Chapter 6 : First Move
823 Words
Rogue Alpha
The scent was faint.
But it was hers.
Not the scent of the girl from the photo I’d carried all these years—young, fragile, uncertain. It was sharper now. Changed. Grown. Stronger.
But still mine.
I inhaled again, and my eyes rolled back as the ghost of her presence curled through me. “Raine,” I murmured, her name sounding strange—wrong—on my tongue. “You can change your name. You can change your location. But you’re still mine.”
The trees shifted around me in the morning wind, but it wasn’t the cold that made the forest go silent. It was me. My aura pulsed with something unnatural, something darker than instinct.
“Track her,” I snarled to the shadow moving behind me.
A low, answering growl rumbled from the creature I’d twisted into obedience. Another bear shifter—smaller, more feral—slipped forward, nose to the ground. She was my creation, like the others. Broken. Warped. Bound to me by something deeper than loyalty.
She sniffed, then jerked her head northwest—toward the city.
Toward her.
---
Raine
I didn’t tell Jahlani about the dream.
Not yet.
But something in me felt raw ever since—like the memories had peeled back a layer I wasn’t ready to face.
So I kept busy.
In the weeks that followed, I focused on classes. Study sessions. One time, I even let Justin drag me to a spell-crafting demo off campus. I hated crowds, but it helped to be around people who weren’t looking at me like I was broken glass.
Besides, Justin was kind. And funny. He kept talking about this "Protection Ward 2.0" he was working on that could “totally block a werewolf’s scent trail” if he could just get the ratios right.
He was a good friend and I smiled more around him than I expected.
But Jahlani…
He was something else.
He didn’t talk as much, didn’t fill silence with chatter. But his presence grounded me in a way that nothing else had ever done before.
And I found myself drifting toward him like it was instinct.
Like my bear knew before I did.
---
Jahlani
I kept an eye on her. Always.
Not in a creepy way.
In a mate way.
Okay, maybe a little bit creepy.
But can you blame me? The girl who used to flinch at shadows now smiled when she saw me. She leaned in when we talked. She laughed.
I wasn’t in a rush. I knew her past still clung to her like chains, even if she didn’t always talk about it.
But every day, I saw the weight shift little by little.
Until that afternoon.
I was walking back from my Lit class when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
I caught a scent, on the wind.
A wrong kind of scent.
A Predator.
I paused, slow and casual, and sniffed the air again. It was faint—just a trace. But it didn’t belong anywhere near campus. Not a wolf. Not big cat.
Bear maybe.
But older. Meaner.
Alpha—but not pack.
Rogue.
I turned on my heel, already pulling out my phone and dialing the number. He picked up after just one ring.
“Justin, where’s Raine?” I say quickly.
---
Justin
My fingers froze over the open spellbook on my desk when the call came.
“Uh… I think she went to the quad. Why?”
“Get to her. Now.”
“Jahlani—”
“Something feels off. My bear is sensing something. I need to make sure she's alright.”
The line went dead.
I grabbed my phone and sprinted out the door.
---
Rogue Alpha
The tracker I sent watched from the woods outside the city, her scent thick in the air.
Raine was surrounded. By concrete. Steel. And magic wards.
But that didn’t matter.
I didn’t need to touch her, not yet.
I just needed her to know I was close.
The tracker left the first token at the edge of the school garden.
An old collar. Burned and bloodstained.
Raine’s name etched into the leather beneath.... Her real name.
---
Raine
I didn’t know why I paused near the garden path.
Didn’t know why my chest suddenly tightened.
Something felt off, I just didn't know why.
Then I saw it.
Old leather. Familiar burn marks. My knees instantly buckled.
And carved beneath his mark…
The name I hadn’t heard in ten years.
“Selene (Subject 47).”
The world tilted.
I didn’t remember falling.
Only the feeling of strong arms catching me.
Jahlani’s voice was low and sharp with worry. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
But all I could hear was the echo of my father’s voice in my head:
“You can run, little bear. But you’ll never truly escape from me.”
- Writer
