The Hunt Begins

The silver light pulsing below Selene’s skin faded into a seething murmur. Rowan looked at her with the wary equanimity of a wolf sizing up a rogue wind, while Agnes—ever the hard-nosed realist—set about collecting herbs and other provisions.

“You’re sure about this?” Rowan’s voice was steady, but something in his look wavered with doubt.

Selene locked eyes with him, determination rising in her. “I have to be.”

And she flexed her fingers, still strange in the strength thrumming beneath her skin. It was like nothing she had ever experienced — a part of her but also something separate. Not just a wolf. Not just magic. Something more. The whispers had faded, but they remained — like distant echoes at the back of her mind, buzzing at the fringes of her awareness.

Something deep in her bones had broken, and she wasn’t sure if she could ever return to her former self.

More important — she wasn’t sure that she wanted to.

Agnes snapped her fingers, jolting Selene out of her thoughts. “Then that’s it, we don’t hang around anymore. If you are going to hunt down answers, you are going to need strength — and right now you have the power of a spirit wolf, and the control of a pup.”

Rowan smirked, arms folded. “That’s one way to describe it.”

Selene shot him a glare. “And what would you suggest? You seem to know so much about what’s going on with me.”

Rowan tipped his head, something unreadable in his gaze. “Not as much as I’d like,” he said. “But I do know one thing — you cannot rush this. Mountain, power like yours cannot lie. You don’t tame a wildfire, Selene. You teach yourself to burn — without burning out.”

Something in his words resonated with her, but before she could respond, a chill fissured through the air. The fine hairs on her arms bristled as an unnatural silence descended upon the forest.

A gut-deep wrongness slithered into the air, like the world was holding its breath.

Then, a sound — faint, but unmistakable.

A howl.

But not a rogue. Not a patrol.

Something else.

Rowan stiffened, his whole body becoming tense. His head turned sharply toward the window, his jaw clenching.

“That’s not one of ours,” he stated.

Selene’s instincts screamed, her muscles locking as the hum of magic beneath her skin surged to life. Her thoughts curled with the whispers again, like mist.

‘They come.’

‘The ones who watch.’

‘The ones who hunt.’

A shiver ran down her spine.

Agnes breathed sharply, her hand already out for something — a bundle of dried leaves, a small pouch of powder. “We need to move. Now.”

But before anyone could respond, the trees outside the clearing move.

Shadows stretched, stretched the shadows, unnaturally. And there was emotion in the air, thick and heavy and charged, something ancient. Then something stepped forth — a tall, hooded apparition clothed in midnight. Selene could sense their presence even from afar, like the air had tried to shrink away from their very existence.

Then another figure emerged.

And another.

Three. No—four.

All cloaked. All watching.

Beside her, Rowan tensed, his knuckles turning white where he gripped the hilt of a blade he secretly kept on him.

“They’re not rogues,” he said in a mutter. His voice dropped, laced with something dangerously close to fear. “They’re Hunters.”

Selene’s heart raced in her ears.

She had only heard of them in whispers — wolves who had turned their backs on their packs, their bonds, their own humanity in search of something more. Some claimed to be the Moon Goddess’s enforcers. Others said they were mere phantoms, a myth designed to terrify pups into compliance.

But as the leader pulled back their hood, exposing silver eyes that shined like Selene’s own, she knew it was much worse.

They weren’t ghosts.

They were real.

And they had come for her.

A Game of Prey and Predator

Rowan stepped forward slowly, angling his body between Selene and the approaching silhouettes. The casualness of his demeanor was a feint, and Selene caught the tension in his muscles and under his clothes, ready for a battle.

“I take it you didn’t come for a social visit,” he called out, voice frosty.

The leader threw their head back a bit, the silver glare on their irises brightening. Their face was oddly devoid of emotion, and when they spoke, their voice held an unnatural reverberation, as if several creatures spoke together.

“Selene Varrow,” they said. “You should not exist.”

The words chilled her to the bone.

“What?” she breathed.

The second figure strode forward, pulling down their hood to show razor-edged features and skin as white as the moon. Their eyes travelled over her like she was an enigma they wanted to solve.

“You’re an abomination,” said the pale one, the voice flat, lacking emotion. “The connection between wolf and spirit should have been cut long ago. And yet there you are — evidence of an anomaly that isn’t supposed to be.”

Selene balled her hands into fists. “An anomaly?” Anger rose in her chest, burning off the fear. “You don’t even know who I am.”

“We know enough,” the leader added. “Enough not to let you live.”

Rowan growled, moving fully in front of her now with muscles coiled like a predator about to pounce. “You will have to go through me first.”

The leader paid him little mind. “We intend to.”

The air erupted the instant the words were spoken.

The first Hunter lunged, faster than Selene had ever seen a wolf move—too fast. Rowan had little time to react, ripping a dagger from his belt as the Hunter bore down. They crashed into each other, with enough bone-crushing force that they both flew through the wooden railing on the porch.

Agnes didn't hesitate, flinging something into the firepit. A plume of black smoke shot into the sky, thick and acrid.

“Selene, run!” she ordered.

But Selene couldn’t move.

Because the other Hunter was now standing right in front of her, unnervingly still. Their eyes locked on hers, silver and silver.

“You hear them, don’t you?” they murmured.

Selene froze, her breath catching in her throat.

The whispers.

‘One of us.’

‘One of them.’

The Hunter extended a hand, fingers a breath from her skin. “You were meant to be ours.”

Magic surged through her veins, primal and instinctive, a violent pulse. It burned through her control, battling its way out.

The world splintered the moment the Hunter’s fingers touched her arm.

It detonated from within her like a collapsed star as Selene screamed. The Hunter flew backward and slammed into a tree so hard that it shook its branches. Rowan, during the fight, was knocked off balance. Agnes was barely able to hold her ground.

The rest of the Hunters hesitated, staring at Selene—not with hostility, not with vengeance.

But with something far worse.

Recognition.

The leader’s eyes narrowed. “So it’s true.”

Selene struggled to breathe through water, her vision swaying. The voices in her head grew loud. A silver glow came to her eyes, her flesh buzzing with power as it coursed through her unbidden.

“Selene,” Rowan’s voice cut through the fog. “Breathe.”

She drew in a shuddering breath, forcing her mind to focus.

The Hunters did not move. They stood there, watching her.

Waiting.

Then the leader spoke again.

“The hunt has begun.”

And then, they slipped into darkness leaving their promise.

A promise of pursuit. A promise of war.

And for the first time, Selene realized — Caden’s betrayal was only the start.

She wasn’t simply battling for her life.

She was standing up for the fate of something much bigger, much bigger.