CHAPTER 4

Zeena's POV

I woke with a gasp, choking on air like I’d been drowning in my sleep. The ground beneath me was cold, packed dirt, and my wrists–

Tied.

Rough rope bit into my skin. My ankles too. I looked down my body to see my clothe had dried up. How long had I been out for? I tried to sit up, as I'd been on the floor, but the pressure on my chest made it hard to breathe. Panic came fast, wild and hot, clogging my throat.

Then I heard the voice.

"Relax. You're not going to die here. Not yet, anyway."

Female. Calm. Sharp.

I blinked through the haze and found her sitting on a wooden crate a few feet away, sharpening a blade with deliberate, slow strokes. Her hair was a tangled mess of dark curls, and her eyes.…those electric blue eyes didn’t flinch. Not like most people did when they looked at me.

She didn’t see a victim. She didn’t see a threat either.

She just saw me as I was.And it made my skin feel foreign.

"Who are you?" I croaked.

She tilted her head, amused. "I’m the one who found you crying in the dirt before a predator did. That makes me your lucky star, or guardian angel as humans call it."

I tugged at the ropes again. Useless. "Let me go."

She chuckled. "Try a better tone. I saved your life. Twice, actually. You’re welcome."

"Why am I tied up then?"

She shrugged. "Precaution. People don’t just run into our territory by accident, wolf-less or not."

I stilled.

Our territory.

I hadn’t realized I’d crossed into another pack’s land. So that was the growl I heard. Foolish me, thinking I would end up in a human town and live as one. So all the running was for nothing?Weren't the gods tired of punishing me already?

She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "So, what’s a sweet little thing like you doing running through the woods with a really weak scent trail and no wolf to call on?"

I said nothing.

She sighed, bored already, flinging a strand of hair behind her ears. "You better start talking before he gets back."

I frowned. "He?, who's he?”

The woman smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. "You really are naive, aren’t you? Do you even know where you are?. Let me guess, a supposed Omega who doesn't know anything about pack lands or territories. Not surprised. But you really do have nerves.”

My jaw clenched. Guess I'd always be just an Omega to those who felt they were at the top of the food chain."I don’t care. I just want to leave. This isn't where I'm supposed to be."

"That’s not how it works."

I swallowed hard, forcing myself not to show how shaken I was. "Then tell me. Where am I?"

"Borderland," she said simply. "You ran right into neutral land between packs. Except it hasn’t been very neutral lately."

That explained the tension, the patrols. Maybe even the reason she tied me up. Still, it didn’t explain why she was so calm about it.

"Who are you?" I asked again, quieter.

She stood, wiped the blade on her pants. "Name’s Laura. And lucky for you, I’m not the one you should be afraid of. Though, I can be a bit of a hassle if I'm in the mood." She winked.

I stiffened.

“Now tell me who you are,where you were running from,where you are running to and why you were running.”

I paused. “I don't think it's safe to tell you that.”

She smirked. “Even tied up, you've got a sharp tongue. Good. You'll need it to beg for mercy by the time Ryder starts with you.”

Who the fuck was Ryder? Was he the he, she was referring to?

Before I could ask, she turned her head slightly, her eyes narrowing like she’d heard something I hadn’t.

Then she smiled again, with a wicked grin. "He’s here."

I felt the shift in the air before I heard the sound. A presence. Heavy. Electric.

Laura didn’t wait. She moved to the entrance of the small cabin—or maybe it was just a shed, I hadn’t really looked.

“Laura, what do you have in here, smells so tempting.”

I heard him before I saw him, a shadow stepped through the doorway, tall and broad and fast. His scent hit just as his features did.

Musky. Forest. Something darker underneath.

He had a scruffy jaw, wild black hair, and blue eyes that were too bright to be human. His movements were smooth, dangerous. His gaze swept the room, and the moment it landed on me, everything stopped.

He didn’t speak to Laura.

He didn’t ask questions.

He looked at me, sniffed the air–and growled.

"Mate."

Laura’s face changed for a second. Something flickered there–surprise, confusion–before she masked it.

I stared back at the stranger.

No. No. No.

Not again.

Not now. Not ever.

Not after everything.

I'd have just waited for those patrols to take me. I wouldn't have had to see this and maybe by now I'd have joined my grandma wherever she was.

Because now, there was no denying what I saw in his eyes. Hunger. Possession. Fate.

And I couldn’t even run.

Pun not intended.