mean to. I didn't—"

"They were hunting you. You defended yourself."

"With shadows."

"Yes."

"That came out of the ground."

"Also, yes."

"That's not normal."

Lyra laughed. Sharp. "Normal? Child, nothing about you is normal. And thank the goddess for that."

Aria's legs gave out.

Lyra caught her before she hit the ground. "Stubborn. Your mother was stubborn, too."

"You knew my mother?"

"I know a lot of things." Lyra adjusted her grip. Started dragging Aria more than supporting her. "Like the fact that you're not cursed. You're sealed. Big difference."

"I don't understand."

"You will." They came out into a different clearing. smaller. In the middle was a moss-covered stone-and-wood cabin. The chimney was emitting smoke. "But first, you must survive. I detest wasting quality medical supplies on dead bodies.

She dragged Aria inside after kicking the door open.

It was warm in the cottage. tiny. There was a room with a bed, a fireplace, and shelves filled with books, jars, and other items Aria couldn't identify.

Lyra threw herself onto the bed.

Aria gazed up at the ceiling.

Everything hurt. Everything felt wrong.

"The Alpha," she said. Voice barely working. "He rejected me."

"I know."

"In front of everyone."

"Yes."

"He's my mate."

Lyra was doing something on the shelves. Pulling down jars. "Was your mate. Past tense."

"It still hurts."

"It will for a while." She came back with supplies. Started cutting away Aria's dress without asking. "The mate bond is complicated. Especially when one half is too stupid to recognise what they're giving up."

Aria closed her eyes. Felt tears leak out. "He called me trash."

"He's an idiot."

"Everyone saw. Everyone watched me—" Her voice broke. "They watched me break."

Lyra's hands paused. Just for a second. "Yes. They did."

"I can't go back. Can't face them. Can't—"

"You won't go back." Lyra started cleaning the wounds on her back. It hurt. Aria bit back a scream. "Not as the girl who ran away. That girl's dead."

"Then what—"

"You'll go back as something else." Lyra met her eyes.

"Something they'll wish they'd never created."

Aria gazed at her. "What are you talking about?"

Lyra grinned. The smile wasn't pleasant. "You were curious about the curse?

About what you are?"

"Yes."

"Then rest. Heal. And tomorrow, we start your real education." She pressed something against Aria's shoulder. The mark. It burned. "Tomorrow, I teach you what they tried so hard to bury."

"What's that?"

"How to make them regret everything."

Aria's vision went dark. Lyra's voice followed her down.

"Sleep, little Luna. When you wake up, we begin turning you into their worst nightmare."

Back at Blackwater territory, Thorne stood in his office and listened to the report.

Four wolves are dead. Found in the Forbidden Forest. Cause of death unknown. No wounds. No scent. Just bodies with broken bones and terror frozen on their faces.

"She killed them," his Beta said. Kieran. Twenty years of fighting beside Thorne, and he'd never seen him look nervous before. "The cursed girl. She did something to them."

Thorne said nothing.

"We should send more wolves. Find her. Finish—"

"No." Thorne's voice was flat. "Pull everyone back. No one enters the Forbidden Forest."

"But Alpha—"

"She's not our problem anymore."

Kieran stared at him. "She's your mate."

"Was. Past tense." Thorne turned away from the window. Away from the forest where she'd disappeared. "The rejection severed the bond. She's nothing to me now."

Lies.

His wolf was screaming. Had been screaming since the moment he'd spoken those words in the hall. Tearing at him from the inside. Punishment for rejecting what was theirs.

Thorne ignored it. He was good at ignoring pain.

"Tell the Council she's dead," he said. "Lost in the Forbidden Forest. Assumed deceased. Case closed."

"And if she comes back?"

Thorne's jaw tightened. "She won't."

Kieran left. The door closed.

Thorne stood alone in his office and told himself he'd made the right choice.

Told himself the ache in his chest was just bruised pride.

Told himself he didn't care that she was out there somewhere. Hurt. Alone. Bleeding because of him.

His wolf howled.

Thorne poured himself a drink and drowned it out.