BEYOND THE CAMPUS WALLS

Chapter 7: Tracks in the Shadows

LOGAN’S POV

The forest air bit at my skin, sharp with the scent of wet earth and pine, as I stood in the clearing where Ariana had fled. Sunlight sliced through the oaks, painting the ground in dappled gold, but it did nothing to warm the chill in my bones. My boots sank into the damp soil, and I crouched, my fingers brushing the jagged claw marks gouged into the earth. The boogeyman’s tracks—deep, uneven, claw-tipped—stretched toward the dorms, a silent taunt. My wolf, Jax, stirred, low growl rumbling in my chest, its hackles raised at the scent lingering in the air: rancid, metallic, like blood left to rot.

Five years. Five f*****g years I’d hunted this thing, and it had never left a trail like this. I traced the edge of a print, my calloused fingers catching on the torn roots. The boogeyman didn’t chase like this—didn’t stalk one person with such relentless precision. It killed, swift and random, leaving bodies in alleys or dorm rooms, no pattern, no mercy. But Ariana? It had hunted her, its yellow eyes locked on her like she was prey marked for something worse than death. My jaw clenched, teeth grinding as I replayed her screams, her wide green eyes as I’d slammed my fist into that shadowed bastard, sending it crashing into the wall.

Why her? The question gnawed at me, sharper than any claw. Jax snarled, pacing inside me, its instincts screaming Our Mate—a word I’d heard the first time I saw her, weeks before the tryouts, her red hair catching the sun like fire as she crossed the quad. I’d frozen then, my breath stolen, Jax howling mine in a way I’d never felt. I’d tried to avoid the reality of my mate's bond with her, I mean she’s a human and the mating between werewolf and a human was an impossible fate.

I’d kept my distance, watching her laugh with a few friends, her freckles dancing as she tilted her face to the sky. But last night, in that car, her body pressed against mine, her moans filling the air—f**k, I’d lost control. She was mine, and I was hers, and now this thing wanted her too.

I stood, my fists balling, and scanned the trees. The forest held its breath, no birds, no rustle—just silence, heavy and wrong. My senses sharpened, my wolf’s instincts kicking in: heartbeats distant, the faint tang of sweat from students on the quad, the boogeyman’s stench fading into the wind. I’d tracked it across Ravenswood for years, ever since the Alpha Council sent me here. A punishment, they’d called it, for questioning their orders during the war that tore our realm apart.

The boogeyman—a corrupted wolf spirit, bound to a serial killer’s soul—had been locked in a shrine, sealed by ancient magic. But it escaped, slipping through a relic’s crack during the chaos of battle, and found its way here, to the human world. My job was simple: find it, kill it, before it’s killing exposed us. Before humans turned their hunters on us, shattering the fragile peace treaty we’d fought for. Five years, and I was no closer to ending it.

A twig snapped behind me, and I spun, my wolf snarling, claws itching beneath my skin. Micheal stepped into the clearing, his dark hair cropped close, his hazel eyes scanning me with that quiet intensity he always carried. My beta, my brother in all but blood, he moved like a shadow, his boots silent despite the mud.

“Anything?” he asked, his voice low, cutting through the forest’s hush.

I shook my head, my jaw tight. “Tracks, scent, same as always. But it’s different this time.” I pointed to the claw marks, their edges too deliberate, too focused. “It chased her, Micheal. Not me, not some random drunken student in an alley. It went after her, this time without relenting.”

He crouched beside me, his fingers hovering over the prints, his brow furrowing. “That’s not its pattern. It kills, doesn’t stalk.” His eyes met mine, sharp and searching. “You think it’s tied to her?”

“I don’t know.” I raked a hand through my hair, frustration coiling in my chest. “It should’ve killed her. Humans don’t outrun it—she shouldn’t have. But it didn’t even try. It was like….”

I trailed off, the thought too strange to voice. Like it needed her alive. Like it wanted something from her. “Like it was testing her. Or waiting for something.”

Michael stood, his gaze flicking to the trees, his nostrils flaring as he caught the faint rot of the boogeyman's scent. “She’s awake,” he said, his tone shifting, softer now. “She’s okay, but…” He hesitated, his jaw working like he was chewing on words he didn’t want to spit out.

“What?” I snapped, Jax’s impatience bleeding through.

“Bella got to her first.” His lips twitched, a dry smirk that didn’t reach his eyes. “She went off, calling her names, accusing her of f*****g you last night. Nearly tore the place apart before I stepped in.”

I groaned, punching the bridge of my nose. Bella. That girl was a f*****g hurricane of trouble, throwing herself at me since sophomore year, her eyes glinting with possession I’d never invited. I’d brushed her off, kept her at arm’s length, but she clung like a burr, her jealousy a blade she wielded without care.

Michael’s smirk faded. “Someone might have seen you and Ariana and had started the rumor. It’s all over campus.”

My blood ran cold, then hot, rage and guilt slamming into me. Last night’s melodies—her moans, her body beneath mine, her first time, the way she opened up to me—damn, I wanted more.

Micheal cleared his throat in a bid to bring me back from my memories. “What’s your plan on silencing Bella and finding this boogeyman before it causes more havoc.”

I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. Plan? I had no plan to be honest. Bella wasn’t a case to be worried about, she’s just a little nitwit I can just shut up whenever. But the boogeyman? That’s where my confusion lay.

“Forget Bella,” I blurted out, my voice in low growl, “she’s not worth our time. As for the boogeyman, we will first have to figure out why he’s after Ariana before we decide on a move to make.”

He nodded, falling into step beside me as we moved deeper into the woods, the boogeyman’s scent pulling us like a noose. The trees closed in, shadows lengthening, Jax stirred, its senses sharp, ready to tear through anything that threatened her. Ariana was mine—human or not, mate or not—and I’d kill that thing before it touched her again.

But in the quiet, a whisper lingered, a question I couldn’t answer: what did the boogeyman want with my mate? The forest held no answers, only shadows, and I followed them, my heart pounding with her name.