Chapter 37: The Hunter Becomes Hunted
Lily POV
The arrow whizzed past my ear so close I felt the feathers brush my hair. I dove behind a fallen tree, my heart pounding as more arrows thudded into the wood above my head.
"She went this way!" a voice yelled. "Don’t let her reach the river!"
I pressed my back against the rough bark, trying to catch my breath. Three days of running through the wilderness, barely stopping to eat or sleep, and the rogues were still following me. Every time I thought I’d lost them, they came again like shadows that wouldn’t fade.
My Triple Moon mark burned against my wrist, pulsing with a strange heat that seemed to grow stronger every hour. Whatever power was building inside me, it was making me easy to find. Like a light calling to every enemy in the forest.
Another arrow hit the tree. I had to move.
I crawled along the ground, staying low as I made my way toward a clump of rocks. The rogues were getting closer. I could hear their footsteps crunching through the dried leaves, spreading out to surround me.
"Come out, little omega," one of them called. "We know you’re tired. Stop making this harder than it needs to be."
I recognized the voice. It was Jake, the rogue leader who’d been hunting me since I fled their camp. He sounded way too cocky, like he knew something I didn’t.
That’s when I smelled it. More rogues. Not just the five who’d been chasing me, but at least ten others. Fresh scents coming from the direction I’d been going.
My stomach dropped. They hadn’t just been chasing me. They’d been moving me. Driving me exactly where they wanted me to go.