Chapter 3 IT DIDN'T JUST BEGIN

The forest swallowed me alive.

Every step sent fresh agony ripping through my chest. The mate bond was gone, but the emptiness it left behind hurt worse than any punch. My legs felt heavy, like I was dragging chains. The torn white dress clung to my skin in dirty rags, and my bare feet bled with every rock and pine needle that cut into them.

Lucifer’s words kept stabbing me.

"Useless little girl… stray… pathetic orphan who spread her legs… how fucking embarrassing."

I stumbled forward, one hand pressed to my chest like I could hold myself together. My wolf was silent. Not angry. Not fighting. Just… gone. The place where she used to burn and snarl was cold and empty. The rejection had drained her completely.

I kept walking north, deeper into the wild. Tears dried on my face, leaving salty tracks. The full moon followed me through the trees, cold and indifferent, pouring silver light over everything like it was laughing at how far I had fallen.

Hours passed. Or maybe minutes. Time blurred. My feet were raw and bleeding. Every breath hurt. The pack bond was still there — a thin, fraying thread pulling at my ribs. But with every mile I put between me and Shadowmoon territory, it grew weaker.

Then it snapped.

The moment my foot crossed the invisible boundary line, pain exploded through my body like fire in my veins. I screamed, the sound raw and ugly, echoing through the dark trees. It felt like someone reached inside me and ripped out every connection I had ever known ... the distant warmth of the pack, the low hum of safety, the feeling of belonging. All of it gone in one brutal second.

I collapsed against a fallen log, gasping, tears streaming down my face again. My legs wouldn’t hold me. My wolf didn’t even whimper. She was just… empty.

I stayed there for a long time, curled on the cold ground, shaking. The torn dress offered no warmth. The clutch with my proof felt useless now...phone, USB, notebook pages...all of it heavy in my hands like dead weight.

A faint warmth suddenly bloomed in my chest. Soft. Like liquid moonlight. It eased the sharpest edge of the pain for a few seconds, letting me breathe a little easier. My grey eyes caught the moonlight and flashed silver for one heartbeat.

"Not… broken," my wolf whispered, her voice faint and tired. "Seal… cracking…"

Then the warmth faded, leaving me even more exhausted. I pushed myself up anyway, stubbornness winning over the pain. “Not yet,” I muttered. “I’m not dying out here for that bastard.”

I kept moving, slower now. The forest grew thicker, darker. Ancient pines towered overhead. The air turned colder, carrying a sharper bite that didn’t feel like home anymore.

That was when I heard them.

A low mechanical click. The crackle of a radio. Human voices drifting through the trees from the east.

“…picked up the blood trail. Barefoot. Fresh rejection scent. She can’t be far.”

Another voice, rough and excited: “Rogue female. The blonde contact said double bounty if we bring her in alive. Boss wants her for the experiments. Moon Blessed signature or not...she’s worth good money.”

A dog barked, deep, hungry, trained to hunt shifters.

My heart slammed against my ribs. Hunters. Serena’s hunters. The same ones she wrote about in her notebook: "Once she’s rogue, the hunters will handle the rest."

Fear shot through me like ice. I was too weak to shift. Too drained to fight. If they caught me now, it was over.

I ducked behind a thick cluster of bushes, pressing my body low to the ground. The torn white dress blended poorly with the dark forest floor. My breathing came fast and shallow. The faint moon warmth pulsed again...just enough to sharpen my hearing so I could track their exact direction. Footsteps. Boots crunching on needles. The dog sniffing loudly.

They were getting closer.

“Fan out,” one hunter ordered. “Moon’s still high. She’ll be weak after the bond break. Should be easy.”

A flashlight beam sliced through the trees only thirty yards away, sweeping slow and deliberate. The dog barked again, louder, pulling on its leash.

I bit my lip hard to stay silent. Blood filled my mouth. My wolf stayed dead quiet...no rage, no strength. Just me, alone and shaking in the dirt.

The beam swept closer. Twenty yards. Fifteen.

Sweat mixed with the dirt on my face. My hands trembled around the clutch. The moon warmth flickered once more, giving me a tiny burst of clarity... I spotted a narrow ravine to my left, steep and shadowed. If I could reach it, the water and mud might hide my scent.

But moving meant noise. Moving meant risk.

The dog barked again, closer now. Ten yards.

I had no choice.

I pushed up on shaky legs and ran...or tried to. It was more of a desperate stumble. Branches whipped my face. My bleeding feet screamed with every step. The warmth in my chest flared painfully, pushing me forward just enough to reach the edge of the ravine.

I slid down the steep side, rocks and roots scraping my skin raw. Halfway down I lost my grip and tumbled the last few feet, landing hard in shallow icy water. Pain exploded in my side. I gasped but bit back the sound.

Above me, the hunters’ voices grew louder.

“She was here! Dog’s got the scent!”

I dragged myself under a tangle of exposed roots and mud overhang, pressing my body as deep into the shadow as I could. Cold water soaked the remains of my dress. The moon warmth faded again, leaving me dizzy and drained.

Flashlight beams danced over the ravine edge. The dog whined and barked, pulling hard.

“She went down there! Move!”

I held my breath, heart hammering so loud I was sure they could hear it. My wolf stayed silent. The emptiness inside me felt heavier than ever.

Minutes stretched like hours. Boots crunched above. Voices argued. One hunter started climbing down the side.

Just when I thought they would find me, the dog suddenly turned, barking in a different direction... a false trail, maybe from an animal or the wind shifting my scent.

“Over there! She doubled back!”

The hunters moved away, following the dog east.

I waited until their voices and footsteps faded completely. Only then did I crawl out of the ravine, soaked, bleeding, and shaking with exhaustion.

The moon warmth pulsed one last time...faint, tired, but there. It closed the worst of the fresh cuts on my arms, but the effort left black spots dancing in my vision.

I stumbled forward again, north, always north. My body screamed for rest, but stopping meant death.

Hours later, when I could barely stand, three large wolves stepped out of the shadows ahead. Their fur was dark, their eyes glowing with wary hostility. They smelled of frost and ancient pine...not Bloodmoon.

One shifted.

A tall man with dark auburn hair falling over his forehead and deep green eyes stood naked in the moonlight. A scar ran along his left collarbone. He looked lean, quiet, and dangerous.

“You crossed into Shadowpine territory,” he said, voice low and blunt. No fake kindness. “Rogue. Smells like fresh banishment… and something else. Moon power.”

I tried to stand straight, but my knees buckled. The world tilted. “Lyra Voss,” I rasped. “Banished tonight by Lucifer Kane.”

He studied me for a long moment. The other wolves growled softly behind him.

“You lit up the border like a beacon,” he said. “Hunters are already circling because of it.”

He didn’t offer help right away. His green eyes narrowed. “I’m Ronan. Alpha here. My pack doesn’t take in strays lightly. Especially ones dragging trouble behind them.”

The moon warmth flickered weakly in my chest again. My eyes flashed silver for a breath. Ronan noticed. Something shifted in his gaze...calculation mixed with reluctant interest.

“But that power…” he muttered. “One night. No promises. Cause problems and I’ll throw you back to the hunters myself.”

He shifted back into wolf form. One of the others tossed a rough blanket toward me.

I wrapped it around my shivering body and limped after them through the trees, barely staying on my feet.

The Shadowpine camp appeared ahead...older stone buildings mixed with cabins, surrounded by pines that felt permanently cold and watchful. Wolves stared as we passed. No smiles. Only suspicion and low growls.

Ronan led me to a small, bare cabin at the edge.

“Clean up. Eat. Sleep,” he said flatly after shifting back. “We talk in the morning.”

He turned to leave.

“Why help at all?” I whispered, voice cracking.

He paused at the door, green eyes meeting mine. Honest. Brutal.

“Because that moon burst feels like the answer to a curse my pack has carried for decades. And because leaving a broken she-wolf out here bleeding would make me no better than the bastard who just rejected you.”

The door closed behind him.

Alone, I sank onto the narrow cot. The simple food on the table tasted like nothing, but I forced it down. Every bruise and cut still hurt. The bond pain throbbed like an open wound. My wolf stayed silent.

But under it all, that faint silver warmth lingered...small, stubborn, refusing to die completely.

They thought they had destroyed me tonight.

Hunters were still out there. Ronan’s pack didn’t trust me. I was weak, rogue, and alone.

Yet something ancient was stirring in my blood.

And for the first time since they dragged me out of that hall, a tiny, fierce spark of defiance lit in my chest.

I wasn’t finished yet.