Chapter 4 Blood in the woods

Ophelia's POV

I didn't even have time to scream.

The first rogue grabbed my arm and yanked me off the path so hard that my shoulder slammed into a tree. Pain shot down my back, sharp and bright, radiating out until my fingers went numb. Bark scraped my cheek. I tasted blood where my teeth caught the inside of my lip. Three of them. All bigger than me. All smiling like this was fun.

"Look at this," one of them said, voice rough and amused, dragging his eyes over me like I was something already dead. "The famous cliff jumper. The weak little omega everyone's talking about."

Another one laughed, a low ugly sound that made my skin crawl. "Vincent said you needed a lesson. Guess we get to be the teachers tonight."

"Get away from me," I said, voice shaking but loud, my hands curling into fists at my sides. "I haven't done anything to you."

"Not to us," the first one said, stepping closer, close enough that I could smell stale sweat and something like smoke on him, "but you talked. That's enough."

"Talked about what?" I shot back, even though I already knew. "Telling the truth? Is that a crime now?"

"Truth." He spat the word like it tasted bitter. "You called Clara Voss a liar in front of half the pack."

"Because she is one," I said. My heart slammed against my ribs so hard I was sure they could hear it. I tried to pull away, but the grip on my arm only tightened, fingers digging bruises into my skin. I kicked out, aiming for a knee, but the third one caught my leg and shoved me backward. I hit the ground hard. Dirt filled my mouth, gritty and bitter, and pain lit up along my backbone. My bag flew somewhere into the dark, out of reach, out of thought.

I scrambled up, palms scraped raw against the dirt, but there was nowhere to run. Trees on both sides, black and close. They spread out, blocking every way out like they'd done this before, as they'd hunted before.

One of them stepped closer, rolling his shoulders. "You really thought you could run your mouth about Clara Voss and walk away? Pathetic."

"Someone had to," I spat back, even as my legs shook under me, even as my voice cracked down the middle. "She's the liar. Not me. And you know it, don't you? That's why there are three of you for one omega."

"Shut her up," the second one muttered.

He lunged.

I twisted, but his hand caught my throat. Thick fingers wrapped around my neck and squeezed. My feet left the ground for a second. Air stopped. My vision blurred at the edges, the world tilting sideways, colors bleeding into each other. I clawed at his wrist, nails tearing into skin, felt something wet under my fingertips, but he was too strong. My lungs burned, screaming, empty. Everything suddenly became blank, swallowing the trees, swallowing his face.

I couldn't die here. Not before I find out what really happened to my mother.

Something inside me snapped.

A growl ripped out of my chest low, wild. It didn't sound like me. Heat exploded behind my ribs, rushing down my arms and legs like fire, so hot it felt like my blood had caught alight. The hand on my throat loosened for half a second in shock.

"What the........." he started.

I didn't think. I just moved. My knee slammed into his stomach, and the air went out of him in a wet gasp. When he bent over, I grabbed his head and smashed it against the tree behind me. The crack was sickening, wet, and final. He dropped, and his body hit the ground like something emptied.

The other two stared for one stunned second, mouths open, eyes wide in the dark.

"What the hell is she" one of them started, backing up a step.

Then they came at me.

I didn't recognize the strength in my own body. I grabbed the first one by the front of his hoodie and threw him like he weighed nothing like he was a bag of laundry and not a grown man. He flew into the second rogue and both of them hit the ground hard, a tangle of limbs and grunts. One tried to get up, scrambling backward on his elbows, eyes on me like I was something out of a nightmare. I was on him before he could stand. My fist connected with his jaw. Something broke under my knuckles, a wet crunch I felt more than heard, pain flaring up my arm. Blood sprayed across my face, warm and metallic, coating my lips. I could taste it.

"Please...." he started, blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth.

I didn't stop.

The last one pulled a knife, blade catching what little moonlight filtered through the trees.

"Stay back!" I shouted, though my voice cracked on the words, my chest heaving, my whole body shaking with something that wasn't fear anymore.

He swung. I felt the blade slice across my ribs, sharp and burning, a line of fire opening up under my skin, warm blood soaking into my shirt almost instantly. But the pain only made the fire inside me worse, hotter, hungrier. I caught his wrist, twisted until I heard a bone snap a sound like a branch breaking underfoot then drove my elbow into his throat. He choked, a wet gurgling sound, eyes bulging. I didn't stop. I kept hitting until he stopped moving, until my knuckles turned white and the woods had gone completely silent around us.

The only sound was my own breathing ragged, too loud, like I'd run for miles. My hands were shaking, violently now, like something had been switched off inside me. My knuckles were split and bleeding, stinging every time I flexed my fingers. Three bodies lay at my feet. All of them dead.

I stumbled back until my spine hit a tree. My legs gave out. I slid down to the ground, shaking so hard my teeth clicked together, the bark rough and cold against my back.

What the hell just happened?

I looked at my hands. They didn't look like mine. Blood in the creases of my knuckles, under my nails, drying dark and sticky on my palms. They looked like someone else's. Someone strong. Someone dangerous.

My fingers went to the locket under my blouse. It was burning hot against my skin, almost painful, searing a small circle into my collarbone. Just like it had been in the tower. Just like it had been every time something woke up inside me.

I killed them.

I actually killed three people.

OMG...no.no.no...

My stomach turned. I leaned over and threw up until nothing came out, my whole body convulsing with it, tears stinging my eyes though I refused to let them fall. I pressed the back of my bloody hand against my mouth. Don't cry. Don't you dare cry. Not here.

"Get up," I whispered to myself, teeth chattering. "Get up, Ophelia. Get up."

I forced myself to stand. My ribs hurt where the knife had cut me, a deep, pulsing ache with every breath, blood still trickling warm down my side. My throat felt bruised, raw enough that swallowing hurt, like I'd swallowed glass. But I walked. One foot in front of the other, back toward the omega dorms. Back toward something that still felt like home, even if it didn't anymore.

By the time I reached my room, my hands had stopped shaking, but the fear hadn't left. It sat heavy in my chest like a stone, cold and immovable.

I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw their faces. Heard the sound of bone breaking. Felt the way my body had moved as it belonged to someone else, someone I didn't recognize and wasn't sure I wanted to.

I needed answers.