Chapter Four – The Hunters’ Shadows
1234 Words
The night swallowed them whole.
Kaelen’s strides were impossibly long, his strength inhuman. He vaulted fire escapes, crossed rooftops like shadows, and carried Elara as though she weighed nothing. Her fists pounded his chest, but every blow only made the bond burn hotter, every kick seared her own bones as much as his.
“Put me down!” she snarled, twisting in his arms.
“Not a chance,” Kaelen growled, voice rough as gravel. His golden eyes blazed in the dark, focused only on escape. “You’d be dead in the street by now if I had.”
Her wolf shivered in agreement, traitorous. But Elara’s human mind screamed at her to resist. Trusting an Alpha was how she lost everything before.
“You don’t even know me!” she snapped.
His gaze flicked to hers for the briefest second, and something dangerous flashed in it. “That’s where you’re wrong.”
Her breath stuttered. The certainty in his voice cut deeper than the LCU’s silver.
They landed hard on a rooftop, Kaelen crouching to absorb the impact before he set her on her feet. She stumbled backward, gasping, the city sprawling below them in a wash of neon and smoke.
“Stay here,” he ordered, turning to scan the alleys behind them.
Elara laughed bitterly, wiping sweat from her brow. “Stay? You drag me halfway across the city like some… some prize, and now you think I’m going to just stay?”
His head snapped toward her, eyes glowing bright wolf-gold. “You are a prize. Do you have any idea what you are?”
Her heart lurched. Fear coiled cold in her stomach. Did he know? Could he already see the truth she’d buried so deep?
She forced her face into a mask of scorn. “A rogue. Nothing more.”
His gaze darkened. “Liar.”
A thud below cut through their standoff. Then another. Heavy boots.
Elara’s stomach twisted as voices rose from the alley.
“They went this way!”
“Spread out—check the rooftops!”
LCU.
Kaelen bared his teeth, a low snarl rumbling in his chest. His wolf prowled just beneath his skin, the air thick with dominance.
“Stay behind me,” he said again, softer now, though no less commanding.
Elara’s lips parted to argue, but then the metallic click of a gun being c****d silenced her. She crept to the rooftop’s edge and looked down.
Colton stood below, face upturned, silver weapon gleaming in his hands. His eyes scanned the rooftops until they landed—directly—on her.
“Elara!” His voice cracked through the night like a whip.
Her blood iced over.
Kaelen stiffened beside her. “He knows your name.”
“Shut up,” she hissed.
But Kaelen’s eyes narrowed. “What are you hiding?”
Her throat tightened. Memories clawed their way up—Colton dragging her through the ashes of her pack, his words cold as steel: You’ll survive alone. You’re not like the others.
Her wolf bristled, the bond twisting violently between her and Kaelen. She couldn’t breathe.
Colton raised the gun, aiming straight at her chest. “Come down, Elara! You don’t belong with him. You don’t belong with any of them.”
Kaelen’s growl split the night, sharp and lethal. He stepped in front of her, blocking Colton’s aim with his broad frame.
“Mine,” Kaelen thundered, his voice shaking the rooftop.
Elara’s wolf trembled at the claim, torn between fury and yearning.
The first shot rang out.
Silver hissed through the air. Kaelen shoved Elara behind him, the dart whizzing past his shoulder and embedding in the wall. Another followed. He dodged, movements fluid, but the hunters were closing in.
“They’ll kill you,” Elara whispered, panic tightening her chest. “You don’t know what they can do.”
“I’ve fought humans before,” Kaelen bit out. His eyes glowed brighter, his wolf rising. “They bleed just as we do.”
But these weren’t ordinary humans. She knew the LCU. She knew the syringes of wolfsbane, the traps of silver nets, the tranquilizers designed to fell even the strongest Alpha.
And she knew Colton.
He would never stop until he had her.
“Kaelen, listen to me—”
Her voice broke as another shot cracked. Kaelen twisted, barely avoiding it, and the dart struck her leg.
The pain was instant. A firestorm of silver raced through her veins, searing muscle and bone. She screamed, collapsing to her knees, nails clawing at the rooftop.
“Elara!”
Kaelen caught her before she hit the ground, cradling her against his chest. His face twisted in rage, his wolf clawing free, teeth lengthening, eyes blazing gold.
“Hold on,” he growled, ripping the dart from her thigh. Smoke curled from the wound as the silver ate at her blood.
Her vision blurred. Her heart thundered.
And then—something inside her broke loose.
White light exploded beneath her skin, searing bright enough to illuminate the entire rooftop. The silver hissed and fizzled, forced out of her body by pure, raw power.
Kaelen froze, his arms locked around her as the glow consumed her veins, her eyes, her breath.
The hunters below shouted in alarm.
“What the hell—”
“She’s—she’s not just a wolf!”
Elara gasped, the power ebbing as quickly as it had come, leaving her trembling in Kaelen’s arms. Her leg… it was healed. The wound was gone.
His voice was hoarse when he spoke. “What are you?”
She shook her head wildly, tears burning her eyes. “Nothing. I’m nothing. Do you hear me?”
But Kaelen’s gaze told her he would never believe that again.
Boots pounded up the fire escape. The LCU was coming fast.
Kaelen growled low, pulling her tighter against him. “We need to move. Now.”
She pushed weakly against his chest. “You don’t understand. If they catch me, it won’t matter who you are. They’ll take me. They’ve done it before.”
Rage burned across his face, his wolf bristling. “They’ll never touch you again.”
Her heart lurched. The bond sang between them, louder, hotter, unstoppable. And for one reckless heartbeat, she wanted to believe him.
Wanted to believe she could be safe in his arms.
But safety was an illusion. And she couldn’t let him see the truth—not yet.
Kaelen leapt from the rooftop just as the LCU burst onto it. Bullets and darts rained down, sparks flying off the metal fire escapes. He landed hard in a back alley, shielding Elara with his body as debris scattered around them.
Her head spun. Her wolf keened. And still, the bond throbbed, pulling her closer to him even as her instincts screamed to run.
“Let me go,” she whispered, voice breaking.
His eyes blazed down at her, golden and merciless. “Never.”
The sound of engines roared closer—more vans, more hunters. They were surrounded.
Elara’s pulse spiked. The LCU would not stop. Not until they had her. Not until the truth she carried was shackled in their labs, dissected and destroyed.
And the Alpha holding her—the one man who should have been her salvation—was about to see exactly why she could never belong.
- Writer
