As the sky outside deepened into evening darkness, a sense of dread crawled over my pelt.
What am I doing out here?I thought miserably.I left to dosomethingwith my life instead of being stagnant, but now here I am, whimpering in a cave by myself like a pathetic loser.
Shockingly, the self-deprecating thoughts didn’t make me feel any better.
But my exhausted body was forcing my mind to let go of all its loose trains of thought. They floated away, frustratingly unsolved, until I was left with the release of unconsciousness.
* * *
Or so I thought.Unfortunately, my troubled mind wasn’t ready to let me rest.
With stress came nightmares—and oh boy, was my brain really good at inventing those.
I stood in human form on the porch of the Augustin manor, the only home I’d known my whole life. Everything moved slowly in that thick, dreamlike quality. The key to the manor was clutched in my hand. The town melted into hazy abstract shapes. The people were faceless strangers. I stood alone in front of this massive, and now very empty building.
The dream lurched ahead into another scene: one in which I was running for my life.
My wolf paws moved like molasses. No matter how fast I ran, it didn’t translate through my muscles. I was a puppet controlled by my own cruel subconscious.
Hot breath and snapping teeth were right on my tail. Panic surged through my blood but I couldn’t run any faster. First there was one enemy, then two, then they exploded, multiplying into what felt like hundreds of enemies intent on hurting me.
One of them bit me, and I woke up with a gasp.
Reality slowly trickled back. I was in the cool alcove beside the waterfall. Not being chased by monsters.
I took a moment to catch my breath. I was alive. Nothing had killed me during the night.
But the nightmare cut me to the core. All the hairs on my pelt stood on end. I tried shaking it out to calm myself, but I probably still looked like a Halloween cat decoration.
I grumbled and got to my feet. Usually when I had a nightmare in the grove, I could forget it by playing with the kids or going for a hunt with my pack mates. There was none of that here. I was truly on my own.
I should’ve been used to that by now. Before being accepted into the pack, I was a stray for two years, constantly on the run, always fending for myself. I had the skills and knowledge, but I no longer had the drive. Life was impossible to live alone. I needed… someone.
That pang of envy returned, bright and strong, like a fanned flame. Everyone in the pack with a fated mate seemed so happy, even those with hard pasts like Len and Morgan.
But did I deserve that too? Was I good enough to have a fated mate?
By now my empty stomach was annoyed with me, so I forced myself out of the alcove. The reality of being a stray hit me. With no pack, I had no one to help me hunt. At the grove, there would still be a meal waiting for me if I messed up, but it wasn’t like that here. Food would come only from my skills, or lack thereof.
As an omega, I was too small to hunt big game like elk by myself, so I accepted the fact that I’d probably be living off fish and squirrels for the foreseeable future.
I padded up to the water to take a drink. It was clean and crisp, and it slaked my thirst. I was glad to at least have a water source nearby. I scanned the depths for fish and saw them darting around. Nothing big enough to be a substantial meal, but it was better than nothing.
I waited until a large minnow flitted to the surface, then I snapped at it with my jaws. I came up empty except for water. The minnow swiftly wriggled free, and all the fish darted to the other side of the pond.
I shut my eyes and exhaled.
You can do this, Remington,I told myself.You were a stray for two whole years. You can catch a single damn piece of prey.
What I apparently didn’t remember is what a crappy hunter I’d been, at least when I was alone. I remembered how healthy Hugo and the others looked when I met them for the first time. Their coats were full and thick, and their ribs didn’t stick out like mine.
My stomach growled again.
“Ugh,” I muttered.
Just as I got up to leave the water’s edge, a loud grunt drew my attention. I froze. It came from over the small cliff, where the waterfall crashed down.
There was something big there.
