Hunted
534 Words
The cold night air bit into January’s skin as she stumbled through the dense forest beyond the Obsidian Moon Pack’s borders. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her lungs burning with every step. She had been running for hours.
Her body was weak, trembling from exhaustion and the severed mate bond. The rejection still pulsed like a raw wound inside her chest, but she didn’t have the luxury of grieving. She wasn’t safe.
She could still hear them. The howls of the wolves sent to track her down.
"Kieran sent hunters after me."
She shouldn’t have been surprised. A rejected mate was one thing, but a branded traitor? The pack wouldn’t just let her go. They wanted her dead.
Her bare feet scraped against roots and jagged rocks, but she kept going, forcing her body forward. The dense forest canopy blocked out most of the moonlight, making it hard to see, but her wolf instincts guided her through the shadows.
Except… her wolf wasn’t responding like she should. She was still weak. Silent.
"You can’t leave me now," January pleaded inwardly, but there was no answer. Her wolf was too broken, too wounded from the rejection.
A snap of twigs behind her sent a jolt of fear through her spine. They were close.
She pushed herself harder, her legs screaming in protest. The scent of damp earth and pine filled her nostrils, but beneath it, she caught the sharp, unmistakable scent of the pack’s enforcers.
"Run, run, run!"
A snarl ripped through the air, and suddenly, a massive wolf lunged at her from the darkness.
January barely had time to react before she was tackled to the ground, her body slamming against the cold dirt. Pain exploded across her ribs as the weight of the wolf pinned her down.
Victor Bloodfang.
Kieran’s most ruthless enforcer. The pack’s executioner.
"Found you," he growled, his golden eyes glowing in the moonlight. Saliva dripped from his fangs as he loomed over her, claws digging into her shoulders.
This was it. This was how she died.
January squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the killing bite.
But then something strange happened.
A pulse of energy rippled through her chest, spreading outward like fire surging through her veins. The air around her crackled with a force she couldn’t explain.
Victor’s eyes widened. He hesitated just for a second.
It was all she needed.
January twisted beneath him, bringing her knee up hard, slamming it into his ribs. The force sent him staggering back with a snarl.
Her body moved on instinct. Before she even realized what she was doing, she was on her feet, running again.
Victor recovered quickly. Too quickly.
"You can’t run forever, Thornvale!" he bellowed, his voice echoing through the trees. "You were never meant to survive!"
January didn’t stop. She couldn’t.
She had no pack. No home. No one to protect her.
But something inside her had changed.
She had felt it. The strange energy, the power beneath her skin, waiting to be unleashed.
She didn’t know what it was. Not yet.
But she would find out.
Because one day, she would stop running.
And when that day came, she would make them all pay.
- Writer
