Chapter 1 Lara
The wind howled through the trees, a cold accompaniment to the frantic drumbeat of my own heart. My lungs burned as I ran, each ragged gasp a counterpoint to the panic clawing up my throat. My legs were on fire, and tree branches snagged at my ragged clothing, but I didn’t dare stop. Not for anything. It was only a matter of time until he discovered I was missing, and if he found me, I would beg for death long before he granted it.
I ducked under a fallen log, my body screaming in protest. I hadn’t eaten in days, my reserves long past depleted, but terror was a powerful fuel. I drew on it, forcing my burning muscles to carry me deeper into the forbidden woods.
But even terror has its limits. My body finally gave out, and I collapsed at the base of a massive oak tree, a panting, heaving mess. I froze, straining to hear over the thunder of my own heartbeat. The forest was alive around me, the whisper of wind in the canopy, the chirp of night insects, the playful babble of a nearby creek. Thankfully, there were no sounds of pursuit. I let myself have a moment, wrapping my arms around my shivering body as I lay in the litter of dead leaves and moss.
My arms and legs ached, a roadmap of cuts and scrapes. Some were half-healed, others fresh and seeping. I blotted at the worst of them with a strip of cloth torn from the hem of my shirt.
I don’t know how long I lay there, minutes or hours, but when I became aware again, the moon was high, bathing the shadowy forest in a pale, milky light. I sat up, my eyes darting into the oppressive dark.
My head whipped to the right at the soft crunch of footsteps. I scrambled backward, kicking through the leaves until my back slammed hard against the oak’s rough trunk. I curled into a ball, praying that if I made myself small enough, he wouldn’t see me.
The soft footsteps stopped right in front of me. I whimpered, forcing my eyes open, but it wasn’t him. I stared, wide-eyed, at the being that stood before me. It was the largest wolf I had ever seen, its fur thick and the color of a gathering storm. And it wasn’t alone. Two more wolves stepped from the shadows behind it. One was as black as a starless midnight; the other, a deep reddish-brown.
They surrounded me, a silent, furry wall of death. I squeezed my eyes shut, a single tear tracking a path through the grime on my cheek. At least being eaten by wolves would be faster than what Lord Raziel would do to me. The big grey wolf took a step forward and sniffed at my hair, its hot breath stirring the tangled strands. The smaller brown wolf whined, and the grey wolf growled softly, silencing him.
I forced my eyes open again. Why weren’t they attacking? I was weak, injured, easy prey. I found myself staring into the amber eyes of the grey wolf, and my breath caught in my throat.
The air around him seemed to shimmer, the lines of his body blurring and twisting. There was a sickening sound of bones snapping and reshaping, and before my mind could process the impossible, a man crouched where the wolf had been.
A very large, very naked man. He had wild, unkempt dark hair and the same piercing amber eyes. He was the largest man I had ever seen, his broad shoulders rippling with muscle as he moved, and he was staring at me with an intensity that made me shiver, and not entirely from fear. The other two wolves shifted as well, and in seconds, I was faced with three very naked men, all eyeing me with an expression that was far hungrier than I’d expected. I blinked, my vision blurring as my mind struggled to process the sudden surplus of male flesh.
The black wolf became a leanly muscular man with brown hair falling over his forehead and warm, kind eyes. He offered a calm, easygoing smile that was completely at odds with the fear still swamping my mind. The third man had lighter hair, a messy mop of brown, and his hazel eyes sparkled with a mischief that promised trouble.
This was so much worse than wolves. They were shifters. Monsters of legend, beasts that were just as likely to eat me as the wolves they’d been. The big one took a step forward, and I flinched violently. He stopped, tilting his head, his gaze curious. The youngest, the one with the hazel eyes, took a step forward, and his brother growled at him, stopping him in his tracks.
I stared at them, fear and something else, a traitorous, unwanted heat, warring within me. I looked from one to the other, my eyes wide. My cheeks blazed with shame. Here I was, running for my life, and my body was responding to these monsters that might kill me. How could I possibly be attracted to them? They were magnificent, probably the most handsome men I had ever seen.
But that was the problem, wasn’t it? They weren’t just men. How could I want them when they weren’t human and might actually eat me, if the rumors were true?
“Who are you?” I whispered, my voice cracking. “What do you want?” They just looked at each other, then back at me. I trembled, shivering with cold and a fear that was rapidly being replaced by something else. The big one took another step toward me, holding out his hand. I pressed myself flat against the tree, swatting his hand away. He frowned, dropping it. He looked back at the others, and the youngest one laughed. Then he turned back to me, dropping into a crouch in front of me. I could feel the heat radiating from his body and had to resist the primal urge to lean into it. I was freezing, and he was so warm, but I refused to show any more weakness.
“Do not be afraid, little one,” he said, his voice a deep rumble that vibrated through the ground and into my very bones. “You are safe now.”
I stared at him in shock as the darkness finally crept in, pulling me under.
