Bound with fate

The Hunt Begins

Alora's POV:

I didn't have time to scream.

My survival instinct kicked in faster than fear could paralyze me. I grabbed the ceramic vase from my windowsill and hurled it at the stranger's face. He dodged, but it bought me precious seconds. I spun away from the window and ran toward the back of my cottage, my heart hammering so hard I thought it might burst from my chest.

The man cursed behind me, his footsteps heavy and determined. My cottage was small, just three rooms, which meant there was nowhere to hide, nowhere to truly escape. The back door was my only option. I threw it open and bolted into the night, barefoot, in my simple sleeping dress.

The forest swallowed me whole.

Branches whipped at my face, drawing blood, but I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. Behind me, I heard the man crashing through the undergrowth, and worse, I heard other voices. There were more of them. This wasn't a random attack. This was organized. Deliberate.

My mind raced as my legs pumped beneath me. Had Alpha Santo sent them? The fragments of conversation I'd heard at the ceremony echoed in my thoughts. "We will fix this." Those words carried a weight that suggested something far darker than simple rejection of a bond.

The neutral zone. If I could reach the ancient ruins in the neutral zone, I might find shelter, might lose them in the maze of crumbling stone and overgrown vegetation. It was dangerous to venture there alone at night, but staying near my cottage meant certain death.

I changed direction, heading deeper into the woods, toward the boundary that separated Crescent Moon territory from the wild lands between packs. My feet were bleeding now, cut by sharp stones and thorns, but adrenaline kept me moving.

A hand grabbed my hair from behind.

I screamed, finally a raw, desperate sound that tore from my throat. I twisted, trying to break free, and managed to land my elbow against something solid. The man grunted in pain and his grip loosened just enough. I wrenched myself forward, feeling strands of my hair rip away, and kept running.

The forest opened up suddenly, and I nearly tumbled down a ravine. I caught myself against a tree, gasping for breath, and risked a glance back. The men had stopped at the edge of the clearing, silhouetted against the darkness. There were four of them. Four men sent to kill me.

One of them stepped forward, and in the moonlight, I recognized his face. He was a warrior from the Redstone Pack. One of Colton's men.

My blood turned to ice.

"You can't run forever, girl," he called out, his voice cold and casual, like he was discussing the weather. "Alpha Santo's orders are clear. You won't see another sunrise."

I didn't respond. I turned and ran down into the ravine, half-sliding, half-falling down the rocky slope. Behind me, I heard them following, their pursuit relentless.

The ravine opened into a narrow creek bed. Water, ice-cold and shallow, rushed over smooth stones. I splashed through it, my breath coming in ragged gasps. My mind was fracturing under the weight of everything that was happening. Twenty-four hours ago, my biggest worry was standing in front of a crowd. Now I was fleeing for my life.

As I scrambled up the other side of the ravine, I heard a new sound. The howl of a wolf. Then another. And another.

For a moment, confusion replaced my fear. Wolves didn't hunt humans in our territory because the packs had an understanding with the wild creatures of the forest. But these howls were different. They sounded almost organized. Almost... controlled.

A massive black wolf emerged from the trees ahead of me, blocking my path. I skidded to a halt, my eyes wide. The wolf was huge, easily the size of a large man, with silver streaks in its dark fur and eyes that glowed amber-gold in the moonlight.

Those eyes.

I knew those eyes.

The wolf growled, a sound so deep and powerful that it resonated through my entire body. The men chasing me had stopped, and I could hear them retreating, backing away from the beast blocking their path.

"Colton?" I whispered, though I knew it was impossible. Werewolves were supposed to be myths, old stories told to scare children. Yet there was no other explanation for the massive creature before me or for the sudden shift in the hunters' behavior.

The wolf took a step toward me, and I stood frozen, caught between two different kinds of death. The beast growled again, and this time it sounded almost like a warning. Not to me, but to the men behind me.

"Fall back!" one of the men shouted, panic creeping into his voice. "It's him! It's the future Alpha!"

They ran. I heard them crashing through the forest, abandoning their hunt, fleeing from the wolf as though it were the apocalypse itself. Within moments, the sounds of their retreat faded into silence, leaving only the rush of the creek and the heavy breathing of both the wolf and myself.

The creature before me sat on its haunches, watching me with an intensity that made my skin prickle. We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. My entire understanding of the world had just shattered. Werewolves were real. The connection I felt to Colton wasn't just emotional or spiritual, it was something far more primal.

I took a step backward, then another, never breaking eye contact. The wolf didn't move, didn't follow. It simply watched as I slowly made my way around it, keeping as much distance as possible between us.

Once I was past the creature, I ran again, but this time not from fear of the wolf. I ran because the night was still dangerous, and I needed to reach safety. The neutral zone wasn't far now. I could feel it—the ancient ruins waiting like a refuge in the darkness.

Behind me, I heard the wolf's footsteps following at a distance, never catching up, never attacking, but never leaving either. It was protecting me. Colton was protecting me.

But why? Hours ago, he had stood in front of hundreds of people and declared me a burden, a disgrace, someone he wanted nothing to do with. What had changed? What had made him come after me in the dead of night, transformed into something that should only exist in legends?

I pushed the questions aside and focused on survival. The ruins appeared through the trees like ghostly sentinels, their crumbling walls reaching toward the sky. I made my way between the ancient stones, deeper into the labyrinth of history and secrets.

Finally, I found a small chamber, partially sheltered by a collapsed roof. I crawled inside, pressing myself against the cold stone wall, and waited.

The wolf never entered. I could sense it outside, keeping watch, keeping vigil. And as dawn began to break, painting the sky in shades of pink and gold, I realized something that terrified me more than the attack, more than the flight through the forest.

Colton had saved my life. But not out of love or acceptance. His actions tonight suggested something far more complex, far more dangerous. He had saved me like a hunter protects his prize, not because he cared about my welfare, but because something in the bond between us demanded it.

I was beginning to understand that my fate was tangled with his in ways I couldn't even begin to comprehend.

And somewhere in the early morning light, I heard a human scream a sound of pure agony that seemed to come from deep within the forest. It was followed by silence so profound it felt suffocating.

My hand flew to my chest, where the bond burned like a living thing.

Something had just happened. Something had changed between Colton and his pack.

And it had everything to do with me.