Chapter 3 The Hunt Begins

The blizzard hit her like a living thing, wind and snow combining into a wall of white fury that threatened to tear the breath from her lungs. Each gust drove ice needles deep into her exposed skin, and the temperature dropped so fast she could feel her body heat bleeding away with every heartbeat.

Reign stumbled forward into the endless wasteland, her bare feet already numb despite the burning pain of each step. The simple tunic that had seemed adequate within the citadel's walls now felt like paper against the arctic wind. Blood from her raw wrists had frozen into crimson crystals that clinked softly as she moved.

The scar where her bloodmark had been burned away throbbed with each pulse of her heart, a constant reminder of what she had lost. Without that connection to her wolf spirit, she felt hollow, diminished-like trying to breathe with only half her lungs. The enhanced senses that should have guided her through the storm were muted, leaving her nearly blind in the swirling white.

She pressed her arms tight against her body, shivering so violently her teeth chattered like stones. The Frostveil Peaks stretched endlessly in all directions, jagged spires of ice and rock that looked like the fangs of some massive predator. Somewhere in this frozen hell, she needed to find shelter before hypothermia claimed her.

But the wasteland had other plans.

A howl cut through the storm-low, hungry, and far too close for comfort. Reign's blood turned to ice water as she recognized the sound. Not the wild wolves that roamed these peaks, but pack wolves. Trained hunters.

Her head snapped up, eyes straining against the blowing snow. Shadows moved at the edge of her vision, dark shapes that seemed to melt in and out of the blizzard like phantoms. Her stomach clenched with the terrible understanding.

Kieran hadn't trusted the wilderness to finish her. He'd sent his own wolves to ensure she never made it through the first night.

More howls answered the first, converging from multiple directions. They were boxing her in, using pack tactics she knew all too well. She was nothing more than prey stumbling through their hunting ground.

Panic surged through her veins like liquid fire. She spun in place, searching desperately for any kind of cover. The ice spires jutted from the ground like frozen lightning, their surfaces slick and treacherous but offering the only protection she could see.

She ran.

Each step sent fresh agony shooting up her legs as the frozen ground cut through her bare feet. Behind her, she could hear them now-the rhythmic padding of paws on snow, the harsh panting of wolves in pursuit, the soft click of claws finding purchase on ice.

A streak of pain lanced across her calf as something sharp-a thrown ice shard or perhaps a claw-opened a gash in her leg. She stumbled, crimson spreading across the pristine snow in droplets that steamed in the frigid air.

The scent of blood would drive them wild. She had minutes at most before they closed the distance entirely.

She threw herself behind the largest ice spire she could reach, pressing her back against the frozen surface. The cold burned through her tunic like acid, but she barely noticed. Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath, each exhalation creating small clouds of vapor that dissipated instantly in the wind.

The first hunter emerged from the storm like a nightmare given form. Larger than any normal wolf, his coat was the deep gray of storm clouds, and his eyes blazed with the golden light of pack wolves still connected to their spirits. Muscles rippled beneath his fur as he stalked closer, lips peeled back to reveal fangs designed for killing.

Then another shadow materialized from the blizzard. And another.

Five in total, she counted with growing despair. All of them bearing the distinctive size and bearing of Kieran's personal guard-elite wolves chosen for their loyalty and their skill at violence. They moved with the coordinated precision of a unit that had hunted together for years, automatically spreading out to cut off any escape routes.

Their circle tightened with predatory patience. Low growls vibrated through the air, a sound that seemed to resonate in her bones despite her severed connection to the pack mind. They were savoring this, drawing out the kill to maximize her terror.

Her hand brushed unconsciously against the burned scar on her wrist, and the pain flared bright and sharp. But with it came something else-a surge of defiance so pure and cold it cut through her fear like a blade.

She had rejected their Alpha. She had chosen exile over submission. She had endured the burning away of her very identity rather than bow to their demands.

If this was where her story ended, she would not go quietly into the dark.

The lead hunter-a massive male she recognized as Garrett, one of Kieran's most trusted enforcers-took a step closer. His golden eyes reflected the aurora light filtering through the storm clouds, and she could smell the anticipation rolling off him in waves.

"Should have accepted the bond, little omega," he rumbled, his voice carrying the authority of one who had never known defeat. "The Alpha's mercy would have been kinder than what we're going to do to you."

Reign straightened despite the cold that threatened to lock her joints in place. Blood ran down her leg in a steady trickle, and her body shook with exhaustion and hypothermia, but her voice came out steady and clear.

"Tell Kieran," she said, "that I'd rather die free than live as his pet."

Garrett's laugh was like the grinding of ice against stone. "Oh, you'll die either way. The only question is how much you suffer first."

He crouched, muscles bunching for the killing leap. The other hunters shifted restlessly, eager for their turn at the prey that had dared to insult their Alpha's honor.

Reign closed her eyes for just a moment, feeling the burn of the scar that marked her as an exile, as nothing. When she opened them again, they blazed with the same defiant fire that had driven her to reject her fate in the first place.

Garrett lunged, fangs glinting like silver knives in the aurora light-

A deafening howl split the night sky.

Not the voice of any pack wolf. Not the cry of the wild beasts that roamed these peaks. Something older, deeper, carrying a resonance that seemed to shake the very foundations of the mountain itself.

The hunters froze mid-attack, hackles raised, their confident growls dissolving into uncertain whines. Even Garrett stumbled in his leap, landing awkwardly in the snow as his head whipped around to locate the source of that impossible sound.

Through the swirling blizzard, a massive shape moved-white against white, but somehow more solid than the storm around it. Silver eyes burned through the darkness like stars, ancient and terrible and utterly wild.

Reign's breath caught in her throat as she stared at the creature emerging from the storm. Not salvation, she realized with a mixture of awe and terror.

Something far more dangerous than any pack wolf had ever dreamed of being.