Chapter 13 Feral

RONAN

His face was far too close. So close that bour /bbreaths mingled. But when a slight noise came from the darkness, his head snapped in that direction.

We stayed crouched among the branches, but when Seth’s entire focus was on the ground, and instinctively yet subconsciously trying to pull away from me even if there was not even an inch to move, I found myself looking at his back. nder with slight muscle unlike other males. bMy /bbgaze /bwas then drowned to the back of his neck. fair and smooth. I could. not tear my eyes away from it for some reason. When the swear trailed down disappearing in bhis /bcor, bthe /bsight of it made my breath run cold. And my heart started taking a sudden race, the desire to glimpse a little deeper into bhis /bcor and of his smooth bskin /bgrew binside /bme.

I immediately tore my eyes away from his neck. Had I bfucking /blost my mind? Staring at a man’s neck and wanting to see what bwas /bbeneath bhis /bcor? Why was this sick desire growing inside me? I clenched my fists and took a deep breath. I needed to think straight. It was all because of the proximity. I couldn’t even remember when Ist let a man this close to me. My skin crawled with others‘ touch but bwith /bthis boy…

Leven went out of my way to pull him up before I even brealised/b.

“Hey,” I murmured in a low voice.

He flinched and ced his hand on his neck, his big bright amber eyes snapping at me. “Why are you breathing on my

neck?b” /b

A frown crossed my feature when he had a look in his eyes that called me a pervert. “bHow /babout you worry about yourself and check your audacious ass before acting innocent?!”

His eyes immediately snapped down and the color drained from his face bwhen /bhe found himself brushing against my manhood. As if he was struck by thunder, he immediately jumped down from the tree.

I remained seated, watching his red ears. Such an bintense /breaction over something as silly as his ass brushing my cock?

I also jumped down without making a noise and stated. “We need to move.”

He gave a btight /bnod.

Slowly, carefully, we slid away from the tree, our feet touched the earth in near–perfect silence, and together, we began to move through the twisted remains of stone bwalls /band vine–covered pirs. The ruin stretched out bin /ball directions, overgrown and half–swallowed by time.

As we crept along a crumbled corridor, Seth suddenly stopped.

I followed his line of sight bto /bfind something half–buried in the bdirt/b, a rusted weapon rack, the bremains /bof long–forgotten bdes /beaten by corrosion. Symbols were etched into the stone behind it, crude carvings of wolves mid–shift, their eyes bhollow/b. Bonesy scattered nearby, old, weathered, some gnawed clean.

“This wasn’t just a ruinb,” /bSeth whispered, crouching beside bthe /bmarkings. “It seems it bwas /bba /bbtraining /bground.”

I stepped closer, beyes /bnarrowing as I scanned the scene. “For rogues,” I murmured, “Wolves who defied packw ones too dangerous or broken to be imed.”

Seth brushed dirt off one of the carvings, the image of a wolf pinned to the ground by spears. “Some of them never left”

As he was checking the carvings, my wolf sensed something in bthe /bdistance. I nced into the darkness studying it

“But the question is why this ce.” Seth’s voice was cut off as a blow /bbsnarl /bsplit the air.

Seth spun around just bas /bba /bbferal /bfigure lunged from the darkness

It bwas /bthe rogue from the earlier, half–shifted, his body grotesquely caught between human and wolf, his red eyes bgleaming /bwith madness as he looked at both of us, bskin /bclinging to bones. His scent hat like a blow rot, blood, and death.

Seth reacted first, dropping binto /ba crouch and dodging his wed swipe. I moved in an instant, intercepting the rogue with a powerful punch to the jaw, sending bhim /bbcrashing /bbagainst /ba wall.

Chapter 13 Feral

Dust and debris rained down but more snarls brose /baround us.

Seth’s head snapped at the snarls. “There are more rogues!”

I watched Seth’s changing expression to this unexpected discovery and the corner of my lips curled bup/b.

They’re bin /bthe walls.”

He turned to me,

“How c

can you

be so o sure?

+8 Pearls

“If you bwant/b, you can wait and confirm it,” I put my hand into my pants pockets, watching him frowning.

“What’s with you acting so cool?” He raised an eyebrow at me. “You are going to be hunted by them as well.”

I bchuckled /band decreased the distance between us. bThis /bpredator is just shifting into his wolf to wipe them all out. But what about you Seth?” I leaned forward towards his small face and smiled, “Still not shifting?”

He froze for a moment and gave me a nk look, “I don’t need to.”

He turned around to face the arriving rogues.

He

My eyes shed with amusement, “There are at least eight to ten of them that you are nning to take down without shifting. You wanna die that desperately!”

“Yeah, I am desperate but not to die but to cross bthat /bfinishing line before anyone else bdoes/b,” he nced over his shoulder and met my gaze. “So don’t get in my wayb, /bAlpha Ronan. I will fight for you as bwell /bto pay back the unexpected and unasked for help you showed me earlier so stand there and have a good show.”

The amusement within me instantly dropped, my eyes boring deep binto /bhim intensely as the rogues pounced on bhim/b. He wanted to fight for me? To pay off what I had done earlier? The hand at my side shook, my wolf growling lowly in my mind watching him fight without flinching, his moves like lightning finishing one and then instantly heading to another.

However, the moment a drop of blood dripped bfrom /bhis arm, my patience that I did not realise I had been holding, snapped.

I jumped in beside Sethb, /binstantly taking care of one of the rogues. Seth nced at me for a moment as we fell into rhythm, moving as one. He shed through a rogue’s nk while Inded bone–breaking blows non–stop. The air filled with the sounds of snarls, the sh of ws and fists against flesh and stone.

One rogue lunged at me. I flipped it and he pinned the creature to the ground, my ws poised for a killing blow to finish

him at once.

“Wait!” Seth shouted, stepping in, “Don’t kill.”

I growled, my killing mode already activated and not stopping before I finished all of them, “They’re feral. I’ll end him.”

“This is their territory.” Seth snapped. “We trespassed. We are in the wrong here, they are just protecting theirnd. I bdon’t /bkill out of anger or for fun! Let them go. Don’t kill!” The defiance and the mercy in his gaze that I had never witnessed before did something inside me.

But no one gave me orders. No one.

I was balways /bin control. Inmand yet… I found myself letting the rogue go.

“There is no way I don’t kill a person whoes at me with the same intentions.” Getting up, I strode up to Seth and grabbed. his wrist, “If you don’t want me to kill then we are leaving.”

We bolted, weaying bthrough /bthe ruins as the rogues snarled behind us. The feral figures chased but didn’t stray far bfrom /btheir haunted grounds. I nced over my shoulder as they stopped. Why? Why did they suddenly stop? It was bas /bif they were bound by old, unseen bchains /band could not cross the ruins.

The moment we crossed the bbroken /barchway marking the ruin’s edge, the night air changed. The oppressive weight lifted. He kept running alongside me, matching my speed. “This is the way I saw on the map!” he eximed, turning down the correct path

I was unaware bthat /bI had my hand firmly grasped around his wrist. And together side by side as we were about to break

O

Chapter 13 Feral

through the final clearing, crossing the finishing line of the trial, he got bhis /bwrist slowly out of my grasp.

I stopped in my tracks and nced back at him. “What’s up? Not crossing the finishing line.”

+8 Pearls

He rxed his wrist and nced up at me, “Is it not funny bthat /bthe hunter and prey cross the line together?” I froze at his remark where the look in his eyes over actuallybeling me in his Prey. My wolf froze in my mind, as he walked past me towards the finishing line, locking our eyes for a brief moment. “Make sure to cross it, Alpha Ronan, don’t just stare bat /bme.”

bWatching /bhim cross the line, my lips curled up, “Indirectly warning me to not eye him, huh?” my eyes once again drawn to his hips. “Well, that seems…a little too hard to ignore.”

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