2

POV Savannah Bowen

I cast my sister one last glance.

"Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone."

She laughed.

"I promise I’ll behave."

I raised an eyebrow.

"The last time you said that, Selena, you threw a beer glass at a guy’s head."

She pursed her lips in a mock scowl, looking offended.

"He said I had a nice ass, Savannah. I thought it was incredibly disrespectful," she replied. "And, besides, the glass sort of… slipped out of my hand."

"And flew into his head?"

"Exactly," she agreed, utterly shameless.

She hadn’t gone through her first shift yet, but she was getting close to the age. Her body already showed signs: abnormal strength for someone her size, a fiery temper, and a keener sense of smell.

"Just… keep the glasses away from the heads of creepy old men, please," I begged.

She had only knocked the guy out last time. It had been so fast and strong that no one had even seen where the glass had come from or who had thrown it. That, and only that, had kept her from being discovered.

"I promise I’ll try."

I let out a low growl.

"Please, Selena. I can’t deal with hiding from Hunter’s men and worrying about you at the same time."

She rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue.

"Fine. I promise."

I sighed.

"I love you, Sel. See you soon."

"Love you too, Sava."

Smiling, I turned toward the forest and walked away from the cabin, leaving my sister behind.

The backpack on my shoulders was light. It carried a few changes of clothes, some food I’d taken from the bakery where I worked, and a single book I’d stolen from a bookstore in one of the towns we’d stopped at over the months. It was my main source of entertainment, and I’d lost count of how many times I’d read it.

I quickened my pace, moving deeper into the forest.

I needed to find a safe place to spend the night as my heat progressed and my body exuded pheromones. The farther I went, the harder it would be for them to pick up my scent.

I heard the rustling of small animals scurrying nearby and the chirping of birds. The forest was cloaked in shadows and silver as the moon shone brightly in the sky.

I tightened my grip on the strap of my worn backpack as a gust of wind hit me, blowing my hair to the side.

I shivered as my footsteps crushed dry branches beneath them.

If things got too bad, I’d shift and remain in my wolf form for the next few days. It wouldn’t lessen the intensity of the heat, but it would make survival in the forest easier.

I hadn’t shifted since we’d fled. I didn’t trust the area enough to do so. Shifting could make me an easy target for hunters. And the cabin we lived in, which had once belonged to one of them, was a constant reminder they were nearby.

And that brought another worry: Selena’s first shift.

I looked around, noting the shapes of the tall tree trunks.

The forest was ancient—I could feel it deep in my bones. It exuded a kind of power, an old energy that pulsed around me.

I believed there could be packs nearby since the herb originated from the region, but I wasn’t sure. Since arriving, we hadn’t encountered any other wolves.

A wave of heat hit me so hard I lost my breath and stumbled mid-step. I held my breath.

I inhaled deeply, the cold air biting at my lungs, then exhaled slowly, a shaky stream of fog curling from my lips into the night. I repeated the process—once, twice, three times—each breath a desperate bid to steady myself, to anchor my fraying control as my body teetered on the brink of collapse.

My muscles screamed with exhaustion, every joint aching as if it might splinter apart, but I couldn’t stop yet.

I was still too close to Selena, her fragile safety tethered to the distance I could put between us.

If they caught my scent now—raw and unmasked—they’d follow it straight to her, and everything I’d fought for would unravel in an instant.

So I ran. Aimlessly, recklessly, my feet pounding the earth as I surrendered to a blind, primal instinct I couldn’t name. The forest blurred around me—dark trunks and skeletal branches whipping past in a haze of shadow—and yet, in some strange, inexplicable way, it felt as though my steps weren’t random.

Something tugged at me, a whisper in my blood guiding me forward, pulling me toward a destination—or perhaps a someone—I couldn’t yet see.

I let it lead me, trusting the wolf within when my mind had no answers left to give.

Time lost meaning as I plunged deeper into the wilderness. Minutes stretched into hours, or maybe it was only seconds—my sense of it warped by the relentless burn in my legs and the rasp of my dry throat.

Sweat beaded on my forehead, trickling down my temples despite the chill that clung to the air, stinging my eyes as I pushed on. I didn’t stop, not when my breath turned to ragged gasps, not when my vision swam with dark spots.

The forest thickened around me, the undergrowth clawing at my ankles, but I kept going, driven by the need to bury Selena’s trail beneath layers of distance no wolf could unravel.

Finally, I halted, my legs giving out as much from exhaustion as intent.

A powerful wave of heat crashed over me, sudden and merciless, searing through my veins like liquid fire. My pupils dilated, the world sharpening into vivid relief, and a potent, uncontrollable scent burst from me—thick with pheromones, a primal call that sang into the night, beckoning any alpha within range.

I couldn’t hold it back any longer; the dam had broken. I dropped to my knees, my palms scraping against jagged stones as I hit the ground, the rough edges biting into my skin.

A low moan escaped me, mingling with a faint, involuntary purr that rumbled in my chest—a sound I barely recognized as my own.

Gods, this was so much worse than I’d imagined.

The heat wasn’t just a discomfort; it was a living thing, clawing at me from the inside, demanding release I couldn’t give. I lifted my face to the sky, lips parting with a ragged gasp, and felt my eyes flare, glowing with a vivid emerald hue that cast faint light on the leaves around me.

Every bone in my body ached, a deep, molten pain as if I were melting from within, my very marrow liquefying under the strain.

Another wave of pheromones spilled from me, heavy and intoxicating, saturating the air.

I clawed at the dirt, trying to stand, but my legs refused to obey, trembling like a newborn fawn’s. I needed water—a river, a stream, anything cold enough to douse this inferno raging through me.

Maybe the shock of icy currents could dull the heat, buy me time to think. I focused my hearing, sharpening it past the pounding of my own pulse, past the rustle of wind through the trees, searching for what I needed.

There—just as Hunter had taught me years ago, when I’d first shifted under his watchful eye, his voice steady as he’d guided me through the chaos of my new senses.

The sound of running water reached me, faint but unmistakable, a lifeline calling from the left.

It was farther than I’d hoped, the distance mocking my weakened state, but close enough to reach if I could summon the strength.

I gritted my teeth and tried to stand again, pouring every ounce of will into the effort. My knees wobbled, muscles quivering like jelly, but I forced myself upright, swaying as though the earth itself tilted beneath me.

I took one step, my limbs heavy as if they weighed a thousand tons, then another, and another, each movement a battle against the heat and fatigue threatening to drag me back down.

The promise of water pulled me forward, a beacon in the haze of my suffering.

I was so fixated on that distant ripple, so consumed by the need to reach it, that I didn’t sense someone approaching. I didn’t notice I was no longer alone until his scent hit me—a sudden, overwhelming rush of fresh pine and damp earth, rich and primal, like the heart of the forest distilled into a single breath.

My gaze darted around, wild and frantic, as my heart slammed against my ribcage, the rhythm so fierce I thought it might shatter my chest.

I inhaled deeply, drawing his scent in again, and a jolt of recognition sparked through me—familiar, yet impossible.

But I didn’t know him. I was certain of it. This wasn’t Hunter’s sharp, metallic tang, nor the musky familiarity of any alpha I’d crossed paths with in my pack. This scent was different—unique, ancient, carrying a weight that sank into my bones and stirred something dormant within me.

Even though I couldn’t see him, I felt it deep in my bones—the certainty that he was an alpha.

A branch snapped to my right. I turned quickly, adopting a predatory stance, letting my wolf instincts take over.

A deep, raspy laugh echoed through the air, carried by the wind. It mocked me, my defensive posture. And it irritated me.

But, at that moment, more than irritated, I was aroused and on the brink of dying from sheer desire.