Chapter 1 Blood on the Ridge

I didn't have time to think. Not even a second. Trees blurred around me as I tore through the forest, my boots were slipping on wet leaves, and my lungs burned like they were scraping fire. Something snarled behind me, it felt too deep and too rough to be human. I glanced back and saw a shadow move with the precision of a predator that already knew it was going to win.

Kaelen's shout ripped through the chaos.

"Lyra!"

"Don't stop! We can't hold them off!"

I listened and pushed harder. My shoulders were still messed up from last winter, it felt really painful....., an ugly pain, but I didn't care. Because for me, pain makes me feel I'm alive from the struggles I have been through.

I stumbled into a clearing so fast I nearly fell. Fresh blood painted the ground as something big already died here. Its smell was really awful. I was still studying it trying to figure out what killed it, then Mara screamed.

My whole chest seized because she was mine to protect. A childhood friend who is more or less like a sister to me. She is my responsibility. I sprinted towards her voice.

"Lyra!"

She was pinned under a massive shadow, some creature with eyes like coals and teeth meant for ripping. She clawed at the ground, panic wild on her face. I didn't have time to think at that moment, I just grabbed the nearest fallen branch and swung it like my life dependeds on it.

The creature hissed, jerking back just enough for me to drag her free.

"Run," I choked out.

The forest wasn't a shelter, not tonight. My pack was scattered as they were injured, bleeding and starving. We weren't warriors anymore, we were ghosts trying to stay breathing as something bigger and smarter was hunting us.

I sat trying to catch some breathe before I figure out where I and my pack would find shelter then a whistle blew from nowhere. I looked around and it was from Kaelen, Mara or anyone from my pack. That got me scared as we were already tired, I had less energy for a fight. My instinct screamed danger.

A man stepped out from the shadows like he had been carved straight from the night. He was tall with broad shoulders and also had an eye color that was really attractive. Ice-blue. I observed slowly, trying to figure out if he was out for a fight or something else. He wasn't walking like a prey or like a man. He moved like the forest moved out of his way.

"Lyra," he said

"Who can that be and how does he know my name?" I whispered as I hurriedly stood, posing in fight mode.

My stomach knotted so hard it hurt. I should've attacked him, or at least pretended I wasn't terrified. But he wasn't coming at me. I squeezed my eyes even more and my heart skipped immediately I recognized who he was.

It was Damian. The king's alpha. The name you never whispered too loudly. The man who could erase a pack with one order.

I forced my voice steady, trying to talk calmly but it came sharper than I meant. "You're far from your throne, leave before I make you."

He tilted his heard and smirked dangerously. "I'm not leaving, I'm here to decide if you're worth keeping alive."

Something cold slid down my spine. Curiosity?, Damn it. I hated that more than fear.

Before I could do anything, Kaelen hissed behind me. "Lyra... maybe we should....."

"No." My glare shut him up. "We fight, we survive and move."

With all that I was doing or saying, Damian didn't blink or twitch. He just stood there studying me like he was choosing where to press a knife. Approval?, challenge?, or maybe..... BOTH?.

"Good," he said quietly.

The ground trembled and the forest split open. A huge back came out of nowhere. They were bigger than anything I have ever seen. They looked like monster. My breath hitched and Mara grabbed my arm in fear while whispering prayers i couldn't hear. Kaelen also stepped forward, ready to break himself in half for me.

But during all this, Damian didn't flinch. He stood there like a status and there I realized he was expecting whatever that was happening.

The night exploded around us. The wolves were growling and snapping jaws. It looked like they were here for me, sent by whom I don't know. Or maybe..... I do.

Damian was the storm. He fought with us and made things look easy. The one my life was about to break against. I didn't know he'd save me. I didn't know he'd tear apart every idea I had about loyalty, about love, about who I was supposed to be.

All I knew was this: everything after tonight would be different. And honestly? That scared me worse than the monsters.

I was admiring him while faight and from nowhere, a huge alpha lunged at me from the side, it was very fast I can't tell how it happened.

Damian's hand shot out, catching it by the mouth mid-air like it weighed nothing. He flipped it hard enough to crack the ground.

"Stay close," he growled, locking those ice-blue eyes on me. "Or you die."

My heartbeat went wild. Not from fear, but the realization that I wasn't running away anymore. I was running straight toward the most dangerous man alive.

Then a whisper drifted from the trees. Soft, eerie, too calm for this chaos. "You can't hide her forever, Lyra."

I froze.

Someone or something knew my name. And that was somehow worse than the monsters.