Chapter 9 THE CHASE

[ARIA'S POV]

We ran like our lives depended on it.

Because they did.

Elena moved through the forest like she was part of it, ducking under branches, leaping over roots, never making a sound. I crashed behind her like a wounded elephant, snapping twigs and rustling leaves with every step.

"Shift!" Elena hissed over her shoulder. "You're faster than a wolf!"

Right. I could do that now.

I reached for my wolf, and this time the shift came easily. Painlessly. One moment I was stumbling on two legs, the next I was running on four.

The world exploded into clarity.

Every scent. Every sound. Every movement in the underbrush. My wolf form was built for this-for speed and stealth and survival.

I caught up to Elena in seconds, matching her pace. She glanced at me, her expression fierce with approval, and we ran together.

Behind us, the voices grew louder.

"She shifted!"

"I smell wolf-fresh shift!"

"This way! They're heading north!"

Of course, they could track us. They were experienced hunters. We were prey, trying desperately to become predators.

Faster, my wolf urged. We can outrun them.

But could we? I had no idea how long I could maintain this pace. My training with Elena had exhausted me. Every muscle still ached from the combat drills.

Elena suddenly veered left, away from the direction we'd been heading. I followed without question. She knew these woods. Knew how to survive.

We splashed through a shallow creek. The cold water was a shock, but Elena didn't slow down. She ran upstream for several minutes before cutting back into the forest.

"Breaks the scent trail," she panted when we finally stopped in a dense thicket. "Bought us maybe ten minutes."

I shifted back to human form, my chest heaving. "How many are there?"

"I counted at least six different voices. Maybe more." She crouched low, listening. "They're organized. Professional. Not just random pack wolves looking for reward money."

"Then who?"

"Alpha King's personal hunters, probably." Her expression darkened. "Which means they won't give up easily. And they definitely won't let you go if they catch you."

My stomach twisted with fear and anger. Daemon had sent his best after me. Not to check if I was safe. To capture me. To drag me back like a runaway possession.

He doesn't deserve us, my wolf snarled. Should have let him rot in his regret.

"We need a plan," I said, forcing my breathing to steady. "We can't just keep running blindly."

"You're right." Elena pulled out the map from her pack. "The Rogue Lands are still two days away on foot. But there's a faster route-more dangerous, but faster."

She pointed to a section of the map marked with symbols I didn't recognize. "The Ravine. It's a narrow gorge with a river running through it. Cuts travel time in half, but it's treacherous. One wrong step and you fall a hundred feet onto rocks."

"That's our better option?"

"The hunters won't follow us there. Too risky. They'll have to go around, which gives us a lead." She looked at me seriously. "But it's not easy, Aria. One slip and you're dead. No healing from that kind of fall."

I thought about the alternatives. Keep running until exhaustion made us easy prey? Try to hide and hope they don't find us?

No. Elena was right. Risk was better than certain capture.

"Let's do it," I said.

"You sure?"

"No. But I'm not going back to that pack. Ever." I met her eyes. "I'd rather die free than live in a cage."

Something fierce flashed across Elena's face. Respect, maybe. "Alright then, Moon Wolf. Let's see what you're made of."

We started moving again, this time at a more careful pace. Elena led us through the densest parts of the forest, places where the canopy was so thick that barely any light penetrated.

My new senses were a gift here. I could see in the dimness, could smell the hunters when they got close, could hear their frustrated curses when they lost our trail again.

"They're spreading out," I whispered after an hour of careful travel. "Trying to surround us."

"Smart." Elena frowned. "They're herding us. Pushing us in a specific direction."

"What direction?"

"West. Away from the Rogue Lands." She cursed under her breath. "They know where we're trying to go. They're cutting us off."

My heart sank. "So what do we do?"

"We go through them instead of around them."

I stared at her. "Are you insane?"

"Probably." She grinned, but it was sharp and dangerous. "But think about it. They're expecting us to run away. To avoid confrontation. What if we don't?"

"You want to fight six trained hunters?"

"I want to slip past them while they're looking the wrong direction." She pulled her knife from her belt. "Create a distraction. Make them think we went one way while we actually go another."

It was crazy. Risky. Stupid.

It might actually work.

"What kind of distraction?" I asked.

Elena's grin widened. "The kind that makes them chase shadows while we walk right past them."

She explained her plan quickly. It relied on timing, luck, and my untested ability to control my Moon Wolf powers.

"Can you do it?" she asked when she finished.

I thought about the silver light that came when I was emotional. The way it had exploded during my transformation. I had no idea if I could control it deliberately.

But I'd never know unless I tried.

"Yes," I lied. "I can do it."

We split up. Elena circled east while I moved west, directly toward where we'd heard the hunters' voices.

My heart hammered so hard I was sure they'd hear it.

Through the trees, I caught glimpses of movement. Brown fur. Gray fur. Wolves in their animal forms, searching.

I crept closer, staying downwind so they couldn't scent me. Found a massive oak tree and climbed it silently, my new wolf strength making it easy.

From my perch, I could see them clearly now. Five wolves spread out in a loose formation, systematically searching every hiding spot.

Where was the sixth?

Movement to my left made me freeze. A massive black wolf stood on a boulder about thirty feet away, his nose to the air.

Sniffing for my scent.

Our eyes met.

For one heartbeat, neither of us moved.

Then he howled.

The alarm cry echoed through the forest. The other wolves' heads snapped up, turning toward us.

Now! Elena's voice shouted in my mind-wait, how could I hear her thoughts?

No time to question it. I reached for the power inside me. The silver light marked me as a Moon Wolf.

Please work. Please work. Please work.

I threw my hands up and imagined the light exploding outward. Imagined it bright as the sun, impossible to ignore.

Silver light erupted from my body like a supernova.

The forest turned to day. Every wolf within a hundred yards cried out, blinded by the sudden brilliance.

I jumped from the tree and ran.

Not away from the hunters-through them.

They were stumbling, disoriented, pawing at their eyes. I slipped past the first one easily. The second never even knew I was there.

The third one caught my scent despite his blindness. He lunged toward me, jaws snapping.

I dodged left and kept running. My wolf form would have been faster, but I needed hands to climb if we reached the ravine.

Behind me, chaos erupted. The wolves were howling, confused, crashing into each other as they tried to recover their sight.

I saw Elena ahead, waving frantically. I pushed harder, my legs burning.

We crashed through a wall of bushes together and-

The ground disappeared.

I skidded to a stop at the very edge of a cliff. Loose stones tumbled over the side, falling what looked like forever before splashing into a ribbon of river far below.

The Ravine.

"This way!" Elena grabbed my hand and pulled me along the cliff edge. "There's a path. Sort of."

Sort of wasn't encouraging.

The "path" was barely a foot wide, carved into the cliff face. Below us, the river churned white around jagged rocks. Above us, the walls of the ravine stretched up to a thin slice of sky.

One wrong step meant death.

"Stay close to the wall," Elena instructed. "Don't look down. Just focus on the next step."

Behind us, I heard the hunters recovering. Angry howls split the air.

"They're coming!" I said.

"Then we'd better move fast." Elena stepped onto the path without hesitation.

I followed, pressing my back against the rough stone wall. The path was slick with moisture. My feet, still wearing Elena's borrowed boots, struggled to find purchase.

Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't-

I looked down.

Immediately regretted it. The drop was dizzying. Fatal. One slip and I'd be broken on those rocks below.

"Eyes forward!" Elena called. "You're doing fine. Just keep moving."

I forced myself to focus on her back. On the next step. On breathing.

We made progress slowly. The path wound along the cliff face, sometimes widening to two feet, sometimes narrowing to less than one.

Behind us, the hunters reached the ravine. I heard their frustrated snarls.

"She went down there?"

"The cliff path? That's suicide!"

"The Alpha King wants her alive. We can't follow on that path-if she falls, we lose her."

"Go around. We'll cut them off on the other side."

Relief flooded through me. Elena's plan had worked. They weren't following.

"Did you hear that?" I called Elena. "They're going around!"

"I heard. But we're not safe yet. This path gets worse before it gets better."

Worse? How could it possibly get-

The path ended.

Just... ended.

Twenty feet ahead, the carved trail stopped at a gap in the cliff face. On the other side, maybe six feet away, the path continued.

Six feet across open air. With a hundred-foot drop below.

"Please tell me there's another way," I said.

Elena stared at the gap. "There's not."

"We can't jump that. If we miss-"

"We won't miss." She turned to face me. "You're a Moon Wolf, Aria. You're stronger and faster than normal wolves. You can make this jump easily."

"You don't know that."

"I do. I've seen you move. You just don't trust yourself yet." She stepped back as far as the narrow path allowed. "Watch."

Before I could protest, she ran forward and leaped.

For one horrible moment, she was airborne. Suspended over nothing but death.

Then she landed on the other side, stumbling slightly but catching herself.

She turned and grinned at me. "See? Easy."

"That was not easy!" My voice came out higher than intended.

"Your turn, Moon Wolf. Don't think about it. Just run and jump."

I stared at the gap. At the rocks below. At certain death if I miscalculated even slightly.

We can do this, my wolf said. Trust me. Trust us.

I took a deep breath.

Took another.

Stepped back as far as I could on the narrow path.

"Don't think!" Elena called. "Just jump!"

I ran forward.

Three steps and I reached the edge.

I jumped.

The world slowed down. I was flying. Falling. Suspended between life and death.

For one perfect moment, I felt absolutely free.

Then my feet hit solid ground, and I was rolling, tumbling, scrambling away from the edge.

"You did it!" Elena pulled me up, laughing. "I knew you could!"

My hands were shaking. My heart felt like it might explode. But I'd done it.

I'd survived.

We continued along the path, more confident now. The worst was behind us.

Or so I thought.

We'd been walking for maybe twenty minutes when Elena suddenly stopped.

"What?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

She pointed ahead. My enhanced vision picked out what had made her freeze.

The path ahead had collapsed. A massive section was just... gone. Leaving a gap of at least fifteen feet.

Too far to jump.

"There has to be another way," I said.

Elena shook her head slowly. "This is the only path through the ravine. If we go back, the hunters will find us. If we try to climb up or down..." She looked at the sheer cliff face. "We'd never make it."

We were trapped.

Behind us, the path we'd come from. In front of us, an impossible gap.

Below us, certain death.

"Now what?" I asked.

Elena was staring at the gap with an expression I didn't like. "I have an idea. But you're going to hate it."

"What is it?"

She turned to me. "You're a Moon Wolf. You have powers beyond normal wolves. That light you created back there-that was just instinct. Imagine what you could do if you really tried."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying maybe you can fly."

I stared at her. "That's insane."

"Is it? Moon Wolves were descended from the Moon Goddess herself. Who knows what you're capable of?"

"I can't fly, Elena. That's not-"

A howl echoed from somewhere above us. Then another. And another.

The hunters had found another way down into the ravine.

They were coming.

"We're out of time," Elena said. "Either you find a way across that gap, or we both die here."

I looked at the gap. At the drop. At the impossible distance.

Then I looked at Elena, who'd saved my life. Who'd helped me when she had no reason to.

I couldn't let her die because of me.

"Okay," I said. "Okay. I'll try."

I stepped to the very edge and looked across. Fifteen feet. Might as well be fifteen miles.

I closed my eyes and reached for my power. The silver light that lived inside me.

Please, I begged the Moon Goddess. Please help me. I don't know what I'm doing, but I need to save us both.

The power answered.

Silver light began to glow around my hands. My arms. My entire body.

I opened my eyes and looked at Elena. "Hold on to me."

"What?"

"Just do it!"

She grabbed my arm. The light expanded to cover her, too.

I stepped off the edge.