Why the fuck does everyone keep calling me that? I thought to myself.
Because it is who you are. The static insisted. It's time to wake up Selina. It's time to accept who, and what, we are.
I couldn't understand. I didn't have time to. The stranger stood at my door still, but I was sure it wouldn't be long before he was inside.
"Under the table if you are too weak to fight!" I told Elias. That air of superiority, that pressure in my voice, made him bow to my will, and he instantly hid. I don't know where it came from, but all I could focus on right now was the strange yet familiar man whose scent of cedar, rain and thunder was causing all kinds of conflicting emotions within me, who was apparently trying to kill me.
The door crashed open then. The safety chain didn't just break; it shattered, the metal links screaming as they were ripped from the frame by a force that wasn't human. The tall stranger burst into the room. I wasn't going to cower in a corner and wait for him to pounce. I lunged, my hunting knife held low. I was fast, but he was a blur. He didn't just dodge; he flowed around my blade like smoke, almost as if he knew where my knife was going to land.
I caught his cheek with my blade, a drop of blood hitting the floor as he swung round to try and counter, the smell of copper filling the air. I caught his gaze, his eyes, grey and cold, like a calculated killer. He tried to grab my wrist with the knife, but I ducked low and aimed it straight for the side of his chest.
He was too quick for me, he glided to the side and grabbed my other wrist. The moment his fingers locked around my wrist, a bolt of white-hot lightning erupted at the point of contact, searing through my skin and into my very soul. It wasn't pain. It was a roar of recognition. He slammed me against the wall, a grin spreading across his face as if he'd won.
His hand clamped around my throat, not crushing, but firm enough to remind me I was outmatched. I prepared to drive my blade into his ribs, but the moment our eyes met, the world vanished.
A bolt of lightning surged through my veins, melting the ice of the static into a roaring fire. My knife clattered onto the floorboards.
His eyes, once cold as a winter storm, bled into a terrifying, beautiful gold. The word Mate didn't just echo in the room; it vibrated in the marrow of my bones, a primal decree that silenced the static in my head.
He let out a low, vibrating, inhuman grumble that made heat pool in the depths of my stomach. As heat radiated between us and our scents fused together - cedar and pine, wind and rain, earth and water - the static didn't just go silent; it bowed.
It was humiliating.
This man, this 'Hound' who had broken into my sanctuary, was now a permanent fixture in my soul that I couldn't fathom. Every time he breathed, I felt it in my own lungs. It wasn't a gift - it was a tether, and he held the other end with a bloody hand.
"You... you're a Blackwood. But you're not a ghost," he said breathlessly.
"Get off me, you murderer!" I screamed. I tried to fight him off but the static was giving up the fight. It was almost like it wanted him to claim me. Well, I was not dying today!
The Hound didn't flinch. He leaned in until his scent - cedar and rain - overwhelmed the room.
"I am exactly what Kaelin made me, Little Alpha," he whispered. I shuddered as a spike of pity mixed with the hard hatred my mind was feeling, the hatred the static kept trying to deny me. "I've tracked, I've broken, and I've killed. If you want to survive the night, you'd better pray I'm better at killing than the monsters currently surrounding your house." He stepped backwards slightly, examining me from head to toe, his gaze softening into disbelief.
"I hadn't believed it was true," he almost whispered. "I thought the Silver Queen's heir was long gone." He let go and bowed his head.
I still could not understand why people kept bowing to me or why people kept insisting my mother was a Silver Queen.
"I don't know what the hell you are talking about," I spat. "Who the hell are you?"
"They call me The Hound but my name is Finn," he explained. "I have been the lead enforcer for the Blackwood Pack - run by Kaelin, since the death of your mother."
"My mother died when I was born!" I stated, although deep down something about that had never sat right with me.
"No. She sent you away to save you," he informed me. "Elias," he snarled, "Stop breathing so fucking loudly, or I swear to the Gods I will snap your neck."
"I have already tried to tell her," Elias crept out slowly from under the table, cowering slightly at The Hound's glare.
"I've been hunting a ghost... but you're flesh and blood. And you're mine." The Hound growled softly, a primal, guttural growl.
Elias gasped. "She's your fated mate?" He collapsed in a heap on the floor.
"I belong to no one!" I declared, but the static seemed to have other ideas. He just met me. How could he possibly know this? At the same time though, the way my body had reacted, the way the word had filled my mind... it was all just too much to handle right now.
To make things worse, my senses sharpened again. I could hear distant howls, gradually getting closer, five, maybe six heartbeats closing in. The scent of death, rot and oxidization overwhelmed my senses.
They're coming for us. The static informed me. It was right. I could smell them, I could feel them.
"Elias," the Hound turned to face him.
"Yes Finn.. I mean Sir..." he cowered at the Hound's feet. Or should I say Finn, as apparently that was his name.
"I was sent to capture or conquer the heir. Kaelin wants her head. We need to work together to get her out of here." he explained to Elias as if I wasn't in the room. Rage began to build inside me.
"I can look after myself thanks!" I snarled at them both. I lifted the sheepskin rug in front of the hearth to reveal a trap door. "I'm not waiting around for them. Are you coming?" I lifted the door and began to head down the steps.
"I was sent to capture you, but now I'm the only thing standing between you and a shallow grave. So yes. We're leaving," Finn declared, as if it was his idea in the first place. He followed me down the steps, Elias scurrying along just after, closing the door behind him.
I headed back up the steps to nail the door closed, then led the men down the small, dark, dug-out tunnel to my safe room where I stored my weapons and emergency supplies.
"Won't they find us?" Elias whimpered. God, he was such a wimp! I was going to get fed up with him pretty quickly.
"We're going to my safe room." I explained. "The doors only open one way - the first in, the second out. Once it's sealed from the inside, I'll rig the tunnel to collapse. Anyone who manages to follow us down will be trapped, and we will be long gone." I thought I'd never have to use this. I had never even been down here before. Aunt Karina had told me about it.
"If anything ever happens and you need to escape, go down to the tunnels. There is a safe room with supplies and only one way in and one way out." I had asked her why I would ever need it. Now I knew. It appeared she had been keeping my true identity a secret all my life. Everything she had taught me had led to this moment.
"So what now?" Finn asked. He placed his hand on my back to steady me, sending a jolt of pure heat straight to my core.
"We stock up and we leave. Once we are somewhere safe we will formulate a plan."
"You don't understand Alpha," Elias tried to explain. "As long as you are alive you will never be safe. Kaelin wants you dead!"
"Who the fuck is Kaelin?" I demanded. That thick assertive fog filled the air again, and it was almost as if Elias was forced to answer as he blurted out:
"Your mother's murderer."
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