IVY
My foot catches on a root and I crash into the dirt face first.
Get up. Get up. Get up.
I force myself to stand even though every muscle screams. Blood drips from cuts on my feet. My ceremonial dress is shredded and filthy. I can't remember the last time I ate something that wasn't half rotten berries.
Three weeks. Twenty one days of running.
Behind me I hear wolves howling. The tracking party is close. Too close. They've been hunting me since dawn and the sun is already setting again.
I stumble forward through the trees. My vision blurs. When did I last drink water. Yesterday maybe. Or the day before. Time feels wrong when you're always running.
The violet glow pulses under my skin and I hate it. At night my eyes light up like beacons. Every wolf within five miles can see me coming. I've tried covering my face with mud. Hiding in caves. Nothing works. The glow shines through everything.
Five different packs want me dead or captured. Word spread fast about the omega who killed two guards and escaped. Magnus put out a bounty. One million dollars for whoever brings me back alive.
One million dollars is enough to make even good wolves turn bad.
A branch snaps behind me. Close. Maybe thirty feet.
I run faster. My legs shake but I push through the pain. The forest is getting thinner. Trees spread farther apart. That's bad. Less cover means easier to spot.
My power surges without warning. Violet fire explodes from my hands and hits a tree. The trunk splits down the middle with a crack like thunder. The tree crashes down blocking the path behind me.
At least that might slow them down.
Except now every wolf in the area knows exactly where I am. My power is like a flare gun I can't control. Every time it explodes I might as well be screaming here I am come get me.
I've tried to control it. Spent hours focusing. Trying to make the energy do what I want. It doesn't listen. Just builds and builds until it bursts out randomly destroying whatever is nearby.
Two days ago I was trying to catch a rabbit for food. My power exploded and vaporized the poor thing into ash. I cried for an hour after. Not just because I was hungry. Because I'm becoming something that destroys everything it touches.
The howls behind me get louder. Different voices joining in. More wolves. More hunters.
I break through the tree line and my heart sinks.
Mountains. Steep rocky cliffs that climb toward gray clouds. The path ahead goes up. Way up. My legs are already shaking from exhaustion.
No choice. I start climbing.
The rocks cut my bare feet worse. I leave bloody footprints on the stone. Doesn't matter. They're tracking me by scent anyway. And by the violet glow that I can't turn off.
Halfway up the cliff face I have to stop. Lean against cold rock gasping for air. My ribs stick out under the torn dress. When did I get so thin. I used to have some meat on my bones. Now I look like a skeleton.
Movement below catches my eye.
Six wolves emerge from the trees. All in formation. Professional. This isn't some random hunting party. This is an elite tracking unit.
They shift to human form one by one. Five men built like warriors. And one woman with platinum blonde hair that catches the fading sunlight.
Seraphina Vale.
Of course. Derek's new fiancée would volunteer to hunt down the omega who embarrassed her. I remember her from pack gatherings. Always perfect. Always beautiful. Always looking at me like I was dirt on her expensive shoes.
Now she gets to prove she's better by dragging me back in chains.
"Surrender omega." Seraphina's voice carries up the cliff easily. Cold and confident. "Alpha Magnus wants you alive. But if you resist we're authorized to break a few bones."
I press harder against the rock. Keep climbing. My hands slip on loose stone but I catch myself.
"You can't run forever," she calls out. "You're weak. Starving. Look at you. The mighty bloodline weapon can't even walk straight."
Her warriors laugh. The sound echoes off the mountains.
Rage builds in my chest. Hot and bitter. I'm not weak. I'm surviving. Three weeks alone against five packs and I'm still breathing. That's not weakness.
My power responds to the anger. Violet light flares around my hands. Energy crackles in the air making my hair stand up.
One of Seraphina's warriors shifts back to wolf form and starts climbing after me. Fast. Way faster than I can move in human form.
I keep going up. The cliff gets steeper. My fingers bleed from gripping sharp rocks. Below me the wolf gains ground easily.
Twenty feet away. Fifteen. Ten.
I spin around and throw my power at him. The blast goes wide. Hits the cliff face to the left. Rocks explode outward. The wolf yelps and has to dodge the debris.
My second attempt is worse. The energy shoots straight up into the sky. Completely useless.
Seraphina laughs below. "The great Ivy Sterling. Can't even aim."
The wolf lunges at me. I scramble higher. My foot slips. For one horrible second I'm hanging by my fingertips over a hundred foot drop.
The wolf's jaws snap inches from my ankle.
I pull myself up with the last of my strength. Keep climbing. My vision goes dark at the edges. Not enough food. Not enough water. Not enough rest. My body is shutting down.
Just a little farther. Just keep moving.
The cliff levels out into a narrow ledge. I drag myself onto it and collapse. Can't go any farther. This is it. This is where I die.
Footsteps on rock. Seraphina climbed up behind her warriors. She stands at the edge of my little ledge looking down at me with disgust.
"Three weeks you've made us chase you. Three weeks of embarrassment. Do you know how many resources Magnus wasted hunting one pathetic omega."
I try to stand. My legs won't cooperate. I end up on my hands and knees instead.
"Stay down." One of her warriors moves closer. "Don't make this harder than it needs to be."
I look past them. The ledge I'm on ends in nothing. Just open air and a long drop to rocks below. Behind me is cliff face. No way up. Ahead is six trained killers.
Trapped.
My power builds again. Bigger this time. Responding to desperation and fear. Violet fire spreads across my skin. The air temperature drops. Energy crackles so loud it sounds like static.
"Now she decides to fight." Seraphina pulls out a silver knife. "How predictable."
I gather everything I have left. Every scrap of energy. Every bit of rage and fear and desperate will to survive. Focus it on the wolves blocking my escape.
Let it explode.
The blast is massive. Blinding violet light that makes everyone shield their eyes. The sound is like a bomb going off. Energy pours out of me in a wave.
And goes completely wrong.
Instead of hitting the wolves it shoots backward. Straight into the cliff face behind me. Rock explodes. The entire ledge shakes. Cracks spread like spiderwebs through stone.
No. No no no.
"Get back," Seraphina yells at her warriors.
Too late.
The ledge crumbles beneath my feet. Just falls away into nothing. I'm standing on solid rock one second and falling through air the next.
My scream gets lost in the sound of breaking stone. The world spins. Sky and rock and sky again. I catch a glimpse of Seraphina's shocked face as I drop past her.
Falling. Just falling forever.
The cliff face rushes past. I'm going to die. Going to hit the rocks at the bottom and break into pieces. After three weeks of running I'm going to die from my own stupid power.
I see water below. A river cutting through the mountains. Dark and fast moving.
Impact slams every thought from my head. Cold swallows me whole. The current grabs me and drags me under. I can't breathe. Can't swim. Can't do anything except tumble through freezing water like a rag doll.
My head breaks the surface for one second. I suck in air. Go under again.
The river is pulling me somewhere. Fast. Rocks scrape my arms and legs. The current is too strong to fight.
I should be dead. The fall alone should have killed me. But something inside me kicked in right before I hit the water. That violet energy wrapped around my body like a shield.
I'm still dying though. Just slower. The cold is stealing what little strength I have left.
The current throws me against a boulder. Pain explodes through my shoulder. I grab onto the rock with numb fingers. Try to pull myself out of the water.
Can't hold on. My grip slips. The river takes me again.
How long can I survive this. How far will it carry me before I drown.
The world starts going dark. Not from night falling. From my body giving up. Three weeks of running and fighting and starving finally catching up.
I'm so tired.
Maybe I should just let go. Stop fighting. Let the river take me somewhere peaceful.
My eyes close.
The current changes. Gets slower. Gentler. The water isn't as deep here.
I feel sand under my hands. A beach maybe. Shallow water.
My body washes up on something solid. Not moving anymore. Just lying still while water laps at my feet.
Safe. For now. Maybe forever if I just stay here and sleep.
Footsteps on sand. Someone found me already.
I try to open my eyes. Can't. Too heavy.
A shadow blocks out what little light filters through my eyelids. Something massive standing over me. The scent hits me even through the water in my nose.
Wolf. Big one. Alpha maybe.
Great. Survived the fall just to get killed by whatever territorial wolf owns this beach.
A low growl rumbles above me. Not threatening. Confused.
Hot breath on my face. The wolf sniffing me.
Then the air changes. Bones cracking. Shifting. The wolf becomes human.
"Impossible."
The voice is male. Deep. Rough like he doesn't use it much.
I force my eyes open just a crack. Golden eyes stare down at me. A man with black hair and a scarred face. Built like violence. Every muscle tense like he's ready to fight or run.
He's not looking at me with hunger or greed though. He looks shocked. Maybe even afraid.
"Rogues don't have fated mates," he whispers.
The words don't make sense. My brain is too foggy. Too cold.
He reaches for me and the moment his hand touches my arm everything changes. Heat explodes through my chest. Not my violet power. Something else. Something that feels like coming home after being lost forever.
A bond. Snapping into place. Wrapping around my soul like chains but warm instead of cold.
Mate.
My wolf knows him even though I've never seen him before in my life.
The man jerks his hand back like I burned him. Stares at his palm then at me. His whole body shakes.
"No," he says. To himself or me or the universe. "Not this. Not now."
I try to speak. Ask who he is. Where I am. Why everything hurts.
Nothing comes out except a weak sound.
His jaw clenches. He looks at me for a long moment. Then up at the cliffs behind us. Back to me.
Making some kind of decision.
He scoops me up like I weigh nothing. I'm too weak to fight. Too cold to care. Just let my head fall against his chest.
His heartbeat is racing. Fast and hard like he just ran a marathon.
"You have one night to heal," he tells me. His voice is hard. Cold. "Then you leave. I don't care if you're my mate. I don't do bonds."
He's lying. I can feel it through whatever this connection is between us.
But I'm too far gone to argue.
The world goes dark and I let it take me.
At least I'm not alone when it does.