Chapter Three

THE FOREST OF SHADOWS

I took another step into the forest, and within a few strides the trees had already swallowed most of the village from view. I stopped and looked back one last time, even though I had told myself I wouldn't. The village was still there. My home was still there. Everything I had ever known sat behind me in the dark, and for a moment I let myself feel the weight of that before I took a deep breath and turned around.

"I am really doing this," I whispered, adjusting the bag on my shoulder as I kept walking.

The forest was colder than the village had ever been. There were no houses here, no fire crackling in someone's hearth, no familiar voices drifting from a neighbor's window. Branches kept catching on my cloak, and I pulled one free with a huff.

"Great. I have not even been here for an hour, and the forest is already trying to kill me."

I almost laughed at myself, grateful that nobody was around to hear it, and I kept walking without any real idea of where I was going. I only knew I needed to put as much distance as possible between myself and the village.

After a while my legs began to ache. I looked down at my feet and considered stopping, then shook my head.

"No. Keep going."

I pushed on until my stomach started growling, and I dug into my bag for the dried food I had packed. It tasted terrible, and I told myself my mother would be laughing at me if she could see my face right now. I missed her. I missed my father too. I kept walking until my legs simply refused to carry me any further, and I found a fallen tree to sit on.

When I looked up, the moon was hanging between the branches. I leaned back and closed my eyes, and for the first time in days I could breathe without feeling like someone was watching me. I thought about my parents, about my mother singing over a pot of stew, about my father spinning me around when I was small enough for him to lift. I smiled despite myself.

"Would you be proud of me?" I asked quietly, knowing no one would answer.

I wiped my face and reminded myself that they wouldn't want me spending my life crying over Malrik. They would want me to keep going.

"I am going to be okay," I whispered, not entirely sure I believed it, but I said it again anyway before I let my eyes fall shut.

---

I didn't know how long I slept before something in the air changed. I opened my eyes slowly, aware that the forest had gone too quiet. I sat up, listening, and heard nothing at all. My hand found the handle of my dagger, and I rose just as a branch cracked somewhere behind me.

I spun around. "Who is there?"

No one answered, but my heart was already pounding by the time the growl came, low and deep and far too close.

"Come on, Avelyn," I muttered to myself. "Do not panic."

Another growl answered from the trees, and then something stepped into view, and my whole body went still. It was massive, nothing like any wolf I had ever seen, its fur dark and matted, its teeth long, its eyes glowing red.

I took a slow step back. "What are you?"

A second one emerged, and then a third, and I shook my head like that alone could make them disappear.

"This cannot be real."

I had heard the stories, the ones everyone insisted were only meant to frighten children, but three of those creatures were standing in front of me now.

---

The first one lunged before I could think, and I barely managed to sidestep and drive my blade into its flank. It let out a roar, and I screamed at it to stay away from me, but another was already coming from my left. I ducked, its claws catching my sleeve and tearing into my arm, and I looked down at the blood running along my skin with a gasp of pain that quickly turned to anger.

"You want a fight? Fine."

I moved before it could strike again, ducked under its claws, and stabbed at its leg, but it barely slowed.

"Why aren't you slowing down?"

By then the first one had recovered, and all three were closing in. I backed away, blocking one attack after another, but they were faster than anything I had trained against, and the force of their blows kept sending me stumbling.

"You're not supposed to exist," I told them, gripping my dagger tighter. "You're just stories."

One of them didn't care what I believed. It charged, and this time I wasn't fast enough. It slammed into me, knocking the air from my lungs and the dagger from my hand, and as it stood over me with the other two closing in, I reached for the blade and found nothing.

My arms felt useless. My chest ached.

"I can't fight them," I whispered, and for the first time since leaving the village, I felt completely helpless.

---

Then something shifted inside my chest. At first I thought it was fear, but it was warm, too warm, spreading through me until my hands began to shake.

"Not here. Not now."

The heat kept building despite everything I tried, until my back arched off the ground and my fingers started to glow. A spark jumped from my hand, then another, and the creature above me actually stepped back, afraid. I barely had time to wonder why before the heat became unbearable and I screamed, and flames tore from my hands and swept across the clearing faster than I could understand. The creatures shrieked as the fire caught them, one after another, until the smell of burning fur filled the air and I was still screaming for it to stop, even as it refused to listen to me.

Then, as suddenly as it had started, it was gone. The clearing fell silent, smoke curling around me as I sat up on shaking arms. The creatures had vanished, leaving only ash where one of them had stood.

I stared at my hands. "What did I just do?"

There was no answer, only my own ragged breathing and the spinning in my head that dropped me back to the ground before I could stand.

---

That was when I heard the hoofbeats.

They grew louder, leather creaking, voices calling out.

"Deadroot. What the hell happened here?"

I tried to force my eyes open, but everything blurred into shapes on horseback, one of them dismounting near me.

"Commander , she's the only survivor."

A pause. "You're sure?"

"Yes sir."

I felt someone's eyes on me, though I couldn't move enough to look back.

"She's unarmed and barely conscious," the man said, and then the one they called commander spoke again, quieter, more certain.

"She did this."

When his companion sounded confused, he only said, "Look around you. Those creatures did not do this to themselves. She did it." My heart lurched at the words that followed. "That kind of power does not come without danger. She could be a threat. Take her."

"No," I managed, forcing my eyes open despite the weight pressing down on me. "No, please. Don't take me."

Two men grabbed my arms, and I fought them immediately, kicking and twisting until I somehow broke free and stumbled away.

"After her!" someone shouted, and I ran, my legs barely holding me up, telling myself to just keep moving, that I couldn't fight them but I could still get away.

---

Then something struck my thigh, and pain tore through me so completely that I screamed and collapsed. An arrow was buried in my leg. I clawed at the dirt, trying to drag myself forward, and the footsteps behind me only grew closer, until a new voice cut through the trees.

"Enough!"

Everyone stopped. I looked up to see a man walking toward me in a dark cloak, and the way the others stepped back told me exactly how much power he held. I tried to crawl away from him anyway.

"Stay away from me."

He didn't stop. Within seconds he had closed the distance and caught my wrist, and the instant his hand touched my skin, something jolted through my entire body. I gasped. He froze too, and when I looked up, his eyes were already fixed on mine, dark and intense in a way that made the rest of the forest disappear.

Neither of us said anything for a moment. I didn't know who he was or why he was looking at me like that, but I knew something had just changed between us. His grip loosened slightly on my wrist, his eyes widening as if he'd felt it too.

Then he finally spoke.

"Who are you?"

I tried to reply him, but my body was already giving up. I could barely see anything.

He seemed to have noticed as my body slowly gave up, he caught me before I could hit the ground.

The last thing I whispered before I black out was, "Mate!"