They locked me inside a storage cell beneath the pack house.
The heavy wooden door slammed shut behind me with a final, echoing thud that seemed to vibrate through my bones.
Then came the sound of metal sliding into place.
A lock.
A cage.
My prison.
The warriors who dragged me down here didn't say a single word the entire time. They didn't look at me either, as if I had already stopped being a person.
As if I were already dead.
The room they threw me into was small and damp. Cold stone walls surrounded me on every side, their rough surface slick with moisture. The air smelled like dust, rust, and old wood.
A single torch flickered weakly in the hallway outside the iron bars, casting long, trembling shadows across the floor.
The light barely reached the back of the cell where I sat.
My execution would happen at sunrise.
Six hours.
That was all the time I had left to live.
Six hours before the pack I had grown up with marched me outside and killed me like an animal.
My body slid slowly down the wall until I was sitting on the cold floor.
My hands trembled.
I stared at them for a long moment.
Black claws still extended from my fingers.
They looked wrong.
Unnatural.
A reminder of the thing the Alpha had called me.
A hybrid.
The word echoed endlessly inside my mind.
I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to steady my breathing.
How had this happened?
Just a few hours ago, I had been standing in the clearing with everyone else, waiting for the most important moment of my life.
I had imagined celebration.
Pride.
Maybe even discovering my mate.
Instead, I had been condemned to die.
A bitter laugh escaped my throat.
"Happy birthday to me," I muttered quietly.
My voice sounded hollow in the empty cell.
Above me, the muffled sounds of the pack house continued as if nothing unusual had happened. Wolves walked through the halls. Doors opened and closed.
Life continued normally.
While I sat in a cage waiting to be executed.
My chest tightened painfully.
I thought of Mira.
The way she had looked at me.
Like she didn't know me anymore.
Like I had become something terrifying.
A monster.
My eyes burned, but I forced the tears back.
Crying wouldn't save me.
Nothing would.
Or so I thought.
Footsteps suddenly echoed down the hallway.
Slow.
Careful.
My head snapped up instantly.
My heart began pounding again.
The guard.
They had probably come to move me somewhere else.
Or maybe they had decided not to wait until sunrise after all.
The footsteps stopped just outside the bars.
A shadow fell across the torchlight.
My body tensed.
Then the figure stepped forward.
And my breath caught.
"Mira?"
She stood in the hallway, her face pale beneath the flickering torchlight. Her hair was messy, like she had rushed down here without thinking.
Her eyes darted nervously down the corridor behind her.
"What are you doing here?" I whispered.
She stepped closer to the bars quickly.
"You need to leave," she said in a hushed voice.
For a moment, I thought I had heard her wrong.
"What?"
Her hands trembled slightly as she gripped the iron bars.
"They're sending hunters," she whispered.
The words hit me like a punch to the stomach.
Hunters.
My blood turned to ice.
Hunters were worse than wolves.
Much worse.
Wolves killed quickly when they had to.
Hunters didn't.
Hunters specialized in killing supernatural creatures.
But they didn't simply execute their targets.
They studied them.
Experimented on them.
Tortured them.
Hybrids were considered extremely rare.
Which meant they wouldn't just kill me.
They would want to understand what I was first.
My stomach twisted violently.
"How long?" I asked.
"Before sunrise," Mira said.
"They want to hand you over."
A cold wave of dread washed through me.
I wouldn't even make it to my execution.
The pack was planning to give me to people who would make my death far worse.
Mira glanced nervously behind her again.
Then she reached into the pocket of her jacket.
And pulled out a key.
My eyes widened.
"Mira…"
She shoved the key through the bars quickly.
"I can't watch them do that to you," she whispered.
My hands shook as I grabbed the key.
The cold metal felt heavier than it should have.
"You'll get in trouble for this," I said quietly.
Her lips pressed together tightly.
"I know."
For a brief moment, neither of us spoke.
The silence between us felt heavy with everything that had changed tonight.
Finally, I looked down at the lock.
My fingers trembled as I pushed the key inside.
For a terrifying second, it refused to turn.
My heart raced.
"Come on…" I muttered under my breath.
Then—
Click.
The lock opened.
I pushed the cell door slowly.
The rusty hinges creaked loudly, making both of us freeze.
We waited.
Listening.
But no one came.
Mira stepped back, giving me space.
"Go," she whispered urgently.
My chest tightened.
"Thank you."
Her eyes softened for just a moment.
Then she nodded.
"Run before they arrive."
I didn't hesitate again.
The moment I stepped into the hallway, my instincts took over.
I ran.
Up the stairs.
Through the back door of the pack house.
Across the empty yard.
Cold night air slammed into my lungs as I sprinted toward the tree line.
Branches whipped past me as I crashed into the forest.
The dark woods swallowed me instantly.
My feet pounded against the dirt path.
Faster.
Farther.
Anywhere but here.
The pack house disappeared behind me as I ran deeper into the forest.
My lungs burned.
My legs screamed in protest.
But I didn't slow down.
I couldn't.
If the hunters arrived and discovered I was gone, they would track me.
And hunters were very good at tracking.
Eventually, I slowed to a stop.
My chest heaved as I leaned against a tree, trying to catch my breath.
The forest around me was silent.
Too silent.
Then suddenly—
A strange warmth spread through my chest.
I stiffened.
"What…?"
The sensation grew stronger.
Like a glowing thread pulling gently at my heart.
A voice whispered softly inside my mind.
One single word.
Mate.
My breath caught.
My eyes widened.
"No."
Not now.
Not tonight.
This couldn't be happening.
Finding your mate was supposed to be the happiest moment of a wolf's life.
But right now, it felt like another cruel joke from the universe.
The warmth in my chest pulsed again.
Stronger this time.
The invisible pull tugged at me.
Drawing me deeper into the forest.
Toward something.
Toward someone.
I took a shaky step forward.
"No," I whispered again.
But the bond tightened.
Insistent.
Unavoidable.
My feet moved before my mind could stop them.
One step.
Then another.
The deeper I walked into the forest, the stronger the pull became.
The trees grew thicker.
The shadows darker.
And suddenly…
I realized something terrifying.
I wasn't alone.
Someone was already out here.
Waiting.
In the darkness.
And somehow…
I knew exactly who it was.