CHAPTER 6

GABRIEL’S POV

The forest was alive with the scent of blood and rain. My feet pounded against the wet earth as I sprinted, my breaths sharp and even. I could still feel the rogue’s presence lingering ahead of me—faint, erratic like it was teasing me into chasing it deeper.

“Come on,” I growled under my breath, muscles flexing as I pushed faster. My body hummed with energy, the beast inside itching to take over and run on all fours.

But I didn’t have the luxury of shifting now. Not so close to the main road. Not when eyes could be watching.

I broke through the last stretch of trees, and that’s when I saw it—light.

Headlights.

The moment I burst into the clearing, the car came into view, speeding down the slick, empty road. Its blinding beams caught me dead in the centre, turning me into a silhouette on the pavement.

“Shit,” I hissed, throwing up the detachable hood over my head to shield my face as the headlights glared brighter. The mist, thick and rolling from the earlier rain, swirled around me, a blessing from nature itself. It cloaked me, turning my form into little more than a shadow.

They can’t see me. They won’t see me.

The car slowed—just a fraction—and my eyes darted to the windshield, narrowing.

It was a woman.

Even through the misted glass, my wolf-enhanced sight locked onto her face. Her dark skin gleamed faintly in the light of the dashboard, her wide eyes fixed straight ahead, trying to make sense of the figure she saw on the road.

I froze. Human.

Her scent hit me then—faint, almost muted through the layers of rain and earth, but enough for my wolf to stir. Something unfamiliar but… intriguing. A warmth that didn’t belong in this cold.

My jaw tightened.

“Who the hell are you?” I muttered to myself.

The woman’s headlights flared brighter. She’d turned them up, trying to see me more clearly.

Damn it.

A low growl vibrated in my chest, my wolf ready to burst free, but I shoved it down. I couldn’t risk her seeing what I really was, I couldn't let her get a good look.

Without another thought, I let the beast lend me its speed.

In a blink, I was gone.

I darted off the road, disappearing into the trees before the car’s beams could follow. Branches whipped at me as I moved, faster than her eyes—or any human eyes—could track. My feet barely touched the ground before I was swallowed by the shadows of the woods again.

When I stopped, I was deep in the cover of trees, my breaths steady but my pulse thrumming. I turned back, peering through a gap in the branches just as the car crawled forward on the road, the headlights sweeping the misty clearing.

She was still there.

From this distance, with the car at a crawl, I could see her better—leaning forward over the steering wheel, her face a mix of confusion and fear.

For the briefest moment, my wolf stirred again, pushing thoughts into my mind.

She saw me.

I shook my head, pushing the thought aside. She couldn’t have. The mist was too thick, the rain still clinging to the glass. All she would have seen was a shadow. A trick of the light.

That’s not what I meant.

I froze mid-step, my chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. “What the hell are you saying then?” I muttered, narrowing my eyes as I looked back toward the road through the gaps in the trees.

The car—the damn car—had turned abruptly. Tyres screeched faintly in the distance, and then the headlights shifted and sped off, this time back the way it came.

“Great,” I grumbled, shoving a hand through my wet hair. She ran.

My heart was beating so fast, my wolf whispered suddenly, low and eager. At her scent. It… it intoxicated me.

I stiffened, an unfamiliar chill settling into my spine.

“What?” My voice came out low and sharp. “You’re joking. You’ve fucking lost your damn mind.”

The damn wolf didn’t respond, but its silence told me everything I needed to know.

I exhaled harshly, trying to shove down the sharp wave of irritation crawling up my throat. “Your heart was beating fast over a human? A human?” My voice came out harsher than I intended, and the wolf inside me flinched but didn’t retreat.

Did it forget who we were? What I was?

“I’m an Alpha,” I snarled as if it needed reminding. “Seeing humans even minding their own business puts me on edge. They’re curious—too curious. They see something they shouldn’t, and the next thing you know, they’ve broken into our barrier and exposed us to the entire damn world.”

She’s not like the others, the wolf started to explain, its voice edged with something… stubborn.

“Let’s not get into that conversation,” I cut him off sharply, turning my focus forward. “We’re heading back to the pack house.”

What about the rogue? My wolf pressed.

“We'll track him down,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ve got its prints. It’ll be easier to track it down tomorrow.”

The rogue had been reckless tonight—stupid, even. A kill so exposed, so bloody and careless, was more than just a rogue being desperate. It was a rogue being cocky.

But not even that concerned me as much as the human on the road.

I rolled my shoulders, letting the tension ease out of them before I shifted into my wolf.

My claws dug into the damp earth, and I sprang forward, racing deeper into the woods with the wind against my fur, racing toward the direction of the pack house. The night air rushed past me, cool against my fur, carrying familiar scents of the forest. But just as I began to pick up speed, something stopped me cold.

A scent.

Unfamiliar. Sharp.

I halted abruptly, claws digging into the damp earth as I sniffed the air again, my senses sharpening. “Do you smell that?” I asked, my voice low and tense, though I knew my wolf already had.

Yes, it answered, a growl rumbling in the back of my mind. It smells like… death.

I turned my head toward the source of the scent, surging forward with heightened vigilance. Whoever or whatever this was, it didn’t belong here.

We couldn’t leave it unchecked.

Without hesitation, I sprang in the direction of the scent, muscles coiling and releasing with every powerful stride. The forest blurred around me as I pushed myself harder. But just as the scent grew stronger, almost overwhelming, it vanished.

“What the hell—?” I skidded to a halt, glancing around the thick trees surrounding me. The mist hung heavy in the air, a quiet stillness settling over the forest.

Then it hit me again.

Distant now, faint but unmistakable.

Whatever the thing was, it seemed to be toying with me.

My wolf growled, impatient and bristling with frustration. But we had no choice—we had to keep going. This scent wasn’t just unfamiliar; it carried something dark and malevolent, a threat to the pack that couldn’t be ignored.

So I ran.

I tore through the forest, weaving between the trees with precision, following the elusive scent as it pulled me deeper and deeper into the woods. But every time I thought I was closing in, it slipped away again, only to reappear even further ahead.

The night stretched on, the hours slipping away as the game continued. That thing was fast, faster than most, and clever. Whoever it was, they were calculating, using the terrain and the mist to their advantage, staying just out of reach.

I refused to stop.

By the time the first light of dawn pierced through the trees, painting the forest in muted golds and greys, my paws burned with the effort of the chase. But the scent still lingered, faint but persistent, taunting me with its presence.

We should head back, my wolf suggested, though his tone was reluctant. I spent the whole night chasing shadows.

I shook my head, snarling. “Not yet. This is a threat, and you know it. Whoever it is, they’re dangerous.