The Crimson Claim

The Night It Started

I can tell you the exact moment my life flipped upside down. The moment everything I knew turned into a mess, and I didn’t know where I fit anymore. The woods I loved, the quiet I craved, it all went sideways, and I was left with no place to hide. It wasn’t some big, loud crash. It was a shadow in the dark, a voice I didn’t want to hear, and a feeling I couldn’t shake. It started with him.

I’d been out in the forest since the sun dropped, hunting alone like always. The trees stretched tall around me, their branches clawing at the sky, blocking out the stars. My boots crunched on dead leaves, steady and sure, as I tracked a deer I’d picked up on an hour back. Its scent hung in the air, sweet, musky, alive. My stomach growled, loud enough to make me wince, but I wasn’t out here for food. I didn’t need to eat tonight. I hunted because it was mine. My time. My freedom. Out here, no one told me what to do.

Selene Carver didn’t answer to anybody. Never had, not really. I’d been dodging the Silver Claw pack since I was sixteen, when I figured out their rules were just chains dressed up as loyalty. They thought they owned me because my dad was their Beta, because my blood tied me to their Alpha’s leash. But I wasn’t some pup they could train. I’d spent years slipping through their fingers, living on the edges, taking what I needed. Rogue life wasn’t pretty. Cold nights, empty stomachs, always watching my back. But it beat bowing to some jerk who thought he was king.

The deer was close now. I could hear its hooves scuffing the dirt, faint and quick, maybe fifty yards off. I crouched low, my breath puffing out in little clouds, and pulled my knife from the sheath at my hip. The blade glinted in the moonlight, worn but sharp. It’d been my dad’s once, before he stopped mattering. I didn’t think about him much anymore. I didn’t let myself. But the knife stayed with me, a piece of the past I couldn’t ditch.

I moved slow, keeping my steps light. The wind was on my side, blowing the deer’s scent to me, not mine to it. My wolf stirred inside, her ears perked, itching to take over. She loved the hunt as much as I did, maybe more. I could feel her pacing in my chest, all claws and teeth, begging me to shift and run it down. But I didn’t. Not tonight. I liked the control of doing it human, of proving I didn’t need her to win.

Then it happened. A snap behind me, loud and wrong. My whole body locked up. The deer’s smell faded, swallowed by something new, pine, smoke, and a sharp tang of blood. My skin prickled, every hair standing up like I’d been zapped. My wolf growled low, not scared, but ready. I didn’t move, just listened. The forest went quiet, too quiet, like it was holding its breath. Something was out there. Something big.

“Who’s there?” I called, keeping my voice tough, steady. “I don’t mess around, so show yourself.”

Nothing answered. Just the wind, rustling the trees. I tightened my grip on the knife, shifting my weight to my toes. My heart thumped hard, but I wasn’t scared. I’d faced worse than shadows. Hungry rogues, Silver Claw patrols, even a bear once. Whatever this was, it wouldn’t get the jump on me. I didn’t run. Never had, never would.

A shape moved between the trees, dark and silent, like a ghost with teeth. Then he stepped out, right into a patch of moonlight, and my breath stuck in my throat. He was huge, not just tall, but solid, like he could snap a tree in half. His black hair was a mess, sticking up like he’d been running through the woods, or fighting in them. A scar cut down his cheek, jagged and old, giving him a mean edge. But it was his eyes that hit me hardest, red, glowing like embers in a fire, locked on me like I was the only thing in the world.

“You’re on my turf,” he said, voice low and rough, the kind that rumbled through you. “That’s a bad move for a lone wolf.”

I straightened up, glaring right back. No way was I letting him think he rattled me. “Your turf? These woods don’t belong to anyone. Neither do I.”

His lips twitched, almost a smirk, but not quite. “They’re mine. Crimson Hollow’s mine. I’m Kael Draven, the Alpha here. You’ve got five seconds to tell me who you are before I drag you back to my packhouse myself.”

Alpha. Of course he was one. I could feel it now, the power rolling off him, heavy and thick, like a storm about to break. It pressed against me, trying to push me down, but I didn’t budge. My wolf snarled inside, pacing harder, and I shoved her back again. I didn’t care how strong he was. He didn’t get to boss me around. No Alpha did.

“Selene,” I said, keeping it short, sharp. “I’m just passing through. So back off, Kael Draven, or you’ll wish you had.”

His eyes narrowed, red flaring bright for a second, like I’d poked him. “Threatening me? Gutsy for a rogue with no one behind her.” He took a step closer, boots silent on the dirt, and I got a stronger whiff of him, pine and smoke, yeah, but something else too, something warm that twisted in my gut. “You stink of Silver Claw. That pack’s trouble. You with them?”

“Not anymore,” I snapped, stepping back to keep some space. “And I don’t need them, or anyone, to take you down.”

He moved fast, too fast. One second he was a few feet away, the next he was right up on me, close enough I could see the stubble on his jaw, the way his scar pulled tight when he frowned. My knife was up in a flash, tip pressed to his chest, right where his heart would be. He didn’t flinch, didn’t even blink, just stared down at me with those burning eyes. My pulse kicked up, loud in my ears, but I held steady.

“Watch it, Selene,” he said, quiet but hard, like a warning carved in stone. “You don’t want me mad. But you’re not just some rogue, are you?” He leaned in, slow, his nose brushing the air near my neck, and my whole body jolted, hot, sharp, like I’d grabbed a live wire. “You smell different. Like you’re mine.”

I shoved him back, hard enough he actually moved, my knife still up between us. “Say that again, and you’re losing something, Alpha or not. I don’t belong to you. Or anyone.”

He didn’t budge for a long second, just stood there, watching me like I was a puzzle he wanted to c***k. His eyes flicked over me, my messy black hair, the dirt on my boots, the way I held that knife like I meant it. Then he stepped back, hands lifting a little, giving me room. But those eyes didn’t let go. “We’ll see about that,” he said, low and sure, like it was already decided. “Run if you want, Selene. You won’t get far.”

He turned and walked off, melting into the shadows like he’d never been there. The air felt lighter without him, but my chest was tight, my breath coming fast. My wolf whined inside, loud and restless, clawing at me in a way she never had before. I shook my head, hard, sliding my knife back into its sheath. Kael Draven could hunt me all he wanted. I didn’t bend, and I didn’t break. I’d been on my own too long to let some Alpha mess with my head.

But as I started walking again, deeper into the woods, his smell stuck to me. Pine, smoke, that warm twist I couldn’t name, it clung like mud I couldn’t scrape off. And that word, mine, kept bouncing around in my skull, loud and wrong, like a bell I couldn’t unring. I told myself it was nothing. Just some Alpha trick, some power play to throw me off. I’d heard about mate bonds, how they hit you out of nowhere, how they messed you up, but I didn’t believe in them. Not for me. I’d seen what happened when you let someone in. My mom did that with my dad, and it broke her. My dad did that with the pack, and it killed him. I wasn’t that stupid.

Still, my hand shook a little as I pushed through the trees. My wolf wouldn’t settle, pacing and whining, like she knew something I didn’t. I stopped, leaning against a trunk, closing my eyes for a second. The deer was long gone now, scared off by him, and the hunt was ruined. I should’ve been mad about that, but all I could think about was those red eyes, that voice, the way my skin burned when he got close.

“Get it together,” I muttered to myself, kicking a rock into the dark. Kael Draven didn’t know me. He didn’t own me. And whatever that jolt was, it wasn’t real. I’d make sure of it.

I straightened up, brushing dirt off my hands, and kept moving. The woods were still mine, no matter what he said. But deep down, a tiny part of me, a part I hated, wondered if he’d come looking again. And what I’d do if he did.