Shit.
We stepped outside to a world already alive and thriving with primal energy.
Great bonfires roared along the land, their flames clawing at the night sky, throwing flickering light across the faces of the gathered crowd.The intoxicating scent of burning embers and night-blooming jasmine filled the air, blending with the electric hum of excitement that crackled between bodies like a coming storm.
Hands reached for Theo and Tavrik, pulling them away from us.They were swallowed into the surging mass of males whose eyes gleamed with predatory intent.
I was left with Jasila and Mira, our places set ahead of them among the other females, whose exhilaration manifested in fidgeting hands and bodies posed to run.
I clutched Mira’s hand tightly.She gave it a reassuring squeeze, her body leaning into mine.She grinned, teeth flashing white in the firelight.
“Get ready to run,” she sang, her excitement flowing straight into me.My heart beat a little faster.
The horn blared through the night, a single note that seemed to freeze time before the world around me erupted into beautiful chaos.
Screams of delight pierced my ears as bodies surged forward in a chaotic wave.The females scattered like embers tossed to the wind, disappearing into moonlit fields and shadowed trees, their wild laughter trailing behind them.
The ground shook beneath my feet as I ran.
We split up, each taking on a different path.Jasila veered sharply to the right while Mira kept straight ahead, her form shrinking into the distance.I twisted the left, where the open field gradually narrowed and towering trees lined the paths.
Behind me came the pursuit—the rhythmic thunder of footfalls.Triumphant cries merged with breathless squeals as predators found their prey.A woman ahead of me was tackled to the ground, her pursuer’s body colliding with hers in a tangle of limbs and laughter.
Mira had said it would be thrilling—a strange mix of fear and excitement.She hadn’t been wrong.
I laughed breathlessly, skidding to a stop behind a thick tree trunk, pressing myself against the rough bark.My chest heaved painfully, the warm night air sticking to damp skin like honey.I wiped my brow with the back of my hand, peering through the swaying branches at the field.
The males in pursuit had muscles rippling beneath sweat-slicked skin as they lunged at their prey with primal satisfaction.Some swept struggling females into their powerful arms, lifting them clear off the ground, while others wrestled them to the grass with triumphant growls.
It was feral.A dance of fire and shadow—of dominance and surrender.
It all looked—feltso free.
Then my body went rigid, limbs locking as eyes bore down on me from above
Slowly, I lifted my gaze from the grounds to the towering stones in the distance.
Dalkhan.
He stood at the edge of the Hunt.Unlike the others, whose bodies were in constant motion—chasing, grabbing, wrestling—he wasn’t moving.
He was watching.
I squinted through the darkness, straining to make out his features.My stomach dropped to my feet.
His eyes were locked directly on me.
No.Mira said the king doesn’t join in the Hunt.The thought should’ve eased me.
It didn’t.
I pushed off the tree, bark scraping against my palms.I needed to hide somewhere deeper.Somewhere safer.
A low voice curled through the dark, stopping me mid-step.
“Found you.”
A male stood blocking my path, feet planted wide in a stance that claimed the ground beneath him.Wicked amusement flared in his dark eyes like coals catching flame.His deep brown skin shone beneath the moonlight, the shadows accentuating the sharp angles of his jaw and the hollow at the base of his throat.He was devastatingly handsome, with a dark thick braid draped over his shoulder that caught the silver light.
