The Hunt
Chapter 88
Jake blinked once, as if he wasn’t certain he’d heard her right. “You want me to drag them out?”
Aria didn’t flinch. Her voice stayed calm, steady, despite the exhaustion that lined her bones.“You said they’re scouts. If that’s true, you've observed them which means you probably know how they think, how they move.”
“Use that. Bring them out into the open. I want to see who’s following us.”
Kael straightened immediately, his tone sharp. “No. That’s a mistake if I ever heard one.”
Aria turned, her brow furrowed. “No! What do you mean, No?”
“You know what I meant.” His gaze was hard, his tone clipped. “We’ve barely stopped moving since last night, running on little to no sleep, Lucien can barely breathe and is probably half-dead, and you want to draw out enemies we can’t even see yet?” He scoffed, “If they’re scouts, they already know where we are. The moment you show yourself, you tell whoever sent them, how confident we are and…” He gave a pointed look at the bags under her eyes, “How tired.”
Jake’s mouth curled faintly, amusement flickering in his eyes, “He’s not wrong,” he said, his tone amused. “But confidence scares wolves more than fear does.”
“Or it gets you killed,” Kael shot back.
Jake’s grin widened. “That too.” He tilted his head, “But you can't hide from people who already know you’re here.”
Kael turned on him sharply. “You think I’ll take your word for anything? We don’t even know who you are.”
Lucien shifted against the rock, letting out a pained laugh that quickly dissolved into a cough. “Can you guys just stop arguing and agree that we’re probably screwed either way?”
Aria turned on him sharply. “Don’t joke about this.”
He raised a brow, a flicker of his old charm momentarily breaking through the pain on his fave. “If I stop joking, I'll start screaming. Pick one.”
The silence that followed was brittle, fragile as glass. The forest was alive with the sound of crickets, birds chirping but none of it felt natural anymore. It felt like even the trees were watching them.
Aria finally broke the silence, “We can’t keep running blind. We can’t sit and wait to be hunted. If we move blind, they might corner us.”
Kael stepped closer, lowering his voice. “And if we chase ghosts through the woods, we’ll burn through the last of our strength before we even reach the Lucien’s pack.”
His jaw worked as he stared her down, but she didn’t back off. For a long moment, the two of them stood there—Alpha and warrior—neither yielding. The only sound was the rustle of leaves and Lucien’s strained breathing.
Finally, Kael exhaled through his nose. “You want to see them? Fine. But not like this. Not with a stranger who could be leading us into another trap.”
Jake tilted his head, “If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t be standing here. I’d be dragging your corpses to the nearest pack border for coin.”
Kael snarled, “Like you could take us.” at the same time, Lucien let out a low weary groan and muttered, “Well that’s comforting.”
“A stranger who’s disturbed your trail to make it harder for the scouts,” Jake continued, unfazed. “You’d already be surrounded if I hadn’t intercepted one of the signal marks they left behind.”
Kael ignored him, focusing on Aria. “He could be leading them right to us.”
“Or I could be leading ‘you’ away from them,” Jake countered.
Kael frowned, turning to him. “You expect us to take your word? Just like that?”
Jake shrugged. “No. But you don’t have much else to go on, do you?”
Aria looked from one to the other, her pulse drumming in her ears. The Rune along her spine burned faintly, its heat thrumming in time with her heartbeat. She hated how often she’d had to make choices like this lately—blind, uncertain, balancing faith against survival.
She glanced at Jake for a brief moment before turning to Kael. “Please let me do this.”
He huffed at her tone, before relenting. “One hour. No longer. He goes alone, and if he doesn’t come back, we move.”
Jake gave a faint, mocking bow. “Generous.”
Aria ignored his tone. “You heard him. One hour. Go.”
Jake gave a single nod, then disappeared into the trees, barely making a sound.
They settled into an uneasy quiet as they waited. Something crowed in the distance, and somewhere, water dripped steadily from the rocks above. Time seemed to stretch, slow and heavy, the only sound the glint of steel as Kael checked his weapons.
Lucien coughed, grimacing. “You trust him?”
“No,” Aria said softly. “But I need to know who’s watching us.”
After a while, Kael spoke, he was crouched by the rocks, sharpening his blade with slow, deliberate strokes. “You’re starting to think like a leader,” he said without looking at her. He paused, the scrape of steel against stone halting. “That's good.”
Aria blinked, weary. “Was that meant to be a compliment?”
“It’s supposed to be a warning.” He replied.
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
He finally looked up. “It means stop trying to control everything. “Some leaders start thinking they can predict everything. They start making decisions before they have all the pieces. Then they start losing people. And when that happens, they call it fate, or duty, or destiny.” His gaze sharpened.
“You’re not the Moongoddess, Aria. You can’t see every shadow. And some shadows aren’t meant to be seen.”
Before she could respond, a low whistle echoed through the trees.
Kael froze instantly, his head snapping towards the sound. “That’s not him.”
Aria rose, tension coiling through her muscles. “Scouts?”
Kael moved to her side, hand on his sword. “Could be. Or maybe… something worse.”
Then another whistle answered, from the opposite direction. One long, two short.
Then the forest went silent again. Too silent.
Aria’s Rune flared faintly under her skin—hot, restless. She swallowed the chill creeping up her spine. “They’re communicating,” she said quietly. “With each other.”
Lucien’s eyes flicked toward the trees, uneasy. “So why aren't they attacking?”
Kael’s expression hardened. “Because they don’t need to. They already know where we’re going.”
The words hung heavy between them.
Aria glanced toward the direction Jake had gone, the shadows between the trees now feeling deeper, thicker. “You think he led them to us.”
Kael’s voice was grim. “I think we’re about to find out.”
Minutes bled into an hour. Jake didn’t return.
Aria paced, each step tightening the knot in her gut. Kael finally stood, sheathing his sword. “Time’s up.”
“Wait,” Aria said suddenly. The Rune along her back pulsed hot enough to sting. She looked toward the treeline, her breath catching.
There, just for a heartbeat something moved. A flash of silver, gone as soon as she focused. “Did you see that?”
Kael saw it too. “What was that?”
Before either could answer, a voice drifted through the trees, filled with mischief.
“Alpha Vale,” it called out. It sounded like it wanted to laugh.
Aria froze, every part of her screaming. The voice wasn’t Jake’s.
Kael drew his sword in one smooth motion, his body tense. “Who's there?” He called out.
“Your pet didn’t make it very far.” The voice came again, though closer this time. “But he was kind enough to leave us a message.”
A dark shape broke the line of trees, and something small landed at Aria’s feet with a dull, wet sound. She looked down.
A silver pendant.
She picked it up. It was still warm.