Chapter 2
720 Words
BRAYA'S POV
I knew something was wrong the moment Bradford screamed my name.
“Braya! Outside. Now!”
I groaned onto my pillow. My oldest brother never lets me sleep, he never cared if I was tired or just wanted a little peace. But he was an Alpha, and an Alpha’s word wasn’t a suggestion.
When I stepped outside, all three of them were already waiting. Bradford had shifted into his wolf, massive, black, and intimidating, with eyes that glowed green. Brendan stretched calmly beside him, always relaxed. And Brian… he stood behind them, looking pale and quiet, staring at the ground like he was somewhere else entirely.
“Shift,” Bradford ordered.
He didn't ask, just ordered.
I tightened my fists but obeyed. My bones cracked, fire spread through my veins, and within seconds my wolf replaced my human body. My paws dug into the dirt as I tried to steady my breath.
“Attack.”
I hated this part.
I lunged. Bradford caught me midair like I weighed nothing and slammed me into the ground. His weight crushed the air from my lungs. I twisted, clawed, snapped, anything to break free, but nothing worked. He was too strong.
“Enough,” Brendan said, pulling him off me. His voice was calm, but his eyes weren’t.
Bradford looked at me, cold and sharp. “If she can’t fight, she’ll die. I’m not carrying dead weight.”
His words stabbed deeper than his claws.
I shifted back, breathing hard as I wrapped a cloth around myself. “You always think I’m weak.”
“Then prove me wrong,” he said without looking at me, already turning away.
Sometimes I hate him. But I also knew why he was like that. He carried everything. Our safety, our future, our lives. And if we failed, it would fall on him.
************
That night, the house was quiet. Brendan cooked something simple but warm, filling the room with comfort. Brian cleaned weapons with shaking hands. Bradford bent over an old map covered in ink marks.
“They’re getting closer,” he muttered.
Brendan looked up. “Who?”
“The Blood Hounds.” Bradford’s jaw tightened. “I smelled them near the river. They’re testing us.”
The name chilled the room. Even Brian stopped breathing.
The Blood Hounds were killers. Monsters. Nothing good followed them.
“What do they want with us?” I asked.
Bradford looked straight at me. “Power. And that’s why you need to be strong.”
My heart raced, and my wolf paced inside me like it sensed something coming. Something big.
That night, sleep refused to come. The forest was too loud. Every rustle, every distant cry pulled at my nerves. I stared at the ceiling, thinking about Bradford’s words… and about our parents. They died in a war I barely remembered, leaving Bradford to carry the weight of all of us.
Maybe if they were alive, I wouldn’t feel so trapped.
But that night felt different. My skin prickled and my wolf wouldn’t settle.
I closed my eyes and saw a shadow. It was tall, dark and with glowing red eyes watching me.
I stood up with my heart pounding.
The forest stretched endlessly outside my window. And for a moment, just one heartbeat, I saw something between the trees.
I was watching and waiting.
Then it vanished.
But the fear it left behind stayed with me.
“I’m not weak,” I whispered to myself.
But deep down, I knew something bigger than us was coming. Something even Bradford couldn’t stop.
Because far beyond Durham, in a castle no human had ever seen, another pair of red eyes stared at the same night sky.
Eyes that were
Searching for me.
And for the first time in my life,
I dreamt of blood.
- Writer
