Chapter 4

Of course, my first instinct was to panic. She was the enemy, she had Grey pack blood on his hands and naturally she would assume I was in the pack as well, so I was very probably going to be killed. But a tiny little voice in the back of my head spoke up, louder than my fear.

Mate...?

I hadn’t heard from my wolf before this. Since I hadn’t shifted, I didn’t have access to my wolf. Not like everyone else did. Everyone else had their wolf guiding them, voicing their pack instincts in the back of their heads. I never had that. I had no connection to my instincts.

But now my wolf made herself very clear.

That’s your fated mate!

I decided to ignore that little voice and run. I bolted away from the enemy wolf, my feet carrying me away into the forest. She didn’t follow me. She just stared, watching my retreat with a masked expression.

I thanked the gods for little miracles.

I felt safe once I hit the woods, disappearing into the shadows. I knew many other members of Pack Grey would run too, and if the Moonblood’s were committed to tracking them down, they might come for me too. So realistically I couldn’t stay for long in the woods.

I need to get home.

Home. I hadn’t even thought about it. Had it been the Moonblood’s that attacked my parents?

Shit.

That was probably it. The Moonblood’s had attacked my family. But if they were here now, that meant my home…

Don’t jump to conclusions. I reminded myself. Maybe the Moonblood’s had been fought off by my family. Maybe they had come here next.

I started to breathe heavily, stopping for a moment to lean against a tree. I was afraid. Afraid that they had destroyed my home and moved on to the next. Scared that my family was gone and I was next.

And to top it all off, the little voice in the back of my mind was getting louder.

Your mate is back there…

“My mate is the enemy,” I whispered, determined not to listen to this strange little voice in my head.

It felt wrong. To be alone for all these years, for my wolf to avoid me even when I needed them most. And now, demanding I go back to the enemy who was currently ripping apart a pack of innocent wolves.

But I couldn’t deny the urge. It was strong. My logical brain was stronger. I wasn’t going anywhere near pack Grey ever again.

“Ivy!”

I nearly jumped out of my skin as I heard a voice whisper my name. I looked around for the source of the voice and nearly jumped again when I saw a face in the bushes.

“Ziron?” I hissed, crouching by the bush he was hiding in.

He was trembling. His arm was bleeding with a deep gash, and he was shaking like a leaf. His eyes couldn’t focus on me, darting around him in paranoia. I touched his shoulder gently and he flinched.

“Ziron, it’s me. Ivy. We met in the kitchen,” I said quietly, trying my best to keep my voice soft and reassuring.

He looked up at me slowly, as if just realizing I was there. He was in shock, and I could tell. I looked around and didn’t see anyone else.

“Did anyone come with you?” I asked, taking his hand in mine slowly.

He shook his head with a dazed expression. “I-I… I ran. I didn’t… I couldn’t…”

He was close to a breakdown, and we didn’t have time for that. So I ripped the bottom off my t-shirt and wrapped it tightly around the gash on his arm. The pain made him flinch, waking him from his shock-induced daze.

“Ow!” he snapped, pulling away.

“Do you want to bleed out?” I asked, keeping a firm hand on his arm.

He stiffened but stopped trying to pull away as I wrapped up his arm.

“That’ll have to do for now,” I said. “We need to get away from here. As far as possible, as fast as possible.”

He stuttered, arguing with me. “We have to go back. My father-“

Shit. I knew his father was dead. He didn’t know his father was dead. Which mean I was going to have to tell his poor boy his father was dead.

Or…

“He took the others back to my folk’s camp,” I lied.