Claimed by the Alpha

Freezing rain lashes my face, blinding me, but I do not dare stop. Branches rake across my cheeks, drawing blood I can barely feel over the terror drumming in my chest. Not while she still breathes.

Bitter tears choak my throat as I clutch the tiny bundle against my chest, memorising her soft scent of vanilla, knowing I’ll never forget how she feels against my heart.

Protect her, the voice inside me whispers. Behind us, shouts and guttural howls tear through the midnight storm.

They’re hunting me. They are close. They will not stop until my bloodline is ash.

With every passing second my steps grow heavier, balance slipping in the frozen mud. I hold my daughter tighter, rocking her gently back and forth. “You will live,” I promise her – a fragile vow as the forest trembles and the heavy, sulfurous scent of witchcraft hangs thick in the air.

Stumbling forward, I catch myself against a bleeding pine before pushing onward.A frustrated scream echoes from the clearing not far behind. My enemies are closing the circle, swallowing each path of retreat.

A tiny whimper escapes my sleeping girl. I gently part the heavy wool of her blanket. Impossibly bright green eyes blink up at me, completely unaware that the world already demands her death.

Her delicate fingers reach out, instinctively grasping the copper strands of hair hanging loose round my face. I choke back a sob.

Think Eleanor, think.

I cast my gaze East, where the tree-line thins toward the wolf packs – the very people whose blood now runs poisoned against my existence.

I spin West, staring into the suffocating, permanent mist of the no-man’s land. Desperation claws at my throat, but every direction is a trap.

Dragging my eyes North, I scan the dark silhouette of the Evergreen border. A lone figure cuts through the sheet of rain, standing just beyond the boundary line like a sentinel sent from the Goddess herself. I know him. I have seen him watching from the shadows of these woods before, wandering with quiet curiosity. A reckless plan sparks in my chest.

Crack.

A branch splinters behind me, shattering the illusion of time. Easing my daughter into the grass, I press one last kiss against her forehead. Anything to delay the moment my hands would no longer be holding her.

“I’m sorry, little one. I wish there was another way.” I croak.

Deep beneath my feet, the roots pulse and thrum, a heartbeat buried beneath the earth. I tear the amber pendant from my neck. The stone glows softly in my palm before darkening the second I press it to her tiny chest. Instantly, an unnatural vacuum slams down over the clearing. The howling winds choke. The rain drops like lead. The forest holds its breath, submitting to the old magic.

With bleeding fingers, I carve her name into the soil. Reaching inward, beyond flesh and bone, I seize the elemental bond that ties me to the land and wrench it taut.

Pain explodes, forcing me to my knees.

My inner wolf surges, baring her teeth against the encroaching dark, refusing to surrender. She pours the last of our raw, primal life-force into the seal. Blinding gold light erupts from my chest, burning hot against the freezing rain. I scream as the land rips the magic away, dragging my wolf’s golden light down into the dirt, burying my daughter’s scent under layers of ancient stone and roots.

Through the fading glare, I look up. The stranger is watching from across the border.

Hide her. My desperate plea echoes through every part of my being. To him, to fate, to anyone who will listen. Hide her until she’s ready.

The roots coil around the pendant. The amber flashes brilliant gold, then goes dark. Her scent disappears. The overwhelming pulse of wolf power vanishes beneath layer after layer of protection. Even I can no longer feel my own daughter.

A hand gently presses my shoulder. The light is gone.

Darkness finally takes me.