Into the Wolf's Den
Most prey would run away from the predator. I wasn’t most prey. The golden wolf’s presence still hummed in the distance behind me, the silver-eyed bastard’s howl cutting closer from the west, and yet my feet turned toward the one who’d been watching me from the dark. The one who didn’t chase.
Black eyes. Shadow thing. The one who waited.
The forest ahead seemed to lean in, the air cooling with every step I took toward him. My pulse pounded, not from fear, but from the sharp, electric thrill of making the first move.
Branches caught my arms as I pushed forward, snagging on my hair, tearing at my skin. I didn’t slow. My knife stayed in my right hand, blade angled down, ready. The ground shifted under my feet, from pine needles to damp soil to the crunch of fallen leaves.
I knew exactly when he decided to let me see him.
One moment, there was only shadow. Next, he stepped into a thin shaft of moonlight, his frame filling the space between two pines like he owned the forest itself. Tall. Broader than any of the others. Dark hair falling in uneven layers around a face too sharp to be called handsome, too arresting to be ignored. And those eyes, black, bottomless, swallowing the light.
The shadow at his feet moved when he did, curling forward like smoke.
“You came to me,” he said, voice low and rough enough to scrape along my skin.
I smirked. “Don’t flatter yourself. I’m just not in the mood to be herded like cattle tonight.”
His head tilted, assessing me like I was something to be measured before eaten. “You think running toward the danger makes you less prey?”
“I think it makes me the bigger threat.”
His mouth curved, barely, but it was enough to make the shadow at his feet twitch, stretching toward me like it could taste my heat from here.
“You’ve got a mouth,” he said. “Let’s see if you can back it up.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” I purred, stepping closer, “I don’t just back it up. I bury it in the dirt and make sure it stays there.”
We circled each other slowly, like predators deciding who got to claim the territory. The moonlight caught on the edge of my knife, throwing sharp glints between us.
His black eyes never left mine. “You’re not afraid.”
“Should I be?” I arched a brow.
“Most would be on their knees by now.”
“Sorry, big guy,” I said, lips curling. “I’m not built for kneeling.”
Something flickered in his expression, amusement? interest maybe? but before I could pin it down, a sharp rustle to my left drew my attention.
Silver eyes stepped into view, his smirk infuriatingly confident. “You’ve been keeping her to yourself,” he called to black eyes.
And from the other side of the clearing, the golden wolf emerged, lazy and lethal, eyes gleaming with heat. “Didn’t seem like you were making progress, so I thought I’d help.”
My stomach sank, not from fear, but from the realization that the net had closed completely.
And then the sound of heavy footfalls came from directly behind me.
I didn’t need to look to know the fourth was there, the massive shadow that fell over me spoke loud enough. His presence was heavier, wilder, and the growl that rumbled out of his chest made the others tense.
Four alphas. Four sets of glowing eyes fixed on me.
Every muscle in my body was screaming for an exit. But there was no gap, no opening , until something in me shifted.
It started as a prickle over my skin, like static in the air before a storm. The edges of the world seemed to blur, colors dimming except for the deep greens and browns of the forest around me. My breath slowed. My heart didn’t race, it matched the rhythm of the trees swaying above.
And then… I vanished. Or at least, I blended. My skin, my clothes, even the gleam of my hair shimmered and took on the tones of the forest, like I’d been painted into it.
The moment their eyes widened in confusion and they broke the circle, I moved.
A leap to the nearest tree trunk, my fingers catching the bark, my body hauling itself up with a grace I didn’t know I had. From there, I grabbed the nearest branch, swung upward, and kept going until I hit the canopy.
Leaves and shadows wrapped around me like a cloak. The world below disappeared into darkness as I ran along the thick branches, each step sure and silent. My body knew how to move up here, balance perfect, every leap calculated.
Below, four snarls broke the stillness, low and furious. I glanced down once, catching the glow of their eyes tracking me through the branches. One of them cursed under his breath. Another growled my name, the name I shouldn’t know.
Ryanna. I grinned to myself and didn’t stop running. That must be my name. I'm going with it. Sounds pretty.
The canopy embraced me like it had been waiting.
Up here, the air was different, cooler, cleaner, threaded with the scent of sap and moss. The moon spilled silver over the leaves, dappling my skin in shifting light as I leapt from branch to branch. My feet landed without a sound, my body moving with a precision I didn’t remember earning.
I didn’t look down. I didn’t need to. I could hear them.
Black eyes’ snarl was a low, rolling thunder beneath the crackle of leaves. Silver eyes let out another howl, sharper this time, the frustration in it making me grin. The golden wolf cursed again, the word snapping through the trees like a thrown knife. And the fourth, he said nothing, but I felt him. His gaze clung to me even as I moved further away, like an invisible thread pulling taut between us.
The distance grew with every leap. The sounds of their pursuit faded, replaced by the steady rhythm of my own breath and the whisper of leaves sliding past my skin.
And gods, it felt good. For the first time since waking in this hunt nightmare, I wasn’t running blindly. I was in control. I was above them, faster than them, untouchable. My blood thrummed with it, the thrill of being the one they couldn’t catch.
A flash of movement caught my eye, an owl launching from a nearby branch, its wings slicing through the air in perfect silence. My body matched its rhythm without thought, leaping in time with its glide, moving with the forest instead of against it.
It was almost too easy to forget they were still hunting me. Almost.
I pushed harder, putting even more distance between us, until their sounds were gone entirely. The forest grew quiet again, the kind of quiet that made your instincts twitch. But this time, I didn’t feel like prey listening for a predator.
I felt like the predator.
Somewhere far behind, a deep, unison growl rolled through the trees. All four voices, blending into one sound.
I didn’t know whether it was a promise, a warning, or a threat.
But I knew they were pissed.
And I knew I was winning.