#1 Running Toward Nothing

Ryanna POV

With no memories, no name, and one dangerously hot alpha in her way....

Branches whipped across my arms as I sprinted through the forest, and my breath was coming in sharp, burning gasps.

My lungs felt like they were trying to claw their way out of my ribcage. Sweat dripped down my spine, stinging every scratch and cut I’d collected.

I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know how I got here. I didn’t even know my damn name.

But I knew one thing with bone deep certainty...

If I stopped running, I died.

Four howls shattered the night behind me, one deep, one sharp, one wild, and one cold. The sound threaded together in a harmony that made my stomach twist.

Alphas. Four of them. And they weren’t hunting food. They were hunting me.

I pushed harder, dodging roots and fallen trees like I’d trained for this all my life. Maybe I had. My body moved like a weapon, precise and deadly, even when my brain was foggy as hell.

The forest thinned too fast. I skidded out into a clearing glowing with silver moonlight, and froze.

A man stepped out from the tree line ahead of me.

No. Not a man.

A predator in human skin.

His eyes were silver, bright enough to reflect the moon, and sharp enough to slice right through my breath. Blond hair hung in messy waves to his jaw, and was damp from the chase. His chest rose and fell slowly, too controlled for someone who’d just sprinted through the forest.

He looked like he’d been carved for battle.

And worse...he looked like he’d been carved specifically to ruin my life.

I lifted my knife. “Stay back.”

He raised his hands slightly, not in surrender, just showing me he didn’t need a weapon. “If I wanted to catch you, little fox, we wouldn’t be talking.”

“Fox?” I snapped. “Try that again and see what I carve off.”

His mouth curved. “Good. You’ve got some fire.”

“Fire is all I’ve got,” I shot back. “Who the hell are you?”

Something unreadable moved in his eyes. “Someone who got here first.”

“Great, gold star. Move.”

He didn’t.

“I’m not your enemy,” he said.

“Funny,” I muttered, backing up a step, “that’s exactly what an enemy would say.”

He exhaled once slowly. “You don’t smell like prey.”

I blinked. “Thanks? I guess?”

“You smell like magic.”

My stomach dropped. “I smell like sweat, dirt, and I’m pretty sure a pine tree tried to crawl up my ass.”

That time, the corner of his mouth definitely twitched. “Under that. Something else.”

“Well sniff somewhere else.”

He stepped closer. Too close. Every nerve in my body screamed predator, predator, run, but my feet stayed planted.

His voice dipped low and rough. “How long have you been awake?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“A simple one.”

I gripped my knife tighter. “I don’t know. Hours. Days. I don’t remember.”

His jaw flexed. “Someone erased you.”

“Yeah,” I snapped. “No shit.”

He scanned me slowly, not sexually, but strategically. Like he was assessing damage.

“You don’t even know your name.”

Ice slid down my spine. “How the hell would you know that?”

“Because you would’ve used it,” he said simply.

Something crackled in the air between us, dangerous, tense, and electric. A howl split the trees behind me. He went still.

“They’re close,” he muttered.

“No kidding.”

“Not them,” he corrected, his head tilting slightly. “The others.”

“The others?” I echoed.

“You’re not just being hunted by wolves.”

A vampire broke the treeline so fast I barely saw it.

Silver-eyes moved before I even gasped. One slash. One spray of blood.

One body hitting the ground headless.

I staggered back a step, my heart ricocheting off my ribs. “What..what the hell?!”

He wiped the blood off his arm with the back of his hand. “Your scent’s drawing more than wolves.”

“My scent is sweat and panic!”

He took a slow step toward me. “Your scent is power.”

My pulse jumped. Annoyingly.

He studied my face, his eyes scanning every inch of me like he was trying to piece a puzzle together. “You shouldn’t exist without a wolf. Not with instincts like yours. Not with speed like that. Not with magic in your veins.”

Magic.

The word sparked something deep in my chest. A memory? A warning? I didn’t know.

My hand shook. “Tell me what’s going on.”

His eyes flicked to the treeline. “Not here.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“That wasn’t a request.”

I scoffed. “I’m not one of your pack puppies...”

He stepped closer in a blur.

I stumbled back until my spine hit a tree trunk.

He braced a hand beside my head, not trapping me, just… there. His breath brushed my cheek, warm and intoxicating. His scent hit me hard, cedar, cold air, and something sharp like lightning.

“Listen to me,” he murmured. “The other alphas are closing in. They think you’re the prize of the Hunt.”

“Prize?” I hissed. “Hard pass.”

“You need to keep running.”

“I’ve been running.”

His gaze dragged down my form, lingering on my stance, the tremble in my legs, and the rise and fall of my chest.

“You won’t make it much longer.”

My jaw clenched. “Watch me.”

He actually looked impressed. “Stubborn.”

“Asshole.”

His low chuckle skidded across my skin like heat. I hated how good it sounded.

“Tell me your name,” he said.

“I told you, I don’t...”

“No,” he cut in gently, “tell me what you feel like your name is.”

My throat tightened. I opened my mouth...A howl shattered the clearing. Then another. Then another, deeper, colder, and hungrier.

Silver-eyes swore under his breath. “Fuck. They’re flanking.”

I spun, knife up. “Which way?!”

“All four directions,” he growled.

“Oh that’s just fantastic. Love that for me.”

His gaze snapped back to mine. “Run. Now.”

“I don’t take orders from men I don’t know...”

“Then take advice from someone who actually wants you alive.”

My heart slammed. “Why? Why do you care what happens to me?”

His answer was immediate.

“Because even memoryless and starving and half-dead…”

He stepped closer, his voice dropping to a low rumble.

“…you smell like destiny.”

Heat exploded across my cheeks. “Gross. No. I’m leaving.”

I shoved past him and bolted back into the trees before he could answer.

Behind me, I heard him snarl, frustrated, pissed, and too damn intrigued for my comfort.

His voice followed me into the shadows.

“Run if you want, little fox. But I’m not the only one coming for you.”

Branches tore at my arms again, but I didn’t slow.

I didn’t look back.

And I didn’t let myself wonder why his voice echoed louder in my chest than the howls chasing me.