The full moon hung like a drop of blood in the night sky. Raven Silversong raced through the dark forest, her heart pounding in her chest. Behind her, angry howls split the air.
"Find her! The murderer can't escape!" The voices of her former packmates echoed through the trees.
Tears stung Raven's eyes as she ran faster. Just yesterday, they had called her friend, sister, family. Now they hunted her like prey.
"I didn't do it," she whispered, ducking under a low branch. "I would never hurt Alpha Marcus."
But no one believed her. Not after they found her standing over the Alpha's body, his blood on her hands. She had only been trying to help him, to stop the bleeding, but all they saw was guilt.
Raven's foot caught on a root, and she tumbled down a steep hill, rolling through dirt and leaves. Pain shot through her body as she crashed into a fallen log at the bottom. For a moment, she couldn't breathe.
"Get up," she told herself. "Get up or die."
The howls grew closer. Her pack—no, not her pack anymore—was gaining on her. Raven forced herself to her feet. Her ankle throbbed, but she couldn't stop.
Raven knew these woods, had grown up playing in them, but now they seemed strange and threatening. Shadows reached for her like clawed hands. Every snapping twig sounded like a footstep.
The truth hit her like a punch to the gut—she was now an Omega without a pack. In the werewolf world, that was almost a death sentence. Lone wolves rarely survived long.
"Focus," she muttered, limping forward. "Just get to the border."
If she could cross into neutral territory, pack law said they couldn't follow. At least not right away. It would give her time to think, to plan.
The smell of water reached her nose. The river! The border was just beyond it. Hope flared in her chest for the first time since she'd fled the pack grounds.
Behind her, a howl rose up—closer than the others. Someone was gaining on her.
"Raven! Stop running!"
She recognized that voice. Kieran Moonshadow. Once her best friend. Once maybe something more. Now just another hunter tracking her.
"I can't protect you if you run!" he called.
"Liar!" she shouted back, instantly regretting it as her voice gave away her position.
Kieran had stood silent when the pack accused her. He hadn't spoken up, hadn't defended her. Worst of all, he had looked at her with doubt in his eyes. That had hurt more than any blow.
The river appeared ahead, silver in the moonlight. It was wider than usual from the spring rains, its waters churning and angry.
Raven stopped at the edge, her heart sinking. She couldn't swim well, and these rushing waters could easily sweep her away. But the sound of paws beating against the forest floor made her decision for her.
Taking a deep breath, she jumped.
The icy water hit her like a thousand needles. The current grabbed her immediately, pulling her under. Raven fought her way to the surface, gasping for air.
"Raven!" Kieran's voice was desperate now. He stood at the riverbank, his face pale in the moonlight. For a second, their eyes locked.
Then the current yanked her downstream.
Water filled her mouth and nose. Her lungs burned. Her limbs grew heavy. This was it. She had escaped the pack only to drown.
No! Something fierce and stubborn flared inside her. Raven wasn't going to die like this. She kicked hard, breaking the surface again.
The far bank seemed miles away, but she forced her tired arms to move. Stroke after stroke, fighting the river that wanted to claim her.
Finally, her fingers touched mud. With the last of her strength, Raven dragged herself onto the opposite shore. She lay there, coughing up water, too exhausted to move.
On the other side of the river, she could see figures gathering. Her former packmates. They paced along the edge, unwilling to cross.
"This isn't over, traitor!" someone shouted across the water. "Cross into another pack's territory and they'll tear you apart!"
Raven knew they were right. No pack would welcome a strange wolf, especially one accused of killing an Alpha. But she couldn't go back.
"Go," she whispered to herself. "Before they change their minds."
Her legs wobbled as she stood. Her clothes were soaked and heavy, and her whole body shook with cold. But she was alive. She was free.
The forest beyond the river was different—darker, older. These weren't her woods anymore. Every step took her further from everything she'd ever known.
Night creatures watched her pass with glittering eyes. An owl hooted overhead, its call sounding like a warning. Raven tried to ignore the fear crawling up her spine.
After an hour of walking, her wet clothes still clinging to her skin, Raven found a hollow tree. It wasn't much, but it would hide her from predators—both animal and werewolf.
She crawled inside, curling into a tight ball. Hunger gnawed at her stomach, and her throat was raw from crying, but at least she was safe. For now.
"What am I going to do?" she whispered to the darkness.
Raven had no money, no food, no friends. Just the clothes on her back and a silver locket around her neck—the only thing she had from her mother who had died when Raven was just a pup.
She touched the locket now, drawing comfort from its familiar shape. Inside was a tiny picture of her mother and a strand of her midnight-black hair—the same color as Raven's.
"I'll figure this out," she promised herself. "I'll clear my name somehow."
Sleep tugged at her, but Raven fought it. She needed to think, to plan. But her body had other ideas. Her eyelids grew heavy, and soon she drifted off.
Dreams came quickly—terrible dreams of blood and betrayal. Of Alpha Marcus's eyes going dull as life left him. Of the shadowy figure she'd seen running from his cabin just before she entered.
Raven jerked awake, a scream caught in her throat. Dawn light filtered through cracks in the hollow tree. She had survived the night.
Her stomach growled painfully. She needed food. Water. A plan.
Carefully, Raven crawled out of her hiding place. The forest was quiet in the early morning light, dew sparkling on every leaf and blade of grass.
She found a stream and drank deeply, then washed the dirt and blood from her face and hands. Her reflection showed a stranger—pale, wild-eyed, afraid.
"I need to keep moving," she told herself. "Find a town, maybe. Get food."
But towns meant humans, and humans meant danger for a lone werewolf. Still, she had no choice.
As Raven walked, her wolf senses picked up something that made her freeze.
A scent. Not human. Not animal.
Werewolf.
And not just any werewolves. This scent was different from her old pack—wilder, stronger, more dangerous.
Her heart hammered against her ribs. She had unknowingly wandered into another pack's territory. And not just any pack, if the stories were true.
The wind shifted, bringing more of the scent. Multiple wolves. A patrol, maybe. And they were coming her way.
Raven looked around desperately for a place to hide, but the woods here offered little cover. She could run, but they would hear her. Smell her. Find her.
The sound of voices drifted through the trees. Male voices, rough and deep.
"I'm telling you, I caught the scent of an intruder," one said.
"Probably just a drifter passing through," another replied. "We'll find them and make an example of them."
Raven's blood turned to ice. The stories her pack told about the Bloodfang Pack flashed through her mind—tales of a ruthless Alpha who showed no mercy to trespassers.
She had escaped one death only to run straight into another.
A twig snapped nearby. Too close.
Raven made her decision. She turned to run—and crashed straight into a wall of muscle.
Strong hands gripped her arms, stopping her escape. Raven looked up into the coldest pair of gray eyes she had ever seen.
"Well, well," the stranger said, his voice like gravel. "What do we have here?"
Four more wolves stepped out from the trees, surrounding her. All male. All huge. All looking at her like she was prey.
The one holding her sniffed the air near her neck, making her skin crawl.
"She smells like the Mooncrest Pack," he said to the others. "But she's alone. An Omega."
"Please," Raven whispered. "I'm just passing through. I don't want any trouble."
The man's grip tightened, making her wince.
"Trouble found you anyway, little wolf," he said with a cruel smile. "The Alpha will want to meet the spy who dared enter Bloodfang territory."
"I'm not a spy!" Raven protested, struggling against his hold.
But her words fell on deaf ears. The man nodded to his companions, and rough hands grabbed her from all sides.
"Alpha Draven has special ways of dealing with trespassers," one of them said, his voice filled with dark amusement. "Especially pretty female ones."
Fear unlike anything Raven had ever known swept through her. She had heard of Alpha Hunter Draven. Everyone in the werewolf world had. They said he killed his enemies slowly. That he collected trophies from those who crossed him.
As they dragged her deeper into Bloodfang territory, Raven realized her old pack had been right about one thing.
She should have been more afraid of what waited beyond their borders than what lay behind.