Chapter Four: A Stranger in the Woods
381 Words
The forest stretched endlessly before me, the air colder the deeper I went. My feet ached, but I didn’t stop. Every step away from the Silver Moon Pack was a step toward freedom.
By nightfall, exhaustion dragged at me. I found a small clearing near a stream and dropped my bag to the ground. As I knelt to drink, the silence broke with a snap of branches.
I froze. My hand instinctively reached for the dagger Lila had given me.
“Easy there,” a deep voice said from the shadows.
I spun, heart pounding. A man stepped into the moonlight — tall, broad-shouldered, with dark hair that fell into his piercing blue eyes. He wasn’t from my pack; I would have remembered him.
“Who are you?” I demanded, trying to keep my voice steady.
He raised his hands in peace. “Name’s Kael. I’m not here to hurt you.”
But Selene growled in my mind. “Be careful, Aria. He’s strong.”
Kael studied me for a moment, his gaze sharp, almost knowing. “You’re not just any wolf, are you?”
I stiffened. “What do you mean?”
He tilted his head, a small smile tugging at his lips. “The light. I saw it last night — a burst of silver fire in the forest. That was you.”
My stomach dropped. How could he know?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied quickly, gripping the dagger tighter.
But Kael stepped closer, his eyes glinting under the moon. “Don’t bother denying it. Power like that… it only belongs to one kind of bloodline.”
I swallowed hard. “And what bloodline is that?”
“The goddess’s,” he said softly. “You’re one of her descendants, aren’t you?”
My breath caught. The words struck deep, like an echo of the truth I had tried to ignore.
Before I could answer, a low growl rumbled through the trees. Red eyes gleamed in the darkness — rogues, more than one this time, circling us.
Kael’s expression hardened. “Stay behind me.”
Silver light pulsed faintly under my skin, my wolf stirring with fierce energy. For the first time, I didn’t feel like running.
I felt ready to fight
- Writer
