Chapter 4

I didn’t know how long I’d been running.

Branches whipped against my arms, roots caught my feet, and every breath came in short, sharp bursts. My legs burned. My lungs ached. But I kept going-because stopping meant dying.

The forest grew quieter with each desperate step I took, but my fear didn’t leave me. It clung to me, thick and choking, like the dried blood on my skin. Somewhere behind me, the sounds of fighting had faded. But their echoes still rang in my ears-growls, snarls, bones cracking. Screams.

I stumbled. Again. My knees hit the earth with a dull thud, and I tasted dirt in my mouth.

I couldn’t go any farther.

Every inch of me hurt. My palms were scraped raw. Something sharp had slashed my thigh-I didn’t remember when. My body felt too heavy to move, like it was made of stone. The pain was everywhere-sharp, throbbing, dragging me down into darkness.

I collapsed fully, face pressed against the damp earth, breath shallow. I couldn’t even cry anymore. All I could do was lie there and feel my body shutting down.

So this was it?

Abandoned. Forgotten. Left for dead like garbage.

No one came to rescue me. I expected to hear Jordan or Lucas's voice but I didn't. I expected to hear my name being called but all was silent.

My wolf-still silent, still asleep-didn’t stir. She didn’t even whimper. Maybe she’d given up too. Maybe she knew the truth I was too afraid to say out loud.

No one was coming for me.

I wasn't worth saving.

And somewhere, in the broken part of my heart, I accepted it. I was useless to everyone in my pack. It didn't matter if I was dead or alive.

My mind drifted as the edges of the world blurred. I saw flashes-of the rejection, of Derek’s face twisted with disgust, of my packmates laughing, of blood pooling in the grass. I remembered being five years old, sitting in a corner, begging not to be hit again. I remembered my mother’s voice, warm and sweet, before she disappeared. I remembered believing I’d one day matter.

But those were just lies I told myself to survive.

Everything went cold.

Then-footsteps.

Crunching against the forest floor. Heavy. Unhurried.

My breath caught. Was it an enemy? A predator? Another wolf ready to finish what the others hadn’t?

I didn’t have the strength to run. I couldn’t even lift my head. I expected the worse. I expected to be torn apart by the invaders but it didn't happen.

Something warm and steady moved beside me. A voice-deep, calm, unfamiliar-broke through the fog.

“Hey,” it said. “She’s still breathing.”

I flinched, trying to move away, but a hand gently pressed to my shoulder.

“You’re safe now. Don’t fight it.”

The last thing I saw before the dark swallowed me whole was a blur of silver and black-eyes like moonlight, watching me.