Chapter 8: The Man in the Shadows
1213 Words
CAMELLIA'S POV
I could only make out the man's outline in the darkness as he leaned toward the cave's narrow opening, listening. A faint ribbon of moonlight caught the edge of his shoulder, leaving the rest of him swallowed by shadow.
I didn't know which pack he belonged to, and I didn't want to.
During the Rite, anything an Alpha did to a tribute in the forest was considered fair game. There were no rules to protect us. No consequences for them.
Only consequences for us.
Still, I didn't trust him. Not for a second.
He could simply be entertaining himself before deciding what to do with me. Maybe this was some cruel game, one that ended with him handing me over to the others once I believed I was safe.
And his absurd story about the rules changing? I didn't believe a word of it.
Ever since I was old enough to understand what the Offering Rite was, everyone has repeated the same rules.
Run. Hide until dawn. Or be claimed.
That was it.
No secret punishments. No threats of being thrown to all the Alphas.
He was lying. He had to be.
Keeping my movements as quiet as possible, I crouched lower and stretched my hand across the damp cave floor, searching for the dagger I'd dropped earlier. My fingers brushed loose stones, damp earth, and tangled roots, but never cold steel.
Nothing.
I searched a little further before finally giving up. With a defeated sigh, I straightened.
That was when I heard the voices he’d sensed seconds before I did.
Every muscle in my body locked. My heartbeat lurched so violently it hurt.
Was he going to reveal me? Had this been his plan all along?
I stared at his silhouette, waiting for him to give me away. But he didn't. Instead, he lifted a hand ever so slightly, a silent signal for me to stay still.
Then, without looking back, he spoke so quietly I almost missed it. "Calm down," he murmured. "Your heartbeat is too loud."
I swallowed hard, drawing in slow, careful breaths, willing my heart to slow, but it refused to obey.
The voices drifted closer. Close enough that I could finally make out what they were saying.
"We only have a couple of hours before dawn," one man muttered. "And we still haven't found the runt."
The air rushed from my lungs. They were looking for me.
Not just any tribute. Me.
Another voice spoke. "You promised us a good time tonight," he complained. "All the other tributes were too willing. They bored the hell out of me."
Laughter rippled through the trees before a third voice chimed in.
"I want someone who'll fight," he said. "Someone who'll scream. Someone we can actually break."
Then another voice answered. A voice I knew far too well. One that made my knees threaten to buckle all over again.
Theo.
He was here. In the Rite. Hunting.
"She might be hiding somewhere around here." His voice carried absolute certainty.
I stumbled back so fast my heel slipped on the damp stone. I would have hit the ground hard if this stranger hadn't moved—so quickly I didn't even see it happen.
One moment he was standing at the cave's entrance. The next, his arms were around me again, catching me before I could fall.
"Easy," he whispered.
But I barely heard him. All I could hear was Theo's voice outside the cave, leading the others straight toward me.
Hunting me. Targeting me.
My stomach twisted, and the fury that had been simmering since the night I'd overheard him in the tavern surged up, hot and uncontrollable.
"That bastard," I hissed before I could stop myself.
The words had barely left my lips when a rough hand clamped over my mouth.
"Shh," the stranger breathed against my ear.
Suddenly, I heard a splash. Someone had stepped into the shallow stream that ran past the cave.
Another splash. Then footsteps crunching over wet stone.
I gasped against the stranger's palm. Theo and the other Alphas were too close. In fact, they were right outside the hidden cave.
Without removing his hand from my mouth, the stranger guided me deeper into the hollow. His movements were surprisingly careful despite the urgency, keeping us pressed against the darkest stretch of stone where even the faint moonlight couldn't reach.
I held my breath.
Outside, one of the Alphas spoke. "Theo, are you sure she didn't just fall off a cliff or something?" he asked with a humorless chuckle. "This place is too dark for a runt."
Theo answered almost immediately. "No. She knows this forest too well."
My body trembled—not with fear, but with a rage so fierce it blurred my vision. I wanted to scream. I wanted to burst out of this cave and beat the hell out of him until he felt even a fraction of the pain he'd caused me.
The pain he was still causing me.
The man behind me must have sensed the storm raging inside me because his hold tightened, steadying me in a way I hated to admit brought the slightest measure of comfort.
Another voice broke the silence outside. "Forget it," one of the Alphas said, sounding thoroughly discouraged. "I'm heading back."
For a heartbeat, relief flickered through me. They were leaving.
Then Theo's voice cut through the night again, colder than the rushing water outside. "Don't worry," he said. "If she turns up unclaimed after this..."
He paused.
"...you'll all get to have her."
My blood turned to ice.
The trembling only grew worse.
In the darkness, pressed against the solid chest of a stranger who never should have found me, I realized two terrifying truths.
The first was that Theo was hell-bent on breaking me so he could control me.
The second was that this man hadn't been lying about the changed rule. And he might be the only one who could save me.
The footsteps gradually faded. The voices grew more distant with each passing second until the forest swallowed them completely.
Only then did the stranger slowly remove his hand from my mouth. His other arm, however, remained around me, as though he wasn't convinced my legs would hold me.
"They're gone," he said quietly.
That was all it took. And the dam inside me shattered.
I folded into myself, into the solid warmth behind me, and let the sobs tear through me. I didn't care that he was a stranger. I didn't care that I didn't know his face or his name.
He was the only person, besides my parents, who had ever shown me kindness.
So I let myself break. Because I'd been holding everything in for far too long, and I had nowhere left to run.
And through it all, he simply held me in silence.
When the tears finally ran dry, leaving me hollow and trembling, I turned just enough for him to hear me.
"I... I want you to do it," I whispered, my voice raw.
Behind me, he went completely still. It was first crack in his calm composure.
"W-what?" he breathed.
I swallowed hard, forcing the words out before fear could drag them back down.
"I want you to claim me."
- Writer
