Chapter 2 Come home with me

KORA

I knelt over the body and pressed my palm against his chest, feeling the last remnants of warmth still trapped beneath his skin. The man stared sightlessly at the moon above us, his mouth hanging open as though death had interrupted whatever lie he had intended to tell next. Blood darkened the front of his shirt, spreading slowly into the earth beneath him, but I barely noticed it. My attention was fixed on something far more important.

The soul.

The moment I reached for it, I felt it answer.

Power rushed beneath my skin, slow and thick at first, like warm water being poured directly into my veins. I closed my eyes, inhaling sharply as the familiar sensation spread through my body. It always started the same way. The weakness disappeared first. Then the dizziness. Then the constant ache that lived deep inside my bones whenever I went too long without feeding.

Most people ate food.

I ate souls.

The realization should have horrified me after all these years, but it didn’t anymore. Survival had a way of making monsters out of everyone.

A shiver ran through me as more of the man’s essence flowed into my body. Instantly, fragments of him followed.

Memories.

Emotions.

Sins.

I saw flashes of things I never wanted to witness. A woman crying while he laughed. A child hiding beneath a table. Blood smeared across trembling hands. Fear. Cruelty. Regret.

No. Not regret. That was the problem. There wasn’t any. I grimaced.

Gods, this one was awful.

Every soul carried a different feeling. Some felt warm. Some felt bright. Some settled inside me like sunlight after a cold winter. This one felt filthy. Like swallowing swamp water. Like forcing poison down my throat because dying of starvation would be worse.

Still, I took what I needed.

I always did.

By the time I finished, my hearing had sharpened enough to pick apart individual sounds from miles away. I could hear insects moving through grass. The distant rush of a stream somewhere beyond the trees. The rustling wings of an owl overhead.

And then, Footsteps. My eyes flew open. There wasn’t one person, several, all coming at once and fast.

Panic slammed into me so hard that I nearly stumbled backward.

No.

No no no.

Not now.

I pushed away from the corpse immediately, wiping blood from my mouth with the back of my hand before darting toward the thickest cluster of trees nearby. Branches snagged my clothes as I squeezed myself between tangled roots and crouched low against the forest floor.

My heart hammered violently. The sound echoed in my ears like war drums.

I pressed a hand against my chest.

Slow down.

Please slow down.

Every time this happened, every time fear took hold and sent my pulse racing, the energy I had just stolen burned away faster. It was one of the cruelest parts of what I was. The stronger my emotions became, the quicker the power disappeared.

And only the gods knew when I would find another soul worthy enough to feed from.

So I forced myself to breathe quietly while the footsteps grew closer.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Wolves. I knew it immediately.

Their scent reached me before they stepped into view. I pressed myself deeper into the roots of the tree, forcing my breathing to slow despite the panic clawing its way up my throat. The energy I had just taken was still settling inside me, spreading through my limbs like warmth after a bitter winter, but fear was already eating through it. I could feel it happening. Every frantic heartbeat burned a little more of it away. The footsteps grew louder. Five wolves. Definitely wolves. Nobody else moved like that. Humans stumbled through forests. They snapped branches, cursed under their breath when roots caught their feet, and breathed too loudly when they were tired. Wolves were different. Wolves moved with purpose. Even when they weren’t trying to be quiet, they carried themselves like predators. The first man emerged from the darkness moments later, broad shoulders pushing through the undergrowth. Four others followed behind him, all armed, all alert. My stomach tightened immediately. Pack wolves. I hadn’t seen this many together in years. The sight alone was enough to drag old memories from places I spent every day trying to bury.

Run, Kora. Don’t let them find you. Don’t let them know who you are.

My mother’s voice lived permanently inside my head. Even after three years. Even after death. The men stopped around the corpse. One of them immediately covered his nose.

“By the gods,” he muttered, disgust curling across his face. “What sort of creature did this?”

Creature.

My gaze dropped. The word shouldn’t have bothered me anymore. But it did. Because deep down, when the nights were long and the woods were too quiet, I still asked myself the same question. What exactly was I? The leader crouched beside the body. Unlike the others, he wasn’t disgusted. He was studying it. Carefully. His large hand gripped the dead man’s jaw and turned his face toward the moonlight. I found myself staring despite knowing I should leave. He was older than the others. Not old. But older. Dark hair threaded with silver at the temples. Broad shoulders that looked capable of carrying entire trees. A face carved from hard lines and experience. The scent coming from him was stronger than the rest. Far stronger.

Alpha.

The realization struck immediately. Not just any wolf. An Alpha. I had never met one before. At least not this close. The stories described Alphas as larger, stronger, more dangerous than ordinary wolves. The stories hadn’t done him justice. Even from where I hid, I could feel the authority rolling off him. The woods themselves seemed quieter around him. Like the night instinctively knew who stood at the top of the food chain. Then suddenly his head turned. Directly toward me. Every muscle in my body locked.

No. No, no, no.

Surely not. There was no way he could see me. I was hidden behind roots and shadows. I hadn’t moved. I hadn’t breathed. Yet those dark eyes remained fixed in my direction. The pressure in my chest grew.

Gods. He knows. He knows I’m here.

I shrank further into the darkness. The Alpha continued staring. His expression didn’t change. Not even slightly.

“Should we search the woods, my lord?” one of the wolves asked. “Judging from the scent, whoever did this can’t be far.”

My pulse thundered. I gripped a root so hard my fingers hurt.

Please say no. Please.

If they searched properly, they would find me. And if they found me…

I didn’t know what happened next.

The Alpha remained silent for several moments, still staring into the darkness where I hid. Then finally he stood.

“Yes,” he said.

My stomach dropped.

The wolf beside him immediately straightened.

The Alpha pointed toward the eastern side of the forest.

“You go that way.” Then he pointed north. “And you, that way.” Another direction. “And the rest of you spread out.”

The wolves nodded immediately.

“The killer should be male. Approximately thirty years old. Large build. Probably wounded.”

I blinked. What?

Every single thing he said was wrong. The killer wasn’t thirty. Wasn’t male. Wasn’t wounded. The wolves didn’t question him. Not even for a second.

“Understood, my lord.”

Within moments they disappeared into the darkness exactly where he instructed.