chapterfour
1436 Words
Aela didn’t sleep that night. She sat on the floor with her back against the
bedframe, arms wrapped around her knees, staring at the window like
something might crawl out of the darkness again. Every time the wind rustled
the trees outside, she flinched.
Her wolf paced restlessly inside her, not scared. Alert.Waiting.
By dawn, her head throbbed from overthinking. Rhen’s face kept
replaying in her mind - the flicker of fear he tried to hide, the quiet warning in his tone when he told her to stay away from Liam.
But it wasn’t only that.
Her mate. His scent. The way it wrapped around her like it recognized her.
Why did he apologize? Why did Rhen react the way he did when she mentioned finding him?
A soft knock pulled her back.
“Aela?” Rhen’s voice.
She stood and opened the door slowly. Rhen didn’t step in. He scanned the hallway first, eyes sharp, shoulders tense like he was expecting someone to jump out.
“We need to move,” he said quietly. “Now.”
Aela blinked. “Move where?”
“Anywhere that isn’t here.”
Her stomach twisted. “Rhen-”
“It’s not safe anymore.” His voice was low, urgent. “There’s pressure from the Council. They want to isolate you. Some want to restrain you until the
investigation’s done. I won’t let them.”
Aela swallowed hard. “What about Liam?”
Rhen’s jaw tightened. “He’s not a priority right now.”
That didn’t sound like him. Rhen never dismissed his own family like that. But the look in his eyes, something haunted, made Aela push her questions aside.
“Why are you helping me like this?” she asked softly.
Rhen exhaled like he’d been carrying something heavy. “Because you’re in
danger. And because if she finds you again-”
He stopped.
Aela frowned. “Who finds me?”
He didn’t answer. Rhen’s hand closed around her wrist, his grip wasn’t painful, but it held the weight of someone who’d lost before and refused to lose again.
Aela stared at him. He wasn’t looking at her. He was looking past her, at
something only he could see.
“Rhen… what aren’t you telling me?” she whispered.
That flicker appeared again - the one that made him look older than she
remembered, worn down by something time itself couldn’t smooth out.
“It’s complicated,” he said. “And none of it matters right now. We have to get you away before-”
Something hit the wall down the hallway. Hard.
Rhen moved instantly, shielding Aela with his body, eyes narrowing. The impact echoed again - wood splintering, a snarl twisting through the corridor.
Aela’s heart hammered. “Rhen-”
He grabbed her arm. “Move.”
He pushed her into the opposite corridor, guiding her toward the back stairs that led out of the packhouse. Everything around them felt wrong - shadows too deep, silence too loud, the air buzzing like something was bending inside it.
Aela kept her steps quick to match Rhen’s, her mind racing. She’d grown up in these halls. She’d trained, slept, laughed, cried here. And yet today they felt like a cage closing in.
At the bottom of the stairs, Rhen cracked open the door and peeked outside.
“Clear,” he muttered. “Go left.”
Aela bolted out, the cold morning air slapping her awake. Rhen followed closely, his presence a wall at her back. They cut through the trees behind the packhouse, following a narrow trail only a few elders used.
“Where are we going?” Aela asked, breath uneven.
“Somewhere she can’t reach you.”
Aela slowed. “You know her.”
Rhen didn’t slow.
“You said that like-like you’ve faced her before.”
Still nothing.
“Rhen.”
He stopped suddenly. Aela nearly ran into him.
He turned to her, expression tight. “There are parts of our history you were never told. Parts involving bloodlines, magic, old wars, and older enemies. And there are reasons I kept certain things from you.”
Aela’s throat tightened. “Rhen… are you saying she’s after me because of something in our bloodline?”
The silence that followed was worse than any answer.
Rhen took a small step toward her, lowering his voice. “Listen to me. I need you alive.”
Alive.
Not safe.
Not home.
Alive.
Aela’s wolf snarled inside her chest. “Rhen… who is she?”
Rhen’s eyes softened just slightly - the kind of softness that looked like regret. “Someone who should never have existed.”
Aela shivered.
A twig snapped behind them. Both whipped around. Liam stepped into view. But this Liam wasn’t the one who’d visited her room. His shoulders were tense, eyes cold, posture ready to fight.
“Aela,” he said, voice steady. Too steady. “Step away from him.”
Aela’s breath caught. “Liam?”
Rhen slid slightly in front of her. “Don’t you dare.”
Liam tilted his head. “Your alpha command can’t work on me.”
Aela’s skin crawled. That wasn’t her brother’s voice. It sounded like him, but colder. Older. Like someone wearing him on the outside.
“Liam,” she whispered. “Why do you sound like that?”
His eyes flicked to her, then softened.
“Aela… you were never supposed to see last night.”
Her wolf lunged inside her chest.
Rhen’s voice dropped to a deadly calm. “Don’t come any closer.”
Liam’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “She needs to come with me. You know that.”
Rhen didn’t blink. “Over my dead body.”
Aela stepped back, heart pounding. “What’s happening? Liam-what did you do?”
He looked at her then, really looked, and something flickered in his expression.
- guilt? Pain? It was gone too fast to be sure.
“Aela… you should’ve stayed asleep,” he murmured.
Rhen’s body shot forward.
He grabbed Aela’s hand and yanked her into the trees. “Run!”
They sprinted. Branches whipped past. The ground blurred beneath her feet.
Aela barely kept up.
Liam’s footsteps were behind them - not fast, not rushed, almost like he knew exactly where they were heading.
“Rhen, where are we going?” Aela gasped.
Rhen didn’t answer.
He skidded to a stop in front of a large oak - older than the packhouse, older than the trail. Its roots twisted into the earth like veins. Something glimmered faintly in the bark - a mark, circular, carved deep and glowing weakly.
It pulsed.
Aela frowned. “What’s that?”
Rhen didn’t look at her. “Something she left behind.”
Her stomach flipped. “She? You mean-”
Another twig snapped.
Liam stepped out from behind them, eyes glowing faintly - not golden like a wolf’s.
But silver.
A color that didn’t belong to this timeline.
Aela took a step back. “Your eyes-”
Rhen shoved something into her hands - a small, metallic object wrapped in leather, warm and humming like a heartbeat.
Her palms tingled. “What is this?” she breathed.
Rhen didn’t answer. His gaze locked with hers - and for the first time since she was a child, she saw real fear in his eyes.
“Aela,” he whispered, “I’m sorry. I should’ve told you earlier.”
“Told me what?”
Liam moved.
Rhen grabbed her shoulders. “Hold onto it!”
“What is it-?!”
Her wolf screamed-
The air behind her tore open.
Light warped.
Wind roared inward.
The world twisted like someone had grabbed the edges of reality and pulled.
Aela screamed as her feet lifted off the ground. The object in her hands burned.
“Aela!” Rhen shouted. “Don’t fight it!”
Liam lunged-
Rhen blocked him-
The portal swallowed her whole-
And then-
Silence.
Aela hit the ground hard, coughing, gasping, clutching the object like it was part of her skin now. Grass brushed her arms. Birds cawed overhead. The air smelled wrong - too clean, too sharp, like a fresh world.
She pushed herself up slowly-
And froze.
She wasn’t in her forest or in her pack. The buildings in the distance were unfamiliar .The trees were older. The sky looked different.
And the wind shifted-
A warm scent wrapped around her. Pine and chocolate. Her mate.
Stronger.
Closer.
Here.
Aela’s breath broke out of her in a shaky whisper. “Where am I?”
A twig cracked behind her. She turned-
And saw him.
- Writer
