Aurora's POV
"Shit!" I cowered backwards but my fright seemed to excite it as it purred menacingly. I tried reaching for a log but my hand couldn't get to it. I guessed dying a second time won't hurt like the first.
"Hey!" Rod roared fiercely, getting its attention.
"It's not very polite to creep up on women. What happened to chivalry? Don't they have it in the dark woods?"
It moved toward Rod, who pulled a second blade from his torn cloak. Without hesitation, it pounced. Its speed was unreal—one swipe of its claws sliced through a tree like it was nothing. Rod dodged each strike, reacting almost before the creature moved, slipping past every lunge and cutting at it each time he escaped its grasp.
"Get up!" Kane picked me up and placed me on Rod's horse.
"You need to leave right now,"
"No, I can help. Let me help," I said, my voice tight as I stayed fixated on Rod's fighting. My heart wouldn't stop racing, and it grew even worse when the creature slammed him into a tree.
"Go, you can't! They don't hunt alone, its pride is probably near—"
He froze as another rumbling growl rolled down from the top of the hill. The fog thinned, and the first thing we saw were their eyes, glowing through the mist.
"Shit. Rod!"
He growled loudly, and his clothes tore under the force of his shift. Heat rolled off him in heavy waves, strong enough to be felt from a distance. The crack and strain of his bones reshaping echoed through the woods, carried by his low, guttural groans.
As his form changed, his scent hit me with a sharp aura, sparking something strange and unsettling within me. It tugged at me like a hollow pull in my stomach, familiar yet not. I knew it was a mate bond but it felt different from anything I'd sensed before, maybe because Alphonso had never been able to shift.
The cougar Rod was battling with, sensed the same terrifying aura as it shifted its gaze to Kane's dark wolf. Rod seized the opportunity and mounted on top of it , without hesitating, pushed his daggers to the two sides of its neck.
It shrieked loudly, trembling the entire forest as it struggled. Kane ran into it and smashed its body against a tree. The action seemed to upset the rest of the pride, their golden eyes blazed as they descended slowly. I could easily tell from the vicious look that they were ready to hunt.
"Go!" Rod cried out as they all charged towards us.
Rod vaulted onto Kane's wolf form, hanging on as he sprinted behind my horse. They moved with the wind, twice as fast as Kane in his transformed state. I could see the end of the woods and all we had to do was get out, they wouldn't be able to follow us out.
I felt compelled to turn around, and when I did, I saw one catching up. With its speed, I knew it would reach me. It leapt again, its strong jaw dropping to reveal its frightening fangs. Time seemed to slow around me as chills ran through my spine.
Just when I thought I was done for, Rod appeared out of nowhere, knocking it off course. He landed on my horse and held on to me as I charged to the exit. The heat of the sun slapped against our faces as we emerged. They all stood snarling at the edge, unable to cross the woods. Many had theories as to why creatures of the dark woods could never leave but all felt like a fairy tale.
Kane ran into the bushes, groaning as he shifted back. Rod grabbed some clothes from his horse and tossed them in after him.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his expression gentle and calm like he didn't almost get murdered by a savage beast. I knew that betas were special but this one felt different. I noticed he had no wound from all the scratches he obtained, it had already healed.
I nodded, trying to steady my racing heartbeat.
'You keep saving me,' I muttered between breaths. "Thank you."
*********
I walked into the runes of a town I used to enjoy visiting. Olly town was filled with farmers and traders that were always in a jolly mood. The houses were destroyed and I could still smell the corpses buried within the soul.
"He did this," I whispered in tears.
"What did they do to deserve this? What kind of world is he making?"
"I guess you will have to ask him yourself," Kane said before he joined Rod who was examining the debris of a building.
"What is it?"
"Something isn't right. The last time our troops passed this area, there was a settlement here,"
"Where did they go?"
"You know they don't stay in one place right?" Kane responded.
"They are always on the move,"
"Those are clothes," he pointed to a sack within the rubble.
"I can smell the rotten food in the tents. They couldn't have left all of these behind and moved on,"
"Kane," I called out to them when I noticed something stranger.
"Fuck!" He grunted as we all stared at the horse tracks. Their massive prints were all over the settlement area.
"They were ambushed, we need leave immediately,"
I couldn't recognize the town because of the mess but I remembered the storage being close to an old well. I scurried around until I found it right next to a ditch.
"There it is," I pointed to the collapsed building which still had my pack sigil on its wall.
"The building is gone," Rod sighed reluctantly.
"Help me. The storage is underneath the building," I heaved as I pushed the rock out of the way. They both helped in clearing the area until we found the hatch on the floor. A smile instinctively spread across my face as I pried it open.
We stepped into the freezing room and there it was, food supplies. Rod jaw dropped as we took it all in, enough to feed a pack for months.
"You were right," Kane muttered with a shocked look.
"Let's get parking guys!"
We loaded the food into a cart we found in town and connected it to the only horse we had. My father built the room with the architects from East Land, they were known for their engineering and philosophy. The room was made to repel heat while maintaining a cool environment.
"Where is he going?" I asked Rod as we watched Kane walk into one of the destroyed buildings.
"You don't want to see him naked, do you?" He replied with soft chuckles.
"He plans to transform, we can carry more food that way. Besides we are taking a longer route, can't go through dark woods again,"
"Argh!" His roar echoed in the empty town as he emerged. There it was again – the scent and feeling I couldn't describe. He walked up to me, looking into my eyes like he was scanning my soul and I instantly felt lost in his.
"Hey," Rod snapped me out of it.
"Grab that and place it over his back. You are riding with him by the way,"
I loaded the tied sacks onto his back and Raid helped me mount him as well.
"Hold on firmly, this isn't like a horse ride,"
I could feel his back pulsating. My fingers couldn't help but run through his fur, sensing the heat he gave off. He heaved heavily as I moved closer to his neck.
"Let's go," Rod rode with the cart while Kane and I followed closely behind. I could tell he was being careful with his movements because of me.
"I'm going to help you take him down," I muttered softly. Memories of my time in Olly pack came flooding back him, the images of the children and how scared they must have been.
"Whatever it takes, he must be stopped,"
We had journeyed over an hour, going around the dark woods.
"Fun fact is that I still don't know your name," Rod broke the silence.
"I was waiting for the right time," I replied, a smile tugging at my lips, one that made him smile too.
"My name is __"
"__ Aurora," a voice cut in from within the woods beside us. The cold frail voice was something I couldn't forget, his dead eyes fixated on me as he came into view with a few others behind him.
"I almost thought I had lost you,"
"You bastard!" Rod snarled angrily. Kane's growls made my skin prickle with tension, sending vibrations through me as his whole body shook fiercely.
"Salem,"
"Long time, no see," he remarked, bowing slightly, a cold smile spreading across his pale face.