Chapter 3 Who We Are

Seraphine Vale

Something cracks overhead-just a squirrel, maybe-but I flinch like it's thunder. My heart is a drumbeat in my throat.

Jinx lowers her head, fur rippling along her spine.

"We have minutes. Maybe less."

I stare at her, trying to process everything at once, her voice in my head, the word Hollow-Born seared behind my eyes, the fact that I'm standing outside my own body and somehow still in it.

"What does he want?"

She doesn't answer.

That silence is louder than a scream.

"What does he want, Jinx?"

She finally speaks, voice low. Angry.

"He wants what every Alpha wants. Control. Power. To claim the unpredictable. Especially when it's not supposed to exist."

"You mean... me."

Her silver eyes meet mine. "Us."

I take a step back. "No. No, I didn't ask for this. I didn't even know what I was doing. I just wanted-"

I stop. The words feel too small. Too human.

I just wanted more.

"Well," Jinx says, circling me. "Now you have it."

Another howl echoes, closer this time. Deeper. The kind that doesn't beg. It commands.

A dozen birds burst out of the trees like an omen.

Branches snap behind us. Twigs break. Movement.

"I don't know how to fight," I whisper.

Jinx doesn't flinch. "Good thing I do."

She moves to my side, pressed close. Protective. Solid. I feel her breath like smoke against my leg.

"You don't have to run," she says.

I look down at my hands again. Bloody. Mortal. Shaking.

"Then what do I do?"

She bares her teeth. "You wake up."

I blink at her.

"You think this is the end of your nightmare?" she asks, voice sharpening. "It's not. It's the beginning. You called me into the world, Red. Now own me."

The underbrush explodes as something massive barrels toward us.

Snarls. Snapping branches. Shadows.

I spin, heart pounding, every inch of me screaming to flee, but I don't move.

I plant my feet.

Because for the first time in my life, I'm not alone.

Jinx lifts her head beside me.

"I don't know how to fight," I say again.

Jinx doesn't look at me. Her eyes are locked on the silhouette stalking closer through the trees.

"Like I said, good thing I do."

She steps forward, muscles tense, paws sinking into the soft earth.

Then, sharper-like a blade unsheathing:

"You can't hide."

My throat tightens. I almost argue.

But I do.

I turn and bolt into the trees, my breath jagged, my ribs aching. My jacket flaps behind me, torn and bloodied. I shove myself between two thick trunks, crouch low, and press my back to the bark.

Silence falls.

Then-

I hear it.

A low, commanding voice. "Shift."

It's not directed at me. It's to Jinx. To us. It's firm, but somehow not unkind

She doesn't move.

"Shift," again. Firmer.

Jinx stays silent. Unmoving. Growling

He sighs, strips off his shirt with unbothered ease, and then shifts gracefully in a flash of fur and bone.

Huge.

Dark.

Dominant.

He growls this time, "Shift."

It echoes. Not just in the air, but in my bones.

Jinx flinches.

I gasp. The sound's in my head. How?

I press a hand to my chest. My heart is thundering like I've been punched.

Jinx doesn't move. Doesn't shift. She can't. She can't do anything.

But she won't say that.

She won't tell him the truth.

She won't say what we are.

And then he snaps.

A blur of black fur and gold eyes. He lunges at her, claws gleaming in the fading light.

Jinx growls, tries to dodge, but he's faster. He sinks his teeth into her shoulder and throws her to the dirt.

"JINX!"

The scream rips from my throat.

And then-

I feel it.

Her pain becomes mine.

It floods me. White-hot. Sharp. Deep.

And underneath it, something dark cracks open.

Rage.

No. Fury.

It rises, swallows me whole.

My legs move before I even think. I burst from my hiding place, breath ragged, jacket flapping behind me.

The Alpha is pinning Jinx down.

I don't stop.

I throw myself at him.

I grab him with hands that feel like they're burning and throw him.

He hits a tree with a crack and a grunt.

Jinx is on the ground, bleeding. Trembling.

I crouch beside her, breath ragged, blood on my hands that isn't mine.

We don't look back.

We run.

And hope he doesn't chase after us.