Maybe it was the hunger in his eyes.
Hands pressed to the ache in my side, I kept moving. I knew he was behind me. Chasing me. Toying with me.
“I told you not to run,omega.”
His voice sent another shiver down my spine, ending with a cramp that made slick splatter the ground beneath me. The clearing around the cabin was so close, yet my steps slowed. Heart in my throat, I heaved for air full of his scent.
The monster approached me from behind until the heat of him burned my back, stopping my feet in their tracks.
“Never run from a predator, little one. It makes youprey.”
He breathed the last word against my neck. Eyes clenching shut, I trembled, waiting.
Something soft brushed against my arm, but I stood frozen, incapable of even flinching away. His movements were silent, but I knew he circled me. His chestnut gaze had been alive with more intelligence than any story gave monsters credit for, and I could imagine them raking along my body.
A hard warmth touched my cheek and images of deadly claws flashed through my mind. The monster’s were just as wicked as the bear’s had been, but my traitorous body remained where it was, perfuming the air with pheromones he couldn’t miss.
His claws stroked along my jaw before trailing down my neck, my pulse beating against them until they reached where it joined with my shoulder.
Where the scar from Nearden’s bite still dimpled my flesh.
“You carry a mark, yet wander alone. Where is your mate?”
His words held none of the warmth they’d held before, turning hard enough to make my insides quiver. I swallowed, throat working before I could force myself to speak.
“Dead.”
A pang stabbed my fluttering heart, but it was the truth. Nearden was dead and gone, and I had yet to mate with Edar.
The monster hummed, knuckles brushing up to tip my head back. Were my eyes open, I’d be staring straight into his, yet I kept them clenched shut.
“Were you looking for death then, to follow your mate?”
His voice lost its chilly edge, sounding almost… sad.
I parted my lips to answer but froze, the question replaying in my head. I knew wandering the forest alone was dangerous, and I’d never felt the urge to take a walk before. Yet today, on the cusp of my heat and a day away from mating with another alpha, I’d felt the undeniable need to walk the forest.
But I wasn’t ready to die, so what had called me onto the dim, overgrown path?
“No,” I breathed. “I was trying… to escape.”
A weight lifted from my chest.
I’d fooled myself into thinking I would be okay with Edar. That despite the aversion I’d felt in his presence, I could grow to be content. That there was no way my brother would trade me toan abusive alpha, despite the whispers. I knew taking on my care had cost him, but notthatmuch.
My eyelids lifted of their own accord, and the monster’s visage filled my view. Greying muzzle, blunter than a bear’s, but filled with teeth just as sharp. Horns brushing back from his forehead to curl around pointed ears, their tips aimed toward me. Intelligent, chestnut eyes, filled with a hunger I’d never seen, even with my lost mate.
“You saved me.”
His cheek twitched at my whisper, hot breath gusting over my face.
“Only to take you for myself.”
His words brought another cramp that had slick running down my legs. Despite his appearance, my body responded to an alpha the way it had to, preparing for invasion.
And I found that I didn’t care if he was a monster. My brother would have rushed forward to protect me out of duty, but with Nearden gone, there was no other who would have placed themselves between me and danger.
Especially not Edar. That drunk would’ve gotten himself killed.