The Road Without Signs
686 Words
They left before the sky began to lighten.
Lila didn’t pack much. A backpack with clothes, her phone, a flashlight, and the old car keys hanging by the kitchen door. She didn’t let herself look too long at the ruined living room. If she did, she might not find the courage to walk away.
Kael stood by the door, tense, listening to sounds she couldn’t hear.
“Which way?” she asked.
“Not the road,” he said. “They’ll expect that.”
So they went through the forest.
The air was cold and damp, the ground soft beneath their steps. Lila struggled to keep up as Kael moved quickly and silently ahead of her, pausing every few seconds to scan their surroundings.
After nearly an hour of walking, her legs ached.
“I can’t keep this pace,” she whispered.
He stopped immediately. The urgency in his posture softened. “Sorry.” He looked around, then pointed downhill. “There’s an old logging path. If we reach it, we can circle back to your car without leaving a clear trail.”
She nodded, trusting him even though part of her still couldn’t believe any of this was happening.
As they walked, questions pressed against her mind.
“Kael,” she said quietly, “what did you mean… about me not being ‘just human’?”
He didn’t answer at first. His jaw worked as if he were deciding how much to reveal.
“Long ago,” he said finally, “some humans lived alongside our kind. Not as prey. Not as enemies. As… bonded partners. Their bloodlines carried a scent we could recognize across miles. A scent that meant one thing.”
She swallowed. “Mate.”
“Yes.”
She shook her head. “That’s a story. A myth.”
“It’s history,” he said. “And you carry it.”
They reached the old path just as the first pale light touched the sky. Lila leaned against a tree, catching her breath.
“So my grandmother knew about this?” she asked.
Kael’s eyes flicked to her. “She knew more than you think.”
A chill slid through her. “What are you saying?”
“I’ve been near this forest before,” he admitted. “Years ago. I caught your scent then, but it was faint. Distant. I didn’t understand it until tonight.”
Her heart skipped. “You’ve been watching me?”
“Protecting the area,” he corrected. “From a distance.”
She didn’t know how to feel about that.
They continued along the path until the trees thinned and the outline of her small car appeared where she had parked it the night before.
Relief washed over her. “We made it.”
Kael didn’t relax.
He stepped closer to the car and touched the hood. Then he frowned.
“What?” she asked.
“They were here.”
Her stomach dropped. “How do you know?”
He pointed. Faint scratch marks along the metal. Almost invisible unless you were looking for them.
“They’re tracking us,” he said.
Fear prickled her skin. “So what now?”
Kael looked at the road stretching ahead, empty and quiet in the early morning light.
“Now,” he said, opening the passenger door for her, “we stop running blindly.”
She hesitated. “Meaning?”
He met her eyes.
“We go somewhere they won’t dare follow.”
She slid into the driver’s seat. “Where is that?”
Kael closed the door and walked around to the other side.
“My territory,” he said.
Lila’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“You ran from your pack,” she reminded him.
“Yes,” he said calmly as he got in. “But I didn’t run from my land.”
She started the engine, heart racing again.
“Then tell me where to go,” she said.
As the car rolled forward onto the empty road, the forest watched them leave.
And somewhere far behind, a howl rose with the sunrise.
- Writer
