Kira's POV
The bullet whizzed past my ear, so close I felt the heat burn my skin.
"There she is!" The hunter's voice boomed through the empty building. "The shadow freak!"
I pressed my bleeding shoulder against the cold concrete wall, trying to make myself smaller. My heart hammered so loud I was sure they could hear it. Three wild hunters had been chasing me for two days straight. I was tired, hungry, and running out of places to hide.
"Come out, little wolf," another shooter called in a sing-song voice. "We promise to make it quick."
Yeah, right. These men didn't make anything quick. They liked to play with their food first.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My shadow powers tingled under my skin, asking to be used. But using them always left me weak, and I needed to save my energy for running.
The building creaked as heavy boots moved closer. I had maybe thirty seconds before they found my hidden spot behind the old machinery. My mind raced through my choices. Fight three big men with silver weapons? Stupid. Try to beat them when I was already injured? Also stupid.
That left choice three - the one that always worked but came with a terrible price.
"Please don't make me do this," I whispered to myself.
But as a hunter turned the corner and pointed his gun straight at my head, I had no choice.
The shadows burst around me like black smoke. The warehouse filled with darkness so thick the seekers couldn't see their own hands. I heard them swearing and stumbling, crashing into metal pipes and boxes.
"Where did she go?"
"I can't see anything!"
"Spread out! She can't have gone far!"
While they fumbled in the dark, I slipped through the darkness like a ghost. My body felt cold and empty - using shadow magic always took something from me. But it was better than being dead.
I made it to a broken window and squeezed through, my shoulder screaming with pain. The hunters were still screaming behind me, but I was already running into the forest.
My legs shook with each step. Blood dripped from my shoulder onto the dead leaves. I needed to find somewhere safe to rest and clean my cuts before infection set in.
As I stumbled through the woods, memories crashed over me like waves. They always came after I used my skills, like the shadows brought the past with them.
"Kira, wait up!" Seven-year-old Mira laughed as she tried to keep up with my longer legs. "You're going too fast!"
"Come on, slowpoke," I called back. "The river is just ahead."
The Whispering River. The banned place Papa had warned us never to go. But I was eighteen and thought I knew everything. What could happen to an Alpha's daughter and her little sister on a lovely afternoon?
Everything, it turned out.
I shook my head hard, trying to push the thought away. But my father's voice followed me anyway, cold and broken at Mira's funeral.
"Why did she die but not you?"
Those seven words had destroyed my life. Papa looked at me like I was poison, like my very existence was an insult to Mira's memory. The pack started talking that I was cursed. That death followed me wherever I went.
Maybe they were right.
I found an abandoned cabin as the sun started to set. The door hung off its hinges, and animal bones covered the floor. Perfect. No one would look for me in a place that smelled like death.
I sat down heavily against the wall and lifted my shirt to check my shoulder wound. The bullet had scraped along my skin, leaving a deep cut but not hitting anything important. Lucky.
I tore strips from my already-torn shirt and wrapped the wound tight. The blood slowed to a trickle. I'd live to run another day.
"Ten years," I said out loud, my voice echoing in the empty house. "Ten years of running, hiding, surviving like an animal."
Ten years since I'd had a real bed, a hot meal, or someone who cared if I lived or died. Ten years since I'd been Kira Blackthorne, the Alpha's daughter. Now I was just another rogue, chased by everyone and wanted by no one.
I pulled a wrinkled photo from my pocket - the only thing I'd taken when I ran. Mira smiled up at me, gap-toothed and happy, her arms wrapped around my neck. She'd been so excited about our secret trip to the river.
If I could trade places with her, I would. In a moment.
A twig snapped outside the cabin.
I froze, hardly daring to breathe. Had the hunters found me already? I listened hard, trying to figure out how many there were.
But the sounds were wrong. Too light. Too careful.
Then I smelled it - a scent that made my blood turn to ice. Not human hunters this time.
Wolf.
And not just any wolf. This smell was powerful, dangerous, like lightning and dark storms. An Alpha.
The footsteps stopped right outside the cabin door.
"I know you're in there," a deep voice called softly. "Come out slowly. I don't want to hurt you."
My hands shook as I pressed myself harder against the wall. Alphas didn't make social calls to rogues. They came to kill or arrest. And this Alpha's voice held a power that made my wolf want to submit.
"I can smell your blood," the voice continued. "You're hurt. Let me help you."
Help me? What kind of Alpha helped rogues?
The kind who wanted something in return.
"I'm coming in," he warned.
The broken door creaked open, and a shadow filled the entry. I couldn't see his face in the darkness, but I felt his presence like pressure in the air. Strong. Dangerous. Ancient.
And then he stepped into the moonlight, and my world stopped spinning.
Silver eyes met mine across the cabin. Eyes I'd seen in my dreams but never dared hope to see in real life.
The mate bond hit me like a truck, stealing my breath and making my heart race for a totally different reason than fear.
No. This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not to me.
The most powerful Alpha in five areas stood in my doorway, and every cell in my body screamed that he was mine.
But as recognition flashed in his silver eyes, his face didn't fill with joy or relief.
It filled with something that looked an awful lot like fear.