Into the Wild
978 Words
The cold crept into Ariana’s bones like smoke.
She wasn’t sure how far she had run after Kael left her at the riverbank, promising to return with something to treat her wounds. He’d told her to stay put, to rest.
But rest was impossible.
Even with the fog of exhaustion pulling at her, she couldn’t quiet the storm inside her chest. Every breath was a reminder of what had been taken from her. Every heartbeat echoed with Caden’s final words.
You are no longer of this territory.
She was nothing now. No title. No rank. No pack.
Just a wolf with a stolen scent and a shattered truth.
She walked deeper into the forest, the trees pressing closer, thicker, darker. At some point, she slipped on a slope and tumbled hard, crashing through a patch of thornbrush. Pain shot through her leg as she landed. When she looked down, her thigh was bleeding—a jagged gash already soaking her leggings.
She grit her teeth and pushed herself upright, limping forward.
The cold didn’t help. The night air had sharpened, and with it came an eerie stillness—no birds, no crickets, just the rustle of the wind like whispering ghosts.
The moon hadn’t risen yet, but the forest was glowing faintly with silver light. Not from above.
From within.
Ariana stumbled into a clearing she didn’t recognize, ringed by ancient, twisted trees. Moss clung to the trunks like lace, and the air shimmered—softly, subtly—like light dancing across water.
It was silent.
Too silent.
Her vision blurred, her body weakening. She dropped to her knees beside a stone that jutted from the center of the clearing. It wasn’t like the stones near the pack hall—those were marked and carved, used for rituals and runes.
This stone was smooth and pale, polished by centuries. Cold to the touch.
As her hand brushed across it, a strange warmth pulsed beneath her skin.
Then—everything shifted.
A low hum echoed in the air, not heard with ears but felt—a vibration that settled in her bones, deep and ancient. The pendant at her neck—the one from her mother—grew hot against her skin. Ariana gasped and clutched it, her heart thrumming.
The world around her began to glow. Not brightly. Softly. As if the trees themselves were exhaling light.
She could feel it now—the pull of something vast. Something wild. Something older than Alpha blood and elder councils.
It was the Moon.
Not the distant celestial body—but the Spirit. The essence. The primal force that lived beneath skin and fur and fang.
Her wolf stirred inside her—not with hunger or pain, but recognition.
Ariana closed her eyes, clutching the pendant tighter. Her body shook, and tears slid silently down her cheeks.
“I’m lost,” she whispered.
The air shifted, wind brushing across her skin like a mother’s touch.
You are not lost, something deep inside her seemed to say. You are becoming.
Her breath caught. The wound on her leg pulsed—but the pain dulled. Her heart, raw and broken, settled into a strange, calm rhythm.
She knelt there in the clearing, surrounded by silver shadows and old light, and for the first time since the Moonbond ceremony, she didn’t feel hollow.
She felt… connected.
To the earth beneath her.
To the wolves who had come before.
To herself.
A branch cracked in the distance.
Ariana’s eyes flew open, pulse spiking.
The glow was gone. The clearing now dim with normal moonlight.
Kael appeared between two trees, carrying a pouch slung over his shoulder and a skin of water in his hand.
“Found you,” he said, lowering himself beside her. His brows furrowed. “You’re pale.”
“I fell,” Ariana said hoarsely. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not.” He crouched and gently rolled up her pants leg. When he saw the gash, his jaw tightened. “This needs to be cleaned.”
He unpacked a few wrapped herbs, a vial, and some linen strips. He worked in silence, his hands careful, confident.
Ariana watched him. “You’re not just a tracker.”
“No,” Kael said. “I trained as a healer. Before I left my pack.”
“Why did you leave?”
His hands stilled. “Because I exposed someone who used scentbinding. And they didn’t want it known.”
Her throat tightened. “Then you believe me.”
“I believed you before I met you,” he said softly. “The moment I smelled you in the clearing, I knew. Her scent was wrong. Yours was—muted. But underneath it…”
He looked up. His eyes were warm, steady.
“I know who you are,” he said. “Even if they’ve forgotten.”
Ariana’s throat ached. “I don’t know who I am anymore.”
“You will,” he said. “But not here.”
He tied off the last strip of cloth and helped her sit up straighter.
“There’s a place deeper in the forest,” Kael continued. “Old territory. Forgotten by most. There’s an herbalist there—Brynna. She was cast out by the elders for refusing to hide the truth about scentbinding.”
“You think she can help me?”
Kael nodded. “If anyone can identify what was done to you—and undo it—it’s her.”
Ariana looked down at her trembling hands. “If this can’t be undone…”
Kael’s voice was quiet. “Then you make a new truth. Not with him. Not for them. For you.”
For the first time in days, a flicker of strength rose in Ariana’s chest. Small. Fragile.
But real.
She nodded. “Then take me into the wild.”
- Writer
