Chapter 7: The Changed Rules
883 Words
CYPRIEN'S POV
The girl did exactly as I told her.
She didn't make a sound. She didn't struggle. She barely seemed to breathe.
One hand remained clamped over her mouth while the other stayed firmly around her waist, holding her upright in case her legs gave out. Or worse, she decided to fight me.
But the moment I leaned in, something felt wrong. I drew in a slow breath, expecting the usual scent that would reveal her designation, the distinct signature every wolf was born with.
All I caught was the damp smell of mud caked across her skin and the sharp tang of sweat from running. Beneath it... nothing.
I searched again, inhaling deeper. My brows knit together.
She didn't even have a wolf.
This girl... she was the runt the she-wolf from earlier had been talking about.
Her words echoed through my mind.
That lucky runt. A future Alpha and a prince could both claim her tonight.
I looked down at the girl again.
She was so small that my hand nearly spanned the width of her waist. Beneath the plain white robe they had forced her to wear, she looked painfully fragile.
Disgust rose hot and bitter in my chest.
They had thrown a runt into the Hunt. They had sent someone utterly defenseless into the forest to be chased by Alphas who wouldn't hesitate to tear her apart.
My jaw tightened, and before I realized it, my grip around her had grown too firm. A tiny whimper escaped her lips.
The sound jolted me back to myself. “Damn it,” I muttered, immediately loosening my hold. “I'm sorry.”
The girl drew in a sharp, shaky breath. Then her shoulders began to tremble.
At first, I thought she was simply trying to steady her breathing. But the trembling grew worse, and a soft, muffled sound escaped beneath the hand still covering her mouth.
She was crying.
I let go at once. My hand fell away from her mouth, and I released the arm that had been holding her against me.
I expected her to bolt.
Instead, her knees buckled, and she crumpled to the cave floor, hands covering her face as she cried. The sound echoed faintly off the stone walls, small and desperate.
Through ragged breaths, I heard her voice for the first time. “How...” She struggled to steady herself before trying again. “How did you find me?”
For a long moment, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't decide whether to approach her or keep my distance.
Every instinct told me to kneel beside her, to offer some measure of comfort. But I had the unsettling feeling that my presence was the very thing causing her pain. So I stayed where I was.
A weary sigh escaped me.
A weary sigh escaped me. “I got here before you did,” I admitted. “I've been in this part of the forest the whole time. I’ve been watching you. I saw what you were trying to do.”
Her shoulders shook with another sob, but she quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, smothering the sound.
Even now... even while breaking apart, she was still trying not to be found.
Something tightened painfully in my chest.
I took a cautious step toward her. I had no idea what I was supposed to say, but I couldn't just stand there and watch.
“Listen,” I said, keeping my voice low and steady. “I have no intention of claiming you. Or anyone. Like you, I never wanted to be here.”
She lifted her head slightly, though I still couldn’t see her face beneath the mud she’d smeared on her skin.
“So you're letting me go?” she asked, hope and disbelief colliding in the same fragile sentence.
I didn’t answer right away. The truth sat heavy on my tongue. I exhaled, long and slow.
“I could,” I said at last. “But you should know something first.”
Her posture stiffened.
“If a tribute isn’t claimed by at least one of the hunters,” I continued, “she’s thrown to all of them at dawn. Passed around. Every Alpha.
I paused.
“No exceptions.”
She went completely still. For a moment, I thought she hadn't heard me.
Then she shook her head so violently. “No,” she hissed, her voice barely above a whisper despite the force behind it. “Those aren't the rules.”
I slowly lowered myself into a crouch until we were nearly eye level, hoping that even through the darkness, she'd see the truth in my expression.
“They changed the rules.”
Her face contorted behind the hands covering it, fury and disbelief flashing in her eyes. “You're lying.”
I had barely opened my mouth to explain when the breeze shifted.
Voices drifted through the trees. Several of them.
Three...
No. Four.
One voice stood out immediately. It belonged to Alpha Beron's son.
I glanced back at the girl and pressed a finger to my lips. “Shh.”
Then I rose and moved toward the narrow opening of the hollow, angling myself just enough to peer outside while listening more closely.
“Someone's coming.”
- Writer
