Chapter 1

I honestly try my best not to think of that night as much as possible. Done everything I can to block it from my memory. But it still haunts me. The fire, the screams, and two glowing blue eyes.... ready to swallow me whole if I moved the wrong way or even breathed a way I wasn't supposed to...

Growls chase me as I run through the woods. All four feet pounding away at the ground, not able to slow down for even a second or the forsaken would catch me. I had been taking a bath in a nearby river when they came out of nowhere. It was at least three of them that I saw before I shifted and ran. They had been stalking me from the slow movements I saw.

Unfortunately, I left my clothes as I didn't have a chance to grab them. If I had tried, I'm sure I wouldn't be alive right now.

I take a turn a little too sharply and lose my balance for a split second and one bites into my hind leg. A pained howl leaves me and I kick and kick until it lets go. My speed is now greatly reduced due to only being able to run on three legs. Everything in my field of vision blurs a little from the venom in the forsaken bite and I have to keep blinking in order to clear it.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck!' I think and my wolf laughs at me. I swear I can see a smile on her face as she takes over. "Whatever you're thinking about me, you can stop it right now Celeste.." I tell her. She rolls her eyes and her speed is incorporated into our body.

We leave the forsaken behind and circle back to the river to grab our things and maybe even cross. The venom is slowly working its way through my body and I can feel it as it burns through my system.

"Calm down... You have alpha blood in your veins Eliza. Grab everything and keep moving. The venom shouldn't kill you," Celeste soothes. Her voice in my head always had this calming effect on me like that day in the clearing. I nod and she retreats a little. Not enough for me to shift back, but enough that I am in control of my body again.

I reach the spot where I put my clothes and pick them up, grateful they didn't disappear. Thieves could have taken them in the few minutes I had been gone.

Only after checking about five times for people or forsaken do I shift back and the pain of standing on my injured thigh shoots through my body and I cry out, grimacing and quickly getting dressed. Didn't want to be caught without clothes again!

Everything gets blurry again and I lean against a tree until the world stops swirling. I could shift in my clothes which would clear everything up, but they would tear. Undressing again wasn't an option because I needed to keep my mouth clear if I had to fight. The only other path was the water. "We're crossing the river," I tell Celeste and I feel her nodding before she lays down.

The water runs over my wound and I hiss as it stings so much. Normally, it should've been healing by now, but for whatever reason, it wasn't. As I reach the other side of the river bed, I pull myself up, huffing from the use of my muscles which ached and almost gave out a few times. My limbs felt tired and sore, though it didn't make much sense because I train and exercise every day. "It's the venom... It's progressing faster in your human form,” Celeste informs me. I roll my eyes at her now and stand.

After walking for some time, this weird feeling pisses over me like I'm walking through plastic wrap, though my brain is too hazy to recall where I've felt it before.

My stomach churns, my leg feels like it's on fire, my body is aching and I can't see straight. I stop again, leaning on another tree, my bag of supplies in my hands. It feels to the ground with a soft thud and I groan. Can't use my fingers anymore. Oh well. It's not like I needed any of those things.

I clench my jaw and force myself to pick it up, joking the straps on my wrist and begin to move again. Nausea rises in my stomach and throat and I pause, bending over to throw up.

There are howls in the distance and I do my best to move faster and faster, to no avail. Celeste tries to help by lending her abilities in my human form, but it's no use. The venom is running through me faster and the more I move, the more it progresses, which means it's entered into my bloodstream and is only a matter of time before it reaches my heart and kills me.

I stop by a tree for the third time, my lungs burning as I take in oxygen and I can't catch my breath. As my knees hit the soft grass beneath me, I start to violently throw up again, blood mixed with the food I ate for lunch. "I think... we're done for, Celeste," I say, with a smile on my face. "We can finally meet the Goddess and be saved from all of this..."

Celeste, however, had other ideas. She made me stand up and keep walking even though the pain was indescribable. But at least we were getting further from the river. Forsaken don't like water for some reason, but that doesn't mean they've given up. Hopefully the water washed enough of my scent away that I can die alone in peace.

Soon after, about five wolves encircle me and I realize what that funny feeling was. I had passed into someone's territory and these were their warriors. “I… no….. harm,” comes from my breathless body.

The warrior in front of me growls, getting closer and I know he's about to pounce before something strange happens.