Myra's POV

The wolf's jaws hovered inches from my throat, its teeth bared, eyes burning gold in the darkness.

I couldn’t move. Couldn’t scream. The weight of its massive body crushed me into the forest floor.

This was it.

After everything, this would be how I died, killed by a wild wolf.

I had run from the only home I’d ever known. Betrayed and rejected. Left to rot like discarded prey. And now nature would finish what my pack had started.

I blinked up at the wolf. Its breath blew hot and foul across my face. Its growl vibrated through my ribs, making the pain there pulse and throb.

No, I will not die here, sudden will sparked up in my chest.

Just as the beast lunged, that spark became a flame.

A strange light flared behind my eyes. Silver. And then I heard something in my mind not aloud.

A voice whispering.

"Speak, Chosen. Command."

My lips moved before I understood the words.

"Go. Leave me in peace."

The voice that came out of me wasn’t mine. It was layered, as if I spoke with a hundred echoes behind me. The forest itself seemed to still.

The wolf froze.

Its growl died. Its ears twitched. Its golden eyes widened. Then, slowly, it lowered its head.

And backed away.

I stared in disbelief as it slinked into the shadows, disappearing into the thicket as if it had never been.

Then the pain rushed back.

Everything crashed down again the freezing cold, the ache in my limbs, the burning in my stomach. I rolled onto my side, heaving, coughing up water and bile.

I was alive.

But I wasn’t sure that mattered.

I crawled until I couldn’t anymore.

Lightning flashed above, lighting up the forest like a terrible dream. Every crash of thunder felt like it cracked through my chest.

I found a tree with enough cover to crawl under. Barely. The branches above did little to block the rain, but it was shelter enough.

I curled into myself, wrapping my arms around my belly.

I was shaking. Not from fear this time.

From a fever.

Cramping rocked through me, fierce and relentless. I threw up again, the bitter taste sticking to my tongue. My hands shook as I wiped my mouth.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

To the baby growing inside me. To the life I hadn’t meant to create in this world of cruelty and cold.

"I'm so sorry."

The storm went on for hours. Or maybe minutes. Time was useless. All I knew was the rain, the wind, and the heat under my skin that made me feel like I was burning and freezing at once.

And then the memories came. Until I was delirious with the barrage of them. Malik’s voice as he rejected me.

Evelyn’s laugh in the hall.

The elders’ words.

The sound of my own sobs echoing in a stone cell.

The laughter of children when I failed to shift. When I stood there, on my sixteenth birthday, while everyone else transformed and I... didn’t.

My mother’s gentle hands. My father’s voice calling me brave.

"Why?" I screamed into the storm. Why had everything changed so much.

The wind carried my voice away.

"Why did you choose me? What am I supposed to be without a home, a mate, or a wolf?"

I swore I saw her again.

The Moon Goddess.

Silver light in the trees. A figure standing with eyes full of sorrow.

But she didn’t speak this time.

She only watched and then she was gone. The world slipped away and I let it.

Warmth.

That was the first thing I felt.

Softness under my head. A blanket over my body. The smell of herbs and something cooking.

I opened my eyes.

Wooden walls. Straw on the floor. A small window letting in the golden light of morning. A fire crackled softly in a nearby stove.

I was inside a house, not in the forest. Not dead.

I sat up too quickly. Pain shot through me, but I didn’t care.

Where was I?

A folded cloth dropped from my forehead to my lap. I clutched the edge of the mattress.

The door creaked open.

A tall figure stood in the doorway, a man with broad shoulders, shaggy hair and rough clothes.

Not pack.

A rogue.

And he was staring right at me.

New companion

Myra's POV

I stared at him.

The man in the doorway seemed too tall for the little shack he stood in, with shoulders that nearly brushed the sides.

He didn’t move for a while, he just stood there, staring at me.

I tensed up, felt my heart hammering in my ears.

He was not of pack. He was a godforsaken rogue.

Every story I'd ever heard about rogues screamed in my head. Beasts in human skin. Savage beings who had lost their humanity.

Unstable. Dangerous.

He stepped forward. My instincts screamed to run, but my legs refused to obey. My body was still wrecked from the night before, muscles sore and bruised, the fever still tugging at the edge of my vision.

"You’re awake," he said. His voice was rough, like gravel. He sounded unusually calm, something about him reminded me of a mountain.

I forced myself upright, back pressed to the bedpost the thin blanket clutched to my chest.

"What do you want?" My voice cracked, my throat still ached.

He ignored the question. Turned slightly, walked to the corner, and returned with a bowl. He uncovered it, steam floated above it bringing a sudden delicious aroma.

It was food. The scent hit me hard, broth and meat. My stomach growled loudly, traitorous and desperate.

He held the bowl out.

I didn’t move. "No."

He arched a brow. "You’re hungry."

"I don’t eat food from strangers. Especially rogues."

His jaw twitched, and for a moment I thought he might say something, maybe attack me for my insolence but he didn’t. He just set the bowl on the small table near the bed and stepped back.

"Suit yourself."

He leaned against the far wall, arms folded across his chest.

I stared at the food. It was steaming, fragrant, and I hadn’t eaten in a long time.

My pride battled my survival instincts for exactly thirty seconds before my shaking hand reached for the bowl.

He watched me the entire time.

I was too hungry to be ashamed of the way I rushed the food, shovelling it into my mouth despite its scorching heat.

Each bite felt like it might be my last. Not because it was bad it was actually decent but because I kept waiting for him to lunge, to shift, to prove every warning I’d ever been taught true.

But he didn’t.

He just stood there. Watching me eat silently. It was disconcerting but I was too busy shovelling food into my mouth to care.

When the bowl was empty, I finally spoke. "Why am I here?"

"You passed out at the river’s edge. I brought you in."

My fingers tightened around the empty bowl. "That doesn’t answer my question. What are you going to do with me? Eat me perhaps" I said.

He pushed off the wall.

I tensed.

He crossed the room with quiet, predatory grace. The shack seemed to shrink around him, he was utterly unreadable.

"You think I’m going to hurt you?"

He stopped in front of me.

I nodded slowly, heart hammering against my ribs.

"Aren’t you?"

“Is that what they tell you about rogues?” he asked

Eyes relentless on me.

He basically rendered me mute so I nodded.

He leaned down slightly, placing one hand on the bedpost beside me. His face was close now, so close I could feel the heat of his breath. His eyes bored into mine, and for a heartbeat I felt the air still between us.

"If I wanted to hurt you," he said softly, "you’d already be dead."

I swallowed.

His other hand lifted, reaching for me. I flinched, but he didn’t stop. He gripped my chin firm enough to hold me still.

I froze.

His thumb brushed over my jaw. "I will not hurt you, little one."

His words made my stomach twist in a strange, unfamiliar way.

He wasn’t my mate. I knew that. He didn’t feel like Malik. There was no bond. No tether. But something about the way he looked at me like he somehow understood.

His scent was woodsmoke and rain and something darker.

"Then why save me?" I whispered.

He didn’t answer. Then after a moment he tilted his head.

“What's your name little one?” He asked, stormy gray eyes fixed on my face. I swallowed

“ I'm… uh” I say in an unsteady voice. “I'm Myra”

Just stared at me, expression unreadable.

“I am Rowan of…” he trailed off

Then it hit me. A sharp pain in my belly. A Sharp, searing pain cutting through my belly like a hot blade.

I gasped and doubled over, the empty bowl falling from my hands and clattering to the floor.

A scream tore from my throat.

"Hey!" he caught me before I collapsed.