CH4

Chapter 4

Tanya's POV

I felt my body breaking.

It wasn’t pain the way I had known it before. My bones felt as though they were stretching from the inside, my muscles elongating violently beneath my skin, following the trail of purple blood that had been exposed to the air.

I couldn’t control it.

The shift wasn’t coming from my willpower as it was ripping through me.

“What are you doing? Capture her! Have her chained and locked up in the dungeon!” Tovar’s voice tore across the chambers, sharp and commanding, but laced with something else now — fear.

My scream never fully left my throat before it turned into a growl.

A towering, gigantic wolf burst out of my body as the shift completed. Fur as dark as midnight spilled over powerful limbs, and I kept rising — higher and higher — until my head nearly brushed the roof of Tovar’s chambers.

Gasps filled the room.

Zhuri, still bewildered, remained fallen on the floor, scrambling backward on her palms. This was by far the largest wolf anyone in the Raki Horde Pack had ever seen. Even Tovar’s father — the former Alpha whose wolf was legendary — would not reach half my size.

The warriors who had been ordered to seize me hesitated.

And in that hesitation, I ran.

Because staying would mean execution.

Or worse, imprisonment under Tovar’s mercy.

“Why didn’t you capture her like I commanded?” Tovar roared behind me as I burst through the doors. “Bring her back to me or I will have your entire generations annihilated!”

More warriors poured out from their duty posts, shifting mid-run, their snarls filling the air as they began the chase.

Old habits never die out, I thought bitterly. Tovar was a coward.

He wouldn’t come after me himself.

He would rather threaten and sacrifice his warriors than face me.

I didn’t look back.

I leaped over the Raki fencing made of sharpened trees, splintering through the barriers like they were twigs. I tore past the paths that led to the pack’s heart and into the dense bushes, aiming for the open plains beyond.

If I could reach the plains, they would hesitate.

Everyone feared the open plains.

It was known as a dead end — cursed land where rogues vanished and shadows moved without owners.

“How can you allow such an entity to escape?” Tovar’s furious voice echoed faintly behind me. “Shoot her down! Pierce her body with arrows if that’s what you have to do! Bring her back half-dead or alive — I don’t care how!”

The first arrow whistled past my ear.

Then another, followed by dozens.

They came from different directions, slicing through the air. Running became harder because I didn’t know where the next would come from. I had taught the pack how to lace arrowheads with poison when facing enemies.

I needed no one to tell me those arrows were poisoned.

“Tanya couldn’t follow me to war for years because of her wolfless state!” Tovar’s voice continued to carry over the chaos. “She’s a beast who hasn’t learned how to control what she shifted into! Are you telling me you can’t use your experience to catch her?”

His words burned because they were partly true.

I had never shifted before.

And worse… I was still an omega.

My father had been born one too.

I began to feel the weakness beneath the power. The enormous wolf I had shifted into was powerful, yes, but my omega body was not built to sustain it. My lungs burned. My legs trembled.

It wouldn’t be long before they caught up.

As I leaped over a fallen trunk, a sharp sting tore through my hind leg. An arrow grazed me, the poison already burning into my bloodstream. My pace faltered.

But as I tried to push forward, my wolf began retreating without my command. The massive body that had felt invincible moments ago started shrinking and collapsing inward.

My wolf vanished, and I shifted back violently into my human form, rolling across the dirt and dead leaves. My body felt heavy.

This was the end, i thought as i could hear them closing in.

Snarls and boots. The sound of bows tightening.

I shut my eyes, bracing for impact.

But instead, an arrow flew past me and struck one of the warriors square in the chest.

He dropped instantly.

Another arrow and another warrior fell. Confusion erupted among them.

I forced my heavy head to turn.

Hidden behind the thick branch of an ancient tree was Sulli.

Her eyes locked on the warriors as she released another arrow without hesitation.

I feared for her.

Sulli was already mated to a man who was Tovar’s lapdog — loyal, blind, and cruel when commanded to be. If she were found helping me escape, what would be done to her? I knew this pack and it's punishments. Betrayal was not forgiven.

I began to leap faster than before when I noticed her moving from tree to tree, hidden in the shadows, her arrows striking down the men who got too close to me.

There was nothing I had ever done to make her believe I was worthy of this level of sacrifice.

When the number of warriors closing in began to reduce, I heaved a long breath of relief, thinking I had finally outrun them.

But then, i paused, the darkness of evening and the chaos had disoriented me.

I had taken the wrong turn.

Instead of the open plains, I now stood at the edge of a cliff.

Below it roared the great river — the one that separated the Seven Doth Horde Werewolf Packs from the Lycans’ kingdom.

The other end of the river led to the open plains.

If I could swim across, I could still escape.

“We need to go!” I called out to Sulli, who was perched on a tree branch above, scanning for any warrior close enough to strike.

“No, Tanya. I cannot leave with you,” she responded.

Her voice was steady, but I heard the weight beneath it.

Although I knew it was impossible for her to leave as she had a child, I still couldn’t accept it. Not after what she had done.

“They’ll kill you if you’re found out,” I shouted back. “I can’t leave without you!”

I turned toward her fully, desperate to convince her.

An arrow suddenly whistled past my cheek.

I barely shifted in time before it grazed me, slicing through skin but missing bone.

Sulli wasn’t as lucky.

The arrow meant for her struck.

I saw her body jerk.

“No!” I screamed.

Warriors were closing in fast now.

I rushed toward her as she jumped down from the tree, blood staining her side. She tried to steady herself, but her breathing was already uneven.

Another warrior cocked an arrow, aiming directly at me.

Before I could react, Sulli shoved me.

I stumbled backward.

“No, Sulli—!”

I screamed as I was falling.

The cliff disappeared beneath my feet, and I plunged into the raging river alone.

The current was merciless.

It swallowed me instantly.

The water was icy and violent, dragging me down before I could even gasp properly. I thrashed, kicking, fighting, trying to swim upward, but the current was too strong.

All I could think of was surrendering.

Of going back and letting them capture me if it meant Sulli would live.

But I couldn’t even keep myself afloat as the river had decided my fate.

As the water forced itself into my lungs and darkness began creeping into my vision, the last thing I heard were Sulli’s screams.

Agonizing, Like someone being slaughtered in the cruelest way.

Everything went black.

—

My eyes shot open.

I gasped violently, coughing.

The smell of murky water filled my senses. It was dark.

“Sulli…” I whispered hoarsely, forcing myself up despite the sharp pain ripping through my body.

Every muscle protested.

But I pushed through it.

Even if only her body remained, I needed to find her. I needed to go back.

To take revenge.

To make them bleed for her.

I staggered forward and then I heard a guttural growl.

Reverberating through the forest like a warning from something ancient.

Birds perched high in the trees took flight all at once, their wings flapping frantically.

Fear crept up my spine.

I turned to run.

But before I could take more than a few steps, I collided with something solid.

I stumbled back, confused.

There was no tree in front of me.

And no tree could feel that warm.

Slowly, I looked up and two red eyes glowed in the darkness.

Watching me like prey that had wandered too far.

“You crossed into my kingdom,” a cold, domineering voice said.

Shivers covered my entire body.

Crossed into his kingdom.

The realization dawned on me with horrifying clarity.

The Lycans’ territory.

And if that voice belonged to who I thought it did, then I was standing before the War Father of the cursed bloods.

The ruler of the very species my pack despised.

“You are welcome… Mate.”