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An involuntary scream spills past my throat as I swipe my blade, the sharp edge catching the animal on the side of his nose.
He growls and bowls into me, knocking me over. In seconds, Lucien wrenches the wolf off me just as fast.
I scramble backward on my ass over the forest floor, gasping for air.
Lucien lifts the wolf and tosses him away from me. How the hell does he have such strength?
He’s at my side, blood smeared across the cuts on his neck and arm. He smiles like somehow everything will be all right. In that very moment, a burning ache from the bite on my shoulder sinks through me, like someone has poured boiling water over my skin. I wince at the blood staining my top.
“Stay close to me.” Lucien heaves each breath. He grabs me, his fingers tightening on my wrist as he hauls me alongside him.
Dušan howls victoriously with two wolves slain at his feet, then leaps to Bardhyl’s aid, as the white wolf has four attackers surrounding him. Lucien doesn’t go to his aid but holds me close while my head whirls with fear that we’ll be captured.
That’s when a shrill whistle pierces through the woods.
We freeze, listening for more sounds.
A figure strolls out of the shadows, a shifter in human form, dressed in jeans and a gray hoodie. The stranger is tall and may not be as broad as my men, but there is an energy around him. More wolves in animal form join him. The shuffling sound behind me draws my attention to the small pack pulling away from Bardhyl and Dušan to join their Alpha.
Only when this stranger fully emerges from the darkness do I see him clearly. He’s not old—maybe in his early thirties—brown hair parted on the side messily and hanging over one eye. His chin is wonky, like it’s healed from a bad accident. And he looks familiar… like we’ve encountered each other before. I wrack my mind, but I’ve crossed paths with so many people, most for short periods of time. They flash in my thoughts, except most memories I pushed away long ago. Most fall into one of two categories. Those who’ve hurt me, or those who died and left me messed up. Which means whoever this guy is, well… he’s got to be an asshole.
“Meira,” he says, sending my stomach plunging to my feet because he remembers my name when I can’t recall his face. “I’ve been searching for you. Heard from a little girl who spoke of a Meira in these woods, so we came to investigate.”
“You better not have hurt her,” I snap, my weapon raising. I’ll gut the weasel if he did something to Jae.
“You actually care? Since when?”
At hearing the slight lisp he has, I start to remember. Not long after Mama died, I met him during one of my stays in a town in northern Transylvania, where small fractions of packs appear all the time. It’s a wild area where fights for small pockets of land just outside Dušan’s territory occur daily. I met this man in a small community area. I was younger, lost in the world, and I trusted him when he offered me shelter and food.
But in exchange, he wanted what I wouldn’t give. That night he called me his Omega and tried to rape me, so I kicked him in the balls. The bastard beat me up until my eyes were so swollen, I couldn’t see a thing. All those memories, the ugliness of the world, my fear, blended into a mess I tucked in the farthest recesses of my mind. I had intended to forget them… and I sure as hell don’t want to bring those memories back now.
That’s the reason I ended up living alone, why I made a treehouse, why I never helped anyone else. It’s been so long, but now seeing him again, I’m trembling.
“You owe me,” he snarls. “And I’m here to collect.”
“What the hell is he talking about?” Lucien snaps, holding me closer to him. Dušan in human form, Bardhyl as his wolf, join us, confronting the intruders. Four of us against maybe fifteen of them. Are there more wolves out there, watching us from the shadows? How long have they been tracking us if Bardhyl only spotted a handful earlier?
I spit on the dirt and offer him a sneer. It’s more than Evan deserves. “You’re a bastard. You beat me up and tied me to a fucking tree, then left me for days.”
Dušan stiffens beside me and steps forward. “She owes you nothing. But you are trespassing on my land. I’m the Alpha of Shadowlands Sector, and you will pay with blood.”
Evan scoffs as if the threat means nothing to him. “I protected her from the men who planned to steal and rape her between them. And she screamed bloody murder when I touched her. Frigid bitch.” He looks over to me, flicking his head in an attempt to shift the lock of hair out of his eyes, but it never moves. “I tied you up as a lesson. But you escaped, didn’t you? You know how much I had to pay those men in resources to leave you alone, to not go after you? You should be thanking me.” He sets a splayed hand to his chest like somehow his words are heartfelt. “Now, I come for my payment, which I’ll take in the form of rutting you over and over.”
Bardhyl unleashes a snarl that comes so sudden and loud, it makes me jump in my skin.
“I don’t have fucking time for this bullshit,” Dušan growls. “Leave, or you end up like them.” He points his chin to the dead wolves at my left. “That’s my only peace offering.”
No one responds, and Evan rolls his eyes, slouching on one leg, eyeing his large group and then the four of us. Yeah, that part worries me too. But I’ll die before I let this asshole claim me. Looks like I’m fighting.
Lucien’s hand is on my waist, and he has me glued to his side. He looks down at me for a smidgen, whispering while Evan talks shit to my Alphas. “In a second, all hell will break loose. Get up a tree as fast as you can. It’ll be easier for you to defend yourself, as you can fight them back with a branch to keep them from climbing after you. Understand? I’ll try to stay near.”
Before I can even respond, energy collides into me from my Alphas transforming. The air ripples with their musky, powdery scents.
“Your time’s up,” Dušan declares. He shifts into his wolf form and jumps into attack, Bardhyl and Lucien on his heels.
I dart backward. Running, I scan for the best tree and spot one with lower branches and thicker clusters of leaves for concealment.
But before I can reach my haven, someone slams into my back, throwing me forward onto my face.
