chapter 4
1021 Words
(Jason’s POV)
I spent the entire day stalking the corridors like a ghost, chasing a fragrance that refused to stay in one place. Moonlit honeysuckle and warm summer rain. It was everywhere and nowhere woven into tapestries, clinging to doorframes, drifting from the laundry chutes.
My wolf paced frantic circles inside my skin, whining, clawing, practically rabid with the need to find her. I’d never felt him this unhinged. By late afternoon my nerves were raw. I needed to run until my lungs burned and my thoughts stopped spinning.
I slipped out a side entrance and took the winding gravel path that led from the castle down into the ancient forest that ringed Wolf Hollow. Pine needles crunched beneath my boots. The air smelled clean no fear, no politics, no expectations.
“Jason!”
A joyful shriek cut through the quiet. I barely had time to turn before a small tornado of dark curls and silver launched itself at me. I caught her automatically, swinging her in a wide circle while she squealed.
“Laura!” I laughed, setting my little sister back on her feet. She’d shot up another inch since I’d last seen her, but she still only came to my chest. “Hey, trouble.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I’m seventeen, not seven. Stop spinning me like a toddler.”
“Never,” I said, popping the word and flicking her nose. “You’ll always be the nine-year-old who cried because a butterfly landed on her sandwich.”
“That butterfly was huge and it had eyeballs on its wings!” she protested, swatting my hand away. “Where are you going?”
“Run. My wolf’s about to chew through my ribs. Come with me?”
Her whole face lit up like the sunrise. “Goddess, yes. I haven’t stretched my legs in weeks.”
We jogged the rest of the way to the tree line. At the ancient oak that marked the shifting spot, we turned our backs to each other my rule since I was eleven and decided I never needed to see my sister naked, thank you very much. Clothes folded and tucked into the hollow at the oak’s base, I closed my eyes and let the change rip through me.
Bones cracked and realigned, fur burst across skin, senses exploded into crystalline focus. When I opened my eyes again the world was sharper, brighter, alive. I shook out my midnight-black coat and turned to find a sleek auburn wolf already bouncing in circles, tongue lolling, tail whipping the air.
Ankle-biter, I sent through our sibling bond, chuffing affectionately.
Take it back, old man! she shot back, ears flattening playfully.
She lunged. I sidestepped easily, caught the scruff of her neck in gentle jaws, and pinned her just long enough for her to acknowledge who was still bigger, stronger, and most importantly future Alpha. Then I sneezed in her face and bolted.
We tore through the forest like wildfire. Leaping fallen logs, weaving between moss-draped trunks, kicking up leaf-litter that smelled of earth and freedom. The sky above was cloudless sapphire, the breeze cool against our fur. I lost track of time there was only the thunder of paws, the song of birds overhead, Laura’s joyful yips echoing mine.
Eventually I caught the distant rush of water and angled toward it. We burst into a sunlit clearing beside a wide, slow river. I skidded to a halt, tongue lolling, sides heaving. Laura flopped dramatically beside me, rolling onto her back with all four paws in the air.
I lapped at the river, then sprawled in the soft grass. The sun soaked into my fur like warm honey. Laura curled against my side, and within minutes we were both dozing, two wolves dreaming beneath an endless sky.
Jason!
The mental shout jolted me awake. I surged to my feet, hackles raised. Laura scrambled backward toward the water, ears pinned.
Three unfamiliar wolves stood at the edge of the clearing gray, brindle, and a scarred tawny brute in the lead. Their scent hit me a second later: foreign, acrid with aggression and something darker. Rebels.
Jason, what do we do? Laura’s voice trembled in my mind.
Distract them. You run straight home and raise the alarm.
I’m not leaving you!
Laura, GO!
One of the strangers took a threatening step forward. I bared fangs in a snarl that rattled leaves.
Now!
I charged the gray wolf on the left. He met me mid-air, teeth flashing. Laura shot past us like a red comet. The scarred leader spun to follow her I threw myself in his path, taking a savage bite to the shoulder that burned white-hot. Another set of jaws clamped my hind leg. Pain lanced through me; I yelped, twisting, but they had me pinned.
Blood pulsed hot and metallic onto the grass. My vision tunneled. The third wolf circled, watching me bleed with cold satisfaction.
Hold on, son. We’re coming!
Father’s voice raw and furious boomed across the pack bond. The scarred wolf’s eyes widened. Fear-sweat suddenly soured his scent. He yipped a sharp retreat. The others released me and melted into the trees like smoke.
I collapsed, the world tilting. Grass against my muzzle. Copper in my mouth.
Jason! Stay awake!
Heavy paws thundered into the clearing. Father’s massive silver wolf exploded from the treeline, Hank and Simon flanking him with three more enforcers. Simon shifted mid-stride to human form, scooped my broken body against his chest without breaking pace.
I tried to focus on Father, but his gaze was already fixed on the fleeing rebels, lips peeled back in a snarl that promised slaughter. He and the others vanished after them without a backward glance.
Simon’s voice rumbled words were the last thing I heard before darkness swallowed me whole.
“He’s lost a lot of blood. Move!”
The infirmary doors slammed shut behind us, and I let the black tide finally pull me under wondering, in the last shred of consciousness, why the only scent I could still register through all the pain was moonlit honeysuckle and summer rain.
- Writer
