CHAPTER 401: A NEW SHELTER

Damian:

The forest was quiet... too quiet. The faint rustle of the breeze through the leaves was the only thing that broke the stillness as the group of rogues prowled through the clearing. Sunlight filtered through the thick canopy above, turning the air warm yet sharp with the scent of pine, earthy, and something faintly metallic that hadn’t yet faded.

"There’s no sign of them," one of them muttered, scanning the area with cautious eyes. "Not even a trace of their bodies or blood. It’s like they vanished."

Another one crouched beside a rock, brushing his fingers over the soil where a faint smear of red had dried. "The Thornes must have burned the evidence," he said darkly. "No one leaves behind clean ground like this after a fight unless they want to send a message. And this... this looks deliberate."

I stood a few steps behind them, my arms crossed loosely over my chest, eyes sweeping over the clearing. They were right - on the surface, there was nothing left that screamed battlefield. But they were fools if they thought that meant the fight hadn’t been vicious.

I could see it. The signs were there, subtle but clear to trained eyes. A few broken branches. Deep claw marks scarring the bark of a tree. Dried flecks of blood clinging to fallen leaves. The faint imprint of boots in the damp soil. The smell of ash, faint but undeniable.

My lips curved, not in amusement, but in bitter acknowledgment. "You idiots," I muttered under my breath, low enough that the others didn’t hear. "You really think you can take on them?"

The thought was laughable.

I had seen the Thornes in action. I had witnessed what they were capable of - not through rumors, but firsthand. The memory alone was enough to send a shiver crawling down my spine.

That night still hauntede. The night Rogue Alpha River Thorne had descended upon my pack like a storm of fire and shadows. I could still remember the way the ground had cracked beneath his wolf’s fury, the way he had moved - swift, lethal, untouchable. It hadn’t been a fight. It had been a massacre.

Within hours, my pack... my family... was gone. Burned. Torn apart. Buried beneath silence and ashes.

I clenched my jaw, my hands curling into fists at my sides. I had heard the stories before that night... everyone in our world had. The Thorne brothers, the Rogue Alphas, the nightmares in wolf form. But stories never did justice to reality.

And now here I was, surrounded by a band of reckless fools who thought they could hunt those very men on their own land.

I would have laughed if it wasn’t so pathetic.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury to laugh... or to leave.

I was stuck with them.

When I went looking for Ethan, I hadn’t expected things to spiral this way. Ethan Blackwood - the so-called Blackwood heir - had been my only remaining link to the past, my only chance to find her.

But when I reached the Blackwood pack, Ethan had vanished. Completely.

The Blackwood pack had scoured every inch of their territory, searching for their missing heir. No scent trails. No body. No blood. Just absence.

It was like Ethan had been erased from existence.

And I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I had seen a little of the kind of monsters that roamed our world - the kind that could shred an entire pack in minutes - but this was different. This was clean. Too clean.

"Who the hell did you piss off this time, Blackwood?" I had muttered to myself, staring off at the horizon.

With Ethan gone, I had been left with no allies and no plan. So when this rogue group offered me a temporary place among them - a means to survive, at least for now - I took it.

I didn’t trust them. Hell, I didn’t even like them. But it was better than wandering alone with death around every corner.

Still, listening to them babble about going against the Thorne brothers made me want to claw my ears out. They had no idea what they were walking into.

I turned my gaze toward the horizon. The air here carried a strange heaviness, one that didn’t belong to ordinary wolves. Even without seeing them, I could feel their presence lingering -the remnants of the Thorne brothers’ power, woven into the very soil.

A single fight had shaken this land. The forest remembered.

And yet these fools thought they could invade it.

I sighed, dragging a hand through my hair. "Idiots," I said again under my breath.

I was about to tune them out completely when something... something sharp and electric... hit my senses.

It started faintly, like a ghost of a scent carried by the wind. Then it grew stronger, wrapping around my lungs, my throat, my entire being.

My heart skipped a beat.

No. It couldn’t be.

I inhaled again, deeper this time. And then the world seemed to narrow, every other scent, every sound, fading until there was only that one.

Soft. Sweet. Familiar.

A scent that had haunted me in dreams. That had made me claw at my own chest in frustration. That belonged to the woman I had been searching for since the day everything fell apart.

Evaline.

My wolf surged to the surface, howling in my mind. My body went rigid, every nerve alight with recognition and hunger and disbelief.

It was her. I would know that scent anywhere.

I took a step forward before I realized it, eyes darting wildly across the forest as if she might appear from the shadows. My pulse thundered in my ears.

"She’s here," I whispered, more to myself than anyone else. "She was here..."

"Damian?" one of the rogues called, alarm creeping into his voice. "What’s wrong with you?"

I ignored them. My entire focus was locked on the direction the scent was leading - north, faint but steady. My wolf pushed hard, demanding control, urging me to run, to find her now.

But before I could move, a sharp voice cut through the night.

"Damian!"

I turned sharply.

The rogues were tense, their eyes wide and their claws drawn.

"What the hell are you doing?" one hissed. "Didn’t you hear what we said? The Rogue Alphas’ patrols are nearby!"

Another pointed toward the tree line, his nostrils flaring. "Their scent’s close. If we don’t move, we are dead!"

I froze. And just like that, the reality of my situation snapped back into focus.

I could sense it too now - the faint, predatory energy of the warriors sweeping through the forest, closer with each heartbeat.

I cursed under my breath. If we got caught, there would be no mercy.

The rogues began scattering, their panic thick in the air. One grabbed my arm, shouting, "Come on! Move!"

But I couldn’t... not completely. My mind was still caught between logic and instinct. My heart screamed to follow the scent, to find Eva. But reason, barely, kept me still.

If the patrol caught us now, if I got myself killed before even confirming she was alive... then what was the point?

I clenched my fists, forcing myself to turn away, every muscle screaming in protest.

But just before I followed the others into the darkness, I cast one last look toward the north.

I didn’t know how or why, but something told me - she was close.

She was alive.

And this time, I would find her.