Chapter 2

Kaida’s POV

My lips parted slightly as I took a step forward, over and over again, until it brought me to the edge of the woods, standing directly by the side of the building.

"What is this?" I whispered, my brain unable to fathom it. "Is this…"

No. There was no way. Maybe it was just my brain playing tricks on me.

“Someone has breached the perimeters,” I could hear a man say. My head jerked to look all around me, but there was no one in sight.

Which person's voice was I hearing, and how was it so clear in my ears even though I was alone at the edge of the woods?

The sound of approaching steps suddenly made me snap out of my confusion. I turned around, trying to find my way out.

“What the….”

The trees seemed to have moved while I was staring at the building, because now, I couldn't find the path I'd come in from. All I could see were their clusters, with nothing visible beyond them.

“Hey!” I heard the first call, closer than before.

I took a step back.

“Don’t move if you want to leave here alive.” The second call.

I considered it. If I raced in the direction of the woods, I wouldn’t make it far before they reach me. For one, they probably knew the area much better than I did.

It was obvious since I was the one who’d gotten lost.

“Who are you?” I shot out, then stopped.

For fuck’s sake, why was I asking the wrong questions?

“We’re supposed to be asking you that,” the voice answered. I could see him now. He was a feet away from me, the darkness behind him making him look so scary that I took an involuntary step back.

The fire was licking my chest, and I knew that in a few minutes, I would be on the floor, screaming. Maybe that would make them let me go.

When the man got much closer, I saw that he wasn't alone. There were others behind him, dressed in black armour, their eyes stern and their limbs quick.

The one who’d addressed me before looked like the leader. “Ma’am, who are you and how did you get in?”

"How did I… it is the fucking woods!"

He looked at me like I had suddenly grown horns, then his eyes went to the woods, and back at me.

“The veil,” he murmured, his voice mirroring the same stern expression in his eyes. “How did you do that?”

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. “Veil? What veil? What are you talking about?”

"If you're not going to say anything, I'm sorry, but we would have to bring you in."

He stepped aside, and the rest of the warriors charged forward, grabbing my arms and pulling me forward with them.

“No!” I yelled frantically, struggling against their iron-clad grips. “My grandmother…I need to get back home.”

“You are a spy, aren’t you? Who sent you?” I heard the leader’s voice again, but this time, it sounded far away, like a dull murmur somewhere in my brain.

The fire had overtaken every inch of me, and now, my body had gone rigid. The warriors suddenly stopped, flinching as they took their hands off me.

But I barely realized that as I fell to the floor in a ball, screaming at the top of my voice. It was everywhere, my bones, my bloodstream, my lungs. I could feel it licking every inch of my being.

Helplessness mocked me there, on the ground.

“What are you doing?” the leader bellowed. “Pick her up right this instant.”

“We can’t…” someone else stammered. “She…she is so … I can’t explain it.”

Someone came close to me and tried to pick me off the floor, but in one second, I heard a loud yelp as he pushed away from me.

And then a loud crunch.

"Call the Beta!" Someone screamed, but I couldn't follow their voice anymore as the darkness mixed with the flames, pulling me further into its arms until I was fully immersed in them.

The next time my eyes opened, I was propped up on a chair in a dark room, with a man sitting across me. His dark eyes scanned my features as he leaned against the headrest, waiting.

“Where am I?” I croaked, my throat so parched. “What happened? Where is my grandma?”

“Who sent you?”

“Not that again!”

“Which pack are you working for? Or are you a rogue?”

“Rogue? What does that even mean?” A splitting headache hit. I could still feel the fire. It wasn’t as overwhelming as before, but it was still there.

“You should stop playing this game if you want to live,” he drawled, wrapping his arms around his frame. The room was too dark, yet for some reason, I could make out his features.

He had cropped dark brown hair with visible streaks of gold underneath. And I could tell that he was tall, easily towering above me.

“I am not playing any game,” I sighed weakly. “I don’t even know where I am. I just want to get home. I have to take my drugs before…”

“What was that about?” he asked, a sudden interest in his voice. “From before. You were burning up and your skin…the warriors couldn’t even touch you.”

“That is why I have to take my pills,” I insisted. “I don’t want the fire to kill me. Please. Let me go home.”

“I’ll let you, the moment you tell me how you breached through the veil.”

"What veil?" I asked exasperatedly. It was the second time I had heard about it. "I was lost in the woods and then, I saw this huge….Wait. Are we in the stone building I saw in my dreams?"

The man rolled his eyes. He pulled his long frame up just as the chair scraped loudly on the floor.

“It should have killed you, but it didn’t. Why?”

“This is insane! You’re not making any sense.”

He nodded at someone behind me. "Let's take her to Alpha Kellan."