Chapter 6

Benita rolled onto her back, scrambling away on her elbows just as Rohan emerged from the trees, panting, his hands raised in surrender.

“I’m not here to hurt you.”

“Then stop chasing me!” she shouted, her chest heaving.

He paused. “I’m not your enemy.”

“Why would you help me?”

He hesitated.

Then the voices began again in her head, loud, like they were coming toward her.

She turned her head quickly, no one else was there.

“What is that?” she snapped. “What the hell is that voice?”

“I can explain—”

Her voice cracked. “Tell me why I hear someone talking inside my head.”

Rohan moved closer, slowly. “You’re not crazy. You’re not broken. You're... changing.”

She blinked. “What?”

“There’s a reason they were after you. You’re not just any wolf, Benita. You’re—”

A howl tore through the forest.

Rohan groaned. “Shit.”

“Who was that?” she asked, fear crawling up her spine.

“They followed your scent.”

“What?”

“We have to move.”

He reached for her, and this time, she let him.

Another howl answered the first, louder and more vicious.

“What do they want from me?” Benita whispered, running after him.

But suddenly he stopped.

She skidded to a halt beside him. “Why did you—”

His arm shot out in front of her like a wall. She froze.

There was rustling, first to the left, then to the right, then behind.

Figures emerged from the darkness, one by one. Wolves in their full form. Some still in human form, their eyes glowing gold. Crimson sashes tied around their arms.

The Blue Moon pack.

Benita's blood turned cold.

They were surrounded.

One stepped forward, he was tall and he snarled. “We don’t want trouble, stranger,” he said, his gaze fixed on Rohan. “Just the girl.”

Benita stepped back instinctively, bumping into Rohan’s solid frame.

“She’s not going anywhere,” Rohan said.

The leader tilted his head. “I don’t think you understand. She belongs to Alpha Bryan. You can step aside, or we—”

“I said,” Rohan cut in, his voice now deeper, colder. “She’s not going anywhere. She belongs to me now.”

The wolves hesitated.

The lead hunter’s smirk faltered as he looked at Rohan again, longer this time.

His eyes flicked over him, his posture, the way he stood in front of Benita. There was something… off.

“You…” the hunter began, stepping forward, but he stopped himself, like something clawed at his throat.

Another stepped closer, sniffed the air. His eyes widened, and he staggered back.

“I-It’s him,” he hissed. “It’s him.”

The leader’s bravado shattered in an instant. His shoulders tensed. “You’re lying.”

“No.” The younger wolf shook his head frantically. “I’ve smelled it before. The Nightfall blood. It’s him. It’s—”

A low growl rumbled from Rohan’s throat.

One of the wolves actually whimpered and backed away.

“Fall back,” the leader barked, fear creeping into his voice. “Fall back!”

“But the girl—”

“She’s not worth it! We’re not dying here tonight.”

Benita stood frozen, as they vanished.

“What was that?” she demanded. “Who are you?”

Rohan didn’t answer right away. His eyes had darkened to an almost inky black, still locked in the place the wolves had stood moments ago.

“I said—”

“I heard you.” His voice was low, dangerous. “But right now, we have to keep moving.”

“No,” she barked. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to scare off an entire hunting squad with just your presence and then brush past it like it’s nothing. What did that one say—Nightfall? What the hell does that mean?”

He finally turned to her. “It means,” he said, “I’m not supposed to exist.”

Her breath caught. “What?”

Rohan stepped forward. “The Nightfall bloodline was wiped out during the first Purge, wolves born with more power than the Elders could control. My family didn’t bow. They were hunted down, murdered. All except one.”

“You?”

He nodded.

“But… I thought Nightfall was just a story. A myth.”

“That’s what they wanted you to believe. They erased our name from every record, every scroll, every bloodline chart. But I survived.”

Benita folded her arms tightly across her chest, shivering despite the warmth. “And what does that make you now? A fugitive? A monster? A god?”

He laughed. “I’m whatever they fear most.”

The air thickened. She felt it, like the forest itself bowed to him. Her instincts screamed run, but something deeper, refused to move. Because even though he was darkness wrapped in skin… he hadn’t hurt her. He’d saved her, twice.

Her voice softened. “Why me?”

Rohan’s gaze lifted, and for the first time, his expression cracked. "Because you’re changing, Benita. And not by accident. They’ve done something to you. I’ve seen it before, once.”

“In that lab?”

He flinched, just barely. “Yes.”

Benita’s hands curled into fists. “Then tell me what they did to me. I hear voices. My skin burns when I’m angry. My senses are all wrong. I can't feel my wolf.”

“They fused your wolf with something unnatural,” Rohan said. “Your DNA… it’s mutating. They’re trying to turn you into a weapon.”

She froze. “Who’s they?”

Before he could answer, a loud crack shattered the air.

Gunfire.

“Move!” Rohan shoved her behind a tree just as bullets ripped through the clearing.

Benita screamed, the bark beside her exploding in splinters.

He growled, his eyes glowing. “Stay down.”

Then he vanished.

One moment he was beside her, the next he was across the clearing, tearing into the shadows.

She heard a scream.

Benita pressed herself against the tree, breathing hard.

She held her breath… until Rohan stepped out, his shirt soaked in crimson, his jaw clenched.

“They’re dead.”

She stood. “Who were they? Vivian?”

“No.” He shook his head. “She wouldn’t risk sending humans after you. This… this was a bounty squad.”

Her blood ran cold. “You mean there’s a price on my head?”

“Yes.” He walked to her. “A high one.”

She staggered back. “Why? Why am I worth that much?”

“Because you survived the experiment,” he said. “And that makes you the only successful subject.”