Shadows of the storm
1737 Words
Serena had been tracking the lone rogue for nearly half an hour, keeping her movements silent, controlled, every instinct sharpened to a fine point. The snow muted most sound, but she could still hear the rogue’s labored breaths just ahead—fast, uneven, frantic.
Not the pattern of a predator.
The pattern of someone running from something.
Or someone afraid.
Serena slowed, nostrils flaring. The girl’s scent was sharp with fear, but beneath it—familiar. Not familiar in a personal sense, but familiar in that it matched another scent they’d picked up days ago. One that Rowan had followed into the storm. One he still hadn’t returned from.
The rogue stumbled into view between two snow-heavy pines. Young. Small. Wild golden eyes. Mud streaked across her cheeks, and blood—some dried, some fresh—clung to cuts on her arms.
But what halted Serena’s next step was the markings.
A jagged s***h of pale birthmark across her jaw.
Serena had seen a mark just like it on the rogue Rowan brought inside the cabin… the one Holly had described in her panicked recounting.
Her stomach tightened.
Not similar. Identical.
Twins.
The rogue turned sharply, sensing Serena’s presence at last. Her wolf form flickered behind her eyes—defensive, cornered. She bared her teeth, but it was the tremor in her stance that spoke louder.
She wasn’t a threat.
She was running from something worse.
Serena raised both hands slowly, palms out.
“Easy,” she murmured. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
The girl’s breath hitched—and then, to Serena’s shock, her eyes brimmed with tears.
“You have her scent,” the rogue whispered hoarsely. “My sister. Is she alive?”
Serena froze at the raw desperation in the girl’s voice.
Her sister.
The confirmation settled like a weight in her chest, but she kept her expression soft, unthreatening. “Yes,” Serena said gently. “Your sister is alive. She’s with Rowan. He found her in the storm.”
The rogue’s knees nearly buckled. She pressed a trembling hand over her mouth as a shaky sob escaped her. Relief poured off her in waves so powerful Serena felt it through the cold air.
“She’s alive,” the girl repeated, as if the words themselves were holding her upright. “I thought—I thought they caught her. I thought she was dead.”
Serena stepped forward, slow, cautious. “Who’s ‘they’?”
The girl stiffened instantly. The relief in her scent turned sharp, bitter with fear again.
“I—I can’t,” she stammered. “If I say anything—”
“You’re not safe out here,” Serena said firmly, but with a steady compassion she rarely showed others. “And whoever chased you? They’re not here now. You have my word.”
The rogue swallowed hard, staring into Serena’s eyes like she was weighing the truth of her soul. Then her voice dropped to a whisper.
“They’re still looking for us.”
Serena felt every instinct inside her shift. “Who?”
The girl’s breath fogged in quick, frightened bursts.
“The males who took over our mother’s pack,” she said. “They killed our Alpha. They took the females. They made us run. My sister and I barely escaped.”
Serena’s jaw clenched—not out of anger alone, but recognition.
This was the same group Rowan had confronted. The same scent trails he and Holly described.
The threat wasn’t scattered rogues.
It was a faction. Organized. Violent. And not done yet.
“How many?” Serena pressed.
The rogue hesitated, panic rising, and Serena took another step, lowering her voice.
“What’s your name?”
The girl blinked at the unexpected question. “Mira.”
“Mira,” Serena repeated, letting the name anchor them both. “I’m Serena—the Gamma of Rowan Hale’s pack. We protect people. And I swear on my title and my wolf, we will protect you and your sister.”
Mira’s lip trembled. “You’d do that? Even though we’re rogues?”
“You’re not rogues,” Serena corrected softly. “You’re survivors.”
Mira’s breath hitched again—this time with something like hope.
Behind Serena, branches cracked under approaching paws. Heavy. Purposeful.
She didn’t turn; she knew Dustin would be returning from his perimeter sweep, likely having picked up the trail of the wolves who’d fled Rowan earlier.
Mira panicked, stepping back. “No—no, please, don’t let him—”
Serena lifted a hand. “He’s with me. He won’t hurt you.”
A large grey wolf emerged into the clearing, fur bristling, eyes storm-dark. Dustin’s presence alone could make seasoned warriors step back.
He stopped short when he saw Mira—really saw her—ears tipping forward in surprise.
Serena spoke calmly, but with authority that cut through the tension.
“She’s coming with us.”
Dustin shifted back to human form, snow steaming off his skin. “Serena… she smells like—”
“I know,” Serena said. “She’s the twin.”
A beat of stunned silence.
Dustin exhaled sharply. “Rowan isn’t going to believe this.”
“Which,” Serena said, finally turning toward him, “is why we need to get her to the cabin. Now.”
She glanced back to Mira.
“We’ll get you to your sister.”
Mira nodded, fear and relief mingling in her wide golden eyes.
For the first time since Serena had found her, she stepped forward willingly.
The snow had thickened into a fine, relentless curtain as Serena led the way through the trees. Mira stayed close to her side, her thin frame shivering despite the borrowed coat Serena had wrapped around her.
Dustin walked ahead in wolf form now—a massive grey shadow moving silently between the drifts, ears flicking at every sound. He didn’t push the pace, but he kept them tucked into the shelter of the trees, away from open ground where wind exposure and scent travel were both worse.
Serena could feel Mira’s gaze darting anxiously between the two pack wolves escorting her.
“Are there more of you?” Mira whispered, voice sticking in her throat.
“More wolves?” Serena asked.
Mira nodded.
“Yes. Rowan’s pack is one of the largest in the region.”
Mira’s steps faltered. “Will they… accept us?”
Serena looked over her shoulder at her. “They’ll accept you because Rowan will accept you. And Rowan will accept you because your sister is with him.”
“But we’re—”
“Rogues?” Serena finished. “You’re not rogues by choice. That matters.”
“Matter to who?” Mira whispered, as if she wasn’t sure she believed anything mattered anymore.
“To us,” Serena said simply.
They walked in silence for almost a minute, the wind howling above them, rattling branches and shaking loose small cascades of powder that pattered onto their heads and shoulders.
Then Mira spoke again. Quiet. Hesitant.
“My sister’s name is Lila.”
Serena’s steps slowed. “Lila.”
Mira nodded. “She’s the stronger one. The brave one. I shouldn’t have left her, but she made me. She pushed me away and told me to run, and I—I didn’t want to but she—”
Her voice cracked and she covered her mouth.
Serena’s heart twisted, unexpected but fierce. “She survived because of you too. Don’t forget that.”
Mira pressed her lips together hard, blinking fast. “Do you really think she’s okay?”
“Rowan wouldn’t let anything happen to her,” Serena said.
Ahead of them, Dustin’s wolf gave a soft grunt—his signal to stop.
Serena halted, hand instinctively coming up to guide Mira behind her.
Dustin’s tail went stiff. His ears swiveled.
The forest had gone unnaturally quiet.
No wind.
No birds.
No distant groaning of shifting tree limbs.
Just silence.
Serena’s wolf surged beneath her skin, the quiet too familiar, too dangerous. “Something’s wrong.”
Dustin shifted mid-step, snow spraying around him as he returned to human form.
“Tracks,” he said, voice low and grim. “Fresh. Three wolves. Heavy paws. Same ones Rowan fought.”
Serena stepped forward and crouched beside him. The pawprints were deep—running, not walking. Fleeing fast. And the scent…
Serena’s stomach knotted.
“They’re circling back,” she murmured. “They weren’t running away—they were repositioning.”
Mira inhaled sharply. “They want my sister. They want us.”
Dustin growled. “Not happening.”
He shifted again, fur exploding outward, posture dropping into full defensive stance.
Serena stood and reached for Mira’s arm. “We need to move. Now.”
They took off again, faster, weaving through the trees with Dustin scouting ahead in sweeping arcs, doubling back every few seconds to keep them tight.
Mira panted beside her. “You think they’re close?”
Serena didn’t sugarcoat it. “Close enough.”
Mira’s fear spiked—but so did something fierce in her scent. A stubbornness. A spark of a wolf who’d been forced to hide, but wasn’t broken.
Serena glanced at her. “If anything happens, stay behind me. Dustin and I will handle it.”
Mira shook her head. “If something happens, help my sister. She’s the one they really want.”
Serena opened her mouth to argue—
—but Dustin’s snarl ripped through the clearing.
Serena jerked her head up.
Dustin stood rigid at the base of a slope overlooking a frozen ravine. His fur bristled. His snout lifted as he scented the air.
Serena sprinted to him, Mira struggling to keep pace.
“What is it?” Serena asked.
Dustin didn’t look at her—he stared straight ahead.
And Serena smelled it too.
Blood.
Wolf.
And Rowan’s scent.
Not injured—marking.
Warning.
He’d fought here. Recently.
The path ahead led straight toward the cabin.
And the threat was closing in on all of them.
Serena turned to Mira, voice fierce and steady. “We’re almost there. Your sister is just ahead.”
Mira swallowed hard. “Then take me to her.”
Serena nodded once.
And with Dustin’s wolf charging forward like a silent grey spear, they pushed toward Rowan, Holly, and Lila before the enemy could reach them first.
- Writer
