#8 Fighting Together

Ryanna POV

They weren’t chasing me anymore.

That should’ve meant victory, triumph, And gloating rights. Instead, the hairs on my arms rose like the forest itself held its breath. The silence wasn’t peaceful. It was watching me. Waiting.

I crouched along a thick pine branch, letting the wind move through my hair. No snapping twigs. No snarls. No pounding footsteps.

But I was not alone.

A new scent drifted through the night air, warm, smoky… and familiar in a way that made my stomach tighten. Not cedar and amber. Not steel and moonlight.

This was darker. Muskier. Wild. Amber-eyes.

My pulse stuttered, traitorous.

And beneath it, woven deep like ink swirling through water…cold shadow. Black-eyes. My throat dried instantly.

They were close. Both of them.

I slid along the branch, testing the shimmer. It crawled under my skin like a second heartbeat, ready if I needed it. I peered down, slow and careful… then froze.

There, nested at the base of a fallen log, was a wounded soldier.

Human. Pale. Slumped sideways, breathing shallow, his arms bound. The moonlight caught on a blood-soaked sleeve. And the scent of that blood hit me like a fist.

Sharp. Metallic. Familiar. Something inside me surged, a memory I couldn’t grasp but felt in my bones.

I moved before I thought, climbing down the tree silently, my heart hammering.

A twig snapped behind me.

I spun with my knife raised, and came face to face with him. Amber-eyes.

He stepped out from behind a cedar trunk, his broad shoulders cutting through the moonlight. His eyes glowed molten amber, locked entirely on me.

No snarl. No threat. Just raw, devastating hunger.

“You came,” he murmured. His voice was deep, and almost gentle.

“I didn’t come for you.” My knife stayed up.

He looked at the bound, bleeding soldier, then back at me. “Doesn’t matter. You’re here.”

A shiver cut down my spine. He took one slow step closer. And shadows shifted behind him.

Black-eyes emerged like the forest parted for him, his presence sharp as a blade. His shadow curled at his feet, alive. Watching. Hungry.

His gaze swept me once, from my boots to my lips. He exhaled sharply, like he’d been holding his breath.

“Of course,” he muttered, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “She ran right into you.”

Amber-eyes’ jaw flexed. “You followed me.”

“You made enough noise to wake the dead.”

Black-eyes tilted his head. “And she would’ve picked me first if you didn’t stink up the entire damn clearing.”

My brows shot up.

Their bickering… it was stupidly hot.

“I didn’t pick anyone,” I snapped.

They both turned to me. Two predators. Two pairs of glowing eyes. Both staring like I was the first drop of rain after a drought.

Amber-eyes took another step, slow enough that I could stop him. I didn’t.

“You smell like us,” he murmured. “Like… mine.”

My heart slammed so hard I felt it in my teeth.

Black-eyes tensed visibly.

“Don’t start,” he growled at his packmate. “This is fucked already.”

Amber-eyes didn’t even look at him. “Doesn’t change what’s happening.”

“What’s happening,” I shot back, “is that I’m leaving.”

I stepped backward.

Amber-eyes was there instantly, moving faster than anything that big should. He caught my wrist, not hard, not painful, just enough to make my breath snag.

“Don’t disappear again,” he whispered.

My stomach twisted painfully. Because gods help me, that plea hit somewhere deep.

Black-eyes saw it. And something dark flashed through his expression.

“You’re pathetic,” he hissed at Amber-eyes. “Begging. Over a girl who kissed two others and ran from you both.”

Amber-eyes didn’t break eye contact with me. “I don’t care.”

Heat shot to my cheeks. Black-eyes’ gaze sharpened, like he felt the shift in me.

“What,” he asked softly, “do you feel when you look at us?”

I swallowed hard. “Confused. Angry. Annoyed.”

“And?”

My voice was barely air. “Drawn.”

Black-eyes’ pupils blew wide. Amber-eyes’ breath caught.

A low, broken sound escaped him. “I knew it.”

He pulled me closer slowly, giving me every chance to fight. I didn’t.

His hand slid to my jaw. My breath trembled. His lips brushed mine once, just a whisper-soft touch that made my knees go weak.

I made a sound I’d never heard from myself. Half gasp. Half moan. And Amber-eyes kissed me.

This kiss was nothing like silver-eyes’ stormy hunger or golden-boy’s heat. This was deep. Slow. Worshipful. Like he’d been waiting for me.

His arms wrapped around me, dragging me flush against the wall of his chest. His tongue brushed mine gently, tasting, coaxing, and pulling soft whimpers from my throat.

My fingers curled into his shirt. And Black-eyes made a sound so sharp and feral I broke the kiss instantly.

He stalked forward, shadows rippling like he might tear the world apart. Amber-eyes stood his ground. “Touch her and I’ll break your face.”

Black-eyes’ voice was a razor. “Don’t tempt me.”

“You want her too,” Amber-eyes shot back.

Black-eyes froze. Just barely. His jaw clenched. His pupils diluted, black swallowing the whites of his eyes.

“I want nothing,” he said tightly. “This is a mistake.”

Amber-eyes huffed. “Then why do you smell like jealousy?”

Their scents collided, warm spice and cold shadow tangling in the air. My pulse was a drum in my chest. I wanted both of them. My body knew it even if my mind refused to accept it.

Black-eyes turned away sharply, his jaw working. “We need to move. There’s blood.”

Right. The soldier. I nodded, stepping toward the wounded figure. Amber-eyes caught my arm. “Please don’t vanish again,” he whispered.

His voice cracked. Cracked. My heart splintered.

“I… I won’t,” I whispered back.

Black-eyes’ head snapped toward us, stunned, but before he could say anything, the stink of rot hit the air.

The ambush struck fast.

Four attackers burst from the brush, their claws out, and their eyes glowing sickly yellow. Rogues. Their bodies moved wrong, jerky, like something else was controlling them.

Black-eyes lunged forward instantly, his shadow rising like a beast with teeth. Amber-eyes shoved me behind him, snarling a promise of violence.

The first rogue leapt, Golden-boy crashed into him midair, slamming him into a tree. Silver-eyes appeared at my side, blades in both hands, his eyes glowing like the moon.

“Don’t leave the ground,” he snapped. “They’ll drag you under.”

Too late.

One rogue barreled toward me. I dodged left, slashing with my knife, but another came from the blind side. Amber-eyes snarled, tackling him before he could reach me.

Chaos detonated. Golden-boy ripped a rogue’s throat out with his bare hands. Silver-eyes moved like lightning, slicing tendons and arteries with surgical precision. Black-eyes’ shadow pinned two attackers at once, thrashing them until bone cracked.

Amber-eyes fought like a goddamn wildfire, every strike brutal and precise.

And for the first time....we were fighting together.

Then pain ripped through my side.

A rogue’s claws carved across my ribs. Hot blood surged down my hip. My vision blurred.

Amber-eyes roared my name so loudly the trees shook.

“Little Queen!”

I stumbled backward, clutching my side, panic flooding my limbs. Too much blood. Too much noise.

Too close. Too fast.

“Don’t disappear!” Amber-eyes begged, sprinting toward me.

“Stay with us,” silver-eyes growled.

“Little Queen!” Golden-boy reached for me.

Black-eyes’ voice cut sharper than a blade. “Little queen, don’t....”

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. The shimmer rose like instinct.

“No!” Amber-eyes lunged.

Too late.

The forest swallowed me whole as I faded into nothing, my blood dripping through empty air as I vanished.

And four alphas howled my name into the dark.