SHUTTING HIM OUT
887 Words
CHAPTER 6
SLAM.
The sound of the mental door locking echoed through her mind like a thunderclap. For one endless heartbeat, Elara couldn't breathe.
The warmth that had wrapped around her heart for the past three days vanished as if it had never existed. The golden thread of the mate bond didn't disappear—it couldn't—but something precious had been ripped away from it.
Silence.
A terrible, unnatural silence.
Her mind, which had always carried the faint echo of Rowan's presence since the bond awakened, was suddenly empty. Terrifyingly empty.
She gasped, clutching her chest as pain spread through her ribs.
The bond was still there, connecting them.
Only now, instead of feeling like sunlight spilling over her skin, it felt like an iron chain that had been left buried beneath winter ice. It was cold. Heavy. Merciless. Every heartbeat reminded her of what she had willingly shut out.
She opened her eyes. She was completely alone inside her own head.
Tears burned her eyes before she could stop them. The dark trees blurred into shapeless shadows, swaying together like silent ghosts watching her suffer.
She couldn't feel Rowan anymore.
No warmth.
No quiet reassurance.
No steady heartbeat brushing against her own.
Not even the distant comfort of knowing he was alive.
The emptiness was almost unbearable.
It felt as though someone had reached inside her chest and carved away half of her soul.
A sob rose in her throat, but she swallowed itdown.
"No," she whispered hoarsely.
She had chosen this.
If shutting him out was the only way to keep him alive, then she would endure every second of this agony.
Even if it destroyed her.
She wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of her trembling hand, only managing to smear mud across her face. Her fingers were freezing. Her arms shook from exhaustion. She couldn't stop.
If she cried...
If she hesitated...
If she looked back...
She would lose, and losing meant Rowan would find her. She forced her aching legs to move.
One step, then another. Soon she was running again. The forest swallowed her completely, her boots slipped across wet leaves and uneven roots as branches lashed against her arms, leaving fresh scratches that stung in the cold night air. Twigs snagged her dress, tearing the thin fabric little by little, but she barely noticed.
All she knew was forward.
Keep running.
Keep breathing.
Keep him alive.
Her lungs screamed for air. Every breath scraped her throat like broken glass. The muscles in her legs trembled violently, threatening to give out beneath her.
She had no idea how far she had gone.
Minutes?
An hour?
Time had become meaningless inside the Whispering Woods.
The darkness never changed.
Every tree looked the same.
Every shadow seemed alive.
She risked one glance over her shoulder.
Nothing. Only endless blackness.
She hated herself for the tiny spark of relief that bloomed in her chest.
If Rowan hadn't found her yet...
Maybe shutting him out had worked.
Maybe the bond could no longer guide him.
Hope flickered, it was small, fragile and of course dangerous.
She pushed herself even faster.
The forest seemed to tighten around her.
The towering trees leaned inward, their branches twisting together overhead until barely a sliver of moonlight reached the ground.
The silence became oppressive.
No owls.
No insects.
Not even the whisper of leaves.
Only the pounding of her heartbeat echoed through the darkness.
Then... Everything changed.
The wind that had been steadily brushing against her face suddenly stopped.
It wasn't gradual.
One second it was there.
The next...Nothing.
The forest became perfectly still, even the air felt frozen.
A shiver crawled slowly down Elara's spine.
Then another breeze drifted through the trees.
It came from the north it felt cold, heavy and wrong brushing across her face like icy fingers. Elara stopped so suddenly her boots skidded across the damp earth, then her instincts screamed.
Run.
Hide.
Something was watching.
She inhaled sharply.
The smell hit her like a punch to the stomach.
Rotting flesh.
Old blood.
Wet soil that had been soaked in death for far too long. It was thick enough to taste and the scent filled her lungs, coating her tongue with bitterness. Her stomach twisted violently.
She clamped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from retching.
That wasn't Rowan.
It wasn't any wolf she had ever known.
It was something else.
Something ancient.
Something horribly wrong.
A low growl rolled through the darkness.
Wet and guttural.
It didn't sound like a living creature.
It sounded like something that had died...
...and refused to stay dead.
Every tiny hair on Elara's body stood on end.
Her heartbeat pounded so loudly she could hear it in her ears.
Slowly...
Very slowly...
She lifted her eyes toward the thick bushes ahead. The darkness moved.
At first she thought it was only her imagination.
Then...two enormous yellow eyes opened inside the shadows.
They didn't blink with intelligence, they didn't hold curiosity, they held only hunger. Merciless hunger.
The creature watched her without moving, as though deciding whether to kill her now...
...or enjoy the chase first.
Elara couldn't breathe.
Couldn't blink.
Couldn't even force her trembling legs to run.
Every instinct she possessed screamed the same warning.
Predator.
And it wasn't Rowan.
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