Chapter 2 Shadows at Dawn

I woke to the smell of smoke and wet fur. My skull throbbed like someone had cracked it open, and every muscle in my body complained at the same time. The clearing around me looked dead; trees snapped, earth torn up, smoke drifting like the forest was still whispering about what happened last night. I pushed myself up, shaking, trying not to groan.

Mara peeked from behind a fallen log, her hair looked wild and face streaked with mud. "I'm never doing that again," she muttered, half praying, half complaining.

Kaelen lounged against a charred tree like he hadn't almost died. His stupid smirk came first. "You look like death warmed over, Lyra. Kinda cute, though." I shot him a look sharp enough to cut bark. "Stop talking before you make me regret saving you."

But the real problem wasn't him, it was Damian. He sat at the edge of the clearing, crossing his arms with his cold eyes enough to freeze blood. Watching us like we were prey he hadn't decided to eat yet. My stomach twisted because every time I accidentally looked at him... it felt good. Too good and I hated that.

He filled the clearing with his presence. The kind you don't walk away from unchanged.

"Don't move," he said, voice low and annoyingly calm. "Not until I know who I'm dealing with."

I stood straighter than my body wanted me to. "We're the rogues you've been hunting and we're still alive because of me."

His mouth twitched the smallest smirk. "Thanks... Lyra."

He said my name like it meant something, like he had been waiting to say it.

Kaelen scoffed. "Words won't keep us alive." Damian's gaze slid to him: slow, deliberate, dangerous. He didn't need claws to hurt you, he had eyes that could break bones.

"Enough," I snapped. "We need to move. The alpha from last night isn't finished, and it wasn't alone."

Damian rose to his full height; too tall, too powerful for the morning to feel safe. He stepped closer, and the air between us felt alive in a way that terrified me.

"Then I'm coming with you," he said. "But you follow me. One mistake and....."

"Don't finish that." My heart hammered, heat crawling up my neck. "We survive together or we die alone, your choice."

He lifted an eyebrow, amused but silent. That silence felt like a win. A small one, but real.

We started moving. My pack were already tired, trying to hold themselves together by instincts more than strength. Every movement of a shadow of broken branch made me tensed.

Damian stayed closer like a blade someone forgot to sheath. By the time we reached the ridge, my whole body wanted to sleep as I was really tired from continuous fights.

I froze as soon as I saw what lay below. There were not wolves or humans but Hybrids.

Twisted, sharp-toothed things with intelligent eyes and a smell that made my stomach flip. They were already watching us like they had been waiting.

"You brought me right to the lion's den," I breathed. Damian had stepped behind me, voice annoyingly soft. "And somehow... I don't regret it."

I spun, ready to hit him, but the look on his face wasn't teasing, not even close.

The hybrids shifted, low growls rolling through them. Their alpha stepped forward, face torn with old scars, smile too wide, too wrong.

"You can't hide her forever, Lyra."

My blood went cold, Mara whimpered and Kaelen cursed under his breath.

Damian didn't move or blink, he looked at them like he was already picking out who to kill first.

The hybrid alpha grinned, showing teeth that didn't belong in any normal mouth.

"Tonight... she belongs to us."

My stomach dropped straight through the ground. Because suddenly, it wasn't about running anymore.

We were out of time, out of exits and out of choices. And there I realized the night was only just getting started.