The Stargazer's Alpha

Ch. 27: The Hunted

Tonight was special, I told myself, eyeing the forest like it was my opponent. My last chance, since Blake was returning the next morning. I hated that I wasted three weeks wallowing, hurting and fears...yet here I was, still afraid and stalling.

I hastened on my snowshoes, took a deep breath...and didn't move.

The snowfalls came one after another this November, changing everything beyond recognition. Snow was so deep, it hid the underbrush. There were no sacred trails to follow. Or, perhaps, the glittering snow crisscrossed by blue shadows was a trail...a thought worthy of a motivational poster.

"Come on, Celeste. You can do it." I glanced over my shoulder.

Scarlett didn't see me leave the hotel. I wore brand-new clothes, and no phone, so Harold couldn't track me either. Blake returned later tonight, so the rogues wouldn't dare to attack me.

Everything would be fine, right? I couldn't hide in the hotel forever. I'd never forgive myself, if I didn't go into the forest. I had to go. Tonight. Now.

Above me, a crow cawed, then took off, brushing snow behind my collar with its black wing. I shook it out, squirming and made the first, tentative step under the boughs. "Okay, okay, I'm going. I'm not a coward!"

The woods were so empty; I was bound to meet my wolf tonight, if she was out there, still looking for me after I stayed away for so many days, for so many nights.

***

The mountains and the immense spruces made the nightfall swift. The sky turned dark, but it was freezing, so the full moon seemed to shine brighter than usual in the frigid air. A silent, frosty night...

Then, the howling started, but the sound made the forest seem more eerie rather than less. My heart pounded as I listened to the voices of the wolves and the werewolves, nearly indistinguishable. And there were so many...would my voice be lost in the pack's harmony like always?

I turned my gaze toward the Goddess, pressed my hands together and howled at the Moon. Wolf? Where are you?

Once my call died down in my throat, I listened to the eerie chorus for a response. It rose and fell, but never stopped celebrating the shiny disk of the Moon and our Goddess.

What a beautiful night for a lonely Omega to finally—

The new howl cut through in the air...and my frozen toes curled in my boots.

Goddess help me, they found me! I swiveled my gaze away from the Moon and the sky.

The blood-curdling howl came again, echoing between the mountains. It was closer this time, sickeningly close. At the dying end of it came baying. This was a call for a hunt, and that wasn't the voice of a wolf.

Another hunting howl answered the first two, laced with bloodlust.

The werewolves were on the prowl, and they weren't of Blake's pack. Rogues! Of course, they were rogues! They came for me.

I turned awkwardly in my huge snowshoes toward the hotel, but the loudest howl yet erupted between me and safety.

I sobbed and crushed between the trees in the only direction still open to me. Away from the Olympian...

The branches hooked my clothes, slowing me down. One slapped me in the face, scratching it. My cracked lips bled, as I kept biting back the cries. At some point, I lost my hat and my hair came undone, falling into my eyes and my mouth. I spat and sputtered, too hot and terrified to care.

Going by the bursts of ugly sounds of the rogues' hunting party, they were rapidly converging on my location.

I kept running for any opening in their ranks, but they were faster. There were at least half-a-dozen of them, and I was alone. I kept running, but they were faster.