The Rejected Link

Chapter 6: A cloaked man

Something wasn't right.

I blinked, my mind spiraling, I'm confused. What did they mean? The words echo in my head, repeating over and over like a broken record. I tried to focus, to get to the Alpha, but everything felt... off.

I swallowed hard, a faint chill crawling up the back of my neck. My pulse quickened. Someone was watching me—I could feel it and it wasn't the figure I knew. This made me feel uneasy and troubled.

I spun around, but there was no one of interest. Everyone pays me no mind carrying on with the festival.

Then I see him.

Towards the woods that stretch out, in a black cloak, a man is walking. The one thing that makes him stand out from the crowd is that he's walking away from the festival into the mass of trees. Just before he enters the woods, he turns slightly, the cloak covering the better of his face but I catch a glimpse of his white coloured eyes and a sly smile. He turns and continues his walk slowly disappearing into the mass.

That smile, it's almost like he's taunting me. Tempting me to follow, daring me to take the bait.

“Don't go Ruthni, I don't feel good about this” Rudina tries to warn me.

I don't listen to her, hesitation takes over me but I ignore the alarms going off in my head and change my direction from the path that would take me to the Alpha and follow the retreating man.

I enter the woods and the further I walk in, the distant the noise from the festival is and soon I'm in the middle of the forest surrounded by nothing but trees and serene silence.

I've never strayed this far before.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

I move silently, cautious of every step, trying my very best to not draw any attention to myself. I arrived at an empty space within the wood, the ground was bare of any plant and it was more sandy than the rest of the field.

The ground beneath my feet suddenly felt unstable, as though I’d stepped onto something shifting, unreal. I looked around, but the world had blurred at the edges.

And as the world tilted ever so slightly, I realized I was lost, I turned back with the intention of finding my way back to the festival when I heard a voice,”I knew you'd follow”

“Who is there?” I don't see the man but I can feel his eyes on me now.

“Show yourself!” I demanded.

“And spoil all the fun? Now why would I do that” He replied, his voice sharp with a hint of amusement.

“It was you at the festival, right? What did you mean?” I couldn't see him but I could hear him so I asked my questions in hope of a response.

I got none. I turned in circles, there was no trace of him. The forest wasn't too thick and my wolf instincts should have picked up his scent but I couldn't.

Something was shielding him, it kept him from being noticed even with my heightened sense as a werewolf.

The world around me began to shift again, slowly morphing into the forest I had walked into and as it did, the veil that covered him came off with it.

There he was standing meters away from me. His build was large and the cloak covered his face completely even from close proximity.

“You really shouldn't have come here!” He says before he lunges at me, I'm taken back by the sudden movement. I don't have the time to evade his attack, he hits me across the chest sending me flying.

My back is met with strong wood, the bark of the tree slicing across my back. I fall to my knees in a fit of coughs.

Raising my head to locate the man, I find that he's disappeared again. I try to find my balance but out of thin air, he appears again and stabs me from the side.

I scream out in pain, the air around me shaken by my voice. “Why are you doing this?” I ask, my anger rising fast.

I should have listened to Rudina

Blood flows from the cut, staining my dress. I struggle to move. I need to get out of here. The man has disappeared once more. I use the opportunity to look for some shelter from him.

As I move past the trees in a rush, I catch a whiff of oakwood. It's faint. For a minute I think it's Exol but as I look around me at the variety of trees, I'm convinced my mind is playing tricks on me again.

A loud noise behind me pulls me out of my thoughts, I look back in fear to see the man above me on the branch of a tree smiling sinisterly at me.

“You can run little one” He jumps from tree to tree. He's fast, so fast that it's strange.

I continue running with him chasing me from above. I don't take notice of the stomp on the ground as I miss my step and is sent flying down. Groaning, I take to crawling.

I hear the flow of water, indicating a stream ahead. I try to head for it but the loss of blood makes me drowsy.

I should be healing! What was happening to me?

My limbs become heavy and it's hard to move but I am relentless. Putting one hand before the other, I crawl to the front of a big rock and rest my back against it. My temperature drops slightly, my body becoming cold. My heart rate reduces, causing fear to spike up.

I watch with drowsy eyes as the man drops from the tree “You held out for so long” He says taking a step closer.

“What did you do to me?” My voice is low and I can barely recognise myself.

He smiles and takes another step approaching me like a predator stalking its prey.

The air is thick with tension as he stalks me. I can hear the stream ahead, the birds above us flying fluidly, the tree leaves swaying with the wind but the forest is otherwise quiet.

He's closer now and I begin to lose all hope, whatever happens now will end here. My weak body and even weaker mind wears off as the minute goes by.

As the silence that ensues, I hear a tree branch break in the near distance. Just as my eyes start to close, I see a creature leap at the cloaked man. Only the heavy scent of oakwood lingers as my eyes shut.