Chapter 6 The Alpha's Hunt

ISAAK'S POV

The moment I woke, I knew she was gone.

The space beside me was cold, the scent of her already fading under the damp morning air. The forest outside was quiet. My wolf stirred beneath my skin.

I sat up fast, breath sharp. The ground was a mess of footprints and crushed leaves, proof of how quickly she'd left. My chest tightened at the sight. The mark over my heart, pulsed weakly, the faint echo of the bond I'd broken and betrayed.

Last night blurred in fragments: the rain, her voice, the heat between us that had nothing to do with hate and everything to do with the thing I couldn't admit aloud.

I dragged a hand through my hair, anger rising like smoke. "You should have stayed," I muttered to the empty clearing.

But she hadn't.

And now I could feel her moving farther away.

By the time I reached the packhouse, dawn had broken over the valley. Moonbane scouts stood waiting near the gates, eyes sharp, posture tense. They saluted as I passed, though their gazes flicked toward the forest behind me. Word traveled fast; even if no one dared ask where I'd been, they knew something had changed.

"Alpha," my Beta, Ronan, called, stepping forward. "Patrols found fresh scent trails near the ridge. It matches the omega's."

"Her name is Sierra." I growled.

My beta simply cocked a discerning brow at me. "Forgive me Alpha. The scent matches Sierra's."

"Did she cross the border?"

"Not yet."

My wolf surged at the thought, a growl rumbling low in my throat.

Find her.

I couldn't tell them that was exactly what I planned to do. An Alpha didn't chase what he'd rejected. An Alpha didn't look haunted by an omega's absence. I didn't even deserve to, not after the pure humiliation I'd put her through.

So I lied.

"Double the patrols," I ordered. "If she's still within our borders, bring her back, unharmed."

Ronan hesitated. "And if she's crossed?"

I looked toward the mountains, their peaks shrouded in cloud. "Then she's no longer ours."

He nodded and moved off.

But as soon as he was gone, I turned toward the forest, shifting to my wolf as I ran through the trees.

Each breath I took was full of her scent, faint as it is. Rain, pine, and that soft note that had driven me mad from the moment the Goddess bound us.

I didn't care about pride. Not anymore. I needed her by my side no matter what.

•••

SIERRA'S POV

By the time the scouts found my scent, I was already halfway up the ridge.

The rain had stopped, but the air was thick with mist, curling low across the mountains like breath. My limbs and lungs burned from the climb, my fingers scraped raw from the rocks. Still, I didn't stop.

The forest here was thinner, the ground wet and slippery from the previous nights rain. Somewhere behind me, wolves howled.

Moonbane.

I'd imagined they'd come after me after last night, but it had been faster than I thought.

I pressed my hand against a tree, forcing myself to breathe, and then I ran, as fast as my feet could take me up the incline.

A crack of branches below made me falter. Voices carried on the wind. Hurried footsteps trudging the ground behind me.

"Trail leads this way!"

I picked up my pace.

The path narrowed, turning rocky and steep. The world blurred into green and then gray. My wolf stirred, desperate to shift, to run faster, but I held her back. If I shifted, they'd smell me instantly.

A shout echoed below.

I ducked behind a fallen tree, chest heaving, trying to quiet my breath.

And then I felt him.

Not through sound. Through the bond.

He's near.

I crawled low through the brush, careful not to leave a clear trail. The mountain rose sharply ahead, its narrow path vanishing into fog. It was dangerous, steep enough to break a neck if I slipped. But it led out of Moonbane territory.

And I would rather die on my feet than go back to face the humiliation of rejection. And the humiliation of being caught running from that rejection.

When I glanced down the slope, I caught a glimpse of movement, dark figures weaving between the trees. Scouts. And behind them, a presence that burned brighter.

Isaak.

Sierra, his wolf whispered faintly through the bond. Don't run.

Tears stung my eyes, but I kept moving. "You don't get to want me now," I muttered under my breath.

A loose rock gave way beneath my foot. I slipped, pain flaring through my knee as I hit the ground. The scent of blood spilled sharp into the air. I forced myself up, limping, half crawling until the ground leveled out near a ridge. Wind tore through my hair, the world below spinning dizzy and wild.

For a moment, I looked back.

At him. At his tall and broad figure. The sun caught his features in a way that made him absolutely beautiful.

He didn't move. But I did.

I continued towards the ridge and descended the crest. By the time the sun broke over the peaks, I far past Moonbane territory. The air grew colder, the forest thinner. My body ached, my hands raw and bleeding, but I didn't stop until the last trace of his scent disappeared behind the wind.

When I finally collapsed beneath a pine tree, leaning against the mark and trying to catch my breath. I let the silence wash over me.

I was shaking, not from cold, but from everything I'd left behind. Or everything I hadn't, because what even did I have?

I looked up at the mountains towering above, their peaks glowing gold beneath the rising sun. Somewhere beyond them lay a new life. A better life.

I smiled.

For the first time since the ceremony, I didn't feel like a reject. Like a mistake if the goddess.

I felt alive.