Chapter 1

Aria’s pov 

 “Catch her! We can't let her escape!” my feet begged for rest that I couldn't grant, the woods blurred past the corner of my eye with a blur of trees and thorns.

   Three days.

 That's how long these rogues had been chasing me, I was a lone wolf and a woman so creepers trying to take advantage of that wasn't novel to me. 

 But something was off, this relentless pursuit made no sense for rogues unless. My eyes widened by an inch as I came to a river with a broken bridge. 

 I was being targeted.

“There's nowhere left to run, b*tch,” one of them said between a growl of satisfaction it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand. 

 “Who sent you?!” I yelled turning away from the uncrossable river. 

 It was only for a moment, but I saw it. A hesitant pause that swept through all my pursuers, meaning I was right. Someone was after me. 

“Just be a good girl and surrender, we promise to be gentle,” one of them with several chips teeths said.

  I forced back my vomit, skin crawled looking from one dirty, disheveled male to another. 

  The sheer revulsion that gripped me and yanked away any hesitation about my next decision. I shifted curling up slightly as the very core of my anatomy reconstructed itself from a petite brunette to a medium size brown wolf. 

   “You think shifting gives you an edge? You're still outnumbered 5-1!” 

 I braced myself, they must really underestimate me to think that I hadn't figured that out. 

   While they were shifting to confront me, my paws carried me in the opposite direction straight for the river and I jumped right in.

   No matter how desperate they were to chase me, they wouldn't follow me into such a violent river. 

 I was right they rushed up to the point of the river bank they shifted back into their human forms with a shared look of frustration on all of their disgruntled faces.

  My body followed the aggressive currents of the river, until I came to a full head collision with a rock and lost consciousness. 

   I woke up to the feeling of wet lips pressed against mine and a cold touch on my stomach, dread shot through my entire body and forced me to sit upright immediately I was coughing out water. 

  A succession of gentle pats ushered the rest of the water out, “How are you feeling?” A deep masculine voice inquired while his palm remained on my back. Instinctively, I pulled away. I couldn't see his features clearly because of the dullness of the moon.

   But his body appeared built and broad, slightly lean and muscular, he came closer, his words weaved with concern. 

 Why is he concerned for a stranger? He's probably a pack wolf.

 No sensible rogue would risk their skin for another with nothing to gain.

 “You must be shocked, I found you by the river bank looks like you came from upstream,” 

  He must be after something, I won't respond.

  Jumping into the river was a crazy leap of faith on my part, but thankfully I survived–at least for another day. But there was no time to relax. Those rogues would be hot on my trail by now. I was soaked to the bone, and my legs wobbled as I stood.

 I almost collapsed, but he grabbed me and gently steadied me. 

Almost immediately I shrugged off his touch, and looked away from him.

 “Most people would have at least said thank you by now, why are you ignoring me?” 

  I didn't say anything, still accessing him. There was something off about him, I knew it.

 Whatever it was, I wasn't going to stick around to watch his facade fall. 

  However, I only managed to take one step forward as a cool breeze swept by and my whole body was shaken by shivers. I nearly collapsed again but this time I steadied myself against it.

   The strange man that had ‘rescued’ me was still hovered around, did he enjoy watching me struggle and suffer? 

   He approached me abruptly and grabbed my hand, my eyes spark with worry.

“Let me go right now!” 

 A frown appeared on his face, “So she speaks, I had assumed that you were a mute since you weren't even capable of thanking me for saving your life,”

 “Fine!” I hissed, “thank you for your grand generosity, now will you let me go?” 

“If I do you'll keep walking in those wet clothes and probably die of pneumonia before you get anywhere,” 

  I gritted my teeth, glaring down at his fingers encircling around my wrist.

 “Do you often harass any stranger you meet like this? If you were hoping that I will be so grateful that I would spread my legs then I'm afraid that I'll have to disappoint,” 

  “I'm not trying to sleep with you,” he said like he was running out of breath, “I just want to help you for the sake of it,” 

  He was lying, that I was sure of but not everything he had said was a complete lie. 

  The cold was getting worse, my teeth clattered against my will. Even if I tore off my clothes and shifted, my fur would still be soaking wet and I didn't have enough energy to shift anyways.

 Ugh, I couldn't let myself die here. 

 “Fine, I'll go with you, but if this turns out to be a trap –”

 “It's not,” He assured me, “Now let's get you out of those clothes,” 

“So the plan is for me to be a walking nude exhibition?” I quipped.

“No,” he said calmly like he already expected I'd say something like that, “I'll give you my shirt…” he said in the same breath that he used to take it off. 

  The moon might have been a little dull, but I didn't miss a detail of those washboard abs as they scrolled into view.

“When you're done gawking you can put this on,” He said, then threw the shirt in my face, I pulled it off when I was sure my reddened cheeks had relaxed and he'd already shifted.

 His wolf was larger than most I'd seen, with fur as black as the night sky exuding raw power, he lowered his back, indicating for me to climb on. I gripped his fur with my fingers as he began to run, he ran without rest, paws ripped through the soil until he suddenly paused, he took a slow cautious turn and that's when I heard it too.

 Someone had found us.