Chapter 18
1593 Words
We left as soon as the sun came up.
We didn’t take much with us—just the little food we had left, some water, the medical kit, and our weapons. Everything else stayed behind.
The den used to feel safe, like home.
Now it felt like a place we barely escaped from.
Kael walked carefully, trying not to put too much weight on his injured side. My shoulder hurt with every step, but I tried not to show it. Neither of us talked about the pain.
“How long will it take?” I asked as we made our way through the forest.
“To get back to camp? About a full day if we push ourselves. Maybe more, since we’re both hurt.” He stopped to look at a mark on a tree—one he had made when we first traveled this way. “We’ll have to rest more than I want to.”
"“Garrett could be tracking us.”
“He is tracking us,” Kael said. “The real question is whether he’s doing it right now or waiting for backup.” He shifted his pack on his shoulder. “If I had to guess, he’s gone to report what happened. After what you did last night, they’ll bring more wolves to capture you.”
The memory made my stomach twist—the shadows responding my anger, the overwhelming power when I let my wolf take over.
“Kael?” I asked softly. “What I did… am I turning into something bad?”
“Stop,” he said firmly, turning toward me. “You’re not becoming a monster. You used your power to stay alive.”
“But I liked it,” I whispered. “The power. And how scared they were.”
“Of course you did,” he said gently. “You’ve spent your whole life feeling weak. Feeling powerful for the first time can feel amazing. But that doesn’t make you evil. What matters is how you choose to use that power.”
I wanted to believe him.
"Come on," he said. "We're losing daylight."
Two hours into our journey, we heard voices.
Kael quickly pulled me behind some thick bushes. We crouched down, staying completely still.
Through the leaves, I saw them, three wolves in human form, carrying weapons and looking alert. They had the same symbol Garrett’s pack wore.
Council hunters.
“—said they went north,” one of them said.
“Garrett wants them alive if possible. Especially the girl.”
“Why? She’s just some rogue—”
“Are you dumb? She’s a Shadow Wolf. The Council will pay a lot for her. Dead or alive, but alive pays more.”
A cold fear ran through me.
Don’t move, Kael said through the link. Don’t even breathe loudly.
The hunters were only about twenty feet away. If they turned their heads even a little… we’d be caught.
One of the hunters stopped. “Do you smell that?”
“Smell what?”
“Blood. Fresh.” He sniffed the air. “Someone hurt is close.”
Shit.
Kael and I were both still bleeding a little, and the scent must have carried.
“Spread out,” the leader said. “Search the area.”
They were going to find us.
“When I move, you run,” Kael told me through the mind-link. “Go south. Don’t look back.”
“No—”
“That wasn’t a suggestion, Selene. RUN.”
Then Kael jumped out of the bushes, shifting into his wolf form in mid-air. He crashed into the closest hunter before they even had time to react.
“There!” someone yelled. “The male! Catch him!”
I knew I was supposed to run. Kael told me to.
But I couldn’t leave him behind.
I shifted and jumped at the second hunter. I bit his arm, not hard enough to seriously hurt him, but enough to make him shout and drop his weapon.
“I told you to RUN!” Kael shouted in my mind.
“I’m not leaving you!”
The third hunter lifted a crossbow and pointed it at Kael.
My shadows reacted on their own, knocking the arrow away so it hit a tree instead of Kael.
The hunter stared at me in shock. “The Shadow Wolf—”
I didn’t let him finish.
My shadows wrapped lightly around his throat, stopping him from speaking, just enough to keep him quiet, not to harm him.
The hunter I’d bitten was scrambling for his weapon. Kael had the third one pinned, his teeth at the hunter’s throat.
“We need to go,” I said. Now, before more show up.
“Agreed.”
We ran.
I could hear shouting behind us, but we were faster, injured but desperate.
We ran until our lungs burned and our injuries throbbed.
Finally, Kael slowed to stop by a stream. We both shifted back into human form and collapsed.
“You didn’t run,” he said, gasping.
“Neither did you.”
“I told you to—”
“I don’t follow orders well. You should know that by now.” I pressed my hand to my shoulder. The wound had opened again, and blood seeped through my fingers. “Besides, you’d have done the same for me.”
He stared at me for a long moment. Then, despite everything, he smiled. "Yeah. I would have."
We rested by the stream for about an hour, cleaning our wounds again and filling our water bottles.
“They’re everywhere,” I said quietly. “How many people did the Council send?”
“Dozens. Maybe even more.” Kael tied a new bandage around his side. “You’re valuable, Selene. You’re the last Shadow Wolf. They won’t stop until they catch you.”
“Or until I’m dead.”
“That too.”
He said it so calmly. It should have scared me, but instead it just made me angry.
“I’m tired of running,” I said.
“I know.”
“I’m tired of being hunted like some animal.”
“I know.”
“I want to fight back. Really fight. Not just defend myself or survive. I want them to be scared of me for once.”
Kael looked at me, his expression changing. “Then that’s what we’ll do. When we get back to camp, if it’s still there—we’ll make a plan. A real one. Not just hiding and hoping.”
“You think they’ll help us? After we left them?”
“We didn’t leave them. We followed their orders.” He stood up, wincing. “But yes. I think they’ll help. Fighting the Council is what rogues do. It’s who we are.”
I stood too, testing my sore shoulder. It hurt, but I could manage it.
“How much farther?”
“Six, maybe seven hours if we keep this pace.” He looked at the sky. “We’ll need to move carefully. Stay off the main paths. They’ll have scouts everywhere now.”
“Then let’s go.”
The afternoon was tense.
Every sound made us jump. Every shadow felt dangerous.
Twice we had to hide from passing patrols. Once, we heard fighting in the distance, wolves growling, weapons clashing, but when we got there, there was only blood and no bodies.
“They’re cleaning up,” Kael muttered. “That’s bad.”
“Why?”
“Because it means they’re careful. Professional. This isn’t just bounty hunters anymore. It’s a planned operation.”
My stomach sank. “To catch me?”
“To kill you. And anyone helping you.” He started walking again. “We need to move faster.”
But going faster made us careless. And being careless meant mistakes.
We were crossing a small clearing when I smelled it—wolf. Very close. Too close.
"Kael—"
An arrow zipped past my head.
We ran, shifting into wolf form as we moved. More arrows followed—one grazed my back leg.
“How many?” I asked in our link.
“At least four. Maybe more,” Kael said, turning left. “This way!”
We crashed through thick bushes, jumped over fallen logs, and splashed through a shallow creek. The hunters were catching up.
Another arrow hit Kael’s hind leg.
He fell hard.
“KAEL!”
I stopped suddenly and turned back—
A net fell from the trees above, weighted with silver. It crashed down over me, the metal burning where it touched my fur.
I screamed a howl of pain and rage.
“SELENE!” Kael tried to stand, tried to shift back, but his injured leg couldn’t hold him.
The hunters stepped out of the trees, five of them smiling like they’d already won.
“Got her,” one said. “Garrett will be happy.”
No.
No. This couldn’t happen.
“Let me out,” my wolf growled inside me. “LET ME OUT!”
The shadows came forward.
They tore through the silver net like it was nothing, melting the metal wherever they touched. The hunters jumped back, their confidence instantly turning to fear.
I got to my feet, shadows rolling off my body, my eyes burning with dark energy.
“Run,” I said, my voice sounding deeper and unfamiliar. “Or face me.”
One hunter was smart enough to take off running.
The others raised their weapons.
A huge mistake.
- Writer
