They had been running for three days.
No rest. Just boots on dirt and breath scraped raw in their lungs.
Serena's wrists were still raw where the silver had been. The damage was done and her wolf was gone. So they had no choice but to run on foot.
They stopped at a stream for water and rest. It felt suspiciously like a good idea.
Neither of them noticed the audience.
One by one, they stepped into the clearing. Blades drawn. Grins sharp and hungry. Chains hung from their gloved hands.
Both girls looked up at the same time.
Serena stepped in front of Elara on instinct.
If someone was going to die here, it wasn't going to be Elara.
A rogue dropped from a tree, landing in a crouch directly in front of Serena.
"You know, most people scream when I drop in like that," he mused, with a confident grin.
Serena drove her knee hard between his legs. He let out a high-pitched sound and folded in on himself.
A second rogue stepped forward, silver chain swinging.
"You can't stop this."
"Watch me," Serena said, already moving towards him.
Serena slammed into him mid-lunge shoulder-first, driving him into the dirt. Her elbow cracked up into his jaw. He gasped, shock flashing across his face at her strength.
The silver chain hit the river with a splash.
Serena stepped on his arm and ripped his sword free.
"Shift and run," she called over her shoulder.
Elara gave a single nod. She shifted mid-step, red fur hitting the ground in a sprint.
The rogue Serena had kicked earlier staggered back to his feet, panting.
Two more appeared on opposite sides of the clearing. Their chains whistled through the air as they spun them.
"Dumb," Serena murmured, eyes flicking left. "Dumber."
Her gaze slid to the right. "And bold."
Silver chains whipped towards her.
Serena caught them mid-swing with her borrowed sword. The chains wrapped the blade instead of her throat.
She snapped the weighted links into the closest attacker's face.
Steel rang as her sword met his. She kicked hard between his legs.
He folded with a broken sound, face burning from the chains.
Miles away, a massive black wolf skidded to a sudden stop, head snapping up.
A scent struck him like a battering ram.
His heart pounded and all of his senses sharpened.
It smelled like pine, moonfire, and something else beneath that he couldn't quite name.
All he knew was he wanted more of it.
Like a hook sunk deep, the scent yanked hard, and he ran towards it without thinking.
Moments later, he burst into a clearing and saw rogues, silver chains, and the source of the scent standing her ground.
Two attackers were closing in on her slowly, as if she would not notice.
She noticed.
But instead of retreating, she charged towards them, catching both off guard.
At the last second, she dove under the swinging chains, rolled, and came up on the other side with her blade drawn.
Before either of them had processed what happened, she kicked one hard in the back and sent him sprawling.
She drove her shoulder into the other and took him down with her.
The black wolf hit the fight in a blur of fur and teeth. His jaws closed around one throat, then another.
More steel flashed.
Serena turned just in time to see a blade arcing towards the black wolf.
She had exactly half a second to register that this was a terrible idea. But some unholy mix of instinct, gratitude, and stupidity shoved her forward.
She stepped into the strike meant for him and the sword drove into her side.
Pain ripped through her, white and blinding.
She gritted her teeth, refusing to scream. She would not give them that.
The wolf snarled as she fell to her knees.
At that moment, reinforcements tore into the clearing, ripping through every remaining rogue. Those who tried to run were hunted. No survivors. No mercy.
The wolf shifted as she pitched forward, hands replacing fur just in time to catch her.
The urge to mark her burned dangerously, heat coiling low in his body. He wanted her pinned beneath him, breathing him in until there was nothing else.
He shook his head once and swallowed the instinct like poison.
Restraint won.
His wolf whispered a single word in his mind, but he already knew it.
Mate.