The First She

001

MAEVE

"Not today, Maeve."

Noah's voice cut through the quietness like a snapped branch. I kept my back to him.

"You always do this." His boots scraped over the floor. "I won't be alive long enough to keep protecting you."

My fingers found a rock and I threw it into the water as hard as I could.

Four days. Four days since either of us had eaten anything more than bark and river water.

We had a system. We always had. Slip into a pack at night, rub ourselves with crushed bitterleaf and river mud until our scent was gone, and walk in like we belonged. Take what we needed from the kitchens and leave before the moon moved. The last pack hadn't even blinked. It had been so easy that it almost scared me.

Which was why I'd picked Bloodfang.

"Bloodfang," Noah said, like he'd heard me think it. "You can't be serious."

"Their kitchens are always full."

"Their alpha doesn't ask questions when he finds trespassers." He stepped closer, holding his broken hand against his chest. "Everyone knows what happens to rogues who get caught there."

"We've never been caught."

"You've been lucky." His voice dropped. "And you're not a rogue, Maeve. You're a female. That makes it worse. A hundred times worse."

I spun to face him. "Stop overreacting."

"Overreacting?"

"Yes. You can't expect me to hide every second of my life. I can't live like that, Noah. I need to live too."

My voice shook on the last word. I hated that it did. My hands trembled, so I curled them into fists.

His jaw tightened. When he spoke again, he was quiet. Somehow that was worse than shouting. I knew how to fight shouting.

"You don't understand, do you?" His eyes held mine. "You might be the last female alive. Do you know how long it's been since any pack saw one? Years. If they catch you, you're gone."

Gone. The word settled in my chest. My skin prickled and for a second I couldn't swallow.

"Let them try. I'd love to see them dare."

Noah didn't laugh. He just watched me and the tiredness in his face made my throat ache. I looked away first. He was right and I knew he was right. I just didn't know how to live inside that kind of right.

"I'll go," he said.

"With what?" I nodded at his hand. The fingers were swollen and stiff, curled the wrong way. He tucked it behind him like I couldn't see. My voice softened, even though I didn't want it to. "You can barely hold a stick. Rest nosh. Stay low and stay out of sight. I'll be back before you know it."

He opened his mouth.

"Close your eyes."

A long moment passed. Then he did, turning his face toward the water, the muscles in his neck pulled tight.

I yanked my clothes off fast. The cold bit every inch of me, and I rubbed the mud-and-bitterleaf paste along my arms, my throat, the backs of my knees, then dropped to my knees in the dirt.

The shift tore through me. Bones snapped and stretched as heat flooded down my spine. The forest sharpened at once.

I ran.

It took until the moon was high to reach Bloodfang's land. I slowed at the tree line, belly low to the ground, and my stomach dropped.

The last pack had been sleepy and careless. This one was not.

Warriors stood at the boundary in pairs, spaced so close that a mouse couldn't slip between them. More walked the fence line in slow, steady circles and behind them I could see the kitchen. It sat on the far side of a wide yard, its windows glowing yellow, with guards posted at every door.

I crept to the left. Then to the right. Every route ended the same way.

Nothing. No gap, no place deep enough to hide in.

My stomach cramped so hard I had to press my side against a tree. I'd promised Noah I'd come back with something. I'd promised.

That was when it moved.

Something brown and small at the edge of the trees. Long ears and a twitching nose. My mouth flooded.

The rabbit bolted and so did I.

Roots and branches whipped my sides. Dirt sprayed from my claws, and my legs burned with a strength I'd kept caged for too long. I skidded and overshot, and the rabbit slipped away through the grass.

No. No, no, no.

I threw myself after it. Black spots flickered at the edge of my sight, and I shoved them away. I couldn't lose it. The rabbit shot across the border and vanished into the trees on the other side.

I stopped so hard my paws slid. Every hair on my back stood up.

This couldn't be good.

I should turn around. Every instinct was screaming at me to go back. But my stomach was folding in on itself, and all I could see was Noah's hollow cheeks and his shaking hand. Our bodies wouldn't hold much longer, and he had to recover soon.

I couldn't go back empty-handed.

I dragged in a breath through my nose and held it until my lungs ached. Be brave and don't get caught. I crouched, pushed off the ground, and leaped.

The rabbit hadn't gone far. I spotted it huddled beside a fallen log, ears flat. It thought it was safe. Chasing it again would only waste what little strength I had left. So I waited, launched myself at it and caught it.

The rabbit kicked once against my jaw, and then it was over. I almost closed my eyes.

Almost.

Go back. Now.

I turned, and the wind turned with me.

Wolves. Several of them were close by. The scent hit me so hard that my stomach dropped. They were coming straight toward me.

I bolted, paws slamming against the ground, the rabbit held tight in my jaws. I wasn't dropping it. Not after what I'd crossed for.

"Is that a rogue?"

The shout ripped through the trees from somewhere behind me, and my blood turned to ice.

"Catch the damn rogue!"

Howls exploded on every side. The rabbit swung against my chin with every stride, and the smell of its blood made my stomach clench even now. Heavy paws pounded the earth, and the sound of it filled my skull until I couldn't think of anything except run, run, run.

I glanced back. Just once, just to see how close they were.

Wrong move. Absolutely the wrong move.

I slammed into something solid. The impact knocked the air out of me and sent me sprawling, and the rabbit dropped from my mouth as I hit the dirt. For a second the whole forest spun. When it stopped, a huge wolf stood over me, teeth bared.

I scrambled to my feet and snarled right in his face. It was all I had.

The others caught up, circling, closing the gap one slow step at a time. Two of them shifted right in front of me. Bare skin and hard eyes, no hurry at all. That was what scared me most.

"I'll be damned if the alpha finds a rogue on our border," one of them muttered.

My tail wanted to lash, but I tucked it low instead, pressing it tight between my back legs, hiding my appendage.

One of the men stepped closer and sniffed the air. His brows pulled together.

"He doesn't even have a scent."

Not having a scent had kept me hidden all this time, and now it was the very thing making them stare.

"Shift," the other one ordered.

I growled. Low, from the bottom of my chest. I'd rather bite my own tongue off than give them my face.

A chuckle rolled out of the first man. He crouched slightly.

"Stubborn one, isn't he?" He tilted his head. "Well, too sorry. You'll be taken to the alpha for trespassing."