Chapter 6 – The Chase Begins

Ayla's POV

The forest was quieter that morning, as if everything in it had stilled to watch me leave.

I kept moving and ignored the feeling. I'd taken only the basics—the clothes on my back and the money I'd saved working shifts at the coffee shop. It wasn't much. But it would keep me going until I found somewhere safe to land.

At least the cold didn't bite the same way anymore. Not after last night. Not after Tala.

She was quiet this morning, which somehow made everything feel heavier. That worried me more than I wanted to admit.

The thought of the triplets kept looping through my mind—the bond, what it meant, what they'd do when they woke up and followed the trail I'd stupidly left straight to their doors. I needed to reach the boundary before any of that happened.

"You're loud," Tala muttered. "It's annoying."

"I didn't say anything," I thought back.

"You didn't have to," she said. "The same thought has been running laps in your head for the last ten minutes."

I exhaled and kept pushing through the snow.

"I shouldn't have gone there," I said.

"No," she replied. "That part was obvious the moment you did it."

"I didn't go inside," I said, stopping briefly.

"Mm," Tala hummed. "You just hovered outside their doors like a very committed stalker. Much better. Completely different thing."

My jaw tightened. "I wasn't—"

"You were," she cut in, unbothered. "You stopped. You stayed. That counts."

I looked away, irritation rising—but it didn't stick. Because she wasn't wrong. That pull last night hadn't been something I could just override. My body had moved before my mind could catch up, and I hadn't been able to stop it.

"I don't want them," I said. Too quickly. My chest gave a sharp, traitorous squeeze.

"Mm," Tala replied. "Very convincing. Say it again. Maybe it'll stick this time."

"I mean it," I thought sharply.

"Of course you do," she said. "Right now. In this exact moment. I can practically feel how much you don't want them."

"I hate them," I said, and that one came out with enough force that Tala actually paused.

The silence stretched for just a moment.

"They humiliated me," I added, the anger settling low and solid in my chest. "Over and over again. They made me feel like I was nothing."

Tala didn't have a snarky comeback for that one.

"I'm not going back," I said. "I'm not accepting this bond."

"Bold plan," she said finally.

"Why do you keep saying that?" I asked, frustration threading through the thought.

"Because you're trying to argue with something that doesn't care about your feelings," she said. "The bond isn't going to negotiate with you."

I shook my head and kept moving. "I can still try."

"Oh, absolutely," she said. "Fight fate. Very dramatic. I fully support it."

I was almost about to snap back at her when she cut through everything else entirely.

"They're coming."

I stopped dead.

My heart rate spiked immediately. "What? They're never up this early—"

"You walked up to all three of their doors last night," Tala said, sharper now. "And then you left your scent everywhere like a trail of breadcrumbs. What exactly did you think was going to happen? They'd send you a thank-you note?"

My stomach dropped. "How close?"

"Not yet," she said. "But you didn't exactly make this a challenge for them."

I turned and scanned the trees. Everything felt tighter suddenly—the space between the trunks, the distance to the boundary line, the gap between right now and the moment they caught up.

"I need to move faster," I said. "I need to reach the boundary before—"

"You need to think," Tala cut me off. "Running blindly is not a strategy."

My hands curled into fists at my sides. "They'll find me anyway."

"Probably," she said simply. "The question is whether you want to collapse into their arms out of exhaustion or make them actually work for it."

I hesitated.

"What's the difference?" I asked.

"Control," she said. "You can't stop them from following you. But you decide when they catch up."

That landed somewhere it was going to stay.

"You're not prey," she added, quieter now. "Stop moving like something that needs to be chased. It pulls instinct out of wolves, and trust me—you're not ready for what that looks like from them."

I swallowed. She was right, and I hated that she was right.

"I don't know how to do this," I muttered.

"Then improvise," Tala said. "You've kept yourself alive this long without anyone's help. Clearly you're not terrible at it."

A flash of memory tried to surface—fire and screaming and smoke. I pushed it back down before it could take hold. I didn't have the luxury of falling into it right now.

I straightened my spine and kept walking. Slower this time. More deliberate. The forest looked different when I paid attention to it—less like a trap, more like something I could move through on my own terms.

For a moment, I almost believed it.

"Stop," Tala said suddenly, her voice dropping.

I froze. "What? What's going on?"

"They're here," she whispered, as if sound could somehow travel through a bond and reach them.

"Already?" My breath caught.

"They move fast," she said. "And they're not wandering. They're tracking."

I stood still and felt it before I could scent them—their presence stretching through the trees like pressure building before a storm. I sensed something sharp and focused, which was entirely different from the careless and cruel way they had felt in the hallway.

"They've stopped playing," Tala said quietly.

A chill moved through me that had nothing to do with the cold. "They know it's me."

"They knew before they left the packhouse," she said. "You basically signed your name."

My pulse spiked. Every instinct I had screamed at me to run—to just go faster, don't stop, and don't look back.

I didn't move.

Tala's voice settled through me like something steady: You're not prey.

I pulled in a slow breath. Then another.

I lifted my chin.

"Well," Tala said. "Look at that. Character development."

I almost smiled. Almost. Tala's sharp wit was slowly growing on me—but the feeling pressing at my edges didn't ease.

They were close. I could feel it now—a pressure at the edge of my senses, three distinct points moving through the trees and not slowing down. Not even slightly.

They knew exactly where I was.

And this time, I wasn't going to run from it.

****