ZARA'S POV
Zara's legs carried her deeper into the forest before her mind caught up.
She needed to run. The new rogues were coming and she could still save herself. Three years of planning meant escape routes memorized, food hidden, coins stolen. She had everything she needed to disappear into the mountains and never look back.
Then the bond hit.
It was not like Kade's bond. That had always felt heavy. Oppressive. Like a chain wrapped around her throat that reminded her every second she was owned.
This bond felt like lightning.
It tore through her chest and stopped her dead in her tracks. Her legs buckled and she fell hard onto the forest floor, gasping for air. The pain was not pain exactly. It was more like her entire body suddenly belonged to something else. Some other Alpha pulling at her from miles away, demanding her attention, screaming at her to come back.
No. No, she would not do this again.
Zara forced herself to stand and kept running. Away from the packhouse. Away from the new Alpha. Away from whatever trap was waiting for her. The forest was dark but her eyes adjusted. Five years of sneaking through shadows had made her good at moving in the dark.
Then her wolf woke up.
It was not gradual. It was not gentle. Her wolf crashed through five years of suppression like it was breaking through ice and Zara felt something inside her snap.
Mate. MATE. MATE.
The word was not a thought. It was a scream. A howl. A desperate, feral need that made her claws extend without permission and her teeth sharpen in her mouth. Her skin burned like it was trying to rip open from the inside. Her bones ached with the need to shift.
Zara clawed at her own arms, drawing blood, trying to break the sensation. This was not real. She had spent five years drinking suppression herbs to keep her wolf quiet. Five years of making herself small and invisible and safe. Her wolf could not suddenly be awake and screaming like this.
But it was.
The bond pulled and her legs turned back toward the packhouse before she could stop them.
Come back, it whispered. Come back. Come back.
She fought it. Fought the compulsion with every ounce of will she had left. But the bond was strong and her wolf was stronger and she was so tired of fighting everything. Her legs walked toward the packhouse even as her mind screamed to run the other way.
The forest opened into the clearing and she stumbled out of the trees.
The packhouse was still burning but the battle was over. Wolves lay dead across the scorched earth. Bodies everywhere. Omegas huddled together. Betas kneeling. And in the center of it all stood a stranger covered in blood and ash.
He was tall. Impossibly tall. His black hair was matted with gore. Scars crossed his bare chest like roads on a map. And his eyes. His eyes were amber but they glowed gold when they found her and suddenly Zara understood why every instinct she had was screaming.
He looked like a predator that had finally found its prey.
The wolves in the clearing parted without being told, creating a clear path between her and him. They could feel it too. The bond. The claiming. The way the air itself seemed to bend toward him when he moved.
He took a step forward.
She could not move. Could not breathe. Could only watch as this stranger walked through the bodies of dead wolves like he had just conquered the world and now he was looking at her like she was the prize.
His lips curved into a smile that was not kind. It was hungry. It was possessive. It was the smile of someone who had just found something he wanted to keep.
Zara felt her wolf surge forward, trying to take control. Trying to shift. Trying to answer the call of the bond with her own body instead of her mind.
No. No, she would not let it happen.
Because she had survived five years of Kade by staying human. By keeping her wolf locked away where it could not get her killed. By being invisible and small and forgettable. And this stranger, this new Alpha with eyes like molten gold, he looked at her like he could see straight through all her defenses.
Like he wanted to tear them down with his bare hands.
Her bones began to shift. Her skin burned. Her wolf clawed at her insides demanding to be let out, demanding to meet him, demanding to run toward him and not away.
Zara made a decision that probably meant her death.
She turned and ran.
Not toward the forest this time. Not away from the territory. She ran toward the burning packhouse and through it, the flames licking at her skin but not catching. Through the back passage. Out the servant exit. Back toward the woods but from a different angle. Her wolf was screaming at her to stop, to go back, to accept the bond.
But Zara had learned long ago that survival meant ignoring what your wolf wanted.
She ran harder than she had ever run, her heart pounding, her breath ragged, her body aching with the effort of keeping her wolf trapped inside skin that felt too small.
Behind her, she could feel him moving. Could feel the bond pulling tighter like a rope drawing her back. Could feel the moment he realized she was running and his entire focus turned toward the hunt.
She did not look back.
Because if she looked back and saw those gold eyes chasing her, she was afraid her wolf would finally win and she would shift and run straight into his arms.
And Zara was not ready to trust another Alpha with her life.
Not yet.
Not ever.