As Asha jumped from tree to tree, the branch broke under her bare feet.
Her long, dark hair waved behind her like a black flag in the wind.
As she went through the bush, she didn't make any noise. She lived alone for ten years and knew every rock, leaf, and place to hide.
She stopped on a big branch and looked at the water below. The same river that took everything away from her. Selene. The name hit her hard in the chest.
Even thinking about her little sister made her heart feel heavy. She was seven years old and had bright blonde hair and blue eyes that sparkled like stars. Selene who loved to pick flowers and chase bugs.
Selene who drowned because Asha wasn't watching her. "It's all my fault," Asha whispered to the empty forest.
The wind blew through the trees, making them dance. But Asha felt nothing. She hadn't felt happy in ten years.
Not since that terrible day when she was eight years old and her world fell apart. She jumped down from the tree and landed soft as a cat on the jungle floor.
Her bare feet barely made marks in the dirt. Living wild had made her strong and fast. Her muscles were lean and tough.
Her green eyes could see in the dark like a real wolf. But she was still just a girl who missed her family. Asha walked to her small cave hidden behind a waterfall.
Inside, she had made a home with animal skins and stolen blankets. A small fire pit sat in the center, cold and dark.
She rarely made fires anymore. Smoke might bring guests, and she didn't want to see anyone. She sat on her bed of soft furs and pulled her knees to her chest.
Tomorrow was her birthday. Eighteen years old. In the werewolf world, eighteen meant something special. It meant finding your mate. Asha laughed, but it sounded bitter and sad.
"Who would want me?" She was the girl who killed her sister. The girl who ran away when her family needed her most.
The girl who lived like a wild animal in the woods. Her father probably didn't even remember her birthday.
Alpha Kieran had loved Selene more anyway. Everyone did. Selene was sunshine and happiness. Asha was clouds and darkness.
A stick cracked outside her cave. Asha's head snapped up. Her wolf senses went on high alert. Someone was out there. She crept to the cave opening and peeked through the waterfall.
A man stood by the river, looking right at her hidden spot. He was tall with broad shoulders and dark hair.
Even from far away, she could feel power rolling off him like heat from a fire. Her heart started beating fast. Not from fear, but from something else.
Something she had never felt before. The man took a step closer to the waterfall. "I know you're in there," he said. His speech was deep and strong. "Come out."
Asha pressed herself against the cave wall. How did he find her? She had been so careful.
So secret. "I can smell you," the man said. "Wolf smell. But different. Special." Special? Asha almost laughed.
There was nothing special about her. But then something weird happened. Her skin started to tingle. Her heart beat even faster.
A warm feeling spread through her chest, like drinking hot soup on a cold day. What is happening to me? The man moved closer.
Through the falling water, she could see his face better now. He had sharp features and strong blue eyes that seemed to look right through her.
His jaw was strong, his lips pressed into a hard line. "Tomorrow is your eighteenth birthday," he said. Asha gasped. How did he know that?
"Tomorrow, you'll feel the mate bond," he added. "The pull that leads you to your other half. But I'm here to tell you something important."
Asha's hands shook. The mate bond? Was that why she felt so strange around this man?
"Your mate isn't who you think it will be," the man said. His voice got softer, but she could still hear every word.
"And when you find him, he will break your heart." The warm feeling in her chest turned cold. "What do you mean?" she whispered.
The man smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile. It was the kind of smile that promised trouble.
"He will choose another. Someone who looks just like the sister you think you killed." Asha's world shifted.
The sister she think she killed? What did that mean? She stepped forward, water from the falls soaking her clothes. "Wait! What are you talking about? Selene is dead!"
But when she pushed through the falls, the man was gone. Asha ran to where he had been standing. The ground was still warm from his feet.
His scent remained in the air - pine trees and danger and something wild. "Come back!" she shouted. "Tell me what you meant!"
Only silence answered her. Asha fell to her knees by the river. The same river where Selene died.
Her reflection stared back at her from the dark water. Green eyes wide with shock. Dark hair dripping wet. Pale skin that hadn't seen much sun.
Someone who looks just like the sister you think you killed. Those words spun around in her head like a storm. What did they mean?
Selene was dead. Asha saw her fall into the river. Saw her get swept away by the fast water. Searched for days until the pack made her stop.
But the man said think she killed. As if maybe... "No," Asha whispered. "That's impossible."
But a tiny seed of hope planted itself in her heart. What if Selene was alive?
What if Asha had been wrong all these years? She stood up fast, water dripping from her clothes.
If there was even a small chance that Selene was living, she had to find out. She had to know the truth. And she had to find her mate. The man said her mate would break her heart.
That he would choose someone else. Someone who looked like Selene. Asha clenched her hands.
She had lived with guilt and pain for ten years. She had hidden in the woods like a scared rabbit. But not anymore.
Tomorrow she would turn eighteen. Tomorrow she would feel the mate tie. And tomorrow she would start getting answers.
Even if those answers destroyed her. The wind picked up, making the trees whisper things she couldn't understand.
But one thing was clear - her lonely life in the woods was about to end. Somewhere out there, her mate was waiting.
And somehow, he was linked to Selene. Asha looked up at the full moon hanging in the dark sky.
"I'm coming," she whispered. "I'm finally ready to face the truth."
She turned and walked back to her cave, but sleep wouldn't come. Her mind was too busy with questions and fears and that tiny, dangerous spark of hope.
In twelve hours, everything would change. She just didn't know how much.