Chapter 5: Blood Bonds
1126 Words
The woods were alive with the sound of rushing feet and snapping branches as Elias and I ran, my breath shallow in my chest. The cabin was in ruins behind us. I could feel the weight of it, the splintering wood, the charred remains, but all I could focus on now was the sound of the hunters closing in.
I risked a glance over my shoulder, but there was nothing but shadowed trees and the thick mist rolling in. I couldn't see them yet, but I could feel them—Lila's team, her elite squadron. I could almost hear their boots pounding against the earth, the low hum of drones buzzing overhead. The fear was heavy in my chest.
"Elias, we have to move faster," I gasped, clutching his arm as we pushed through the underbrush. My skin itched, every nerve alight as the world around me sharpened. The forest... everything felt different now. Alive in a way I didn’t understand.
"I know," Elias growled, his golden eyes flicking back toward me. He looked... worried. Something I hadn’t seen from him before. But then, I’d never been in this kind of danger. This was different. This was real.
A voice sliced through the air, sharp and unrelenting.
“Naomi, it’s me. They’ve brainwashed you! Come back!”
I froze. My breath caught in my throat. The words hit me like a punch to the gut. Lila. My sister. I could hear the desperation in her voice, the same voice I had grown up with. The one that used to soothe me, comfort me. The one that had changed after Dad’s death, twisted into something unrecognizable.
“Naomi, please,” Lila's voice crackled again, her voice distorted by the drone speaker. “They’ve poisoned your mind. You’re not one of them. You’re my sister.”
I shook my head, the urge to run to her clawing at my chest. Part of me, the human part—the part that had spent years of my life with her—wanted to listen. To go back to what we were. But there was another part of me now. Something wilder, something that burned with a truth I couldn’t deny.
“I’m not leaving you, Elias,” I whispered, barely a breath.
His eyes met mine, dark and full of uncertainty. “Naomi—”
“No,” I cut him off, my voice trembling but firm. “You don’t get it. I... I can’t go back. I can’t leave you. Not after everything.”
His jaw clenched. “You’re still my responsibility. I promised to protect you.”
“I’m not your responsibility,” I snapped. “I’m not some—”
But I didn’t get to finish.
The first explosion hit the ground, sending us both sprawling. I gasped, the wind knocked from my lungs as a wave of nausea swept over me. Gas. My mind scrambled to focus as my vision blurred, and the world started spinning. I barely had time to get my bearings before a second explosion rocked the forest. The air was thick, stinging. The scent of chemicals was overwhelming. I choked on it.
And then I felt it.
The change.
It started slow—agonizingly slow. My skin crawled. My bones groaned. A scream tore from my throat, but it wasn’t my voice anymore. It was... her—the wolf that was inside me. The beast that was part of me, part of my blood. My body twisted, cracking, reshaping itself.
“No! Stop!” I screamed, clutching at my head, but I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t—
"Naomi!" Elias’s voice was frantic now, pulling me into his arms, his hands firm on my shoulders. He tried to hold me, but it was too much. My bones cracked again, my muscles spasming in ways that should have been impossible. I could feel my skin stretch, the force of the transformation overwhelming. The wildness inside me was rising, crashing like a storm.
“I can’t stop it! I can’t—”
"Listen to me," Elias said, his voice raw and desperate, his hands tight on my arms. His face was inches from mine, his eyes filled with the kind of intensity I hadn’t seen before. “You have to fight it. You have to stay human.”
“I don’t want to be human!” I screamed at him. The words barely made it out before the change took over again, and the scream turned into a howl. It was no longer me.
But then a voice, calm and steady, broke through the chaos.
“Elias. You need to get her under control. If she fully shifts now, without training—she’ll never come back.”
I blinked, trying to focus on the source of the voice. Jasper. He was there, standing in the shadows, his eyes narrowed, his arms crossed over his chest. “The gas is interfering with her control,” he said, his voice like ice. “If she’s not careful, she’ll lose herself.”
Elias didn’t take his eyes off me. His hands were still on my shoulders, holding me tight, trying to keep me anchored. “I can’t hold her forever, Jasper.”
“You won’t have to,” Jasper muttered, his gaze flicking to the trees. “They’re closing in. You won’t have much time.”
“Then we run,” Elias said, his voice low. His gaze softened for just a moment before hardening again. “Come on, Naomi. You have to fight. For me. For us.”
For a split second, I thought I might be able to do it. I wanted to, more than anything. But then the shift hit again, and this time, it was too much. My body exploded with pain, the transformation coursing through me like wildfire. I could feel it—feel the wolf rising to take control.
“Naomi!” Elias shouted, but his voice was distant now. I was slipping. I couldn’t stop it.
I felt my skin rip, the bone stretching, my mouth elongating into a snout. My vision blurred into darkness.
The last thing I heard before the wolf took over completely was Elias’s voice, calling my name.
And then... nothing.
I ran.
I didn’t know where. I didn’t know how. But the instinct inside me pushed me forward, deeper into the woods, through the trees, through the night.
I didn’t care anymore.
But I wasn’t alone.
From the shadows, a figure stepped forward. I didn’t see him at first, but his voice cut through the air like a whisper.
“She’s ready.”
I turned sharply, but it was too late.
Cade smiled, his eyes glinting in the dim light.
"Let the game begin.”
- Writer
