EPISODE 4 — THE ALPHA WHO HUNTS SHADOWS
The forest swallowed me whole.
Cold air bit at my skin as I ran, not stopping, not slowing, not daring to look back. Branches whipped across my arms. The night vibrated with the echoes of Alpha Ronin's order:
"Kill him. Kill the god-wolf before he destroys us all."
My lungs burned, but I kept running.
I didn't know how far I'd gone until the pack territory lights vanished behind the trees and the moon sat directly above me, watching silently like it already knew what I was becoming.
The voice inside me—
my monster, my second soul, whatever I was—
It stayed quiet. Too quiet.
I reached a clearing and sank to my knees, gripping the earth as tremors tore through my body.
My bones still hummed with leftover power.
My muscles ached from the half-shift.
My mind spun with Seren's face—the fear in her eyes.
She didn't even scream.
She just stared at me like I was something ancient. Dangerous. Impossible.
Maybe she was right.
I buried my face in my hands.
What am I?
What exactly had taken over?
A wolf?
A demon?
A god?
The prophecy Alpha Ronin shouted…
The two-souled wolf.
The one born of moonlight and death.
The child the spirits abandoned.
I didn't know if any of that was true.
But I knew one thing:
Nothing about me was normal.
Not my strength.
Not my speed.
Not the shadows that moved when I breathed.
The wind shifted.
My head snapped up.
A scent swept across the clearing—sharp, metallic, mixed with pine.
Not hostile… yet not friendly.
Someone was here.
I scrambled to my feet, muscles tensed, every sense alert.
A figure stepped from between the trees.
Slow. Calm. Measured.
Tall, broad-shouldered, dressed in dark leathers that looked nothing like my pack's uniforms.
His hair fell in long black waves over shoulders lined with scars.
His eyes glowed—not gold like an Alpha's, not blue like a warrior's, but a strange, ancient silver.
He wasn't from my pack.
He wasn't even from a nearby one.
When he looked at me, the forest fell silent.
"Found you," he murmured.
I took a step back. "Who are you?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he examined me like I was something he'd been searching for all his life.
His voice was low, calm, unsettlingly sure.
"You shifted incorrectly."
My heart slammed. "Incorrectly?"
"You weren't supposed to shift like a wolf."
He tilted his head slightly.
"You shifted like a relic."
A… relic?
"What does that even mean?" I demanded.
He stepped closer, his presence pressing against the air like a heavy weight.
"You're not just a werewolf, boy."
His eyes glowed brighter.
"You're something older."
Shadows curled at the edges of my vision.
I clenched my fists. "If you know something about me, say it."
"Oh, I know a lot about you."
He stopped one arm's length away.
"Ash, son of no name. The boy who never belonged. The cursed one. The god-marked wolf."
So he knew the prophecy too.
But he wasn't looking at me with fear…
He was looking at me with recognition.
Like he understood what I was.
"Alpha Ronin sent warriors to kill me," I said quietly. "If you're one of them, you're wasting your time."
He actually smiled.
A cold, unsettling smile.
"I don't kill relics."
My throat tightened. "Stop calling me that."
"I will," he said, "when you accept what you are."
My voice cracked. "And what's that?"
He stared deep into my eyes, and when he spoke, the forest itself seemed to lean in.
"You are the wolf the Moon tried to erase."
My breath stuttered.
Erase?
"You're lying."
"If I were lying," he said gently, "the shadows wouldn't respond to you."
I froze.
He lifted a hand slowly—as if giving me time to run, to fight, to deny—and pointed behind me.
I turned.
My shadow… was moving.
Not matching my stance.
Not following my shape.
It lifted its head.
Its eyes—silver like mine—blinked once.
I stumbled back so hard I hit a tree.
"No— no, that's not possible—"
The stranger didn't flinch.
"You were born with two souls," he said softly.
"One wolf. One… something else. Something divine."
My shadow tilted its head the same way the man had earlier.
The exact same motion.
The stranger continued:
"That second soul woke tonight. And once a relic awakens, it can never be pushed back."
I pressed a hand to my stomach as fear baked molten in my bloodstream.
The man stepped closer, lowering his voice.
"Your pack will never accept you. They cannot. You're a threat to their laws, their power, their Alpha."
"I didn't do anything wrong," I whispered.
"Your existence is wrong to them."
His words hit like claws to the chest.
My shadow shifted again—this time curling protectively around my feet like smoke.
The stranger's expression softened, just barely.
"I am not your enemy," he said.
"If I wanted you dead, I would have taken your head before you noticed me."
I didn't want to believe him.
But the truth was—I couldn't hear any lies in his heartbeat.
"What do you want?" I asked.
He looked upward at the moon.
"To take you somewhere safe. Somewhere you can learn what you are. Somewhere where no Alpha decrees your death."
I swallowed hard.
"Why would you help me?"
He met my gaze, silver eyes glowing like forgotten stars.
"Because once… a relic saved my life."
His voice tightened.
"And this is the last thing I can do to repay that debt."
The forest rustled.
And suddenly, three scents cut through the air—fast, furious, approaching.
Ronin's warriors.
The stranger's jaw tightened.
"They found you quicker than I expected."
I heard the distant thundering of paws and boots.
He reached out a hand.
"Come with me if you want to live."
Shadows curled around his feet like they obeyed him too.
My chest pounded.
This man was dangerous.
Strange.
Too calm to be trusted.
But Ronin's warriors would be here in less than a minute.
If they caught me, they would kill me.
No trial. No mercy.
I looked at the stranger's outstretched hand.
And the darkness inside me whispered:
"Yes."
So I placed my hand in his.
His fingers closed around mine—strong, steady, unshaking.
"Good choice," he murmured.
"Now run."
He pulled me with him, and the forest swallowed us as the night exploded with the howls of wolves hunting me down.