Chapter Six

Avyaane’s POV

The air rushed past me as I fell, stomach churning with pure terror. The roar of the wind filled my ears, and for a moment panic surged through me: Had I miscalculated? Was I about to die?

Then—impact.

I crashed to the ground, rolling as agony burst through my shoulder. My vision hazed, the shock of the fall rattling every bone inside me. I gasped, sucking in sharp breaths as I crawled onto my hands and knees.

I survived.

But I didn’t have time to dwell on it. Ignoring the white-hot pain, I pushed myself up and ran to the thick woods outside the castle grounds. The pounding of my heart thundered in my ears. The mate bond throbbed in my heart, an oppressive reminder of what I fled.

I won’t be their prisoner.

I ran, branches rasping my bare skin, my raw feet hammering the cold ground. My wolf coursed through me, begging for me to shift, faster, but I wasn’t strong enough yet. I had only just turned. My wolf was present, but not prepared.

Keep running.

The trees loomed above me like I hadn't seen in years, filling the winter wood with shadows as I squeezed myself further into the pitch, "No, no I am not lost. I didn’t know where I was going, only that I needed to get as far away as I could.

Then, suddenly

A howl.

Low, deep, and close.

Dread twisted in my gut.

They know.

I didn’t stop running, but I wasn’t quick enough.

Because I wasn’t being chased by just anybody.

I was being hunted by them.

Chad’s POV

From the moment the bond yanked inside me like a hook ripping through my soul, I knew.

She ran.

That little wolf.

I was standing in my bedroom, my fingers tense against the window ledge so that it cracked beneath my grip. The acrid stench of fear and desperation hung in the air, rising from the empty room below her.

She had jumped.

A quiet, icy fury twisted in my chest.

How foolish. How utterly stupid.

Did she honestly believe she could get away?

I whipped around, striding down the dimly lit hallways, muscles jangling like a tight coil. Logan. Killian. Blair. They were already on the move, already following her scent.

I didn’t have to say anything.

They felt it too.

The allure of our partner drifting away.

But she was not going to get very far.

I crossed outside into the cold night, the moon silver alibis upon the castle stones. The distant forest rose up ahead, dark and infinite, but she would have no chance.

Not against us.

Logan was the first to shift, his huge brown wolf leaping into the trees. Killian trailed behind, his white coat camouflaged against the night. Blair, the eternal predator, grinned then let the wolf take control.

And then it was just me.

I breathed in deep, her smell engulfing me. It was burned into me now. He would never be the kind of person who had to lose her.

She was mine.

I let the shift take me. My bones fractured, my muscles elongated, and within the blink of an eye, I was on four legs — a beast outfitted for the hunt.

I ran.

It was a night for the predators.

And she was prey.

Avyaane’s POV

I drove myself harder, lungs on fire, legs crying. The branches overhead rocked violently in the wind, the only noise other than the quick beat of paws behind me.

They were coming.

I bit my lip so hard it bled. Damn it. I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t fast enough. My wolf was howling inside me to run, to fight, but I understood the reality.

They would catch me.

I could feel them closing in.

I dived left, narrowly missing a tree, but as soon as I did, I spotted it — a river. The waters surged furiously, the current powerful enough to carry off anything that ventured within.

It was suicide.

But so was going back.

I heard the growl just before I leaped.

No!

I was struck from behind, the wind knocked out of my lungs. I crash-landed, compressed under an unbearably heavy weight. My body flailed about, but to no avail.

A wolf. Massive. Brown fur.

Logan.

He growled, his huge paw shoving my back, pinning me down beneath him.

My breath came sharp, panic scrabbling in my chest. I thrashed more violently, my fingernails digging into the soil. “Get off me!”

He transformed — bones cracking, muscles warping. And it wasn’t a wolf pinning me anymore.

It was him.

Logan’s flesh was against my back when he leaned down, his breath warm against my ear. “You thought you could escape us, little wolf?”

Anger ignited within me, scorching my terror. “Get. Off.”

Logan laughed. A low, dark sound that shrieked down my spine.

Then another voice.

“She’s ours, Logan. You don’t have to fracture her yet.”

Chad.

My blood ran cold.

His all-white body towered above, and his blue eyes glowed beneath the moonlight. He stood in place with his arms crossed, watching me like I was something delicate.

Something he owned.

I clenched my teeth. “I will never be yours.”

Chad’s expression darkened. Suddenly, he leaned down, grasping my chin between his fingers. “You already are.”

His touch was fire, and I despised that my body responded to it.

I pushed him away, or tried to.

He didn’t budge.

Killian and Blair stepped from the trees, orbiting around me like shadows.

Blair sighed dramatically. “Told you she’d try to run.”

Killian chuckled darkly. “And now, she pays for it.”

Chad’s grip tightened. “You had one opportunity to do this ea

sily, Avyaane. His voice was lethal. “You chose wrong.”

A vile silence descended between us.

And I knew—I was about to find out just how much that meant.