Riley could barely keep up as Zayden pulled her through the winding streets, his pace swift and determined. His grip on her wrist never loosened, as if he were afraid she might slip away. And maybe she would. Maybe she was already slipping. The weight of what he'd just told her—the Pack, the werewolves—was suffocating. How could any of this be real?
Her mind buzzed with questions, but she couldn't ask them fast enough. "Zayden, what do you mean, 'marked'? How does this all even work? Who are they?"
He glanced over his shoulder, his jaw tight. "It's not something I can explain in a few sentences, Riley. It's complicated, and I don't know how much time we have before they start looking for you." He pulled her down an alley, and then through a small gate, leading them into a secluded courtyard.
The moment they stepped into the small area, Riley realized how far they had walked. They were deep in the outskirts of town now, the academy no longer in sight. A cold shiver ran through her spine, not from the chill in the air, but from the sense of being far from anything familiar. This place, this quiet, dark corner of the world, felt wrong. It felt like the kind of place where things were hidden, waiting to be uncovered, and not all of it would be good.
"Where are we?" Riley whispered, her voice barely audible against the hum of the night.
Zayden paused just inside the gate, his back to her for a moment. She could hear his breath coming in shallow bursts. He seemed... tense. Like something was weighing on him just as much as it was weighing on her. When he finally turned, his expression was softer, but there was still a hard edge to it.
"We're safe for now," he said. "But we need to keep moving. This place, it's... it's where the Pack can't find you easily. The walls here are built in ways you won't understand yet. Trust me."
"Trust you?" Riley could barely believe her own voice. How had she gotten here, standing in some random courtyard, trusting the very guy who had practically threatened her life on their first day? "You want me to trust you?"
Zayden's eyes softened, a rare vulnerability flickering in them. For a moment, he almost looked like a different person—the Zayden she had met before, the charming, cocky playboy. But that was gone now. The weight of whatever he was hiding, whatever had been lurking beneath the surface, had shattered that illusion.
"I didn't want you to be involved in any of this," he said, stepping closer to her, his voice low and intense. "But it's too late. You're in this now. And I'll do everything I can to keep you safe, even if you don't believe me."
Riley stepped back, shaking her head. "I don't understand. I don't get any of this, Zayden. And I'm not sure I want to. I just wanted to live my life. I didn't ask for this."
He stepped forward again, his eyes dark and unwavering. "None of us asked for this. But it's our reality. I'm sorry you're in the middle of it. But I'll protect you. You're mine now, Riley. You're marked by the Pack, and that means something."
Her breath caught in her throat. Mine. The word reverberated in her mind, sending a chill down her spine. She had heard him say it before, but now, it felt different. It felt like a warning.
Riley swallowed hard, fighting the rising panic in her chest. "And if I don't want to be marked? If I don't want to be a part of any of this?"
Zayden's gaze hardened, the shadows in his eyes deepening. "You don't have a choice. You're already a part of it, Riley. You always were. The moment you stepped into that school, the moment you caught their attention... you were marked. I don't care how much you resist it. The Pack will come for you, and when they do, you won't have a choice but to go with them."
"Who are they?" Riley demanded, her voice shaking with a mixture of fear and frustration. "What do they want from me? Why am I so important to them?"
Zayden took a deep breath, his hand rubbing his forehead as if he were trying to gather the strength to tell her something. The silence stretched on, thick with tension, before he finally spoke.
"They want to control you," he said, his voice low. "The Pack, they're not just about the werewolves. It's a whole system, a network of power. And they think you're the key to it."
Riley's mind spun. The key? She was just a normal girl—a scholarship student who had no idea what she had walked into. How could she be the key to anything, let alone something so dangerous?
"You've got to be kidding me," she whispered, shaking her head. "This is insane. This can't be real."
"I wish it wasn't," Zayden said quietly. "But it is. And you need to understand that you're no longer in control of your own fate. At least not entirely. I'll help you as much as I can, but this isn't something you can just walk away from."
He was right. She couldn't just walk away from this. But did that mean she had to accept it? Had she really stepped into a world she couldn't escape?
Before she could speak, a noise broke the silence. A sound that made her blood run cold.
Someone was coming.
Zayden's eyes shot to the entrance of the courtyard, and Riley's heart skipped a beat. The tension in his body was palpable as he stepped in front of her, shielding her from whatever—or whoever—was about to arrive.
"Get back," he hissed under his breath.
Riley's pulse quickened. The air around them seemed to crackle with an energy she couldn't quite explain, and her instinct screamed at her to run, to get away before it was too late.
But Zayden held his ground, his body a wall between her and whatever was lurking in the darkness.
"I told you to trust me," he murmured. "And now you'll see why."
The footsteps grew louder, closer. Riley's breath hitched in her chest as shadows began to form in the distance. This wasn't just a threat. It was a warning.
The Pack was coming.