Chapter 3

The whole night, Emory ran, keeping enough distance between her and whoever Trey would send after her. Next up, she had to figure out where she was and what to do.

She wasn’t going back to Broiia or Kedar. Being a Chavére, and a member of one of the last two packs that hadn’t submitted to the Empire of Morrian, she couldn’t go anywhere. The wastelands weren’t safe either since the Lycans lurked there. Living in Broiia, a pack south of the Empire, they never had to worry about encountering Lycan sentinels because they would have to pass through Kedar to get to them.

Her only other choice was the Rolan pack.

Then she laughed at herself. It made no sense for her to leave Kedar just to go to Rodyn’s pack for shelter.

Emory hissed as she wiped the sweat off her brow.

Standing on the riverbank, her hands on her waist, she looked around, unsure of where she was. She spent most of her life in Broiia, and this mindless decision to run might just have been her best move: she never got a chance to let her hunter skills run wild after that painful awakening.

Many times, she tried to tell Trey about her transformation on the day of the Hunter’s Moon celebration, but he never wrote back. In all that time she was there, he didn’t check on her and she resented him for not caring about her then and now.

A rustle behind her jerked her out of her oblivious musings, and the sound of approaching footsteps crunching on fallen leaves forced her to duck behind the nearest rock.

Their gait, their scent, everything was so different. As their voices drew closer, her eyes widened in realization: Lycans.

Suddenly, the trees around the creek looked taller and smothering, and Emory looked around frantically.

How far had she run to stumble into a Lycan pack? Where was she if she wasn’t in Kedar?

“Search the lower ground, find her!” someone growled.

Her who? Were they looking for her?

Taking a deep breath, Emory calmed her mind to a low hum, listening to the sound of their heartbeats and their scents drifting through the air. It was common for Lycians to travel in packs of twelve, and Emory wondered if she could take on twelve Lycans.

Listening to the sentinels get closer, she scanned the path across the creek a few feet away. No doubt they knew she was hiding behind the rock, and if she didn’t come out, they’d drag her out. They couldn’t know she was a hunter, and she was counting on that to rattle them long enough for her to get away.

“C’mon, wolf, come out from behind there.”

From behind the boulder, Emory stepped forward, adjusting her black turtleneck tucked snugly into her deep blue jeans. Following a brief hesitation, the pack of Lycans shrugged off her presence and stepped back as if she was no threat.

As his gaze swept over her, the marshal in the blue suede jacket said, “You trespassed on King Hendrick’s land.”

Keeping her hands behind her back, Emory waited for him, ready to rip out his thorax if he touched her.

It was a little alarming to think she had run all the way to Eleadoi, the capital of Morrian. This was nearly a thousand kilometres west of Kedar. Until now, she had not explored her hunter abilities: Aunt Kinshra had forbidden her from doing so. Right now, she’d do better taking her chances with these twelve than getting hauled to the king’s tower. Nobody knew what they would do to her there and she wasn’t interested in finding out.

That self-serving Lycan king surely did some pretty awful things to the hunters. All of them had been hunted down and either taken or killed. Aunt Kinshra was the only one left and she never talked about what it was like fighting the Lycans. It was a mistake not to listen to her aunt about returning to Kedar.

As the marshal marched towards her, he said, “You’re coming with us.”

“Sure,” Emory said.

It’d only take a few more steps for her to scratch him, poisoning him with the hunter’s curse, but he stopped and looked back at the path they’d just come from. In an instant, he and the rest of his pack suddenly shifted and howled, and Emory took a few steps back.

She stared in astonishment: it was the first time she had seen Lycans transformed, and they were huge in comparison to her own size. In fact, she wasn’t half as big when she shifted into her hunter form. They charged at the pack of wolves that circled the path in front of her as her heart pounded. This was her chance to escape, but Emory felt troubled, knowing that twelve Lycans against a pack of wolves was a death sentence for the wolves.

At the sound of fighting, she took cover behind the trees. The pack of wolves was head-to-head with the Lycans in the clearing, and they didn’t even bother to shift.

Watching, Emory shrugged: it made sense. Their advantage would be dwarfed if they shifted. She watched them from the shade of a tree, her eyes darting back and forth between them as they tore at each other. For every Lycan, there were three wolves, and they were vicious, with one wolf shifting back and forth between blows.

These wolves were warriors, like the Lycan sentinels, and she hadn’t seen wolves like them since her parents and the original Chavere pack. They did not wear armour or carry weapons, but they fought with tooth and claw — as wolves — to keep Kedar safe from the Lycans.

They didn’t seem to need any help, which was good because she had to leave anyway – she needed to get as far away from the capital as possible. With a shrug, she turned to leave and gasped a little when she found herself staring into the familiar green eyes of her aunt.

“What a terrible place for you to find yourself, child.” Kinshra scolded, her eyes flickering from Emory to the terrain above them, as she listened and surveyed the area.

Emory looked back at the wolves, confirming now with her aunt’s presence that these were Kedars. How come they were in Lycan territory? It was hard to imagine, but it was clear that they were fighting for her.

“What are you doing here?” Emory questioned.

“I couldn’t possibly let you leave Broiia by yourself.” Kinshra stepped forward to observe the fight from the sidelines with her.

“You followed me to Kedar?”

“You were not supposed to shift, Emory. What’s the matter with you?” Kinshra growled quietly, and Emory rolled her eyes.

“What’s the deal with these wolves?”

Kinshra gathered her long black hair into a bun and told her, “Emory, we’re heading back to Broiia before more Lycans come. Get ready to run.”

There was an ear-splitting howl from deep within the woods, and she turned around: more Lycans were on their way.

“What is really going on? There is something you’re not telling me, aunt Kinshra.”

“There is a reason why Hunter wolves never shift unless we absolutely have to kill some fucking Lycans. The Lycan king can sense us and control those who are weak,” Kinshra told her. “That’s what he did. He led you straight here and you didn’t even know it.”

A quiet sigh escaped Emory’s lips as Kinshra explained to her why she forbade her from shifting. Listening, she felt the influx of Lycans flooding towards them.

“You never told me what they do to the hunters they take. How did you even get out? Why does the king bother with taking the hunters?”

Kinshra’s emerald green eyes got tight with the same squint they always got when she asked her about being a prisoner in Eleadoi. As far as she knew, Aunt Kinshra was the only hunter who had escaped captivity: she knew more than she was telling.

In her quiet voice, she said, “Believe me, my sweet girl, if you had to choose between being dead and being taken, you would rather be dead. ”

“Wow, that’s really helpful. Thanks.”

“There is no point in being snarky with me. It is time for you to get out of here. Try to find your way south to Broiia. I have arranged for someone to meet with you and keep you safe.”

In the distance, Emory heard the sounds of rustling bushes, with the gait of at least two more Lycans packs, and she turned around to listen. In the echoes of their pulsating howls, Kinshra moved closer to Emory as the first rays of light appeared beyond the horizon, breaking through the darkness.

Dread gripped Emory as she took a deep breath in anticipation.

“I’m not leaving you here if you don’t mind.”

“It’s too bad it’s not up to you, my dear.” Kinshra shook her head and stroked her cheek with a small smile. “Leave before they get here. I’ll hold them off, and whatever you do, don’t shift.”

She had barely finished her words when a Lycan dove at them. The pair moved out of the way and she turned around just in time to see her aunt Kinshra shift. Emory stared in disbelief as her aunt pounced on the Lycan with a ferocious growl, launching him across the field into another one.

Emory never imagined the hunter wolves could be so big, yet her aunt stood the same height and size as them save for her grey-coloured fur against their brown. Turning to Emory, she growled as if telling her to leave.

Within seconds, Emory was sprinting through the forest. Even as she moved, Kinshra said something incomprehensible to the Lycans now attacking her, who in turn roared their own guttural noises back at her in response.

Her only option, despite not knowing which way was south, was to run, hoping she wouldn’t have to shift to outrun the Lycans.

One of them leapt towards Emory…

She darted out of the way and looked up just in time to see her aunt hurl into the Lycan and sit on top of him! Then Kinshra howled, summoning the Kedar wolves to them before she flung the Lycan against a tree and proceeded to howl in Emory’s face.

“Run!” Kinshra growled.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Emory replied and took off again.

This time, she felt the pack of wolves flocking around her as they ran with her.