Something in the Dark

The sound of snapping branches came again.

Closer.

My breath caught in my throat as I turned toward the trees. The forest that had felt peaceful only minutes ago now seemed alive with movement. Shadows stretched longer beneath the moonlight, shifting between the trunks like something breathing just beyond sight.

Kael stood perfectly still beside me.

But the air around him had changed.

Moments ago he had been calm, almost relaxed despite the injury along his side. Now every line of his body had sharpened. His shoulders straightened, his gaze cutting through the darkness like a blade.

Predator.

That was the only word that came to mind.

“What is it?” I whispered.

Kael didn’t answer immediately.

Another howl tore through the night.

This one was deeper, distorted somehow, like a wolf’s cry twisted by something unnatural.

My stomach tightened.

Kael exhaled slowly.

“Rogues,” he said.

The word alone made fear crawl down my spine.

Every pack had wolves who had lost their bonds to a pack or had been exiled. Some went mad without the structure of an Alpha. Others became predators who lived only for violence.

But the sound we heard now didn’t sound like ordinary rogues.

There was something wrong with it.

“How many?” I asked quietly.

Kael tilted his head slightly, listening.

“Three,” he said.

My heart nearly stopped.

Three rogues against an injured Alpha and a wolfless omega.

I took an instinctive step backward.

“You should go,” I said quickly. “I’ll slow them down.”

Kael turned his head slowly, his silver eyes locking onto mine as if I had just said the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard.

“You?” he repeated.

Heat rushed to my face.

“I know I’m not strong,” I said defensively, “but if they focus on me, you could”

“You’re not dying tonight.”

His voice cut through the air like steel.

The certainty in it made my chest tighten.

“You don’t understand,” I insisted. “They’ll kill me anyway if they catch me.”

Kael stepped forward suddenly.

The movement was so quick I barely saw it.

One second he was standing near the tree.

The next he was directly in front of me.

His towering frame blocked my view of the forest.

“They will not touch you,” he said quietly.

Something in his tone made my pulse skip.

It wasn’t arrogance.

It was a promise.

Another crack echoed through the trees.

A low growl rolled through the darkness.

Kael’s expression hardened.

“Stay behind me,” he ordered.

Before I could respond, his body shifted slightly, his shoulders rolling as though preparing for something.

The forest went silent again.

Then three shapes emerged from the shadows.

They were wolves.

But not like any wolves I had ever seen.

Their fur was patchy and dark with dirt. Their eyes glowed a sickly yellow under the moonlight. Their bodies were larger than normal wolves but thinner somehow, ribs pressing sharply beneath their skin.

Madness burned in their gazes.

One of them snarled, baring bloodstained teeth.

I felt my legs go weak.

Kael stepped forward.

He didn’t shift.

He didn’t even raise his voice.

But something about him changed.

The pressure in the air suddenly doubled.

It slammed into the rogues like an invisible wall.

Alpha dominance.

I even felt it.

The rogues hesitated.

Their snarls faltered slightly as Kael’s aura spread across the clearing like wildfire.

“You’ve crossed the wrong border,” Kael said calmly.

The largest rogue snarled louder and lunged.

Everything happened too fast for my eyes to follow.

Kael moved like lightning.

One moment the rogue was mid-leap.

The next Kael’s fist crashed into its skull with brutal precision.

The wolf hit the ground with a sickening thud.

The other. two attacked immediately.

Kael finally shifted.

The transformation exploded through the clearing.

Bone cracked.

Muscle expanded.

Dark fur erupted across massive limbs.

Within seconds the man standing before me was gone.

In his place stood the largest wolf I had ever seen.

Black as midnight.

His glowing silver eyes locked onto the remaining rogues.

And suddenly I understood why every pack feared the Alpha King.

Because Kael Blackthorn wasn’t just powerful.

He was terrifying.

The rogues lunged together.

Kael met them head-on.

The forest erupted into violence.

Teeth clashed.

Bodies slammed into trees.

Growls shook the ground beneath my feet.

I stumbled backward, my heart racing wildly.

One rogue crashed into the ground near me, rolling before scrambling back up.

Its glowing eyes locked onto mine.

And suddenly…

It charged straight at me.