The silence of the clearing pressed down on us like a heavy blanket. The rush of the river felt distant now, muffled under the weight of Logan’s words. A human leading a pack of wolves-it shouldn’t have been possible, and yet every instinct in my body told me he was right. Something was deeply, dangerously wrong.
Logan crouched beside the water, rinsing the blood from his arms. His movements were sharp, precise, but his face betrayed the storm brewing inside him. I could feel the tension radiating from him, as if his very presence was charged with unspent energy.
I pulled my knees to my chest, trying to ground myself in the coolness of the stone beneath me. “Logan,” I said softly, breaking the stillness. “Do you think it’s him? Warwick?”
He froze for just a moment, his hand lingering under the rushing water. Then he stood, droplets trailing down his forearms as he faced me. “I don’t know,” he admitted, his voice low. “But if it is… we’re not ready for him.”
I swallowed hard. Warwick wasn’t just another rival for Logan’s position in the pack hierarchy. He was something else entirely-ruthless, calculating, and powerful in ways that made even Logan wary. I’d seen the way Logan tensed whenever Warwick’s name came up, the way his eyes darkened like storm clouds.
“If it’s Warwick,” I said, forcing my voice to stay steady, “we can’t just run forever. You know that, right? We have to face him. We have to figure out what he’s doing with that pack.”
Logan’s silver eyes locked onto mine, their intensity sending a shiver down my spine. “You don’t think I know that?” he snapped, his frustration spilling over. “But facing him without a plan is suicide. You saw what that alpha could do. If Warwick really is pulling the strings, we’re dealing with something worse than just wolves.”
I flinched at his tone but didn’t look away. “Then we make a plan. We figure it out together.”
For a moment, neither of us spoke. The air between us was thick with unspoken fears and the weight of what we’d already endured. Then Logan’s shoulders slumped, and he let out a sharp breath, the tension easing slightly from his frame.
“You’re right,” he said finally, his voice softer. “But first, we need to survive the night.”
He turned his gaze toward the forest, scanning the shadows for any sign of movement. I followed his line of sight, my own senses straining for the faintest hint of danger. The pack had retreated for now, but the feeling of being watched lingered like a phantom at the edge of my mind.
“Do you think they’ll come back?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
Logan’s jaw tightened. “They will. Maybe not tonight, but soon. That alpha-whatever it is-won’t stop until it gets what it wants.”
“And what does it want?”
His eyes darkened. “Me.”
The word hung in the air, heavy with implications I couldn’t fully grasp. Logan’s position as a werewolf, as the rightful alpha of his own pack, made him a target. But this felt bigger than a simple power struggle.
“Why you?” I pressed, my curiosity outweighing my fear. “What’s so special about you, Logan?”
He hesitated, his gaze dropping to the ground. For a moment, I thought he might brush off the question, but then he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.
“I wasn’t supposed to exist,” he said. “Not like this. My father-he broke every law, every tradition, to create me. A wolf born of a human mother. A hybrid.”
I blinked, the weight of his words sinking in. “You’re saying you’re… different?”
“Stronger,” he said bitterly. “Faster. More powerful than any alpha before me. But it comes with a price.”
“What kind of price?”
Logan’s gaze lifted to meet mine, and for the first time, I saw something raw and vulnerable in his eyes. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But whatever it is, Warwick wants it. He’s been trying to take my pack, my power, for years. And now, with this new alpha…”
He didn’t finish the thought, but he didn’t need to. The pieces were starting to fit together, and the picture they painted was grim.
I stood, brushing the dirt from my legs. “Then we stop running,” I said firmly. “We find Warwick, we find his pack, and we stop him before he can do any more damage.”
Logan raised an eyebrow, a flicker of amusement breaking through his grim expression. “You make it sound so easy.”
I crossed my arms, refusing to back down. “It’s not going to be easy. But you said it yourself-we can’t fight them head-on. So we find another way.”
“And what way is that?”
I hesitated, my mind racing. I wasn’t a strategist, and I didn’t have all the answers. But I knew one thing: we couldn’t do this alone.
“We find allies,” I said finally. “Other packs, other wolves who’ve been hurt by Warwick’s games. He can’t have everyone on his side. If we bring them together, we might stand a chance.”
Logan considered my words, his expression unreadable. Finally, he nodded. “It’s a start,” he said. “But it’s going to take time. And time is the one thing we don’t have.”
“Then we’d better get moving,” I said, trying to inject some confidence into my voice.
Logan’s lips quirked into a faint smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You’re stubborn, you know that?”
“Someone has to keep you in line,” I shot back, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I saw the faintest hint of a grin on his face.
The moment didn’t last. The forest seemed to hold its breath, the shadows growing darker, the air heavier. Logan’s expression hardened, and he turned toward the river, his body tense.
“We should keep moving,” he said. “The longer we stay here, the more vulnerable we are.”
I nodded, following him as he led the way downstream. The clearing faded behind us, swallowed by the night, and the weight of the coming battle pressed down on my shoulders.
Whatever lay ahead, I knew one thing for certain: the fight against Warwick and his pack was far from over. And if Logan was right-if the alpha truly was more than just a wolf-then we were up against a force unlike anything we’d ever faced.
But we weren’t going to face it alone. Together, we’d find a way to fight back.
Even if it cost us everything.