'Hah.. hah...!' Chloe's breath came out sharp and broken as she sprinted through the forest, her lungs screaming in protest and tears blurring her vision from exhaustion.
Fear sank deep into her bones. A snarl ripped through the air behind her. Hot breath brushed against the back of her neck. Close, too close, the closest one yet.
Her foot caught a root. She stumbled, arms pinwheeling, and a jaw snapped shut inches from her calf. She didn't look back to check how close. She already knew.
She didn't have time to count them, only to feel it, more than one set of paws, more than one snarl, closing from different angles like they were herding her.
Chloe couldn't help but curse. One, she could fight. Maybe two. But this, this many, closing in from every side, this was a death sentence and she knew it.
She stumbled into a clearing and looked up. The moon hung above her crescent, hidden behind a thin veil of clouds, casting a dim silver glow that barely guided her through the darkness. 'Please, moon goddess, don't let me die here. Not tonight,' she silently prayed.
The pounding footsteps behind her grew louder, vibrating painfully through her bones, driving her faster. "Damn it. I'm not going down without a fight," she muttered, glancing over her shoulder.
Suddenly a force yanked her sideways, and her stomach lurched. This was it. She'd lost.
A hand clamped over her mouth before the scream could escape. Chloe thrashed once, twice, then her eyes locked onto the face in front of her, and the fight drained out of her all at once.
"Ethan." His name came out as a sob.
"Shhh." His voice was commanding, jaw tight, honey-brown eyes scanning the treeline behind her like he expected the rogues to break through any second, like he wasn't as certain as he sounded.
"You're safe," he said. It didn't sound like he fully believed it either.
"Wait, you don't understand. There are rogue wolves on our territory," she insisted, gesturing behind her.
"Don't worry, I brought help, let's just get you home safe," he said.
Chloe glanced back and saw six wolves from her pack clashing with the rogues. She nodded, but her hands wouldn't stop shaking. Even with the rogues gone, she could still feel them, hot breath at her neck, the ground shaking under powerful sets of paws. She pressed a fist to her chest, willing her heart to slow, and let Ethan lead her home in silence.
"What were you doing this close to the border? Your mum's worried sick," Ethan said, slowing down so she could catch up.
Disappointment crept into her voice as she responded, "I went for a run... and lost myself in it. I thought it might help me shift."
"Oh," was all he managed to say.
The pack house stood before them, a familiar fortress that wrapped Chloe in a sense of security, her second home where she always felt safe. The building was a spacious two-storey mansion, housing the pack alpha and his family, along with the beta, theta, delta, and gamma members of the pack.
The muffled sound of the door shutting was quickly interrupted by a sharp shriek. "Oh my God, Chloe! Where have you been? Why weren't you returning our calls? I was worried sick," her mother rushed over, voice trembling with concern as she examined her.
"I'm sorry, Mum. I left my phone at home," Chloe replied, offering a weary smile.
"And your hair. Why do you look like you and the forest fought?" her father teased with a gentle grin as he approached, wrapping his arms around her and brushing away twigs and leaves from her hair.
"I went for a run," Chloe said softly, casting a pleading look at Ethan.
"You should see what she did to the forest," Ethan added, standing beside her, causing everyone to burst into laughter.
'Thank you,' Chloe mouthed silently as she took off her jacket.
"We're just glad you're alright. You should call to tell us next time," her dad said sternly.
"Okay dad, I'm really sorry," she said softly.
"Okay, that's enough of this. Let's head to the living room," her mother said cheerfully, a playful grin on her face.
Suddenly, multiple voices called out in unison, "Happy birthday!" as the lights flickered on. The living room was vast and elegantly decorated, easily accommodating fifty people. It was filled with colourful balloons and a large banner that read 'Happy Birthday,' while soft yellow lights cast a warm glow over the space.
The room was crowded with different members of the pack. Elders, her former classmates, and her closest friends.
Chloe couldn't help but laugh, knowing they did this every year. "Wow, you guys remembered! I thought you forgot," she said, feigning surprise.
"Happy birthday, Chloe!" called out a girl with coffee-brown hair and deep, expressive brown eyes.
"Thanks, Molly," Chloe replied, pulling her best friend into a warm, heartfelt hug.
"Don't thank me, thank Ethan. He was the mastermind behind everything, making sure your favourite dishes were ready," Molly said, pulling Ethan closer with a grin.
"Oh, it was nothing," Ethan said with a warm, humble smile. "Molly and Lucas chipped in. It was truly a team effort."
"Well, thank you. Really," Chloe said, pulling Ethan into a grateful hug, feeling lucky to have both of them in her life.
"Happy birthday, Cat," a familiar voice called out. Chloe pulled back from the hug to see Lucas grinning at her, already reaching for a plate of food he had no business eating yet.
"Glad you made it," she said, smiling despite the eye-roll she gave the nickname.
"Wouldn't miss a free cake." He ruffled her hair before she could duck away. "Were you able to shift tonight?"
The question landed like it always did: a small hook under her ribs. "No," she said, keeping her voice light. "Really thought this would be the year."
"It'll happen." He said it easily, already turning back toward the food table. That was the thing about Lucas, he never let a question sit long enough to hurt. She wasn't sure if that was kindness or just his nature.
Chloe let out a breath she hadn't meant to hold.
"Hey." Ethan's voice was quieter, closer than she expected. She turned to find him watching her, something careful in his expression. "You know it doesn't mean anything, right? The shift, whenever it happens, doesn't change anything about you."
"I know." She did know. She'd heard some version of that sentence from someone almost every day for the past few hours alone. It didn't make the wishing any smaller. "I just really wanted it to be tonight."
Ethan didn't answer right away. He didn't rush to fill the space either.
The party noise seemed to fall back a step. Molly's laugh somewhere across the room, glasses clinking, someone's off-key singing along to the music. None of it quite reached them. It wasn't an uncomfortable quiet. It was the kind of silence that only happened between two people who'd run out of things they needed to perform for each other a long time ago.
Ethan studied her for a moment longer, like he was deciding something.
"Chloe." Her name came out different this time, softer, deliberate, like he'd been holding onto it. "There's something I…"
He stopped himself. His jaw tightened, like the sentence had gotten too close to the edge of something and he'd pulled it back at the last second.
"Never mind." He shook his head, but the smile that followed didn't quite reach his eyes. "It's your birthday. Just enjoy the party."
Chloe stared at his receding back, her mouth opening and closing around words that never came. 'That was weird,' she thought.
She was still turning it over, the way his sentence had trailed off, the look on his face right before he'd caught himself, when her mother's voice cut through the noise.
"Chloe! It's time to blow out your candles!"
The thought scattered before she could hold onto it. Chloe blinked, shook her head once, and let the party pull her back in.
"Coming!" A wide, childlike grin spread across her face as she made her way to the centre of the room, Ethan's strange almost-sentence tucked away for later.
Her eyes sparkled with excitement as everyone sang happy birthday. She felt fortunate. Her life was good, she had great friends, and loving parents, the only thing missing was her mate, and her wolf.
As the room erupted into applause, she opened her eyes and caught Ethan watching her. It wasn't the easy, familiar look she knew, but something searching, almost startled. Like he'd seen something in her face she hadn't meant to show.
Then he smiled, quick and warm, and joined the applause like nothing had happened.
Chloe's chest did something strange. She didn't quite have a name for it yet.