I stood frozen, my feet rooted to the ground as the sight before me finally came into focus...a pack of red wolves charging straight at us.
Before I could even react, Alexander's hand clamped around mine and yanked me backward just as one wolf leapt into the exact spot where I had been standing. Instead of landing on me, it crashed into Alexander, slamming him to the ground and pinning him beneath its weight.
My relief was short-lived.
In the next second, two more wolves appeared in front of me, and then three others circled around, trapping me in the middle. Their bodies were drenched from the rain, their fur clinging to their ribs, but their eyes… their eyes burned a sharp, unnatural red.
My heart thundered painfully in my chest as I realized I was surrounded by predators.
I tried to call out to my wolf...tried to reach for that familiar warmth inside me but only silence answered. The same dead, empty silence that had haunted me for days. Panic clawed at my throat as I searched desperately for something, anything, to do.
I glanced toward Alexander, but before I could even take a step, one of the wolves lunged at me.
I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for the end.
For teeth.
For blood.
For pain.
But it never came.
"Run as fast as you can!" Alexander shouted.
I snapped my eyes open and saw him standing between me and the wolves. In the blink of an eye, he had already killed the ones that had surrounded me...bodies collapsed in the mud like broken shadows.
Turning, I realized the danger wasn't over.
More red wolves were already racing toward us, emerging from the trees like they had been waiting for this moment.
"I said run!" Alexander yelled again.
This time, I didn't hesitate.
I spun around and ran as fast as my legs would carry me.
I plunged into the woods, my breaths coming in sharp gasps as I fled. Behind me, I could hear the wolves' paws pounding against the ground in relentless pursuit, matching my frantic pace.
The forest swallowed me whole. Branches whipped against my face. Leaves slapped against my soaked skin. The deeper I ran, the darker it became, as if the trees themselves were closing in around me.
Rain began to fall harder, cold air biting into my skin like needles, but I didn't slow down. I couldn't. I knew something was still chasing me.
My clothes clung heavily to my body, soaked and weighed down, but fear kept pushing me forward.
My vision began to blur as the rain grew heavier. Water streamed down my face, stinging my eyes. I couldn't see the path clearly anymore, but there was no way I could stop running.
Not when the sound of paws was still behind me.
Not when the growls were getting closer.
My lungs burned. My chest ached. My throat felt raw from gasping.
Still, I ran.
Then my foot struck something hard.
My body lurched forward, my balance snapping, and before I could catch myself, I hit the muddy ground with a sickening thud. Pain shot through my ankle, sharp and immediate, and I cried out as my body slid through the wet earth.
I tried to push myself up.
But the moment I put weight on my leg, agony tore through me again and I collapsed back down with a strangled gasp.
My heart pounded violently as I forced myself to look up.
In less than a second, a pack of wolves surrounded me.
Their bodies formed a circle, cutting off every possible escape. Their eyes gleamed in the dark like burning coals, and their lips curled back to reveal long, gleaming teeth.
I froze, fear locking every muscle in my body.
This was it.
This was how I was going to die.
But before I could even fully surrender to the terror, the wolves suddenly dropped.
One by one.
Like puppets with their strings cut.
My breath caught in my throat.
Alexander stood in front of me.
He was soaked through, his hair plastered to his forehead, rain dripping from his jaw. His clothes clung tightly to his shoulders and chest, and even through the wet fabric I could see the hard lines of his muscles. He looked like something out of a nightmare himself...deadly, relentless, and impossibly fast, the same look he had back at my pack house, the difference was his eyes were not dark red but it was the same ocean blue eyes I was used to.
I had never been so relieved to see anyone in my life.
Tears welled in my eyes, hot and unstoppable.
He stretched his hand toward me, offering to pull me up.
I reached for him...
But before my fingers could touch his, a pack of wolves lunged at him from the shadows.
Alexander was thrown to the ground.
My scream caught in my throat.
My heart pounded so loudly I thought it might burst at any second.
A swarm of red wolves piled on top of him, snarling, biting, clawing. For a moment, I could barely see him beneath their bodies.
Then, with a violent surge of strength, Alexander threw them off.
But it didn't matter.
In less than a heartbeat, they surrounded him again.
It was as if the more we got rid of them, the more they multiplied.
As Alexander fought, I tried to crawl away, but my ankle screamed with every movement. The pain was blinding, sharp enough to make my vision spin.
And then I saw them.
Two red wolves lurking in the bushes.
They were bigger than the others.
Larger in size, broader in shoulders, their bodies lean and powerful even as the rain drenched them. Their wet fur made them look more haggard, more skeletal, but there was nothing weak about them.
Their eyes shone brighter than the rest.
Fear wrapped around my throat like a noose.
I tried to stand, forcing my body upward, but the pain in my ankle made me crumple back to the ground.
The wolves began to walk toward me slowly, like they were savoring it.
Like they knew I couldn't run.
My body grew cold with terror.
I began to drag myself backward through the mud, trying to get away even though I knew I wouldn't get far.
I glanced toward Alexander.
He was still occupied...still fighting off the wolves that swarmed him. Every time he struggled to break free, more came rushing in. I didn't even know where they were coming from anymore.
It felt endless.
Tears rolled down my cheeks as the thought hit me like a punch.
This is how I'm going to die.
One of the wolves lunged.
Its teeth sank into my leg.
I screamed.
The pain was immediate and vicious, like fire ripping through my flesh. My entire body jolted, and I clawed at the ground as the other wolf grabbed my shirt in its jaws and began to drag me through the mud.
"ALEXANDER!" I screamed.
Rain poured harder, cold and unforgiving, but I barely felt it. All I could feel was the agony in my leg and the burning scrape of the muddy ground against my skin as I was dragged.
The wolf's teeth sank deeper.
I couldn't fight back. I knew it was useless. If I struggled too hard, my leg might be torn off completely.
"Kate…" I whispered, calling for my wolf.
The pain became unbearable.
My voice broke as I repeated her name, weak and desperate.
And then...
Something answered.
Not silence.
Not emptiness.
Something.
A sudden surge of energy blasted through my body like lightning. It rushed into my veins, flooded my muscles, and snapped something awake inside me.
I gasped.
Strength returned to my limbs so fast it almost made me dizzy.
With everything I had, I shoved the wolf that was biting my leg. It stumbled back, snarling, and I grabbed the other one by its wet fur and threw it with a strength that didn't feel like mine.
It slammed into the bark of a tree with a sickening crack.
I blinked, shocked.
My breathing came hard and fast.
The pain in my leg didn't disappear completely, but it dulled, as if something inside me was holding it back. My nails tingled, and when I looked down, I saw they had grown longer and sharper.
I pushed myself up.
My ankle protested, but I forced myself to stand anyway.
The wolf that had bitten me lunged again.
I punched it in the face.
My fist connected with bone, and the wolf yelped, stumbling sideways.
The other wolf came at me next, slashing at my arm with its claws. Pain flared across my skin, and I winced, but I didn't fall.
Instead, I lashed out, dragging my nails across its face.
The wolf snarled and jerked back, blood mixing with rain.
For a brief second, I thought maybe...
Maybe I could actually fight.
But then more wolves appeared.
Too many.
My wolf wasn't strong enough to fight them all off.
And she wasn't strong enough to merge with me.
Not enough for me to transform.
A wolf snapped at my hand, teeth closing around my skin.
I screamed.
And in that same moment, Alexander appeared like a storm.
He tore the wolf away with brutal force, ripping it apart so quickly I barely had time to blink.
Blood splattered across my face.
Warm.
Sticky.
I raised my trembling hand and touched my cheek.
When I pulled my fingers away, they were red.
My breathing turned uneven as I stared at the blood, then at the chaos around me.
Alexander was fighting them off...blocking them from reaching me, cutting them down one after another. Wolves fell into the mud. The ground was slick with rain and gore. The air was thick with snarls and the metallic scent of blood.
My eyes burned with tears.
Everywhere was blood.
Everywhere was death.
And I…
I couldn't breathe.
Not for a reason I understood.
My chest tightened, my lungs refusing to expand properly. I pressed a hand to my chest, gasping, but the air wouldn't come.
Something was building inside me.
Hot.
Violent.
A pressure that made my skin feel too tight, like my body was trying to contain something it wasn't meant to hold.
Anger surged up my throat.
But was it anger?
It felt like something else.
Something blazing.
Something new.
Something that didn't belong to me but was waking up anyway.
I could feel it pushing against my ribs, against my bones, like fire trying to escape a cage.
I stumbled back.
My legs shook.
I opened my mouth, trying to call Alexander's name again, but no sound came out.
The pressure rose higher.
My vision swam.
Then, without warning, I screamed at the top of my lungs.
The sound tore out of me like it wasn't human.
And in that moment, a blazing fire consumed my body.
Heat exploded outward, so fierce I thought my skin would melt off. The rain around me hissed as it hit the air, turning to steam. My entire body felt like it was burning from the inside out.
The energy left me in a violent wave.
And as it did, my strength vanished.
My knees buckled.
I fell backward onto the muddy ground.
The sky above me was a blur of rain and darkness. My body lay there, trembling, my chest rising and falling in weak, shallow breaths.
Everything inside me burned.
Not just my skin.
Not just my muscles.
My blood.
My bones.
My soul.
I had never felt such pain in my life.
My eyelids fluttered.
I tried to keep them open.
Tried to fight.
But the darkness was heavier than my will.
And finally…
I gave in.
------
I gasped and suddenly opened my eyes.
I sat up so fast my head spun.
My breath came in sharp, panicked gulps as I looked around, disoriented.
The rain was gone.
The forest was quieter.
The air felt still, as if the world had paused.
"Elena." Alexander's voice.
I turned my head and saw him sitting beside me.
My eyes welled with tears all over again.
They spilled down my cheeks uncontrollably as I sucked in a shaky breath.
"Alex…" I whispered.
It was the first time I had ever called him that.
Alexander's eyes widened slightly, and he leaned closer, his hands rising to cup my face.
"What is it, Elena?" he asked, his voice low and tight with worry. "Are you in pain?"
I shook my head, but the tears wouldn't stop.
"I can't feel my wolf, Alexander," I choked out.
He was looking at me with a confused expression on his face, his brows drawn together.
"I know you can't feel your wolf, but..."
"No." I cut him off quickly, my voice breaking. "It's gone."
The words tasted like death.
My chest tightened again, but this time it wasn't because I couldn't breathe...it was because my heart felt like it was splitting apart.
"This time it's gone for real," I whispered, shaking my head helplessly. "And it's not coming back."