Finding Aria Cole

Chapter 3: Hunted

The trees rustle with the wind blowing through them fast like wild fires that send shivers down my spine. I stumble, my vision blurred with exhaustion and dirt. Pain pressed in on all sides as agony took hold of my every step. I had no idea where I was or where I was heading to. I was lost, broken and alone.

The woods felt endless, every shadow looking like a threat. I should’ve been back at the pack house by now, but my sense of direction had left me, my eyes too heavy, my ears dull from the whining pain in my head, everything was gone just like my wolf.

My wolf. Silent. Still too weak to even whisper in my mind. I felt strands of her fading away. The rejection had severed that bond, and now, I had nothing. No strength. No power. No direction.

Snap.

The sound of a twig breaking to my left yanked me from my thoughts. I froze, heart pounding in my chest, the echo of Ethan’s rejection still throbbing there. Slowly, I turned my head, scanning the dense undergrowth, but the darkness made it impossible to see anything.

Snap.

Another c***k. Closer this time.

I wasn’t alone. The sharp bite of fear shot through me, making my legs tremble. My fingers twitched at my sides, curling into fists, but I had no power left. No strength. If they came for me now…

The air shifted. The scent hit me first— Rouges .pungent, sour, wrong.

I froze. They must have spotted me a long time ago. How did I not notice? They’d been circling me, waiting for me to be vulnerable, and now, I was prey, practically begging them to come for me. I could not hold myself together and my wolf had retreated into herself, with no pack, no protection, no wolf. Fighting was not an option not now.

A low growl rumbled from the shadows, sending every nerve in my body screaming. Panic surged through me, forcing me into motion. I ran, my feet barely finding purchase on the uneven ground. The forest blurred around me, the trees becoming streaks of black as I stumbled forward, branches clawing at my arms and face.

But they were faster. I could hear them behind me, their snarls growing louder, closer. My heart raced, a wild drumbeat in my chest, my breath coming in ragged gasps. I pushed harder, my muscles burning with the effort, but it wasn’t enough.

They were too fast.

A rogue launched at me from the trees, its massive shadows looming above me as its body collided with mine knocking me to the ground. The impact stealing my breath from my lungs. Body slamming hard into the dirt.

I coil my hands to my stomach as I try to hold myself together, pain radiating through my body, pain shoots up my legs as I drag them to myself. The rogue was on me, its claws raking across my skin, hot blood immediately pouring from the wound.

I screamed, thrashing beneath its weight, trying to push it off. My fingers scrambled for something—anything—to use as a weapon, but my hand met only dirt and leaves. The rogue’s snarling face was inches from mine, its yellow eyes glowing with hunger, with the promise of death.

I swung wildly, my fist connecting with its jaw, but the blow did little more than make it angrier. Its teeth snapped at me, grazing my arm, tearing through flesh. Pain exploded through me, blinding and hot, but I couldn’t stop.

Not now. Not here.

I kicked, forcing it off me for a moment, scrambling backward. Blood dripped from my arms, my side, soaking into my clothes. But I didn’t stop. My legs shook as I ran, pain sending shivers down my pain. I could feel the trickle of the blood and the roar of pain with every step but I couldn't stop. my leg buckled beneath me, the pain too intense as I crashed to the floor again brittle and stone cutting into my hands as I try to break my fall.

The Woods seemed darker as the rogues circled me growling like a predator playing with its prey. They knew I was weak. They knew I couldn’t fight much longer and all they had to do was wait.

A shadow emerged from the trees—another rogue. It seemed as if for a long time it watched from the Shadows as the other two played with me. Eyes gleaming with satisfaction, all three circled me each step closing the gap, the thrill of the hunt driving their hunger and need for blood. I gasped for air, eyes wide with fear as my vision blurred, but I forced myself to stand, wobbling on my injured leg.

I couldn’t die here.

But there was no escape. Not this time.

The first rogue lunged again, and I barely managed to dodge, the movement sending white-hot pain shooting up my side. I staggered, blood slicking my hands as I pressed them to the wound, trying to keep myself from falling apart.

But it wasn’t enough.

The second rogue struck, its claws raking down my back. I screamed, collapsing to the ground, the world spinning around me. My vision blurred, darkening at the edges as the pain consumed me. They circled, waiting, savoring my helplessness.

My wolf was gone. My strength was gone. I couldn’t fight anymore.

As the third rogue lunged for the kill, I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the end.

But it didn’t come.

A massive force slammed into the rogue, sending it flying into the trees with a sickening c***k. I gasped, blinking through the haze of pain, trying to make sense of what was happening. Another presence was here. Someone—something—else had entered the fight.

Through the blur of blood and exhaustion, I saw him.

He moved like a storm. A blur of power and fury. Home. One word whispered through my mind, though I barely understood why.

The rogues turned on him, but it was no use. He was too fast, too strong. He tore through them with ruthless efficiency, his massive form a shadow of death in the moonlight. One after another, the rogues fell, their bodies broken and lifeless at his feet.

I barely registered the chaos, my mind too foggy, my body too weak. My blood pooled beneath me, warm and sticky, and I could feel the cold creeping in. My eyes fluttered shut, darkness pulling at me, but before I slipped under completely, I felt him.

He was beside me, his towering figure blotting out the moon as he knelt over my broken body.

For a second, I thought I saw something in his eyes. Something other than the cold, ruthless killer I had just seen. But that couldn’t be right. He didn’t care about anyone. Not with such rage and power and definitely not for a weak, broken Omega like me.

He shouldn’t care.

But he didn’t move away. His hand hovered over my blood-soaked skin, hesitation rippling through the air between us. His jaw clenched, his eyes flashing with something… unreadable.

“Leave me…” I whispered, my voice barely more than a breath. “Let me die.”

He didn’t answer. Instead, his expression hardened, like he was fighting something within himself. His instincts, maybe. The ones telling him I wasn’t worth saving. That I was just another lost soul, one too weak to survive.

But he stayed.

He leaned closer, his voice a low growl that

rumbled through me, steady and unrelenting.

“No.”

Then, everything went black.