The tunnel emerged into a cave on the edge of the woods. As we came through the sensory overload hit - the acceptance of my wolf heightened my senses and caused me to come alive.
The wind didn't just brush past me; it carried a library of secrets. I could taste the ancient history of the pines and the sharp, ozone-soaked warning of the storm. I heard the erratic, terrified heartbeat of a mouse burying itself in the roots. Beneath that, the heavy, rhythmic thud of Finn's heart sounded like a war drum, steady and dangerously calm. The air tasted like information. Pine sap, damp decay, the metallic tang of ozone from the storm clouds gathering... and something else. Something sour and yellow. Fear. It was coming from Elias.
He paused suddenly, pulling a small, obsidian vial from his pocket.
"Here, apply this," I took the vial cautiously, staring deep into his eyes, causing him to cower and avert his gaze to the floor.
"What is it?" I demanded, that thick, dominant fog filling the air once again.
"This will mask the 'Silver-Aura' radiating from your blood. To Kaelin's trackers, you'll smell like nothing more than wet earth and old ash."
Finn's eyes flashed a dangerous gold. He didn't want me masked; he wanted me branded. He looked like he wanted to smash the vial, but he stepped back, his jaw tight enough to snap.
I uncorked the bottle, my senses filling with the overwhelming scent of nettle and ash. I looked over to Finn. His eyes filled with conflict. He growled, a low rumble that vibrated in my chest. He stepped between me and Elias.
"You're covering the only thing that proves she's alive." He snarled possessively.
"I'm covering the thing that will get her killed! If Kaelin's trackers catch a whiff of the Silver Blood, they won't just capture her, Finn. They'll skin her." Elias pleaded.
I looked at them both, then I looked at the vial. Survival was of the utmost. I cautiously dabbed the edge of the bottle against my neck on both sides.
Finn looked pained, his thoughts filling my head. You shouldn't be hiding your scent. You should be blending it with mine. I am your mate, you are under my protection and the world should know.
"I'm not your property to scent-mark, Finn. Not yet." I challenged him
Finn watched the dark liquid touch my skin with a look of pure, predatory offense. His nostrils flared, trying to chase the last wisps of my natural scent before the ash and nettles choked it out.
"It's a disguise, Finn," I whispered, capping the vial. "Not a permanent state."
He didn't look reassured. He looked like a starving man watching someone poison his only meal.
"Good choice, Alpha" Elias let out a breath I hadn't realised he had been holding.
We entered the woods as we headed towards what Finn explained was the Dead Zone - a neutral territory inhabited by rogues, which he explained were wolves without a pack.
The night wasn't dark anymore. It was a wash of silver and grey, sharp as a photograph. I could see the veins on a leaf fluttering ten feet above my head.
Every leaf that hit the ground sounded like a drumbeat. I could hear the dew sliding off a fern fifty yards away, and beneath it all, the heavy, rhythmic thud of Finn's heart - a bass line that my own pulse was desperately trying to match.
I couldn't shake Malakai's words from my mind. How many of your kin did he hunt before he found you?
"How many?" I suddenly demanded. Finn froze in his tracks. He turned to me, his eyes glowing a fiery gold.
"How many did you kill, Finn? How many 'kin' did you hunt for Kaelin before you found me?"
His gaze changed, the cold eyes of a killer glazed with deep regret.
"I did what I had to do to keep the rest of the pack alive. If that makes me a monster in your eyes, fine. But I'm the monster that's going to get you across the border," He replied bluntly.
I averted my gaze, staring at the ground. How could my so-called fated mate be a stone-cold killer?
Finn returned to his "Hound" persona, scouting for threats in the distance. Kaelin's army waiting to pounce. He was so focused he missed it.
I didn't just hear it, I felt it, the sharp twang of silver thread line being pulled taut. Finn was so focused on looking for other wolves he hadn't noticed the trap at his feet.
My body moved before my brain gave the order. I wasn't a girl anymore; I was a kinetic force. I slammed into Finn's chest, tackling two hundred pounds of cold-blooded warrior into the mud.
He stared at me shocked. "What the..." just as a silver wire dead fall net hissed through the air, landing exactly where he had just been standing. The leaves beneath it sizzled as the net burned them black.
I blushed as I suddenly realized I was straddling him in the mud. Heat rushed through me as his hands gripped my hips.
"That... is Black-Silver. It would have burned through my muscles in seconds," he gasped.
I glared down at him. "For a legendary Hound, you have terrible ears." I sneered.
He smirked then, despite the danger, realizing the position we were in, he raised his hips slightly and a bolt of white hot energy shot through my body as I felt him between my legs.
The contact was electric, a searing heat that threatened to melt my resolve even as the scent of the burning silver net hissed a warning in my ear. But now was not the time for this...
"I was distracted. The elixir smells terrible, but it can't hide the heat of you." His eyes bored into me, dark and passionate.