Chapter 4

AZALEA

My breath hitched as I took in the bloody scene in front of me. These people were digging and tearing into each other with a brutality I could never comprehend. I couldn’t help but realize that I had stumbled into something I wasn’t meant to see.

My heart pounded in my chest, every instinct screaming at me to get out of there before anyone noticed that I was not one of them.

I slowly backed away, trying to move quietly, praying I could slip away unnoticed. The sounds of snarling and snapping jaws filled my ears, making it hard to focus. My foot crunched on a twig, the sound far too loud in the chaos, and my stomach dropped.

“Oh, God,” I said as I felt my stomach twist like I was going to get sick. That would definitely get their attention.

In a panic, I turned and bolted out of there.

Branches whipped against my arms and face as I raced through the trees, my heart hammering in my chest. I didn’t know where I was going, only that I needed to get away. As far away as possible. The last thing I wanted was to be caught by these werewolves. If they noticed me, if they realized I was human, I wouldn’t stand a chance.

The faster I ran and tried to focus on where I was going, the more I started to realize that I wasn’t alone. Heavy footsteps followed close behind, and my breath caught in my throat when I heard a low, mocking voice behind me.

“You can’t run, little wolf,” the voice called, laced with amusement. “What is your connection with August?”

My blood ran cold. Whoever was chasing me knew August, but there was something in the man’s voice, which sounded very much like hatred, that made me think he wasn’t a friend of August. It made me give no answer or have any thought to stop.

I pushed myself to run faster, my legs and my lungs burning as I tore through the forest, but it didn’t matter. He was faster. I could hear him closing in, his footsteps growing louder with each passing second.

“It doesn’t even matter where you go. You can’t run, you can’t hide!” he said with a tone that made me know that I was done for if this man caught up to me. “I can smell him all over you.”

“No!” I screamed as I stumbled on a log that I hadn’t seen in front of me. I fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

“I’ve got you now,” he growled, and before I could react, a heavy weight slammed into me from behind, knocking me back to the ground. My face hit the dirt, and I gasped for air, trying to scramble out from under him, but it was no use.

The man had me pinned, his weight pressing down on my back, trapping me beneath him. He leaned in close, and I felt his breath hot against my neck as he sniffed me, his nose brushing against my skin. I shuddered in disgust, struggling beneath him, but he didn’t let up.

“You have a mark already,” he noted. “My brother has never been known for his patience.”

His words stunned me as he got off of me, and I finally sat up, crawling away from me. “Go away. Leave me alone!”

Even if he claimed to be August’s brother, I couldn’t just put my trust in him. There was something sinister about him. He did not give me the calm feeling that I had whenever August was there.

He stepped towards me, and I grabbed a handful of sand and dry leaves, tossing it at him. I got off the floor and made another run for it when he grabbed me by the arm and slammed my back into a tree.

“Human,” he muttered, his voice filled with surprise as he sniffed me again. “August is mated to a human?”

He pulled back slightly, and I twisted my neck to look up at him. His eyes glinted with something dark, something dangerous, and my heart raced even faster. This man—this werewolf—was did not have good intentions towards me. I could feel it from the tone of his voice.

Before I could say anything, he pulled me off the tree and slammed me back into it until all air was lost from my lungs.

“The Moon Goddess seems to be on my side,” he laughed as he dragged me along with him. “Humans are so fragile, so easy to hurt. And you already have a connection to my brother. What better way to weaken him than through you?”

“No, please,” I begged. He tossed me carelessly to the ground, my face planting into the earth and my ribs feeling the burn of it.

I tried to raise my head to take a deep breath, but he pushed my face deep into the earth from the back of my head, rendering me unable to breath.

“No, no! You can’t kill me, please!” I begged, taking a lungful of air when he finally let me go.

I rolled to my back to look up at the trees when he stood up and towered over my body. Just when I thought he was done with his assault, he raised his foot and kicked me in the ribs.

A scream even louder than the one I had let out when I was marked made its way out of my throat.

“You don’t mind if I break it, do you?” he asked, referring to the my leg. I highly doubted that he needed my permission for it.

Before I could beg him to spare me once again, he was sent barreling into the ground.

A massive wolf had appeared out of nowhere, its fur bristling as it stood over the man, snarling and snapping its teeth at the man as if trying to bite him.

August’s brother, still on the ground, shifted in an instant, his bones snapping and contorting as he transformed into a wolf himself. They lunged at each other, their teeth flashing as they collided in a blur of fur and claws.

I lay frozen, breathing through my mouth, my heart pounding in my chest as I watched them fight. Blood splattered the ground as they tore into each other, their growls filling the night air. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t stay here, but I couldn’t leave either. Not when I didn’t know if the wolf fighting on my behalf was friend or foe who just wanted me to himself.

The fight raged on, the two wolves evenly matched in size and strength. But something in the way they moved told me that the newcomer was fighting for me, protecting me from the man who had attacked me. Each time August’s brother’s wolf tried to lunge at me, the other would stand in his way and push him back until they were far away.

The air was thick with tension, and I could barely breathe as I watched the two wolves clash. My legs trembled beneath me, and I fought the urge to collapse. I didn’t know how long this would last, or if this wolf could hold his own against August’s brother.

Suddenly, the fight took a turn. August’s brother’s teeth sank into the neck of the mystery wolf, causing the other to thrash aggressively and try to get out of his grip. But by the time he was successful, blood was spurting out of its neck, weakening it.

August’s brother shifted back into his human form, returning his gaze back to me with a smirk.

“There you are.” He walked towards me as I tried to stand up and book it out of there again. “Now, where were we?”