MARKED BY FATE : RETRIBUTION

CHAPTER 6 –Blood on the Wind

Carolyn

I don't remember when I lost my shoes. I only realised when a sharp stone pierced my foot. It must have flown off somewhere in the forest, but that was the least of my problems. As much pain as I felt at this point, I would pick it over being executed.

The forest tore at me as I ran through it, extended branches that covered the path scratching my legs and slapping against my face. Thorns and splinters bit under my bare foot and sharp edged stones scattered around the path kept poking the sole of my feet with each footfall. Every step was fucking raw pain, like the ground itself was trying to drink my blood.

My lungs screamed for air, my throat was dry and tight, my stomach twisting in on itself with a hunger pang so sharp it made my vision blur.

"Fuck!"

I had not eaten or rested. I had run for hours and yet they were still chasing after me.

I could smell them, a thick wolf smell mixed with smoke and fuel. They were loud and furious, bulldozing everything in their path as they charged after me.

My heart slammed violently against my ribs as their engines growled ruining the quiet night, their bikes tearing through the woods behind me, snapping branches and flattening underbrush in their wake.

They weren't even trying to be quiet. How would they when they didn't need to. They saw themselves as guardians of justice bringing a killer to the law and I couldn't blame them because all odds were against me and all evidence pointed at me.

I glanced over my shoulder, my silver hair whipping across my face, and saw flashes of headlights piercing the dark, two, maybe three bikes weaving through the trees, their riders in dark leathers, eyes glowing with the reflection of their own lights.

Fear flooded my veins so fast it made me dizzy. My legs felt heavy, uncoordinated, like they might give out at any second. I stumbled, nearly face-planting into the dirt, my palms scraping painfully against the ground.

Get up. Get up or you die.

I pushed myself forward with a sob tearing from my chest, my breath coming in ragged gasps. Tears blurred my vision, but I wiped them away roughly. Crying wouldn't save me. Begging wouldn't save me.

Peter, my only hope, my only chance at survival didn't believe me. Who could save me at this point if my own mate wanted me dead.

At this point even the heavens and everything in it could not stop my execution.

Running was all I had left.

The forest was unfamiliar, some felt wrong... different. The trees were taller, their trunks gnarled and twisted like they had grown around old wounds. Moonlight filtered down in fractured beams, silver and pale, casting long shadows that seemed to move when I wasn't looking directly at them. The air smelled damp and old, like moss and rot and something faintly metallic underneath.

As the bikes roared closer, panic slammed into me so hard I cried out. And then the wind changed. It wasn't gradual or natural.

One moment, the air was still and heavy, pressing down on me like a suffocating blanket. The next, a sharp gust whipped past my face, tearing through my hair and clothes, cold and forceful enough to steal my breath.

Branches cracked loudly to my left. A tree groaned, bending unnaturally as its limbs swung down, blocking one of the narrow paths behind me.

I heard one of the riders behind me scream "what the hell!" He was angry, startled... followed by the screech of brakes and the crash of metal against bark. Thud

I skidded to a halt, my chest was heaving vigorously. My eyes darted around wildly, filled with confusion, curiosity and fear.

"What is ha...?" I whispered, my voice trembling.

The wind didn't stop. It circled me, tugging at my skin, brushing against my arms and neck like unseen fingers. Leaves lifted off the ground, spinning slowly before scattering ahead of me, clearing a path through the undergrowth.

I didn't think, I ran.

My body moved differently, I felt different...lighter, faster.

My legs no longer dragged. I leapt over fallen logs without thinking, twisted sharply between trees that should have caught my shoulders but didn't. My reflexes were razor-sharp, every sound amplified, every scent painfully clear.

I could hear the warriors shouting behind me, frustration edging into their voices.

"How is she...?" One warrior barked. "She's too fast..." Their frustration was obvious  and it gave me the faintest spark of hope deep down.

I didn't know. I myself didn't even understand what was happening to me or how I was doing it.

All I knew was that when fear clawed up my spine, my heart raced harder and my thoughts screamed, the forest answered.

The ground beneath my feet softened suddenly, no longer hard and punishing. Where roots should have tripped me, they shifted, lifting just enough for my foot to clear them. Where rocks should have sent me sprawling, the earth dipped, cushioning my steps like damp clay.

I laughed... a broken, hysterical sound that startled even me.

"What exactly is happening?" I gasped between breaths, my voice shaking. "Is something wrong with the earth... or has the Moon Goddess finally shown mercy on the innocent?"

The question felt foolish the moment it left my lips. Because mercy didn't feel like this. This felt wild. I couldn't control whatever was happening. I didn't even know if it was me, all I knew was that it was weird and dangerous.

Another gust of wind tore through the trees, stronger this time, howling like a living thing. It shoved against my back, propelling me forward, while branches ahead snapped and fell away, opening a narrow corridor through the forest.

The bikes struggled to follow. I heard engines stall, tires spinning uselessly in softened ground, metal scraping against roots that had risen like grasping hands, wrapping the warriors.

A chill crept down my spine. This wasn't luck and there was no way in hell this was a coincidence, something strange was indeed happening.

I glanced down at my hands as I ran, half-expecting to see them glowing, burning, changing or something at least. But they looked the same, they were still scraped, dirty and trembling.

But something thrummed beneath my skin, a deep vibration that felt scary, a stinging sensation on my neck, as though an insect had bitten me.

Fear twisted in my chest, and it was not of the warriors anymore, but I was scared of myself or whatever was happening to me.

What if this wasn't the kind of help I was hoping for? What if this power didn't belong to me? For all I know it could be some witch in the forest manipulating me or worse the moon goddess leading me to my own doom.

The forest loomed thicker ahead, darker, its shadows swallowing the moonlight whole. I could feel it watching me now, the air heavy with tension, the ground warm and vibrating beneath my feet like a living pulse.

I ran straight into it anyway.

Because stopping meant death. And somewhere deep inside me, beneath the terror and exhaustion, a terrible realization struck me, the forest wasn't just sheltering me.

It was responding to me. And I didn't know whether that meant I was being saved... Or claimed.

The sounds of the engines finally seized. My heartbeat reverberated loudly in my ear and then I heard something different, footfalls drawing nearer loud and raging towards me.