Chapter 44 Chapter Forty-Four
Kaelani burst through the chamber doors, her sneakers skidding against the stone as she tore into the corridor beyond.
The hall stretched endlessly before her—cold, dimly lit, lined with heavy doors and high arched ceilings that swallowed sound. She didn’t stop to think. Didn’t dare.
Behind her, claws scraped. Snarls erupted. The guards had shifted—and they were gaining fast.
She glanced back, heart racing.
They’re so close she can hear their heartbeats.
Her wolf stirred within her, wild and restless.
How do I bring her out?
Two doors appeared on the right. She veered toward the first, nearly crashing into it, hand fumbling for the handle.
“Shift,” she gasped, eyes locked on the blur of wolves charging closer.
Locked.
Panic surged.
She sprinted to the second door.
“Emerge,” she whispered—desperate now, the word trembling off her tongue.
Still locked.
A snarl split the air. One of the wolves lunged.
She spun toward it, both hands flying up on instinct, bracing for the brutal impact of claws and teeth.
But it never came.
Violet light erupted from her palms.
A sudden crackle of energy rippled through the corridor, catching two wolves mid-leap and slamming them into the wall behind her. Stone fractured. They crumpled to the ground with a pained yelp.
Kaelani stared in disbelief, chest heaving.
Then she looked past them—more beasts, more snarls. The rest were coming.
She bolted down the corridor again, legs moving forward like a race car switchinginto high gear, accelerating instantly.
“Fae powers,” she muttered, half in awe, half in fright. “Stick with the fae powers.”
She continued down the long hallway, heart thundering, every breath scraping her throat raw.
Find a way out. Just find a way out.
The snarls behind her grew louder—closer. She dared a glance over her shoulder.
They were gaining.
Another fork appeared ahead—arched halls splitting in two directions. She veered left on instinct, her thoughts scattering like leaves in a storm.
A sharp turn.
She ducked into the corner—no door, no cover, nowhere to hide.
They were too close.
“No—” she whispered, eyes squeezing shut, praying for a miracle.
A rush of cold air swept over her skin.
The shadows thickened—no longer just dim, but cloaking, almost sentient. Darkness rippled around her, and her form blurred, the edges of her body flickering like heat waves against the stone wall.
The wolves thundered past—snarling, blinded, confused.
Kaelani stood frozen, wide-eyed.
What just happened?
She looked down—her hands were visible again, trembling slightly, violet sparks dimming beneath her skin. The shadows faded as quickly as they’d come.
She didn’t stop to question it.
There was no time.
She darted back the other direction.
But then—another snarl.
Different.
Closer.
She turned just in time to see Christian, massive and dark, his wolf form tearing down the corridor, saliva trailing from his jaws, fury burning in his eyes.
Her blood ran cold.
She pushed harder, feet screaming with every step—
But it wasn’t enough.
He was there. She could practically feel his hot breath on her neck—he lunged—
And then—
Julian crashed into him.
Snarls ripped through the air as the two wolves collided, slamming into the wall with a thundering crack.
Kaelani stumbled to a stop, breath caught in her throat. For a half-second, she just stared at the tangled mass of snapping jaws and thrashing limbs.
Then instinct took over again.
Run.
And she did.
Kaelani burst through another door and found herself in a very different part of the building.
No stone columns. No ceremonial chambers. Just rows of desks, ledgers, and recordkeeping clutter. Secretaries and clerks froze mid-motion—fingers hovering over keyboards, eyes wide—as she sprinted past.
She didn’t stop. And for a second, she dared to believe she’d lost them.
She was wrong.
The double doors behind her exploded open, wolves pouring in like a flood. Growls echoed off the walls, claws scraped the floors, desks overturned in a frenzy.
Papers flew. Screams rang out.
Kaelani ducked as one wolf leapt over a desk beside her, smashing through it with a snarl. She twisted sharply to avoid the impact, but another wolf closed the gap—fast.
Before she could pivot, a heavy, muscled body slammed into her side and sent her airborne.
Crack.
She hit the wall with a crushing blow, the force knocking the wind from her lungs. Stars danced in her vision. Pain bloomed sharp across her ribs as her body crumpled to the floor.
She blinked—
The wolves were surrounding her.
Closing in. Eyes gleaming with hunger and orders. She pressed her back to the wall, gasping, hands trembling.
At least she put up a good fight, she thought to herself.
Her fingers scraped at the surface behind her—then froze.
A pulse. Warm. Familiar.
The same surge of energy that had flung the wolves away from her.
Before she could think, light erupted beneath her palm—violet and wild.
And then—
She wasn’t there anymore.
She stumbled backward—no, downward. Her body pitched as gravity shifted beneath her feet.
A staircase.
She barely caught the railing before tumbling down the steps.
She looked back. The wall was solid. No door. No crack. Nothing.
“Did I just go through the wall?” she breathed.
No time for questions.
She flew down the stairs, lungs seizing with every breath. There has to be an exit. There’s always an exit at the bottom.
Sunlight bled in from narrow wall slats, casting slivers of light across the spiraling concrete. Her shoes slapped the steps hard, heartbeat thundering in her ears.
Keep moving. Don’t look back.
A door above exploded open—then another. Snarls echoed down like a vicious chorus. She glanced up.
Wolves.
Dozens of them. Fangs bared and eyes wild. They swarmed down the stairwell in a frenzy, leaping over rails, charging downward like an avalanche of death.
Panic tore through her.
She pushed harder, faster, her legs screaming, feet barely touching each step. The bottom was close—had to be close—but the pounding of paws behind her grew louder. Closer.
Another floor passed in a blur. Then another.
Come on—
There. A red door.
She didn’t think, didn’t slow. She slammed her shoulder into the emergency exit bar, felt the crash of daylight burn her vision as it burst open. She stumbled into blinding sun.
Trees.
Tall. Endless. The Council grounds were buried deep in a stretch of woods she’d only ever seen on maps—territory guarded by the Lycan Council and untouched by human presence.
She staggered forward, forcing her legs into motion. If I can make it to the road… if I can get out of sight—
They wouldn’t dare chase her out in the open. Wouldn’t risk exposing themselves. Not to humans.
Not even for her.
A howl ripped through the air behind her.
She threw a look over her shoulder—mistake.
Wolves poured out of the door like a black tide, claws shredding dirt, eyes gleaming with intent.
They didn’t care about the rules.
They didn’t care about exposure.
They were coming.
And she had seconds—maybe less—before they caught her.
She tore through the woods like her life depended on it—because it did. Branches whipped past her face, thorns scraped her arms, but she didn’t stop. Couldn’t.
The road had to be close. She needed it to be.
Behind her, the thunder of paws rumbled through the ground. They were gaining again. She could feel it—hear it—the crunch of leaves, the snarls, the snapping jaws closing in.
A shadow flickered.
A wolf launched toward her from behind, midair—fangs bared, claws outstretched.
She threw a glance over her shoulder, heart dropping. There was no time to dodge.
She closed her eyes.
Please…
Then, the earth answered.
With a violent crack, a root tore free from the dirt like a serpent, slamming into the wolf’s hind leg mid-leap. It yelped—cut off by a snap—and was flung across the clearing, crashing into a tree with a dull thud.
Kaelani stumbled but kept running, breath ragged, mind spinning.
More roots burst upward, thick and gnarled, clawing through the soil to snatch at the wolves in pursuit. One by one, they were yanked away—slammed to the side, dragged into thickets, hurled backward by the very grove they were hunting her through.
“What the hell is happening?” she gasped, not daring to slow down.
But not all of them were caught.
Two wolves slipped between the chaos with brutal precision—one lean and golden-eyed, the other dark and hulking.
Christian.
He was right behind her, weaving through the uprising forest like he could smell her blood. Closer. Closer. His body coiled, ready to strike—but Julian had the edge in speed.
He intercepted Christian mid-lunge, sending them both tumbling sideways. Jace barreled into the second pursuer, snapping at its hind leg and throwing it off-course.
Christian recovered fast, teeth flashing as he lunged again—but this time, something else moved.
Vines, thick and wild, exploded upward like triggered traps. They wrapped around Christian’s limbs, dragging him backward with terrifying speed. He thrashed, snarled—but the vines only constricted, yanking him upward and suspending him in the air like prey caught in nature’s snare.
Julian stood beneath him, chest heaving, eyes still dark with the remnants of his wolf.
Christian thrashed and snarled above, vines creaking under the strain—but they held.
Julian didn’t spare him another glance.
His head snapped toward the sound of Kaelani crashing through the underbrush, still fleeing. More wolves had slipped past the writhing roots and were closing in fast.
With a low growl, Julian bolted after her, paws pounding the earth.
The chase wasn’t over.
Not yet.
Elara tore through the woods like a demon loosed from hell—fast, precise, and vicious. She moved like smoke through the chaos—dodging the limbs that moved of their own accord.
Her golden eyes locked on the fleeing figure ahead.
Kaelani.
The distance between them was vanishing in heartbeats.
Elara’s lips peeled back into a savage snarl, fangs gleaming as she lunged, claws stretched forward with a promise of blood. The taste of victory, of humiliation served cold, already curled on her tongue.
Kaelani heard the snarl behind her—felt it in her spine.
Her body screamed to keep running, but her soul ignited with fury.
Not her. Not this bitch. Not like this.
A war cry ripped from her throat—raw, primal, the sound of a woman who would not be taken.
And the power beyond the veil answered her call.
With a crack that shook the ground, a massive tree branch swung down like a divine hammer, slamming into Elara mid-leap.
The impact was brutal.
A yelp—sharp, guttural, and full of pain—pierced the air as Elara’s body was flung sideways, crashing through the foliage and vanishing into a bundle of brambles and twisting roots.
Kaelani didn’t slow.
But she did glance over her shoulder.
Just once.
And when she saw Elara’s limp body tangled in the brush, a smirk tugged at her lips.
She burst out of the woods, lungs on fire, heart jackhammering in her chest—
and skidded to a halt.
It wasn’t just a road.
It was a highway.
Six lanes stretched in each direction, roaring with traffic. Blurs of cars, trucks, SUVs, and semis thundered past in both directions. She trudged to the shoulder, blinking hard, the sheer scale of it almost surreal.
Behind her, a wave of growls echoed through the trees.
She looked back.
Wolves. A lot of them.
They were still coming. Still chasing. Dozens more had joined the pursuit, some clearly recovered from the roots and vines that had tried to halt them. Others looked half-mangled, vines clinging to fur or leaves caught in their teeth, but they kept running—driven, merciless, unrelenting.
They wouldn’t stop.
They didn’t care what rules they broke anymore.
Kaelani whipped back toward the highway, eyes scanning the blur of metal and asphalt.
Back to the woods—closer now. Too close.
Her breaths came in panicked gasps.
They’d drag her back. Cage her. Study her. Pick her apart piece by piece like some exotic creature that didn’t belong.
She refused.
Not again. Never again.
Kaelani gritted her teeth, shoved fear down her throat, and sprinted toward the highway.
Brakes screamed.
Horns blared.
Tires skidded.
“Are you insane!” someone yelled from an open window as a black sedan swerved to avoid her.
She darted between lanes, weaving as tires shrieked and horns blasted around her.
She didn’t stop.
A wolf darted after her—on the highway. Another followed. Then two more.
Kaelani’s eyes widened.
They crossed the road.
Despite the laws. Despite the danger. Despite the fact that humans were everywhere.
They were desperate.
That stunned her—just long enough.
A blast of a semi’s horn cut through the chaos like a siren.
She turned her head just in time to see the massive truck bearing down on her, its brakes screeching, its grill looming like a wall of death.
Her body froze.
Eyes went wide.
“KAELANI!”
Julian’s voice echoed in his own head—deafening, earth-shattering—but she didn’t hear her name.
She only heard the soul-ripping howl tearing through the chaos like it could bend reality itself.
His wolf—broken, wild, and helpless.
She didn’t even have time to scream.
She threw her hands up over her face, bracing for impact—
But the truck never hit.
A blinding violet light exploded around her in a sphere of pulsing energy.
And suddenly—
She was gone.
Gone mid-step. Gone in a flash. Gone like she’d never been there at all.
The truck slammed to a halt, skidding sideways across three lanes. Screams cut through the air. Cars veered. Chaos tore through the road like shrapnel.
On the other side of the road, the wolves stopped.
Stared.
Stunned.
So did Julian.
His chest heaved. His paws trembled against the asphalt, claws scraping pavement. His wolf eyes scanned the space she’d vanished from, his mind racing—
Where did she go?
—-
The light was still humming against her palms when Kaelani blinked her eyes open.
A soft violet glow pulsed all around her, swirling like mist, clinging to the air and the grass beneath her feet. It slowly began to fade, dissolving into the breeze, until only faint embers remained—drifting upward like fireflies at dusk.
As the haze cleared, her breath caught.
She was no longer on the road.
Towering trees arched high above her, their leaves an iridescent shade of silver-green that shimmered even without sunlight. The trunks spiraled like ancient columns, bark etched in natural runes that glowed faintly with energy. Flowers bloomed in impossible colors—blue flames, velvet black, translucent ivory—and waterfalls in the distance cascaded over floating stones, defying gravity, their waters catching the light like crystal threads.
The air was different here—cooler, fragrant with something otherworldly. A quiet magic danced in every blade of grass, every petal, every breath she took.
It didn’t feel real.
It felt like stepping into a dream, or a memory from another life.
Her lips parted, eyes wide in stunned wonder. “Where am I…” she whispered, but even her voice sounded too loud for this place, like it didn’t belong.
The ground tilted beneath her.
Her knees buckled.
And before she could process anything else, her eyes rolled back and she collapsed, the glowing grass cushioning her as the world dimmed.