#5 Into the Wolf's Den

I ran until my lungs burned and my legs trembled, until the forest became a smear of shadow and moonlight.

Sweat dripped down my spine, my hair clung to my cheeks, and every muscle screamed, but I didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. Not with the silver-eyed bastard’s howl cutting through the trees behind me and the scent of the golden one still clinging to my skin like heat lightning.

But the worst part? I wasn’t running from them.

I was running toward the one who waited.

A darker presence than all the others. Watching. Silent. Patient. The one whose shadow moved on its own.

My feet slowed as the trees thickened, and my breath dragges raggedly through my teeth. My skin tingled, static crawling across my arms and chest, because I knew he was close.

Closer than he should’ve been.

A faint crunch of leaves. A shift in the air. And then...

He was behind me.

I spun, knife raised, But he was faster.

A massive hand wrapped around my wrist, slamming it above my head against the rough bark of a pine. His other hand gripped my hip, his fingers bruising, hauling me flush against a chest carved from pure heat.

Black eyes. Bottomless. Devouring. His shadow curled around my feet like smoke, tasting me.

“You ran straight into my arms,” he growled, his voice low enough to vibrate through my ribs.

I spat at his chest. “Keep talking like that and I’ll carve your heart out.”

His lips brushed my ear, a dark whisper. “Try.”

I kicked, hard, but he caught my thigh mid-strike and pressed it to his hip, pinning me in a way that sent a traitorous shiver up my spine.

That’s when I felt it, the burn of another presence to my right.

Silver eyes appeared from the shadows, his smirk wicked enough to make me want to punch him out of existence. “You managed to pin her,” he drawled, stepping closer until I could feel his breath on my neck. “Lucky bastard.”

“Back off,” black eyes snarled without looking away from me.

Silver eyes ignored him. He leaned in slowly, and predatory, and dragged his nose along the curve of my throat.

I froze. His tongue flicked out, tasting my skin. He shuddered. Actually shuddered.

And then inhaled like he was drowning and I was air. “Gods,” he whispered, his voice sharp with hunger. “She smells like...”

“Mine,” black eyes snapped, pulling me tighter against him.

“Yours?”

The golden one emerged from the left, his eyes glowing like sunlight spilled into a nightmare. “Funny. I was pretty sure she was running for me.”

“Not for you,” I snapped, jerking my chin up. “Away from you.”

His lips curled, satisfied. “Liar.”

My stomach dropped, because the fourth arrived next.

Heavy footsteps. A presence like a storm rolling over the mountains. Massive shoulders, dark hair, and eyes glowing like embers.

He didn’t speak. Didn’t posture. Just stared at me like he’d been waiting a lifetime.

Four alphas. Four predators. Four sets of glowing eyes fixed on me like I was a prize they’d kill and die for.

The air thickened with heat and violence.

Silver eyes pressed his nose to the hollow of my throat again, inhaling sharp and shaky. “She’s going into heat.”

“I am not,” I snarled.

But my body betrayed me. My skin flushed. My pulse kicked. My breath hitched when black eyes’ fingers tightened on my thigh.

Golden boy inhaled deep, his eyes widening. “She’s responding to all of us.”

“That’s impossible,” silver eyes muttered.

“Yet here she is,” golden boy murmured, his gaze dropping to my chest, “dripping scent all over the damn forest.”

The massive silent one stepped closer. Close enough that his heat pressed against my back. His breath brushed my hair as he leaned in, And sniffed.

Every nerve in my body lit like fire.

“Stop...” My voice cracked.

Black eyes growled and yanked my chin up, forcing me to meet his gaze. “Look at me when you melt.”

“I am not melting!!”

His thumb brushed my lower lip softly...and a sound slipped out of me. A soft, humiliating sound.

Golden boy’s smile sharpened. “There it is.”

Silver eyes’ claws grazed my hip. “Sweet little queen.”

“Don’t call me that,” I hissed.

They didn't listen. All four of them moved in at once.

Silver eyes slid his hand to my waist. Golden eyes pressed his fingers to my wrist. The massive one’s chest hit my back. Black eyes kept me pinned with a grip that felt like fate.

Their bodies surrounded mine, all heat, muscle, growls, breath, and touch.

Too much. Too intoxicating. Too impossible.

My thighs trembled.

Golden boy laughed under his breath. “You’re totally responding to all of us.”

The massive one’s voice finally rumbled, deep and devastating.

“She’s ours.”

Something inside me snapped.

“No,” I growled, fury rising inside me like wildfire. “I’m not yours. I’m not anyone’s.”

Silver eyes dipped, his lips brushing my throat. “Your scent says otherwise.”

Heat shot straight through me. My knees nearly buckled, and all four felt it.

All four growled. Four sound waves, four predators, four claims. Panic blazed through the haze.

“Let me go.”

Black eyes leaned in, pressing his forehead to mine. “Make me.”

I didn’t think. Didn’t plan. I faded.

My skin shimmered, colors bleeding, and blending, like the forest swallowed me whole. Their hands lost contact. Their claws swiped at air. Their growls turned sharp, enraged, and confused.

Silver eyes snarled. “Where did she go?”

Golden boy cursed. “She vanished... I saw her...she...”

The massive one stepped forward, his nose lifting to the air, searching.

Black eyes bared his teeth. “Find her.”

I moved through the canopy before they realized. Branch to branch, light as shadow, and silent as breath. My body flowed with the trees like I’d been born in them.

Below, the four alphas prowled the forest floor, their glowing eyes scanning, and their frustration vibrating through the ground.

“Little Queen!”

The golden one roared it to the sky. And gods help me, I liked the way it sounded in his voice.

I didn’t stop running until the forest swallowed their voices entirely. And even then…I could still feel them.

Pulling. Calling. Wanting. All four.

And I hated, absolutely hated, how much a part of me wanted to be caught.