The hunt
1063 Words
The forest swallowed Aria whole, and the night swallowed her breath.
Branches whipped her arms as she ran, barefoot and bleeding. Howls echoed behind her—too close, too many.
“Fan out!” someone bellowed. “She’s heading east!”
Aria’s lungs burned. They can’t catch me not now. Not after— She shook the thought off before Kaelan’s voice could invade her mind again.
Back at the pack border, Lydia watched the patrol return. She stood primly beside Kaelan, chin high, lips curved.
“So she actually ran.” Lydia clicked her tongue. “How pathetic.”
Kaelan didn’t look at her. “She was ordered to leave, She obeyed. End of matter.”
Lydia’s smirk sharpened. “Or the beginning of one. A rogue in our territory is still a liability.”
“She’s not rogue,” one of the warriors muttered. “Just unshifted—”
Kaelan snapped, “Then she shouldn’t have stayed so long.”
In the forest…
Aria ducked behind a fallen tree, chest heaving. She pressed a hand over her mouth to muffle her breathing. Her palms shook violently.
“Stupid,” she whispered to herself. “Stupid, stupid—”
Her voice cracked. She rubbed her eyes with dirty fingers. She didn’t have time to cry. Crying got wolves killed.
Rustling.
She froze.
Two men approached, torches flickering through leaves. Rogues real ones, not pack warriors.
“I smelled her blood earlier,” the first snarled. “Alpha said she’s supposed to be dead already.”
Alpha.
Her stomach twisted. Someone hired them? For me? Why?
The second nodded. “Kill on sight. No shifting. Human form’s fine.”
Aria’s blood turned to ice.
Kill on sight.
She didn’t wait for more. She sprinted.
“THERE!”
“Don’t lose her!”
Back at the pack house, Lydia leaned against the railing, pretending to watch the moon—really watching Kaelan.
“You know what would stop all this?” she said lightly.
Kaelan didn’t respond.
“A chosen mate,” Lydia continued, voice sweet. “Someone strong. Someone who wouldn’t embarrass the alpha line.”
Kaelan’s jaw tightened. “This conversation is unnecessary.”
She stepped closer. Too close. “You reject a weak girl and everyone whispers. You choose a strong wolf and everyone applauds.”
Kaelan stared straight ahead. “Aria was weak. End of discussion.”
“But I’m not,” Lydia whispered.
He finally turned. His eyes—cold, unreadable. “I will choose when I choose. And not because you want it.”
Lydia’s smile faltered for a fraction. Then she regrouped, masking the sting.
“Of course, Alpha.”
Deep in the forest…
Aria’s legs buckled. She collapsed behind a boulder, gasping.
Her mind replayed everything—Kaelan’s eyes, the rejection, the humiliation. His voice rang in her ears again.
“I reject you.”
She pressed shaking fingers to her chest like she could stop the ache ripping through her ribs.
Suddenly—voices.
“She went this way!”
Aria bit down on her knuckle to stop the scream crawling up her throat. She pushed herself up, stumbled forward—
—and then the ground disappeared beneath her.
She fell, hard, rolling down a slope and crashing into a shallow stream below. Pain flared up in her hip.
“Found her!” someone shouted above. “Move!”
Aria scrambled to her feet, wading through freezing water before hauling herself onto the opposite bank. Her breath came out in ragged sobs.
“I’m not dying,” she croaked. “Not here. Not tonight.”
Lightning split the sky—followed by thunder that made the forest tremble.
The storm hit fast.
She pushed through the dark until she spotted a narrow crevice between rocks—just wide enough for her body.
She squeezed inside, hugging her knees to her chest as rain hammered the entrance.
The Beta and his mate sat in their living room, tense and pale.
“She’s still out there,” Beta murmured.
His mate clasped his hand. “We raised her. We protected her. What could we have done differently?”
“Turning eighteen didn’t fix anything,” he whispered. “No wolf… no power… Kaelan was always going to reject her.”
Lydia’s voice cut in from the doorway. “He made the right choice. The pack needs strength.”
The Beta glared. “Show some grace, girl.”
Lydia shrugged, unfazed. “Grace is for princes and princesses. Not for—whatever she was.”
His mate bristled. “She was family.”
Lydia c****d her head. “Then why didn’t you claim her as adopted? Why was she always ‘the girl we found’?”
Silence.
Lydia smiled thinly. “Exactly.”
The hunt continued
Rain washed away Aria’s blood trail, confusing the rogues.
“Damn it! Weather’s ruining scent!”
“Spread out! She couldn’t have gone far!”
Their footsteps faded into the storm.
Aria trembled inside the rocky shelter, drenched and freezing. She pressed her head against her knees.
Her voice wavered. “Why do they want me dead?”
No answer—only thunder.
Back at the pack house balcony
Kaelan leaned forward on the railing, rain soaking through his shirt.
His Beta approached cautiously. “Alpha.”
Kaelan didn’t move. “Report.”
“No trace yet. Storm washed everything out.”
Kaelan’s eyes narrowed. “She knew the forest. She would hide.”
“Or die,” the Beta said quietly.
Kaelan didn’t respond. The storm flashed again, illuminating his face, stone-hard, unreadable.
Then Lydia stepped out behind them, voice soft but cutting.
“If she dies, you’ll be free to choose properly.”
Kaelan’s head turned slowly.
“Lydia.”
“Yes, Alpha?”
“Leave. Now.”
She smiled sweetly and curtsied. “As you command.”
She disappeared inside.
The Beta cleared his throat. “…She’s ambitious. Too ambitious.”
Kaelan said nothing for a long time. Finally:
“Send trackers again when the storm breaks.”
Forest
Hours later, the storm quieted. Aria crawled out of the crevice, shivering, soaked, but alive.
She stared into the trees, breath unsteady.
“I survived,” she whispered. “I survived you. I survived them. I’ll keep surviving.”
The forest didn’t answer, but it didn’t try to kill her either.
- Writer
