The frigid air burned Kimberly's lungs, but she didn't dare slow her pace. She had to get out, now. As she neared the perceived safety of the border, a hefty, guttural growl ripped through the silence behind her. It was a sound that promised violence.
She spun around, her heart hammering against her ribs. Three massive wolves emerged from the treeline, their lips peeled back over sharp teeth, snarling. The largest of them began to shift, bones cracking and reforming until a naked man stood before her, his expression one of arrogant authority. He made no attempt to cover himself.
"This is our territory, you know?" he spat, taking a step closer. "What do you want?"
Kimberly didn't answer. Her eyes, cold and calculating, scanned him—the set of his shoulders, the careless way he held himself. She saw it not as confidence, but as a weakness. He thought she was already caught.
As he half-turned to gesture toward a boundary marker, he gave her the one second she needed.
Every ounce of her exhaustion vanished, replaced by pure survival instinct. She didn't pounce; she erupted. In a blur of motion, she was on him. Her hands, already shifting to claws, found his throat. There was a terrible, wet tear, and the man's shocked gurgle was cut short as he collapsed.
The air exploded into chaos. The two remaining wolves lunged. Fur and fists flew. Teeth snapped where her neck had been a second before. She met them with a ferocity born of desperation, biting, slashing, taking a brutal punch to the head that made her vision swim.
Her survival was a question without an answer, lost in the whirlwind of snapping jaws and her own ragged breaths.
---
Earlier - At the Hospital
Tyler's gaze was locked on Doctor Mike, his body thrumming with restless energy. "Should I follow her?" he asked, his voice tight.
Mike ran a hand over his tired face. "You should. She's not in her right mind. She might run straight across hostile borders."
That was all the confirmation Tyler needed. He gave a sharp nod and bolted from the room, the door swinging shut behind him.
A moment later, it opened again. Isabella slipped inside, her face a perfect mask of concern. "Doctor Mike?" she called softly. "What is happening to the Alpha?" Her eyes, however, were busy scanning every monitor, every chart, hungry for information.
Mike sighed, his shoulders slumping under the weight of it all. "A lot, Bella. Most of it is… unfathomable." His mind raced. The pack was at its weakest. With both the Alpha and Luna gone, and now Tyler chasing after Kimberly, the chain of command was in tatters. If danger struck now, there was no one to lead the defense. 'A leader's absence leaves a void that chaos is all too eager to fill,' he thought bleakly.
"Mr. Mike, you look lost," Isabella said, her tone dripping with false sweetness. She needed him gone. "Why not get some air? I can sit with the Alpha."
The offer was a lifeline he was too weary to question. "Good thinking. I have other patients to check on," he conceded, moving toward the door. He paused for one last look at his unconscious leader, completely unaware of the viper he was leaving in his nest.
---
In the boundless, dark quiet, Abigail clung to the silence. Here, there was no pain, no rejection, no fear of the next cruel word or glance.
"I am finally free," she whispered, the words a balm on her soul.
"Free of what, my dear?" The voice echoed around her, neither male nor female, but ancient and knowing.
"Free from them. The world. I want to stay here, with you. It's peaceful." She had no desire to return to a life where she was a pawn for the rich and powerful.
"Why would you not wish to go back?" the voice asked, its tone implying it already knew the answer.
"They use people. They toy with happiness. They have everything and still they take," Abigail insisted, her bitterness a familiar ghost.
"You see the gilded cage, but not the trapped bird inside," the voice echoed, its tone shifting, becoming more direct. "They are slaves to their own power. The man who hurt you… he strikes out because he is weak. He cannot stand on his own. His whole world depends on the man beside him."
The voice paused, letting the insight hang in the void. "I do not wish for you to hide. I wish for you to change that fate. Their reign of sorrow ends when you decide to be the one who writes the story."
A cold dread washed over her. This wasn't salvation; it was recruitment. "No. I won't go back. Not under any circumstance."
"This is not a choice I can allow you to make," the voice replied, its warmth vanishing, replaced by an immutable will. "You are needed. Now… get her out of here."
---
Back in the forest, the snarls of the wolves were multiplying. Just as Kimberly felt a set of claws rake down her flank, a powerful, familiar wolf slammed into her attacker.
Tyler.
But his arrival was a temporary reprieve, not a salvation. Howls answered from the depths of the woods—backup was coming, and it was close. Together, they fought with a savage synergy, a dance of teeth and claws that left the snow stained red. When half their attackers lay still, Tyler met her eyes and gave a sharp yelp—Run!
They broke apart, each sprinting in a different direction to split the pursuit. Kimberly ran, her injuries screaming in protest with every step, the sound of the hunting pack never fading behind her.
Tyler led his group of pursuers on a desperate sprint, the landscape blurring. He pushed his speed to the absolute limit, the thunder of a great waterfall growing louder ahead. He burst through the final line of trees and saw it: the chasm over the falls, with the opposite cliff a sheer fifteen-foot leap away.
He didn't hesitate. Digging his claws into the earth for one last burst of speed, he launched himself into the air. Mid-leap, he forced his body to shift back to human, making himself lighter. He landed hard, skin scraping on the solid rock of the opposite cliff, gasping for air.
The wolves on the far side skidded to a halt at the precipice, howling their frustration. He was safe. He was also naked, alone, and miles from home in Silver Stone territory.
But his first thought wasn't for his own safety. He turned his gaze back into the dark forest from whence he came, his stomach clenching with a fear far colder than the air around him.
He could only pray that Kimberly had found her own escape.