When The Goddess Lied

CHAPTER 2 - Into The Shadows

I didn't know how long I ran.

Minutes. Hours. Time stopped meaning anything when your entire world collapsed in a single night. My feet were numb, bloody, torn to shreds by rocks and thorns I couldn't see in the darkness. My lungs screamed for air I couldn't give them. But I didn't stop. Couldn't stop.

Because they were still coming.

The howls behind me grew closer. Sharper. Hungrier. I could hear them crashing through the undergrowth, could smell the bloodlust rolling off them in waves. They weren't just hunting me. They wanted me dead.

Run faster. Run faster. RUN FASTER.

My golden wolf snarled the command like a whip c***k inside my skull. Demanding. Vicious. She wanted to turn and fight, to rip out throats and paint the forest red.

But my silver wolf whimpered and pulled me deeper into the shadows. Hide. Please. We have to hide.

Two voices. Two wills. Both tearing me in opposite directions until I thought my mind would snap in half.

I stumbled over a root and crashed into the dirt. Pain exploded through my shoulder. For a heartbeat, I just lay there, gasping, tasting blood and earth. The marks on my wrists throbbed with opposing pulses. Gold. Silver.

Gold. Silver. Like two hearts beating out of sync, trying to tear free from my body.

A howl split the night. Close. Too close.

I scrambled to my feet and kept running.

The forest grew denser, darker. The trees here were older, their branches twisted into shapes that looked almost deliberate. Like claws reaching for the sky. Or a cage closing around me. The moonlight barely penetrated the canopy, leaving me stumbling half-blind through a world of shadows.

My foot caught on something, and I went down hard. This time, I didn't get up right away. I rolled onto my back, chest heaving, staring up at the slivers of sky visible through the branches.

This is it. This is where I die.

The thought came with a strange sense of calm. Maybe it would be better this way. Easier. I wouldn't have to feel this anymore.

The splitting. The pain. The humiliation of being rejected in front of the entire pack.

"I reject this bond."

Cael's words echoed in my mind, and something inside me twisted. Not sadness. Not heartbreak.

Rage.

Pure, white-hot, burning rage.

My golden wolf surged forward, and I felt my bones begin to c***k. The shift was starting whether I wanted it or not. My fingers curved into claws. My teeth lengthened. Pain ripped through me as my body tried to change, but something was wrong. The shift wouldn't complete. It stuttered. Broke apart. Reformed.

Like my wolf couldn't decide what shape to take.

Gold or silver. Alpha or Omega. Choose.

CHOOSE.

"I don't know how!" I screamed into the darkness.

The howls stopped.

Silence crashed over the forest like a physical weight. I froze, my half-shifted hand trembling in front of my face. Claws. Human fingers. Claws again. Neither. Both.

Then I heard it. Footsteps. Human footsteps. Slow. Deliberate. Coming closer.

A figure stepped out from between the trees. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark hair falling over storm-grey eyes that glowed faintly silver in the moonlight.

Riven.

He looked different than he had in the arena. No chains. No blood. Just raw, coiled power barely contained beneath human skin. His clothes were torn, his jaw set in a hard line.

And his right wrist, where the fractured mate mark still glowed faintly, was wrapped in strips of fabric stained dark with blood.

We stared at each other. I tried to speak, but my throat closed around the words. What was there to say? What could I possibly say?

He moved first. Three long strides, and then he was crouching in front of me, his hands hovering near my shoulders like he wanted to touch me but didn't dare.

"You're hurt." His voice was rough. Lower than I remembered from the arena. It vibrated through me in a way that made both my wolves go still.

"I'm fine," I lied.

His eyes flicked to my bleeding feet, my torn clothes, the marks on my wrists that were still glowing with unstable light. One dark eyebrow arched. "Right. Fine."

Behind him, I heard branches snapping. The hunters. They'd found us.

Riven's head snapped toward the sound, his entire body going rigid. A low growl rumbled in his chest, and I felt the air around us change. Thicken. His wolf was rising to the surface, and the power rolling off him made my skin prickle.

"Can you walk?" he asked without looking at me.

"I don't know."

"Figure it out. Fast."

He stood and turned to face the darkness. I forced myself onto my feet, biting back a scream as pain shot through my shredded soles. My legs shook. Everything shook. But I stayed upright.

Three wolves stepped out from the trees. Massive. Silver-furred. Eyes glowing with reflected moonlight. Silvercrest warriors. I recognized their scent even in human form.

These weren't just hunters. They were executioners.

The center wolf shifted. Bones cracked. Fur receded. A man stood where the wolf had been. Broad. Scarred. One of Cael's personal guards.

"Step aside, Riven." The guard's voice was cold. "The Alpha wants the girl. Alive or dead. Your choice."

"My choice," Riven repeated slowly. Almost thoughtfully. "That's interesting. Because I don't remember asking for your Alpha's opinion."

The guard's jaw tightened. "You were exiled. You have no authority here."

"And yet here I am." Riven's smile was all teeth. Sharp. Dangerous. "Funny how that works."

"Last warning. Move, or we move you."

Riven's answer was to shift.

I'd never seen anything like it. One moment he was human. The next, a massive black wolf stood in his place, easily twice the size of the Silvercrest warriors. His fur seemed to absorb the moonlight instead of reflecting it, and his eyes glowed pure silver. Power radiated off him in waves that made the trees groan.

The guards hesitated. Just for a second. But it was enough.

Riven lunged.

The fight was brutal and fast. Teeth. Claws.

Blood spraying across the forest floor. The guards were skilled, but Riven fought like something unleashed. Like he'd been holding back his entire life and finally, finally, let go.

One guard went down. Then another.

The third tried to run.

Riven's jaws closed around his throat. The guard's dying howl cut off with a wet, gurgling sound.

Then silence.

Riven shifted back to human form, blood dripping from his mouth and hands. He didn't look at the bodies. Didn't seem to care. He just turned to me, his expression unreadable.

"More will come," he said. "We need to move. Now."

I couldn't move. Couldn't think. Couldn't process what I'd just seen.

He crossed to me in two strides and gripped my shoulders. Not roughly. But firmly.

Grounding me. "Seren. Listen to me. We have maybe five minutes before the entire pack knows where we are. If you want to live, you run. Understand?"

I managed a nod.

"Good." He released me and turned. "Follow me. Step where I step. Don't make noise. Don't shift. Can you do that?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go."

He moved, and I followed. Away from the bodies. Away from the howls rising in the distance. Away from everything I'd ever known.

As we ran, I caught a glimpse of Riven's wrist.

The mate mark there was bleeding again, fresh blood seeping through the makeshift bandage.

And in my mind, that strange voi

ce whispered again.

"He knows what you are, child. He's always known. The question is, will you kill him when you find out why?”