Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – The Forbidden Wolf

I was running through the Blackwood Forest of the Northern Territory.

Not for my life.

For hers.

Vanessa clung desperately to the thick white fur along my back as I tore through the storm-soaked woods. Mud splashed against my legs. Sharp stones ripped open my paws. Blood mixed with rainwater beneath me, but I did not slow down.

Because the tiny wolf trembling against me needed me alive.

“Hold on, sweetheart,” I whispered through our fading bond, though I knew fear had drowned out my voice.

Thunder exploded overhead.

The storm was growing stronger, but I barely noticed. My attention remained fixed on the shadows behind us—the crimson eyes, the snapping fangs, the relentless footsteps that had hunted us since we fled the manor.

Rogues.

Dozens of them.

My wolf snarled violently, begging me to turn and kill them all. Every instinct screamed for blood. But Vanessa was on my back, and I could not risk a single strike reaching her.

First I would save my daughter.

Then I would become a monster.

The rogue who entered the nursery… Vaughn must have killed him by now.

Didn't he?

“Vaughn?”

I reached for the mind link.

Silence.

Nothing.

As if the bond had been severed completely.

A sharp ache twisted through my chest, and my wolf whimpered.

Be safe, I prayed silently.

“Mommy!”

Vanessa’s frightened cry jolted me just as I leapt over a fallen trunk. My paw slipped on wet bark. The ground vanished beneath me.

We crashed down a steep embankment.

Pain exploded through my body as I rolled through mud and rock, but I twisted desperately to keep Vanessa above me. When we finally stopped, I forced myself upright, legs shaking.

Vanessa slid from my back, tears streaking her pale cheeks.

I pressed my muzzle gently against her hair.

“You’re safe,” I lied.

For the first time since we fled, the forest was quiet.

No growls.

No footsteps.

No crimson eyes.

Too quiet.

The silence felt wrong.

I stood protectively in front of Vanessa and looked around. The trees here were ancient, twisted into impossible shapes. Mist crawled across the ground. The air smelled of wet earth and something older.

Something forbidden.

I nudged Vanessa toward a hollow tree trunk large enough to hide her.

“Stay here. Don’t come out unless I call you.”

She nodded bravely, though her small hands trembled.

I moved deeper into the darkness.

Ahead, the forest narrowed into a black passage between towering rocks. Cold air flowed from within, carrying a scent that made my blood freeze.

Familiar.

Vicious.

Impossible.

A pair of glowing red eyes opened in the darkness.

Not like the others.

These eyes burned crimson at the edges, but molten gold flickered in their centers.

Predator.

Alpha.

Ancient.

My wolf stiffened.

I should have run.

Instead, I stepped forward.

“Diana.”

The voice echoed directly inside my mind.

I stopped breathing.

I had never heard that voice before, yet it wrapped around my soul like a forgotten memory.

“Finally,” it whispered. “I found you.”

My heart hammered painfully.

Who was this creature?

Why did it feel like I had known him for centuries?

“Diana!”

Vaughn’s voice suddenly tore through the mind link, raw with desperation.

“Run! He will kill you!”

The connection shattered again, leaving behind a burst of agony so sharp that I nearly collapsed.

Something was terribly wrong with Vaughn.

I turned, ready to return to Vanessa, but the shadow moved.

A massive black wolf exploded from the darkness.

I met him head-on.

My fangs sank deep into his shoulder.

A savage howl shook the forest.

The wolf slammed into me with terrifying force, throwing me across the ground. I rolled, regained my footing, and faced him again.

Then the surrounding darkness came alive.

Crimson eyes opened one after another among the trees.

Ten.

Twenty.

More.

We had been herded here.

The fight began.

I tore through the first rogue’s throat. Another lunged at my flank. Claws raked my side. I bit, twisted, and crushed bone between my jaws. Blood filled my mouth. Growls and screams echoed through the ravine.

But there were too many.

My strength faded with every strike.

A rogue’s fangs sank into my shoulder.

Another clawed my hind leg.

I stumbled.

The black wolf watched me from the center of the circle, golden-red eyes burning with something that looked disturbingly like sorrow.

Why wasn’t he killing me?

Why was he watching?

My vision blurred.

Just as I fell to one knee, an earth-shattering roar split the forest.

Vaughn.

His enormous black wolf crashed through the rogues like a storm unleashed, bodies flying beneath his claws. He reached me in seconds, standing protectively over me while blood poured from wounds covering his body.

But it was too late.

I could feel death spreading through me.

My legs gave way.

The world slowly dimmed.

Vanessa…

Mom couldn’t keep the promise.

Pain burned through my body as I lay beneath the Blood Moon, rain washing my blood into the dark earth. Vaughn’s wolf stood over me, still fighting the rogues that circled us like shadows.

Then I saw her.

“Elara?” I whispered.

My sister stepped from the trees, tears glistening on her cheeks. Relief flooded me for a heartbeat—until the scent reached me.

The rogues.

On her.

My heart stopped.

“You…” My voice broke.

Elara fell to her knees. “I didn’t know what they wanted from you, Diana. They only told me to watch you… to tell them where you went.”

The world seemed to tilt.

All this time, someone had known my every step.

Before I could speak again, the tall figure finally emerged from the darkness. Crimson eyes streaked with gold fixed on me with a strange, aching familiarity.

“Diana,” he murmured, “I havecome to get you.”

Vaughn’s furious roar shook the forest.

“Get away from her!”

The rogue did not move. Instead, he looked at me as though he had lost me once before.

“I failed to save you then,” he whispered. “I won’t fail again.”

Then?

A sharp pain exploded in my chest.

I looked down.

A silver arrow protruded from my heart.

Vaughn reached me in an instant, gathering me against him as blood spilled through his fingers.

“Stay with me,” he begged.

My vision blurred. The rogue’s face wavered in the rain, and for a fleeting second I saw another moon, another forest, another lifetime I could not remember.

Why was I being hunted?

Who was he?

And what had happened before this life began?

I touched Vaughn’s cheek weakly.

“If there is another life…” I whispered, “don't find me.”

His tears fell onto my face.

“No.”

The moon above turned black.

The bond between us shattered.

And with Vaughn’s broken howl echoing through the forest, darkness finally claimed me.

Flashback – Years Ago

The moon had been full that night.

Silver light poured across Blackwood Lake, turning the water into liquid stars. Cool wind danced through the trees, and laughter echoed along the shore.

Vaughn stood before me in his wolf form.

Huge.

Black fur gleaming beneath the moonlight.

Golden eyes fixed only on me.

He lowered his head until our foreheads touched.

Mine, he murmured through the bond.

And for the first time in my life, I had felt truly safe.