Chapter 9: Aria

Chapter 9: Aria

A bright half-moon illuminated the forest in patterns of silver filigree and formless darkness. I was part of that darkness, slinking between the trees in the deepest shadows so my auburn fur wouldn’t give me away. Taking care not to step where the moonlight spilled through the canopy, I glided quickly over the grass, my nose attuned to the smell of prey.

The rollercoaster of emotions I’d endured over the past couple of days kept coming back to me in flickers. I tried not to let myself be distracted by the gravity of my parents’ rejection. If anything, thinking about how they stood by while I was kicked out of the café just made me angrier. It filled me with the ambition to prove that I could take care of myself, and not only that—but that I was a capable wolf, I was more than my Alpha training. I could hunt, fight, or do whatever my pack needed of me! Even if they didn’t want me now, I’d prove what I was worth! Those thoughts kept me focused on my mission long enough to track down the scent of a young deer. My stomach gurgled with excitement and desperate hunger. I hadn’t eaten all day and hoped my eagerness wouldn’t botch my hunt. My heart couldn’t take another failure.

I pointed my body in the direction of the smell, moving fast and low like an arrow.

The scent was already ten minutes old, which meant I’d have to move fast to find the deer. I ducked and wove between the trees, keeping my eyes peeled for my prey, my confidence rising as the scent grew stronger.

Then, in the middle of a clearing bathed in moonlight, I saw the deer grazing peacefully. It must have been a fawn from earlier that spring, just now losing its spots, its mother nowhere in sight. I dropped down to stalk closer to the animal, my tail twitching in anticipation. My muscles coiled, ready to strike. I held my breath and waited as the deer slowly stepped away, turning its back on me…

Only for a growl to rip through the air. The deer looked up and leaped away at the same time that two bodies came hurtling out of the trees into the clearing, enveloping one another in teeth and nails.

I shot upright, my eyes wide—first came the shock, then frustration as I realized my dinner was getting away. Turning on my heel, I almost gave chase before recognizing one of the wolves locked in combat. Even in the moonlight, I knew that silver colouration, the hints of black fringing his hackles and tail—it was Luke! His massive body was tense, muscles rippling under his fur as he braced himself against his assailant.

What was he doing out here?

Clearly, he’d gotten himself involved in some kind of trouble because the wolf fighting him showed no signs of stopping even after Luke broke contact, backing away and snarling in warning. The other wolf bared its teeth and advanced on him, waving their tail high with challenge.

I second-guessed whether it was wise to expose myself, but in the time I spent deliberating, two more wolves appeared out of the darkness, surrounding Luke. Now he was outnumbered.

In the blink of an eye, the three wolves converged on Luke in a snarling, spitting flurry. My heart leaped out of my throat. I couldn’t let him get ripped apart by these wolves! Desperate to help him, I launched out of the bushes for the nearest wolf. I didn’t think about the danger—all that mattered was helping Luke. My combat training was at the forefront of my mind, latching my jaws around the side of my enemy’s neck.

The wolf shrieked with surprise and withdrew from Luke, twisting around to snap at me instead. Alarm bells rang in my head as I backpedaled away from their fangs while keeping a hold on their neck. My teeth sank into their flesh, and I tasted blood, but my training urged me to clamp down in order to inflict as much pain as possible. I didn’t want to kill them, just get them to back down.

In the corner of my eye, I saw the other two wolves biting at Luke with clearly malicious intent. Luke caught my eye before he was drawn back into the fight. He was just as surprised to see me here as I was to be fighting alongside him.

The wolf in my grip wrenched free, losing a clump of skin and fur. I spat it out and snarled, but the wolf seemed unfazed by the gaping hole in their neck. The sight wrung my insides with fear. I darted at the wolf for a second attack, and this time they met me head-on, our gaping jaws clashing and teeth clattering. They sheared my muzzle just above my nose, opening a deep wound that soaked my muzzle in blood. I raked my teeth across their eye, and they squealed in pain, recoiling, but it was too late: I’d blinded them.

My heart slammed in my ears. Luke had one wolf pinned while the other grabbed his ankle and was trying to pull him off. I whipped around and lunged at the wolf, yanking on Luke’s ankle. They unleashed a fiendish growl and turned on me, biting my ear. The pain shot through my head. I whipped my maw side to side, shredding the flesh on their haunch before they finally let Luke go. While he dealt with the wolf under him, I sparred the wolf in front of me, thinking of new ways to incapacitate them like I’d done to the first wolf.

Before I realized it, I had two wolves on me. The blinded wolf still had one good eye to see out of.

My panic battled against sheer determination. I couldn’t screw this up—my life depended on it, and so did Luke’s. I looked between my two opponents, and when they both launched at me, I ducked and skirted out of the way, causing them to crash into each other. While they fell in a tangled mess, I grabbed one of their tails and pulled it, breaking the vertebra and eliciting an anguished howl. But they quickly got to their feet and surrounded me. Their teeth rained down on me, and for a split second, I regretted immersing myself in the fight. Every bite made my terror explode, distracting me from my training. Was this how I was going to die?

As one wolf pinned me to the ground with their teeth in my neck, I thrashed, kicking and biting—the blinded wolf dove for my underbelly. My life flashed before my eyes—but before they made contact, their head reeled back, then their body was tossed aside. Luke had grabbed them and tore them off of me.

The other wolf let me go. I sat up, realizing that the wolf Luke was fighting was gone, leaving only a pool of blood in their wake. Luke savagely ripped into the blinded wolf, sending them running after tearing out their other eye. The last remaining wolf turned their attention back to Luke, but now they were outnumbered. I got to my feet and snarled.

Seeing that they had no allies left, the wolf growled, frothing, and lunged—but instead of hitting either of us, it ran right past us, disappearing into the forest.

Luke and I panted, our bodies covered in blood, staring at the spot where the attackers had vanished. My legs trembled, but I stood strong and dazed with victory, even if my body yearned to collapse.

“Are you okay?” Luke asked in wolf tongue.

His voice broke me out of my daze. I looked up and found his intelligent amber eyes locked on me. “I’m fine,” I insisted, but the hollowness in my voice implied otherwise.

He stepped closer, sniffing at my wounds. “That was incredibly brave of you,” said Luke. “But I suppose I should expect nothing less from the Alpha Female of the Grey Creek Pack.”

I withdrew from him, hesitating to reply. He must not have heard about how terribly my mating ceremony went.

Fortunately, Luke continued to speak before I could. “Thanks for your help. Two wolves, I can handle with ease. But three wolves—fighting as savagely as they were—I don’t know how much longer I could have lasted on my own.”

“Why were they attacking you?”

He twitched an ear. “I don’t know. I was just patrolling, and they came out of nowhere.”

That was troubling. I walked up to the pool of blood one of the wolves left behind, testing the scent, but I couldn’t recognize which pack they had come from. They weren’t from the Grey Creek, Moonstone, Crescent Moon, or Silent Shadow packs. Did that mean we had Rogues crawling through our territory, stealing our food, and causing trouble? I frowned at the thought. Somebody would have to tell Oswald.

I wondered, were these the same rogues that had injured Mara?

My face and ear throbbed, distracting me. Not only did I have pain in my heart, but now I had pain screeching through my entire body. I didn’t want to admit to Luke that I’d never become the Alpha Female, so without looking back at him, I made for the trees.

“Wait,” he called behind me. “You’re bleeding.”

A cold sweat rushed through me. “I know.”

“I don’t want you attracting those Rogues if you go off on your own. Let me accompany you back to your pack,” offered Luke, his pawsteps trailing up behind me.

The thought of spending even more time with him made me bristle. Under no circumstances could I admit to what had happened to me… everything I’d lost… I didn’t want him to judge me the same way everybody else did. “No,” I insisted. “I’ll be fine.”

He shook his head, looking over my wounds. “I can’t in good conscience let you go alone. You know it’s dangerous for a female shifter to travel alone in your condition—especially an Alpha Female. As great of a fighter as you are, even you can’t hold your own against three rogues… Maybe more.”

Did he really think I was a great fighter? I quickly smothered the embers that arose in me. “I’m not going back to the pack,” I mumbled.

“Why not?”

I couldn’t tell him the truth. My tongue and heart both felt heavy. “I’m… hunting. It’s easier if I just stay out here.”

Luke tilted his head, regarding me with skepticism, but I didn’t have the energy to defend myself any longer. I wasn’t even planning on sleeping out here, but I had to commit to the lie, or else Luke would find out that I’d been kicked out of the Lodge. I met his eyes for a split second, then looked away, continuing my trek into the trees.

He didn’t say anything or try to stop me after that. Maybe he sensed that something was wrong. No matter how hard I tried to hide it, the hurt from Oswald and my family’s rejection always seemed to bleed through.

The night seemed darker now after the fight. Clouds had rolled in, blocking the moon and turning the forest pitch black. Pain was ever present, but I was glad the Rogues hadn’t crippled me; my ear and the cut on my muzzle would heal. The further I walked, the more exhausted my pain and hunger made me until finally, I’d found a hole beneath a cluster of tree roots. Being protected by the roots, it was probably the best place I’d be able to find. I crawled into the hole and curled up, hiding my nose under my tail. Hunger gnawed a hole in my stomach, and loneliness clawed at me.

I ached to snuggle up with someone, for just a hint of compassion in the aftermath of the fight, for someone to clean my wounds and hug me and tell me I’d done well. Instead, I was alone. Truly alone, for the first time in my life, spending the night far from the villa in the middle of the wilderness. It struck me more intensely than I expected it to. My throat hurt from the emotional lump. I squeezed my eyes shut, blocking out those thoughts until sleep whisked me away.

A twig snapped.

My eyes flew open, taking in the forest dimly lit in the colours of pre-dawn. As my vision focused, I just barely saw a dark body lumbering between the trees, its back to me as it walked away. I raised my head and squinted.

Seconds later, a warm, coppery smell hit my nose. Nearby was the bloodied carcass of the deer I had been tracking last night.

Alarm bells went off in my head a second time. I fumbled to my feet, crawling out of the hole and toward the freshly killed deer. Luke’s scent was all over it. He must have just killed it an hour ago. I looked back into the forest, where I saw him walking, but by now, he had merged into the shadows, disappearing out of sight. It wasn’t just the deer, but the entire clearing was saturated in his scent.

Had he stayed all night, watching over me?

As much as I wanted to chase him down and tell him to take the deer back to his own pack, my hunger convinced me otherwise. My stomach growled in protest, and I salivated, just looking at the still-warm carcass. Unable to resist, I tore into the deer. My body was rewarded with the satisfaction of a feast. It was the best-tasting deer I’d ever had. Though it would have tasted better if I caught it myself.

I knew then that I’d have to repay Luke, not just for the rabbit he caught for me before or the deer he left me just now, but for the fact that he had stayed and kept guard over me. He didn’t have to, but he made sure I was safe nonetheless. And I appreciated that.

Next time I saw him I’d tell him the truth.

But before that… I had to warn Oswald about the Rogues.