Chapter 4: Bloodmoon run
Thorns shredded my legs. Blind terror propelled me through the suffocating blackness of Bloodmoon Woods, the tracker collar around my throat vibrating, a death knell. Moonlight speared a clearing, a cruel spotlight revealing the chuckling creek, and him.
A mountain of muscle detached from the shadows beneath an ancient oak. His leer was a predator’s promise in the bloody light. “Well, well,” he rumbled, advancing with terrifying ease as I stumbled back into icy water. “Little runaway wolf.” His gaze, hot and possessive, scraped over my torn tunic. “Kael said no permanent damage” He lunged. “He didn’t say no fun.”
His weight crushed me, pine needles digging into my back. One hand pinned my wrists; the other gripped my tunic. The rip echoed in the stillness. Cold air hit exposed skin, followed by the searing heat of his foul breath, his cruel amusement. Revulsion choked me. Then his teeth sank into my shoulder. Pain exploded, but beneath it, deeper, a white-hot rage detonated.
My vision tunneled red. A feral scream tore from my throat. Agony ripped through my bones, a wet crack rang through the air as searing pain erupted in my hands as obsidian claws burst free. Primal instinct took over. My arm slashed upward, not away, but through.
At first, there was soft resistance, then a wet tear. Warmth sprayed my face, thick, metallic blood. His leer vanished into shock. A choked gurgle. He clutched his throat, arterial red spurting onto moonlit ferns, onto my skin. Everywhere was silent, except for my hammering heart.
Horror locked me in place. I stared at my claws, slick and black, dripping with life. The scent hit: sharp, terrifying copper mingling violently with the sudden, cloying sweetness of honeysuckle exploding from my pores. My siren scent. Unbound. Calling. Panic warred with terrifying, alien power thrumming in my veins. I’d killed. I’d changed.
A low, guttural growl vibrated through the clearing, primal and possessive, shaking the leaves. Not the dead man. From the woods behind me. I whipped around, claws trembling.
He emerged like an incarnate wrath. An alpha. Massive, radiating raw power that stole my breath. His eyes, burning stormy grey, locked onto mine. Time fractured. My heart stuttered, then slammed against my ribs. His gaze consumed me, the torn tunic, the blood, the corpse. A possessive snarl curled his lip. That single word, ripped from his chest, was a law carved in stone: “MINE!"
The world tilted violently. My legs dissolved. I was falling, drowning in honeysuckle and blood, the horror and power tearing me apart.
He moved like lightning. Arms like steel bands caught me, hauling me against a wall of heat and muscle. His touch was a shockwave that screamed electricity and safety, warring through my panic. His scent, pine, snow, pure, potent Alpha enveloped me, momentarily drowning the honeysuckle. His large hand closed firmly on my bare waist, pulling me flush against him. Heat bloomed where skin met skin.
"Look at me." His voice was a deep rumble, cutting through the terror. Commanding. Anchoring. "Breathe."
Trapped in that stormy grey gaze, I saw fury, yes, but beneath it, a terrifying, possessive intensity that sparked something forbidden low in my belly. His thumb brushed the skin above my leggings. Breathe. I sucked air, trembling not just with fear, but with his overwhelming presence.
Before I could think, two more figures materialized like ghosts. One stood near the corpse, tall, radiating chilling silence. His shadow fell over me, cooling me. Eyes like clear skies swept the scene, the body, me in the other Alpha’s arms, my exposed skin. His jaw clenched, muscle popping. When his gaze met mine, it wasn’t cold. It was a dark, smoldering intensity that promised something deep and dangerous. My breath hitched.
The other crouched near the blood. Pure, savage rage poured off him. A low, furious roar tore from his throat, vibrating the air. He didn’t look at me. He looked at the blood, my blood mingling with the hunter’s. With a movement too fast to follow, he dipped his fingers into the dark pool and brought them to his lips. He licked, slow, deliberate. When his eyes snapped to mine, amber fire, hungry and possessive, it felt like a brand. A continuous growl rumbled in his chest, primal and claiming.
The air crackled with power and violence. Something raw and magnetic pulled at my core. My unleashed scent thickened,honeysuckle and danger.
The Bond Ignited.
The grey-eyed Alpha’s arm tightened. A growl vibrated against my back. He looked from the blue-eyed Alpha’s icy possession to the amber-eyed one’s fiery hunger. His hand on my waist clenched. Then, the pressure around my neck vanished. The tracker collar shattered under a surge of his power, falling in twisted shards.
My scent exploded outward, unfettered. Waves of pure honeysuckle, laced with siren allure and fear, slammed into the three Alphas. The stormy-eyed Alpha groaned, his grip bruising. The blue-eyed Alpha’s icy control cracked; nostrils flared, a dark, hungry look flashing. The amber-eyed Alpha’s growl deepened into a possessive snarl, his gaze raking me with undisguised, feral lust.
He rose slowly, blood glistening on his lips, eyes never leaving mine. The storm-eyed Alpha took a deliberate step closer. Their voices, deep and resonant, filled the clearing, a terrifying harmony of possession: "Mine.."*
The word vibrated in the air, resonated in my bones, echoed in the sudden, desperate thrum of heat low in my belly. Three pairs of eyes, storm-grey, icy blue and burning amber held me captive. Fury, lust, undeniable claim radiated from them, weaving a net of raw desire and overwhelming power. I trembled at the center, skin hypersensitive, every point of contact with the storm-eyed Alpha sending sparks. The blue-eyed Alpha’s icy intensity, the amber-eyed one’s fiery hunger, they promised more. The air hummed with unspoken need, a dangerous, intoxicating tension threatening to consume me.
The overload, the kill, the shift, the power, the shattered collar, the suffocating aura of three Alphas, the violent surge of their combined, overwhelming attraction crashed down. My vision blurred. The grey-eyed Alpha’s solid presence was my only anchor.
Then, the amber-eyed Alpha whipped his head towards the treeline. His growl shifted to a fierce warning rumble. More people from other packs approached. The blue-eyed Alpha moved with lethal silence. A blur, then a sickening crack. He straightened, letting a second hunter’s body slump, neck snapped. His stormy eyes met mine over the fresh corpse. Cold fury, and that same dark, possessive heat.
"..." My voice died. I was fading fast, adrenaline crashing. The scent of honeysuckle suffocated. My strength was drained, leaving a terrifying emptiness. Cold seeped into my bones despite the furnace pressed against me.
The grey-eyed Alpha shifted. One arm held me tighter. His free hand snapped to his mouth. Fangs flashed. He bit savagely into his own wrist. Dark blood welled. Before I could recoil, he pressed the bleeding wound against my lips. The scent, potent Alpha blood, metallic filled my senses.
"Drink," he commanded, voice rough with urgency. His molten eyes held mine, fierce, unyielding. "Or you die."
The metallic tang flooded my mouth. I gagged, tried to turn, but his grip was iron. Then it hit me, warmth spread from my lips, flooding my chest. Strength, alien and potent, surged into my limbs. And then, a vicious, hungry pull low in my belly, deep, primal, igniting like wildfire. It wasn't just life. It was fire. It was a connection. A claim. The bond snapped taut.
Sealed.
The world spun violently. The last thing I registered was three intense gazes locked onto me, grey protectiveness, blue promise, amber hunger, a terrifying, intoxicating trinity. The scents of honeysuckle, blood, and Alpha warred with the warmth, strength, and that vicious, hungry pull as the impossible realization dawned.
Three….The thought echoed into darkness.
I was Mated to three, powerful and terrifying alphas.
Then, the clearing dissolved into blackness.