Sierra
The border guards were facing the wrong direction when Sierra slipped past them. Her wolf form moved silently through deep shadows she could never have seen with human eyes, but how long could she elude pursuit from the most powerful pack in the region?
Sierra's paws pressed into the damp forest floor, placing distance between herself and the only home she'd ever known. Her black fur, now streaked with silver from head to spine, blended into the predawn gloom. The physical pain of rejection still burned in her veins like liquid silver, but was overshadowed by emotional loss.
Don't look back. Don't ever look back.
Her wolf whimpered, wanting desperately to turn back to the mate who owned her heart but had crushed it publicly. The recollection of Dominic's cold amber eyes as he rejected her offering sent another wave of pain coursing through her chest so intensely that she stumbled, rolling down a short hill and missing a shallow creek.
Sierra paused to lap cold water, ears alert to faint sounds suggesting pursuit. The Silver Moon Pack was known for trackers who could follow scent through anything, even thunderstorms. She'd been careful, using everything her grandmother had taught her about masking trails, but she could still feel the gash on her flank from losing her footing on the incline; she couldn't outrun them forever.
Not unless she crossed into Timber Ridge.
That thought came with hope and apprehension. While Maya would welcome her, seeking asylum from another pack carried considerable risk. Relations between Silver Moon and Timber Ridge had been rough for generations, though outright aggression had reduced in recent years.
Ignoring burning muscles, Sierra pushed forward. She'd been running for nearly three hours, and the strange rejection effects were intensifying. She could feel something changing inside; her senses seemed sharper, colors brighter, scents richer. Even moonlight appeared to have taste now: cool, silver and metallic on her tongue.
No outward signs marked pack territory borders, but every wolf knew where they were. Old trees with symbolic carvings gave warning, slight shifts in scent markers, changes in the forest's very energy showed she was approaching Silver Moon territory's border.
Sierra slowed as she approached. To cross uninvited into another territory was usually viewed as aggression. She would need to announce herself, howl for permission in her unguarded state. The appropriate thing would be shifting to human form, but the idea of making herself that exposed while dealing with extreme pain was unbearable.
Just as she decided to announce herself, Sierra heard a twig snap behind her.
She froze, every muscle tensing as she slowly turned her head.
"Going somewhere, Sierra?"
Liam Silvercloud stepped from behind a massive oak, his tall frame silhouetted against dark night. Dominic's younger brother. The kinder Silvercloud, as pack members often said, but not when the Alpha could hear.
Sierra growled and backed away. Without being able to speak in wolf form, she made her point clear. Stay back.
Liam raised his hands placatingly. "I'm not here to stop you." He spoke quietly, looking over his shoulder. "But you need to hurry. Victor got my brother to send trackers after you. He says your...condition...could be dangerous to the pack."
Her condition? Sierra's wolf snarled and bared its teeth. So this was what they were calling her rejection now? A condition, like some disease?
"I know," Liam said, correctly reading her reaction. "It's bullshit. But something happened in that ceremony, Sierra. Something no one has seen before. That silver streak in your fur..." He shook his head. "Victor is using that to spread fear."
Sierra's ears pulled back in anger. Of course Victor would take advantage. The Beta had never liked the idea of her mating with Dominic, instead wanting to encourage a political union with the Mooncrest Pack.
"They'll be here soon," Liam said urgently. "I can buy you time, lead them in the wrong direction, but you have to cross now."
Sierra hesitated, searching his face. Though Liam had always been nice to her, he was still Dominic's brother and still Silver Moon's side.
He must have seen her hesitation because he dropped his voice, his expression softening. "I owe you, Sierra. When I was sick last winter and everyone else was ready to give up, you never did. I remember."
A howl came from the pack compound direction. The search party was coming.
Sierra made up her mind. With a quick nod to Liam, she turned and ran the remaining distance to the border. She jumped the narrow ravine marking the border between territories. As soon as Sierra's paws touched Timber Ridge soil, she felt a shift in the air, a breaking and releasing of bonds that had tied her to Silver Moon.
Behind her, she heard Liam shout one last message, "Trust no one else until you know what has happened to you!"
Then he was gone, crashing loudly through underbrush in the opposite direction, so even the worst tracker could follow him easily.
Sierra went deeper into Timber Ridge territory, gradually slowing as fatigue caught up. This forest was different, denser with more undergrowth and closer trees. The scents were mostly unfamiliar, except occasionally she'd catch a whiff of a marker from when Maya was gathering herbs.
Dawn was breaking, streams of light through the canopy. She needed to find a place to hide soon. She wasn't sure she could stay in wolf form much longer, relying on energy she couldn't replace, and being found naked and vulnerable in unfamiliar territory wasn't an option.
She recalled Maya mentioning a small cabin kept by Timber Ridge Pack on the border, basically a waystation for patrols. If she could locate it, she might get rest and possibly find clothes before heading into the main Timber Ridge settlement.
The pain in her chest erupted again, worse than ever. Sierra stopped and leaned against a massive pine trunk, breaths sawing out in uneven pants.
The silver streak in her fur appeared to glow in early morning sunlight. She gazed at it with fascination and dread...what was happening to her?
Rustling distracted her from her silver fur back to surroundings. She tensed, ready to flee despite exhaustion, but relaxed slightly as a familiar scent reached her. Timber Ridge wolves! Maybe they could help her get to Maya.
But as the patrol emerged from undergrowth, the four wolves didn't look welcoming. They were all in battle-ready position, snarling at the intruder.
Sierra tried to look non-threatening by lowering her head and flattening her ears in submission. She had to find a way to communicate, to explain...
The largest patrol wolf, a russet-colored male, stepped forward, amber eyes narrowing as he noted the silver streak in her coat. He growled deeply, and the other wolves responded, tightening the circle around her.
They didn't recognize her. Of course they didn't. She'd only dealt with Maya in human shape and adhered to pack protocols during her time with Maya. To them, she was just an intruder from an enemy pack with strange markings that aroused suspicion.
Sierra was gathering her last vestiges of power to shift back to human form and explain when a curious feeling washed over her. The pain in her chest increased then lessened before turning into tingling across her body. The silver streak began to glow brightly, pulsing with her heartbeat.
The patrol wolves stepped back, aggression in their stance replaced by confusion.
Then suddenly, a howl filled the night, not from pursuing Silver Moon hunters, but something much deeper, much older, that made Sierra's wolf back away though she didn't want to. The howl didn't come from any direction; it seemed to come from the land, from the forest, from the earth beneath her feet, even from the very air she breathed.
All five wolves, Sierra and the patrol, froze as the otherworldly howl echoed around them, a message none could understand but all could feel.
Something was awake in these woods.
And it was calling to Sierra.