The Runaway Alpha's Feral Mate

Chapter Twelve

Akira had no interest in shelter.

Shelter was a human thing. Four walls, a ceiling, warmth that came from burning wood instead of one's own body. Twelve thousand winters had taught her that the wilderness itself was the only shelter worth trusting.

As Liam and Mary disappeared into the hunting lodge, Akira watched them go, nostrils flaring slightly at the musty scent of old wood and forgotten human presence. They would be safe enough inside. Her concern lay with what lurked beyond.

She waited until the door closed behind them before melting into the forest, her massive form shifting from human to direwolf in a smooth ripple of muscle and bone that had long ago ceased to cause her pain. The transformation had become as natural as breathing over the millennia.

In her true form, she was magnificent – eight feet from nose to tail, standing five feet at the shoulder, with pure white fur that captured what little moonlight filtered through the trees. Her paws, each the size of a dinner plate, moved soundlessly over the frozen ground, distributing her five hundred pounds with the delicacy of falling snow.

The night air carried a library of information to her sensitive nose. The musty scent of a fox den half a mile east, the sharp tang of pine sap, the lingering exhaust from their plane. A family of rabbits huddled in their burrow nearby. A moose had passed through yesterday. But beneath those familiar elements lay something else. Something that didn't belong.

Humans. Armed. Moving through her territory.

Akira's ears swiveled independently, catching the faint metallic click of a weapon being checked, the soft crunch of snow beneath tactical boots approximately a mile southwest. Multiple heartbeats – six, perhaps seven intruders. Two smelled wrong – werewolf, but with an artificial chemical tang that reminded her of the laboratory.

Harvesters.

She circled downwind, moving in a wide arc that would bring her behind the approaching forces. Better to face them away from the lodge, far from where Liam slept. The thought of Liam stirred something protective in her chest, a feeling both ancient and startlingly new. Not just a packmate now, but potentially more. She'd recognized the bond forming between them, even if he fought against it.

Humans had such short lives. They wasted so much time resisting what was inevitable.

The first human was easy to spot, even in the darkness. He moved with the confident swagger of someone who believed technology made him the apex predator. Night vision goggles covered his eyes, a tactical vest hugged his torso, and he carried a rifle with a thermal scope.

Akira observed him from fifty yards away, completely motionless, her white fur indistinguishable from the patches of snow. She cataloged his equipment, identifying the radio on his shoulder, the sidearm at his hip, the knife strapped to his leg. Useful things, if undamaged.

She circled closer, moving only when the wind rustled the trees, freezing into immobility whenever the soldier paused to scan his surroundings. Twenty yards. Ten yards. Five.

The human never heard her approach. Never sensed her presence until massive jaws closed around his throat, crushing his windpipe before he could radio a warning. She caught his body as it fell, lowering it silently to the forest floor. No blood, no sound – just the sudden cessation of a heartbeat.

Methodically, she stripped him of useful equipment. The night vision goggles were intact – Liam could use those. The rifle with its thermal scope would be valuable. The radio she carefully disabled; too risky to keep operational, but the components might prove useful.

Akira dragged the body into a hollow beneath a fallen spruce, covering it with snow and deadfall. One less threat to her tiny pack. She moved on, a ghost in the forest, hunting the next intruder.

The second soldier died just as quietly, a half-mile from the first. This one carried different equipment – a tablet showing a topographical map of the area with heat signatures. Akira studied it carefully before disabling it, memorizing the positions of the remaining hunters. Four humans, two Harvesters, all converging on the lodge from different directions.

She left the second body hidden and moved toward a new target – a female soldier setting up what appeared to be a portable surveillance station at the edge of a small clearing. The woman worked efficiently, assembling components with practiced precision. Akira watched for ten minutes, learning. The device would detect movement, heat, even the electromagnetic signature of communication equipment.

Clever, but not clever enough.

This kill required more finesse. Akira circled until she was downwind, then deliberately disturbed a branch thirty yards to the woman's left. The soldier immediately turned, weapon raised, scanning the darkness. While her attention was diverted, Akira attacked from the right, a white blur exploding from the underbrush.

The woman managed half a shout before razor teeth closed on her neck, severing her spine at the base of the skull. Death was instant, but the partial cry hung in the night air – a warning to the others.

Akira worked quickly, disassembling the surveillance equipment. Some components she destroyed completely; others she collected for Liam. The woman's communication device crackled to life.

"Carter? Report. Did you say something?"

Akira listened, head tilted, memorizing the voice pattern. She considered responding, mimicking the dead woman's voice – a trick she'd perfected during her captivity – but decided against it. Better to let them grow nervous, to force them to waste time investigating.

The night stretched on as she methodically eliminated the fourth human – a burly man who put up more of a fight than the others, managing to fire a wild shot before she tore his throat out. The gunshot echoed through the forest, shattering the silence and accelerating her timetable. Stealth was compromised now; she needed to move quickly to intercept the Harvesters before they could react to the sound.

Two miles from the lodge, she finally caught their scent directly – not quite human, not quite wolf. They moved differently than the human soldiers – more cautious, using their enhanced senses. They wore black tactical gear with glowing blue collars around their necks – the control devices Magnus had mentioned. No verbal communication between them, just subtle hand signals and the occasional knowing glance.

Akira studied them from sixty yards away, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. Young, both of them – perhaps thirty in human years – but well-trained. Their movements had the fluid coordination of experienced hunters. The collars at their throats pulsed with a faint blue light that seemed to intensify whenever they communicated.

During her eight years in the research facility, Akira had learned the value of patience and observation. She'd watched scientists and guards, listened to their conversations, studied their technology when they thought she wasn't paying attention. They'd spoken freely around her, believing her understanding was limited to basic commands.

Humans were so reliably arrogant. They never imagined that a creature twelve thousand years old might learn their language, their science, their weapons. Being underestimated was a tactical advantage she had no intention of surrendering.

The Harvesters moved in a standard search pattern, slowly expanding their perimeter. Their handheld devices beeped softly, scanning for heat signatures, for tracks, for any sign of their quarry. Eventually, they would find the lodge.

Unless she found them first.

Akira circled wide, moving through the forest with the silence of fallen snow. The wind shifted subtly – a problem. One of the Harvesters paused, lifting his nose to scent the air.

She abandoned stealth for speed, launching herself from the undergrowth in a full charge. The first Harvester managed to turn, eyes widening in shock at the massive white form hurtling toward him. He raised his weapon but never got a shot off before five hundred pounds of ancient predator slammed into him.

They went down in a tangle of limbs, snow flying around them. The Harvester fought with enhanced strength, landing a solid punch to her ribs that would have shattered the bones of a normal wolf. Akira barely noticed. Her massive jaws closed around his forearm, crushing bone and rendering the limb useless.

He screamed then – a sound that was half human, half wolf – and tried to reach for his sidearm with his remaining hand. Akira shook her head violently, the motion tearing muscle and tendon. Blood sprayed across the pristine snow.

The second Harvester reacted instantly, opening fire from fifteen yards away. The first bullets whizzed past Akira's head; the next three struck her flank, the impact like hammer blows against her dense muscle. Wounds that would have been fatal to another wolf were merely painful to her ancient form.

She used the first Harvester's body as a shield against further bullets, dragging him in front of her as she charged toward his partner. The tactic worked – the second Harvester hesitated, unwilling to shoot through his colleague.

That hesitation cost him everything.

Akira released the wounded Harvester and lunged forward, covering the remaining distance in a single bound that defied her enormous size. She slammed into the second Harvester with the force of a wrecking ball, sending them both tumbling down a snowy embankment in a chaotic tangle of fur and tactical gear.

They rolled to a stop at the bottom, the Harvester somehow still gripping his weapon. He jammed it against her side and pulled the trigger.

Click.

Empty.

His eyes widened as he realized his mistake. Akira's massive maw opened, teeth gleaming in the moonlight. Not a killing bite – not yet. Instead, she closed her jaws around the glowing collar at his throat and crushed it, ignoring the electrical shock that coursed through her body.

The device sparked and died. The Harvester beneath her gasped as if surfacing from deep water, his eyes clearing of the collar's influence.

"Kill me," he whispered, voice hoarse. "Please. Don't let me go back."

Akira studied him for a moment, seeing the horror in his eyes – the awareness of what he'd been forced to do. She obliged his request with a quick, clean bite that ended his suffering immediately.

She turned to find the first Harvester attempting to crawl away, leaving a trail of blood in the snow. His collar still pulsed, sending status reports back to whatever controlled him. Akira approached slowly, letting him see her come.

She granted him the mercy of a quick death, then destroyed his collar as she had the other. Both devices she collected, along with the most useful pieces of their equipment. The bands might prove valuable – to understand the enemy's technology, to gain access to restricted areas.

The bullet wounds in her flank throbbed as she worked, but the bleeding had already slowed to a trickle. Her body had been healing catastrophic injuries since the Ice Age; three bullet wounds were an inconvenience, nothing more.

Moving in a wide spiral back toward the hunting lodge, she located the final two human soldiers attempting to set up a defensive perimeter approximately half a mile from the cabin. They worked with the focused intensity of professionals who had heard the gunfire and realized something had gone terribly wrong.

Akira observed them for several minutes, noting how they positioned their equipment, how they communicated, how they moved. Learning. Always learning. These two were more cautious than the others, back-to-back, constantly scanning their surroundings.

She circled them completely, analyzing potential approaches. A frontal assault would be met with immediate gunfire. An attack from behind would alert the other before she could neutralize both threats.

The solution came to her as she watched them set up a sophisticated-looking device – some kind of motion detector. One soldier needed both hands to calibrate it, leaving the other standing guard. Each time they exchanged positions, there was a brief moment when both were distracted.

Akira retreated several hundred yards, then deliberately snapped a branch – loud enough to be heard, far enough to draw investigation.

"What was that?" One soldier's voice carried through the still night air.

"I'll check it out. You finish the setup."

Perfect. The trap was set.

One soldier moved cautiously toward the sound, weapon at the ready. Akira circled silently, allowing him to pass her position, then doubled back toward the remaining soldier.

The man calibrating the equipment never saw her coming. One moment he was adjusting settings on the device, the next a white shadow detached itself from the surrounding forest and slammed into him with devastating force. His neck snapped before he could shout a warning.

Akira disabled the equipment with swift, precise movements, then dragged the body into the underbrush. Now for the second soldier.

She tracked him easily, following his scent through the trees. He'd gone further than expected, moving in a wide arc as he investigated the sound. Smart – but not smart enough.

He sensed something was wrong when he returned to find his partner missing. "Reynolds?" he called, voice low and tense. "Report position."

Akira watched from the darkness as he raised his radio, preparing to call for backup. She couldn't allow that.

This time, she used speed rather than stealth, exploding from the shadows in a blur of white fur and lethal intent. The soldier managed to fire twice – one bullet grazing her shoulder, the other missing entirely – before her massive jaws closed around his throat.

The radio clattered to the ground, mercifully silent. Akira destroyed it with a precise bite that crushed its components beyond repair.

By the time she finished collecting useful equipment from the final two soldiers, dawn was approaching. The bullet wounds in her flank had closed completely, leaving only matted blood in her white fur. Her shoulder where the bullet had grazed her stung slightly, but would heal within hours.

She shifted back to human form at the edge of the clearing, her pale skin almost luminous in the pre-dawn light, streaked with blood that wasn't hers. The cold didn't bother her – another advantage of being a creature born to the Ice Age. She carried a makeshift bundle of equipment wrapped in a tactical vest – night vision goggles, weapons, the crushed collars, surveillance components, and the tablet showing troop movements.

Akira nudged the cabin door open with her foot, finding Liam and Mary huddled around the woodstove, deep in conversation. They both jumped at her entrance, Mary reaching instinctively for a weapon before recognizing her.

"Holy s**t!" Mary exhaled, hand pressed to her chest. "A little warning next time? You nearly gave me a heart attack."

Liam's reaction was different. He took in her blood-streaked form, the bundle in her arms, the fresh scar on her shoulder where the bullet had grazed her. His expression shifted from shock to understanding to something more complex – respect mingled with concern.

"You went hunting," he said quietly.

It wasn't a question. Akira dropped her bundle on the rough wooden table with a metallic clank that made Mary flinch.

"Six," she said simply. "Four humans. Two Harvesters. All dead." She sorted through the equipment, organizing it methodically. "Territory clear. For now."

She pulled the crushed control collars from the bundle, placing them carefully on the table. "Took these. Should study them. Useful maybe."

Mary stared at the collars, then at Akira, her weathered face pale in the lamplight. "You took out six armed operatives? Alone? In what, three hours?"

Akira shrugged. The question seemed pointless. Of course she had. They were threats to her pack.

"You are a badass female," the human woman said with a low whistle. "A frickin' one-direwolf army."

Akira gestured to the equipment she'd salvaged. "Have these now. Night vision. Weapons. Communications." She pulled out the tablet, wiping a smear of blood from its screen before handing it to Liam. "This shows their positions. All patrols. Security layout."

Liam took the tablet with careful hands, eyes widening as he realized what she'd brought them. "This... this is incredible. It's essentially a complete tactical overview of their operation." He looked up at her with new eyes. "You didn't just kill them. You selectively harvested the most valuable intelligence."

Akira met his gaze evenly, letting him see past the simple exterior she often presented. Let him glimpse the mind that had survived twelve millennia of human evolution, adaptation, and warfare.

"Not stupid," she said flatly. "Just old."

Mary snorted, a sound somewhere between amusement and disbelief. "Old. Right." She picked up one of the shattered collars, turning it over in her hands. "You know what this means, though? They found us. The OCD knows we're in the area."

"They knew already," Akira replied, grabbing Liam's spare shirt from his pack and pulling it on. The garment hung loose on her smaller frame. "Tracking plane. Now tracking stopped. For while."

She moved to the window, peering out at the lightening sky. "Need food. Then move fast. More will come when these not report."

As Mary busied herself with preparing a quick meal from her supplies, Liam moved closer to Akira, lowering his voice.

"You're hurt," he observed, gesturing to the dried blood on her arms.

"Not mine. Mostly." She shrugged. "Three bullets. Already healed."

His eyebrows shot up. "You were shot three times and you're just... fine?"

"Old body. Heal fast." She looked at him directly. "Need plan now. Time no waste."

Liam studied her for a long moment, seeing her more clearly than he ever had before. "You keep surprising me," he admitted.

She tilted her head. "Good surprise or bad surprise?"

"Good," he said without hesitation. "Though it's a little unnerving to realize I've been underestimating you this entire time." His expression grew thoughtful. "Twelve thousand years is... a very long time to learn things."

Akira studied him, seeing the questions in his eyes. He wanted to know more – about her, about her kind, about the world that existed before his kind took their first breaths. Perhaps someday she would tell him. If they survived. If they found Kova.

For now, she simply said, "Many winters. Many lessons." She gestured to the equipment. "Lesson today: know enemy's weapons. Use against them."

Liam nodded slowly. "And what's your lesson for tomorrow?"

Akira's silver eyes gleamed in the dim light of the cabin, ancient and uncompromising.

"Tomorrow lesson: no mercy for those who cage cubs."