Chapter 26
The forest was alive with movement.
Riley sprinted through the trees, her heartbeat pounding louder than her footsteps. The howl that had shattered the night was still ringing in her ears low, deep, and unmistakable.
The pack had found them.
And this time, they weren't giving her another chance to escape.
Kieran was at her side, his grip on her wrist tight, guiding her through the maze of trees. Nova ran just behind them, muttering curses under her breath.
Elias was gone. Vanished like smoke.
And Riley didn't have time to care.
Branches tore at her skin, the underbrush thick and unforgiving. The moon flickered between the treetops, offering just enough light to see but it wasn't enough. Not when the pack was closing in.
Another howl rang out this one closer.
Riley swallowed hard. "Where are we going?"
Kieran didn't slow down. "Anywhere but here."
Nova let out a sharp breath. "That's a shitty plan!"
"Do you have a better one?" Kieran snapped.
Nova didn't answer.
Riley could hear the howls multiplying.
A warning. A signal.
They were surrounded.
Her stomach twisted.
She hadn't realized how far into the woods Elias's cabin had been. The deeper parts of Silverwood's forests weren't just dangerous.
They were cursed.
The locals had whispered about it for years, strange disappearances, shadows that moved when they shouldn't.
And now, Riley was running straight through the heart of it.
A low growl rumbled behind them.
Riley twisted, catching a glimpse of a dark shape moving too fast, too close.
One of Tobias's wolves.
And it wasn't alone.
Her breath caught. "They're right behind us."
Kieran cursed. "We need to"
A blur of motion.
Something slammed into him.
Kieran grunted as he was thrown sideways, crashing into the dirt.
"Shit!" Nova skidded to a stop.
Riley spun around, her chest tightening. Kieran was already getting up, blood dripping from his lip.
But the wolf that attacked him
It wasn't stopping.
It lunged again, claws flashing.
Riley moved without thinking.
She grabbed the nearest broken branch, swinging with everything she had.
It connected.
The wolf let out a sharp snarl, stumbling back just enough for Kieran to regain his footing.
His golden eyes flickered, dark with something sharp. "Keep moving."
Nova yanked Riley's sleeve. "We don't have time for this!"
More shadows were closing in.
The pack was too fast.
They couldn't outrun them.
Riley's mind raced. "We need to hide."
Kieran didn't hesitate. "I know a place."
They tore through the trees, Kieran leading them toward something Riley couldn't see.
Another howl rang out.
Then footsteps. Fast. Close.
Too close.
They weren't going to make it.
The moment she thought it, Kieran grabbed her wrist again, jerking her sharply to the right.
And suddenly
They weren't in the woods anymore.
They were in a barn.
The wooden walls pressed in around them, the air thick with dust and the scent of old hay. The barn was abandoned, a skeleton of what it once was.
Nova slammed the door behind them, breathlessly.
Kieran exhaled sharply, pressing his back against the wall. His side was bleeding.
Riley's stomach twisted.
"Kieran, you're hurt."
"I'm fine," he muttered.
"You're bleeding."
He shot her a look. "It happens."
Riley didn't believe him for a second.
The cut along his ribs was deep, a long jagged line that was already darkening with bruises.
Nova ran a hand through her hair, muttering under her breath. "That was way too close."
Kieran ignored her, glancing toward the cracks in the wooden wall. "They'll find us soon."
Riley frowned. "Then why stop here?"
Kieran exhaled. "Because we need a minute to think."
His golden eyes flickered toward Riley.
"And because we need to talk."
Riley crossed her arms. "About what?"
Kieran hesitated.
Then he said, softly too softly "What happened back there."
Riley's throat tightened.
She didn't want to talk about it.
Not about Elias.
Not about the thing in the woods.
Not about the fact that Kieran had known more than he let on.
Nova's gaze flickered between them. "You mean the part where Elias told Riley she started a war?"
Riley flinched.
Kieran's jaw tightened. "Yeah. That part."
Silence stretched between them.
Riley didn't know what to say.
Because if Elias was telling the truth if she was the reason for all of this
Then what did that mean for who she was now?
Kieran studied her carefully. "You don't believe him."
She hesitated. "I don't know."
Kieran sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "I don't like him. I never did."
Nova huffed. "That's because he's a cryptic asshole."
Riley bit her lip. "But what if he's right?"
Kieran's golden eyes darkened.
Before he could answer
A wave of pain slammed into her.
Riley gasped, her knees buckling as something tore through her mind.
Not pain.
A memory.
She wasn't in the barn anymore.
She was somewhere else.
Somewhere cold.
A battlefield.
The snow was red with blood.
A boy with golden eyes lay at her feet, his breath shallow, his body broken.
And her voice, her old voice, was whispering something.
"This has to end."
The vision snapped away.
Riley crashed back into the present, her breath ragged.
Nova's voice was distant. "Riley?"
She couldn't speak.
Her hands were shaking.
Because she had recognized the boy in the vision.
Not just some stranger.
Not some enemy from the past.
It was Kieran.
And she had been the one standing over him.
The room was spinning.
Kieran reached for her. "Riley, what did you"
She jerked away.
"I need air," she gasped.
Then she stumbled out the door, into the night.
Her breath clouded in the cold air, her pulse racing.
Her hands curled into fists.
Kieran had been in her past.
And in that past, she had hurt him.
The realization hit her like a knife to the ribs.
Because if she had done it once
What was stopping her from doing it again?
She pressed a hand to her chest, feeling the ruins' power still humming under her skin.
She was changing.
And for the first time, she wasn't sure if she wanted to stop it.
She was changing.
And for the first time, she wasn't sure if she wanted to stop it.
The thought sent a sharp chill through her, but it didn't scare her the way it should have.
She had felt power in that vision certainty. A part of her that had known exactly what needed to be done.
And that part of her was waking up.
Behind her, the barn door creaked open.
Kieran.
She didn't turn around.
Didn't trust herself either.
He stepped closer, his presence warm against the cold air. "Riley." His voice was low, careful.
Like he already knew what she was thinking.
Her fingers twitched at her sides. "I saw something."
Kieran didn't speak.
Didn't push.
He was waiting.
Riley exhaled shakily.
And then, barely above a whisper like admitting it would make it real she said,
"I think I hurt you."
Kieran's breath hitched.
And for the first time since this started, she saw it
The fear in his eyes.
Not of her.
But of what she was remembering.