She's Mine Now

The howl shredded the silence like claws through silk.

Not a sound I recognized. Not like Aiden's powerful, rumbling growl. Not like Killian's haunting midnight song. This… thing… sounded older than the forest. Like it had slithered out of a forgotten time to find me.

"Rae," Rowan hissed beside me, his voice sharp and low. "We need to move. Now."

But I was frozen.

My name still echoed in the wind. Not spoken aloud, but inside my skull. Whispered into the marrow of my bones.

The witch's hut was completely dark. No embers. No candlelight. No glow from the runes she'd carved into the dirt. Even the fireflies outside had vanished like they'd been snuffed out by fear.

Rowan gripped my hand tightly and dragged me from the doorway.

"Did you hear it?" I asked, breath hitching. "Tell me I'm not losing my mind."

He didn't answer. His jaw was clenched so tight I thought it might crack.

We ran. Branches whipped at my arms, tearing the thin sleeves of my dress. The mist had returned, thick and cold, like fingers trailing along my spine. I couldn't see the moon anymore.

Behind us, something moved.

A shift in the wind. A pressure in the air.

I looked back.

Two glowing eyes opened in the black. But they weren't like a wolf's. No golden light. No wildness.

These were pale. Bleached. Empty, but aware. And locked onto me.

"ROWAN!" I choked.

He whirled, shoving me behind him just as a shape lunged from the trees—huge and fast, but not solid. Not quite there. Like smoke given claws and rage.

It struck Rowan full force.

He grunted, crashing into the underbrush with a snarl. I screamed, reaching for him but he twisted midair, already shifting, bones cracking as fur bloomed along his skin.

Rowan's wolf slammed into the creature and both vanished into the dark.

I stumbled backward, heart in my throat. "Rowan!"

No answer.

Then something else moved behind me.

I spun,

And found Killian.

Half-shifted, eyes blazing, teeth bared. "Get behind me!"

Aiden appeared from the opposite side, shirtless, furious, covered in cuts that were already healing. "Where is it?"

"I—I don't know!" I gasped. "Rowan...he fought it....it dragged him—"

Killian grabbed my face between his hands. "Are you hurt?"

"No—no, I'm fine—"

But I wasn't.

Because that thing had called my name.

Because Rowan hadn't come back.

And because the moment Aiden turned toward the shadows to track it, he stopped dead.

He sniffed the air. Slowly. Deliberately.

Then looked at me like I was something entirely new.

"What?" I asked, my voice cracking. "What is it?"

Killian stilled, too.

Their gazes locked over my head.

Aiden said hoarsely, "You reek of it."

"Of what?"

"Of him," Killian whispered.

My stomach dropped.

Not Rowan.

The other one.

The thing.

"He touched you?" Aiden growled, fury igniting in his chest like a bomb. "That thing touched you?"

"No," I said quickly. "No, I don't think so, not really, just… he called my name. I felt it."

"Inside you," Killian murmured, eyes narrowing. "Like a pull."

I nodded.

He looked at Aiden again. "You don't think—"

"I don't know what the hell I think," Aiden snapped. "But I know it wasn't a wolf. And I know it wants her."

Killian took my arm. "We're leaving."

"I'm not leaving without Rowan!"

"I'll go," Aiden muttered, already shifting. "You two get back to the pack."

"Wait—" I started, but Killian pulled me into his chest, wrapping me in his heat as Aiden disappeared into the trees like a shadow himself.

And then we ran again.

Through the forest. Past the witch's still-dark hut. Back into the lands where the trees began to thin.

Only when we were near the border of the pack grounds did Killian slow.

He didn't let go of me. His hand was on the small of my back. Firm. Protective. Possessive.

"What the hell was that thing?" I asked, breathless.

"I don't know," he said. "But it wasn't a normal creature. And it wasn't just after Rowan."

His eyes found mine.

"It was after you."

A chill crept over me. "But why?"

Killian didn't answer.

Not because he didn't want to.

But because he didn't know.

We reached the packhouse just as the guards opened the gates, weapons drawn. They'd heard the howls too.

Someone brought me a blanket. Someone else was shouting for healers. I ignored it all.

My eyes were on the tree line.

Waiting for Rowan.

Waiting for Aiden.

Neither came.

Minutes passed. Then an hour.

Still nothing.

I was about to demand to go back out when the ground trembled slightly—and a shape broke through the trees.

It was Aiden.

He was dragging something.

My heart stopped.

It was Rowan.

Bloodied. Barely conscious. But alive.

I ran for them, ignoring the voices behind me.

Rowan's eyes flickered open just as I dropped to my knees.

"Hey," I whispered. "Hey, you found your way back."

He tried to smile. It hurt to see. "Told you… not leaving again."

Then he passed out.

Hours later, the packhouse was quiet.

Aiden sat by the fire, hunched forward, jaw tight. Killian stood near the windows, arms crossed, scanning the woods like he expected the creature to appear again.

I sat between them. Silent. Shaking.

"Whatever that was," Aiden said at last, "it came from beyond the veil."

Killian turned. "That's not possible. Nothing crosses the veil anymore."

"It did," Aiden said flatly.

Killian's gaze flicked to me.

"Because of her," he said.

I stood up. "You keep saying that like it's my fault."

"It's not fault," Killian said. "It's fact."

"The witch called me the She-Wolf Queen," I said quietly. "She said I walk with death at my heels."

No one said anything.

I looked at both of them.

"Do either of you know what that means?"

Aiden ran a hand through his hair. "No. But I know this—"

He stepped closer, voice lowering.

"That thing wasn't just hunting. It knew you. It recognized you."

Killian added, "And when Rowan fought it… it didn't try to kill him."

"What?"

"It marked him," Killian said.

I froze. "What do you mean, marked?"

Aiden pointed to Rowan's shoulder. "That scar? It's not natural. It's a symbol."

I swallowed hard. "A symbol of what?"

Killian met my eyes.

"Of a claim."

Everything inside me went still.

And then,

Rowan groaned from the other room.

Followed by a voice that didn't belong to anyone here.

It slithered across the walls.

Low. Male. Hungry.

"She's mine now."