Kael
"Damn you." The words ripped out of me before I even realized I was shouting. My voice echoed through the trees, carried on the cold night air like a warning. The body at my feet didn't answer, of course. The rogue was already dead, his throat torn open, blood steaming on the pine needles.
But I wasn't yelling at him. Not really.
"You had to come here," I growled, pacing in a tight circle. "You couldn't keep your muzzle out of my land, could you?" My hands shook as I wiped them on my jeans, though it wasn't disgust that churned in my stomach. It was something darker. The gnawing reminder that I hadn't been meant for this—scraps of solitude, endless fights with rogues like this one. I had been born for more.
Take him. Claim his territory. Build your pack.
The voice wasn't mine, but it was. My wolf, always pushing, always demanding. The beast inside me clawed at the walls I'd built, teeth bared in my mind. It wanted what I'd denied it: dominance. Power. A pack to kneel at our feet.
"No," I snarled out loud, as if saying it firmly enough would make it true. I shoved the rogue's carcass with my boot, rolling him onto his back. His glazed eyes stared at the stars. He'd been young. Desperate. Just another wolf looking for scraps of land, scraps of survival.
"Is this what you wanted?" My voice cracked as I argued with the ghost of a life I'd left behind. "More blood? More bodies at my feet? I won't play that game. Not again."
Coward.
The word stung sharper than claws. My wolf's judgment was brutal, but no harsher than my own. I could still hear them—my pack, the night they cast me out. Their voices had followed me into exile, into every hunt, into every lonely dawn. Outcast. Traitor. Weak.
I tilted my head back, staring at the fractured moon overhead, and let out a low, broken laugh. "Weak, huh? Tell that to him." I nudged the dead rogue again, but the bitterness in my chest didn't fade.
I was alive. He wasn't. That should have been victory enough. But it wasn't.
The wind shifted, carrying with it the faintest trace of something unfamiliar—warm, sharp, tinged with fear. My wolf went still inside me, every sense locked on that scent.
I froze. My gaze swept the dark line of trees beyond the clearing. Someone was out there. Close. And whoever they were, they didn't belong here.
"Perfect," I muttered under my breath, flexing my hands as the beast surged in anticipation. "Another damn problem."
The scent clung to the air, weaving through the pines like smoke, impossible to ignore. My wolf pressed hard against my skin, muscles tightening, breath deepening.
Go to her.
I clenched my jaw, grinding my teeth until my head ached. "No." My refusal came out as a growl, low and savage. I wasn't about to go chasing ghosts. Not when I'd just finished tearing down one problem. Whoever it was out there—human, wolf, or something in between—wasn't my concern.
But I didn't move. Couldn't.
The scent stirred something I hadn't felt in years, something I'd buried under layers of bitterness and rage. It was warm, alive, threaded with fear but pulsing with… sweetness. Omega.
I swore under my breath. Omegas didn't travel alone, not out here. They were too rare, too valuable. If she was unguarded, she was either foolish or desperate. And desperate wolves were dangerous.
The underbrush rustled. My head snapped toward the sound, instincts roaring to life. In one smooth motion, I crouched low, blood still thrumming from the fight, body ready to strike.
Then she stumbled into view.
For a heartbeat, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. She looked like she'd been carved from moonlight itself—wild dark hair plastered to her face, skin smeared with dirt and blood. Her eyes were wide, frantic, scanning the clearing until they landed on me. And when they did, her whole body froze.
The fear in her gaze was sharp, but beneath it—something else. Recognition.
"Stay back," she rasped, though her voice shook with exhaustion more than authority. Her hands were empty, trembling, but she raised them anyway as though she could hold me off with nothing but willpower.
My wolf snarled inside me. Mine.
The claim came fast, brutal, undeniable. It slammed into my chest like a fist, stealing my breath. I staggered back a step, shaking my head, furious at the surge of possessive heat flooding through me.
"No," I muttered again, though this time I wasn't sure who I was trying to convince—her, my wolf, or myself.
She swayed on her feet, knees buckling, and for a second I thought she'd collapse. Instinct propelled me forward, catching her before she hit the ground. She was lighter than she looked, fragile in my arms, and the moment my skin touched hers my wolf howled, clawing for control.
Her scent filled my lungs, drowning me, branding me.
"Let… me… go," she whispered, but the fight was already draining from her voice. Her lashes fluttered, eyes rolling back as darkness claimed her.
I lowered her carefully to the forest floor, my pulse a hammer in my ears. My hands wouldn't stop trembling.
A rogue corpse cooling behind me. A strange omega unconscious in my arms. And a bond I didn't ask for, didn't want, sinking its teeth into my soul.
"Perfect," I growled again, though this time the word rang hollow. "Just what I needed."
I crouched over her, heart hammering like I'd just run for miles. She was out cold, lips parted, chest rising and falling with shallow breaths. Every ragged inhale pulled more of her scent into me, tangling it around my ribs until I felt strangled by it.
Omega. No doubt about it.
I ran a hand over my face, digging my fingers into my scalp until it hurt. "No, no, no." The words came out harsh, like spitting out poison. This was the last thing I needed.
"Get up," I muttered, giving her arm a shake, but she didn't stir. Her skin was too warm under my hand, her pulse fluttering too fast. Whoever had been chasing her hadn't gone easy.
Take her back. Protect her.
My wolf's demand rattled through me, primal and absolute. I bared my teeth at the emptiness around us. "I said no. She's not my problem."
But even as I said it, I knew I was lying. I'd been lying to myself since the moment her eyes locked on mine.
I pushed to my feet, pacing the edge of the clearing like a caged animal. My wolf tracked every movement, growling low in my skull. It wanted her close. Wanted her safe. Wanted her claimed.
I clenched my fists. "I don't claim anyone." The words echoed through the forest, brittle and bitter. That right had been ripped away from me the night they cast me out. No pack. No bonds. No mate. That was the law of exile.
So why the hell did the universe see fit to shove her across my path?
A twig snapped in the distance. My head whipped toward the sound, instincts on fire. The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up. We weren't alone.
I dropped to a crouch, scanning the tree line. Shadows shifted, too fast, too silent to belong to anything human. Wolves. More of them. The scent of iron and bloodlust rolled on the wind, bitter and unmistakable.
Rogues.
They'd followed her.
A low snarl tore from my chest before I realized it, my wolf surging to the surface with lethal intent. This was no longer about choice. Leaving her meant leaving her to be torn apart.
And I couldn't.
Cursing under my breath, I scooped her back into my arms, holding her against me as I backed toward the thicker trees. She was feather-light but heavy in ways that mattered. A weight I had sworn I'd never carry again.
"Just for tonight," I muttered to no one but myself. "I'll keep you alive tonight."
The underbrush crackled. Glowing eyes blinked from the darkness, one pair, then two, then more, surrounding the clearing.
My wolf bared its teeth inside me, eager for the fight.
So much for a quiet exile.
The forest exploded with motion. Shadows lunged from the treeline, snarling, teeth glinting in the fractured moonlight.
I shifted before the first rogue hit the ground. Bones cracked, muscles tore, and fire seared through my veins as the beast ripped free. Claws burst from my hands, fur bristling across my skin, vision sharpening until every leaf, every drop of blood in the air, burned in perfect detail.
I landed on four paws with Elara clutched protectively against my chest, and my wolf roared.
They came at me in a pack—five, maybe six, it didn't matter. The first went down under my jaws, his throat splitting open with one savage shake. Blood sprayed hot against my tongue. Another leapt, claws outstretched, and I twisted midair, raking him down his belly before slamming him into the dirt.
Elara stirred against me, a soft sound escaping her throat. My chest clenched even as I tore through the rogues. I couldn't fight at full strength while protecting her, and they knew it.
One darted in from the side, faster than the rest. His teeth grazed my flank before I slammed him into a tree, the crack of bone echoing through the clearing. Pain lanced down my side, hot and wet, but I refused to loosen my grip on her.
"Stay with me," I snarled through the bond, though she was barely conscious enough to hear.
The others circled, snapping, waiting for an opening. My lungs burned, my wolf snarled, but for every body I dropped, two more seemed to rise from the dark. This wasn't just a random attack. They were hunting her. Hunting us.
My back hit the edge of a fallen log, trapping me in. Elara whimpered softly in my arms, and the sound gutted me.
Then—silence.
The rogues froze, ears pinned, eyes darting to the shadows beyond us. The hair on my neck stood up. A heavier scent rolled in, cutting through the stench of blood. Dominant. Familiar.
I whipped my head toward the tree line.
And there he was.
Darius.
The alpha who'd exiled me.
He stood at the edge of the clearing, tall and unflinching, golden eyes burning like fire through the darkness. His lips curved into a slow, cruel smile.
"Well, well," he drawled, voice carrying like thunder. "Looks like the outcast found himself a prize."
My wolf lunged at the sound of his voice, fury detonating inside me.
And all I could think, with Elara trembling in my arms, was that my exile was over.