The first wolf charged at selena, claws flashing. Selena dodged, narrowly missing the strike, then countered with a blow that knocked the wolf off balance. The beast stumbled, and in the next moment, she sank her teeth into its shoulder, tearing into its flesh with ferocity. The wolf howled in pain but fell silent as it hit the ground with a final, sickening thud.
"Keep pushing!" Kade shouted as he fended off another attacker. The battle was chaotic, wolves swarming in from all sides, but the three of them—Aiden, Kade, and Selena—were unstoppable.
Yet, despite their efforts, the attackers kept coming, more and more emerging from the trees. Selena's heart pounded as her legs began to feel the strain. She was fast, but the numbers were overwhelming. For every wolf she took down, another appeared in its place.
A scream rang out—a familiar, haunting sound that made her blood run cold.
"Selena!" Kade shouted, his voice laced with panic.
Selena's head snapped in the direction of the sound. Aiden was already moving before she could fully process what was happening. There, in the middle of the chaos, a figure stood—a man, tall and menacing, his eyes glowing a sinister shade of red. Behind him, more wolves gathered, waiting for their orders. But it wasn't the man's presence that struck terror into Selena's heart—it was his face.
"Ryker!" Selena gasped, the name escaping her lips before she could stop herself.
The Alpha from her past, the one who had rejected her, stood there with a cruel smile curling on his lips. His eyes met hers, and for a moment, time seemed to stop.
"So, this is where you've been hiding," Ryker said, his voice dripping with contempt. "How pathetic. You're still just an omega, no matter how hard you try to hide it."
Selena's heart sank. The rejection. The humiliation. It all came rushing back. Ryker, standing there, a symbol of her past rejection and the pain that had never truly healed.
"You think you can escape your fate?" Ryker continued, his gaze flicking to Kade and Aiden. "This pack—you think you can just abandon it and build your own little family?" His lips curled into a sneer. "I'll show you the truth of who you really are. You'll never be more than what you were born to be—weak."
Anger boiled up inside Selena, far stronger than the doubt she had once carried. Her wolf, Luna, growled in fury. She wasn't weak anymore. Not by a long shot.
"Shut up!" Selena shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos.
Ryker's smirk faded, replaced by an unsettling calm. "You've always been a disappointment, Selena. You'll never be strong enough to survive what's coming."
Aiden stepped forward, his eyes glowing with determination. "We'll see about that."
Before Selena could make a move, a loud crack echoed through the clearing—a signal to the wolves to attack. The ground trembled as a massive wolf, twice the size of any of the others, lunged toward Selena.
She barely had time to react.
The wolf's jaws snapped shut around her, the force of the attack sending her sprawling to the ground. Pain exploded through her body as the weight of the massive creature crushed her. For a moment, everything went black.
Then, the ground beneath her shifted. A roar filled the air, followed by a blur of motion.
Kade.
With one swift, brutal move, Kade tore the giant wolf off Selena and tossed it aside. But as Selena staggered to her feet, another figure appeared from the darkness—this one with eyes just as dangerous as Ryker's.
The leader of the rogues.
He was here.
And he wasn't alone.