Chapter 2

The five-hour journey turned out to be only four hours. I didn't have a sport's car, but the engine was powerful, and I knew how to drive it. I had cut the pit-stops short, just to reach my destination faster.

Lately, finding rumors about new wild packs we hadn't discovered before was getting harder and harder. I knew their numbers were rising up, faster than the rational werewolves due to their mating every season, but why were they disappearing? The old packs we'd found had started dispersing, just like that, in the middle of the night. One snap of the fingers and they were gone. Was their developing consciousness making them hide deeper in the mountains and put a stronger barrier between themselves, the humans, and us—the species they had been stolen from?

I pulled over to the side of the road and examined the trees around me. Numbers of colors mixed into one, creating something like a cozy rainbow of autumn. I both loved and hated this season. It had always held a special place in my heart ever since I was a child, but it was also the period my pack was conquered and destroyed by the humans. It was the season I lost my brother and everything as I knew it.

My palms felt itchy and sweaty, and I slid them on my jeans, taking a deep breath. Autumn was also the season I started dating Evangeline when she confessed her feelings for me. It wasn't all bad. But a part of me kept whispering this year I was going to face a life-changing event. It kept screaming something was about to change.

I shot that thought off, and a small smile lightened my expression as I turned off the car, ready for action.

If I were to follow the instructions of my Alpha, I had to shift and run ten miles to the east into the forest. There, maybe, I was going to find the first marks of the packs I had come to study. I grabbed my backpack from the backseat and opened it. Taking my phone out, I smiled at the message of encouragement from Eve. I sent her an “I love you” text and turned the device off.

When I tied the backpack around my shoulders, now completely naked, I shifted to my werewolf body and shook my brown fur. I had tightened the straps of the backpack a bit too much, but I wasn't going to shift back and fix it. I could deal with it. They were elastic enough.

My amber eyes, honestly the only resemblance I had with Blake, roamed around the area and took in every small detail—the still green grass, the scent of wild rodents and birds. I took in the dark blue sky and followed it down to the crowns of the colorful trees. There were a few squirrels watching me carefully, their small limbs squeezing the bark under them. My ear twitched, and a few of them did the same. I let out a huff, slightly amused by them. Of course, they would watch me. I was the scariest predator around. But if there were so many animals around, the wild pack was not here. Even the hares were still roaming in the vicinity, too brave to hide. But maybe they had no reason to hide. Winter hadn't come yet. And some packs of the turned had learned not to eat them in the middle of summer. I had no idea why—was it because they had watched some of the human hunters who refused to eat them, afraid of parasites, or was there another cause behind it?

Whatever it was, there was only one certain thing – the turned were changing. I ground my teeth and took the first steps on the soft grass. The sensation of it under my paws was soothing. Exhilarating. I had never thought I'd love my wolf body so much. But ever since my first shift... I appreciated the power it brought me. The flex of the muscles, the immeasurable strength and keen senses. The opportunity to protect the ones I loved.

The next step I took was faster, keener. There was something roaring in me, something telling me this day was more different than the others. Was I going to find Kev's mother? Or maybe this pack had already evolved and was ready to negotiate and, eventually, help us keep the peace. They could be the connection between the werewolves and the turned.

My excitement perked up, and my limbs padded quietly on the ground as I cut the distance and entered the forest. I was eager for something. And I hadn't felt it this way in a while. So I had to quickly get to my target and find out what was pulling me ahead so hard.

...

Jumping over a bush I had somehow managed to miss from my eyesight, I stopped running and listened. The feeling in my gut multiplied. I was getting closer. At the same moment this realization hit me, another loud set of growls reached my ears and made me whip around to the left. There was a fight.

I lifted my nose and smelled the humid cold air. There were at least four or five wolves few miles away. And there was blood. My heart lurched, and I instinctively sprinted in the direction of the sounds. Whatever was going on, I was going to stop it. Forcing my muscles to reach the destination faster, I tripped into a big tree root I hadn't seen because of the leaf blanket over it and tumbled down a small slope. With a grunt, I snapped my eyes open and saw a mess. Three wolves were over another one, ready to tear it apart. The fifth was watching from the sideline, like a fucking boss waiting for his errand to be completed. I narrowed my eyes at it, but then sharpness dimmed my senses, forcing me to concentrate on one thing only. The wolf they had jumped felt somehow weird... somehow familiar, and yet, foreign. My feet lifted me up as I gaped at the frozen creatures. Their eyes were also set on me, but when I caught the big black gaze of the midnight-colored wolf lying on the grass... My whole body exploded into a catastrophe of emotions. Horror, grief, excitement... attraction?

Damn it, was this my mate they were trying to kill?

Without thinking, I jumped at the wolves that had ganged up on my mate and bared my teeth. The first that turned to meet my attack was brown and much smaller than me, but considering I had Beta blood passing through my veins, I was a fairly large werewolf. The only ones larger than me were the Alphas and definitely the lycans. But the lycans had always possessed a genetic advantage over us.

Using the momentum of surprise, I lifted my paw and sharp claws and slammed them on the wolf's muzzle. I must've hit it pretty hard because the animal started whining and thrashing in shock.

Letting my paws hit the soft grass for a slight moment, I spun around and lunged at the second wolf. It was too slow to attack me, and if I had to be honest, it seemed like an easy victim—young and a bit too distracted. I knew these wolves had been poisoned to be the perfect killing machines, and this one was not doing well at that. Its movements were tad slow and disorganized and gave me advantage. Not that I was complaining.

Everything in me begged me to make sure my turned mate would be alright, even if I never saw her again. At least this up close.

I snapped my jaw at the dark beast, giving one quick glance at my mate, and the wolf took a step back, trying to put some distance between us. Smart. It could see I was much better at this than it. The shadows behind me moved, and I sensed the rise of my mate, lunging at two of her attackers.

I couldn't wait to see her better.

Her black fur merged for a moment with the dark brown one of the wolf in front of me. Wow, she was fast. I blinked and focused on the enemy before me as it snarled, trying to scare me with its fangs. I wanted to laugh. I had spent years hiding near their packs, learning how to blend in and survive. Its pesky fangs weren't going to scare me.

When I jumped with the full intention to make it leave without killing it, another figure joined us from the side and crashed into me. We rolled on the ground, making the dust fly around us, and started biting at each other. Damn this wolf. It was more determined than the others. More vicious and probably higher ranked.

Finally able to stop us from spinning any further, I stood on top of it and glared at its brown eyes. The hatred inside wasn't something I hadn't seen before, but the intensity of it made my fur stand on end. When a yelp of pain came from the direction where my mate was fighting, I lowered my head and aimed at the wolf's throat. I had to finish it faster. I couldn't allow the one given me by destiny to just die... all over again. There was probably a part of her somewhere deep that could return to rationality. Just like Blake. Then everything could become so much easier. She could help me protect her pack from extinction, especially if there were others like her. Only if my guts were right.

The wolf under me wrung its head to the side and I nearly gasped when it avoided my blow. It narrowed its eyes and before I knew it, I felt its legs on my abdomen, kicking me off its body. I flew a few feet in the air and hit the hard ground. My stomach burned with the traces of its claws, but I couldn't just lay down and take a rest or lick my wounds. I shot on my fours and sprinted to my mate. Although she was getting her ass kicked, she was still handling herself pretty well. My eyes widened when her onyx fur glistened with specks of blood. Three of the turned were at her, trying to strike every blow possible.

As I was running, my peripheral vision caught the wolf I had just fought, and I growled when he grunted and turned to leave. How could he just run away like that? I wanted to tear him apart, but my instincts pulled me to the female wolf, ready to put my life on the line to protect her. I was more than willing to sacrifice everything I had just so she could be fine. Damn, the mate bond was astonishing! My mate let out a piercing howl that made the few left birds fly off the crowns of the trees, and my guts wrenched. She couldn't be mortally hurt, could she?

Hearing her cry for help, her attackers put some distance between them and lowered their heads in aggravation. The same dark anger was still surging through them, but this time they knew they were defeated.

I froze in my spot a few yards away from them when their eyes snapped to me, studying me from head to toe. They were trying to remember me? Was I their enemy now? I wanted to scoff. Yeah, fuck off.

The wolves shifted around and ran towards the forest, separating into different directions. Only one other followed the one that kicked me off. If I had to guess, that one had been their leader. He definitely hadn't been an Alpha, or even a Beta, but he still had some power over them. I stared after their disappearing figures as their paws hit the ground, reverberating through my skull. Just like horse hooves, their steps were so heavy that they sounded like hard thuds smashing everything in their way.

They had also been like that with my mate. Hadn't I shown up, she would've been dead. I stilled into my spot, my heart still thundering hard against my ribcage.

As the silence after the wolves grew, my ear turned to the side and caught movement on my left. I slowly spun, still maintaining a proud posture, and caught the shape of that female wolf. She was beautiful. Her black body shone in the rising moonlight as her breathing became more rapid. It showed me the thickness and healthy gleam of her fur, her long ears, bushy tail that was lifted in the air... her strikingly black eyes. When her mouth opened, a set of sharp teeth reminded me of a collection of hunting knives that cost a fortune. And just like that, the thought she was a wildling corrupted my heart. She wasn't a human anymore. Just an empty shell of what had once been a strong woman. Still, my hope lay in her as I watched her take the first step to me.