Chapter 2 Exiled to Darkness

Zara POV

I slammed into the frigid forest floor. Snow burned against my skin, but I hardly noticed it. Pain clouded everything- Lucian's words, rejection, and betrayal. My heart was broken and my soul felt torn from me. The two guards stood over me, their eyes full of contempt. One of them said, drawing his blade, "Alpha's orders."

I didn't think. I moved.

Rolling to my side, I kicked out with both legs. The blade missed by inches. One guard cursed and stumbled back. The other reached for me, but I was already on my feet, running blindly into the trees.

Branches tore at my arms. My feet were bare. I didn't care. I ran.

"Get her!" someone shouted behind me.

Wolves howled.

My lungs burned. My legs screamed. But I didn't stop.

Not when I heard paws pounding behind me.

Not when I felt the boundless emptiness stretch wide inside my chest.

Not even when a branch caught my face and left a hotline of blood across my cheek.

Because I wasn't going to die for something I didn't do.

The trees became denser. Between the trunks, shadows danced. Through the leaves, the wind howled like a ghost. I breathed in sharp gasps. I fell, but I carried on.

And then-

A snarl.

So close.

Too close.

A wolf lunged from the left. I turned too late.

My teeth grazed my side. I screamed and fell hard, rolling down a slope, and crashing through the underbrush.

I hit the bottom with a crack.

Everything went still.

I could hear the pack wolves above, snarling, and pacing. But they didn't follow. They didn't descend.

Why?

A new sound filled the air.

Growling. Low. Dangerous. But it wasn't from them.

It came from below.

From behind me.

I turned, shaking.

His eyes met mine.

Not silver.

Not blue.

Gold.

Bright. Burning. Alive.

Massive and unlike anything I had ever seen, the wolf entered the clearing. His eyes sparkled like stars though his hair was black as night. Heart racing, I hurried back.

But he didn't attack.

He stood between me and the ridge.

Protecting me?

The pack wolves above snarled and then... retreated.

Just like that.

I blinked.

The huge black wolf turned toward me.

He took one step forward-and then the shift began.

Bones cracked, limbs bent and reshaped, and fur disappeared into skin.

And standing before me was a man.

Tall.

Muscular.

He was naked save for a long dark cloak he draped over his shoulders pulled from a tree branch.

Sharp-faced, he had high cheekbones and a scar across his jaw. His black hair was wild and tousled.

But his eyes really amazed me.

Still golden.

Still on fire.

Still looking at me as though he could see all I had ever experienced.

You are bleeding, he remarked.

I blinked once more.

"What?"

"You are bleeding," he said again, crouching next to me. Your own.

I gazed downward.

Blood

So much of it.

I didn't even remember feeling the bite.

"Who are you?" I whispered.

He turned his head. Kael.

"Are you going to kill me?"

He grinned. You would already be dead if I were.

Good point.

Reaching into the trees, he retrieved a leather pouch. There were water, bandages, and herbs inside.

"Why are you assisting me?" I said, wincing as he put something chilly against my side.

"Because they want you dead," he said. Their sort annoys me.

The Bloodfangs?

He agreed. Lucian is a coward.

I looked at him in disbelief. "You know him?"

Kael stated, "I know what he has done." For you. For others. I have been looking for some time.

That was illogical.

What for?

Kael hesitated. Zara, you do not belong to them. Not really.

My heart raced. "How do you know my name?"

"I told you," he said, his voice now softer. I have been observing.

I ought to have been terrified. I ought to have fled.

But his voice-steady, strong, and sure-something in it made me remain.

He picked me up as though I weighed nothing.

I inhaled sharply. Hold on! To where are you bringing me?

"Somewhere safe."

Running made the world hazy. The wind howled around us. Too weak to object, I held his cloak.

In the end, the trees separated to show a cabin half-buried in stone and moss. With smoke spiralling from the chimney, it appeared ancient yet cosy.

He kicked open the door and put me down on a soft bed close to the fire.

"You live here?"

"Sometimes."

Panting, I lay back.

I ached. I was dizzy.

He knelt next to me and grabbed another herb.

"Why did they want you dead?" he asked.

I told him everything. The rejection. The false accusation. Seraphina. Lucian.

He listened without interrupting.

When I finished, he nodded slowly.

"That explains it," he said.

"Explains what?"

"Why do you feel... different."

I frowned. "What does that mean?"

Kael rose and walked to a corner chest. He unrolled an ancient scroll.

You know about the lost royal bloodlines, don't you?

I opened my eyes. Those are myths.

Not at all. Yes, they are real.

He indicated a symbol atop the scroll. A winged silver wolf. The Moonblood lineage. The strongest wolves to ever tread the planet. A century ago, they disappeared.

I stared.

"You carry that blood," Kael said. "I can feel it."

"You're insane."

"Maybe. But I'm not wrong."

I laughed-dry, bitter. "I'm no royal. I'm no one."

He looked at me, hard. "You think it's a coincidence you survived a rejection and a death sentence in one night? That the bond didn't completely break you?"

"I... I don't know."

Kael's golden eyes narrowed. "It's because your blood won't let you die so easily."

My breath caught.

Could it be true?

No. It couldn't.

But...

My skin tingled. My bones felt strange.

And then-I screamed.

Fire lanced through my veins. My fingers twitched. My vision blurred.

Kael was at my side instantly. "It's starting."

"What's starting?" I gasped.

"Your awakening."

Pain twisted my limbs, but deep inside it-there was power.

Raw. Wild. Sleeping for too long.

Images flashed in my mind-silver wolves, moonlight, battles, a throne made of stone.

My body arched. I couldn't breathe.

And then-

Silence.

I collapsed, gasping, soaked in sweat.

Kael knelt beside me.

His hand was warm on mine.

"What-what happened to me?"

He didn't smile.

He didn't look surprised.

"You're not just a girl from the Bloodfang," he said. "You're something far more dangerous."

"What am I?" I whispered.

Kael leaned closer.

"You," he said, "are the last heir of the Moonblood line."

My heart stopped.

And then-

A crash.

Outside.

Kael's eyes snapped to the door. "They've found us."