Prologue
I hurtled through the forest, branches tearing into my skin, but I didn’t slow. My heart
pounded in my chest, producing a roaring that rang in my ears. That wasn’t good. I
needed my senses. I needed to know where they were. I heard the racing footsteps behind
me and lengthened my strides, trying to outrun them, to outlast them. If they caught
me, it would all be over, and I doubted it would be quick. I just had to go a little bit
farther…
My breathing was coming in harsher pants now, but my body was ignoring my fatigue,
fueled by the strength of my adrenaline. Giving up wasn’t an option. Though running
was familiar to this body, fleeing wasn’t. My instincts screamed at me to turn around and
fight. I had always been the hunter, never the hunted.
The scent I had been searching for reached my nose and I spun around to wait for my
pursuers. I could hear them coming, crashing through the trees in a manner that said one
of two things: either they were horrid hunters, or they were so strong that they didn’t care
if I knew where they were. I could make out several large figures in the darkness through
the trees. Several more figures stepped out of the darkness at my sides. In the distance, I
heard a howl.