The Lycan King’s Mark (Nevara) by Tiffanie L. Campbell novel Chapter 9

– THE WILD BEYOND

+25 Points

bare. The scent of the earth clung to my fingers, rich and sweet. For the first time in a long while, the simple act of finding food felt like joy instead of survival.

I rinsed my hands in the creek, watching the ripples dance away. The water was cold enough to sting, but

it grounded me.

Then the air changed.

It started small–a shift in the wind, the faint prickle of awareness running up my neck. The birds quieted.

Even the bees vanished from the flowers. The silence that followed wasn’t peace, it was listening.

My wolf went still inside me.

There was something out there.

Something wrong.

A scent drifted past–musk, dirt, faint rot. Rogue. Old enough to sting my nose but fresh enough to make my pulse climb. My parents had warned me that this region had its share of ferals–wolves who’d lost themselves to the wild–but I hadn’t expected them to roam this close to the cabin.

I stood slowly, scanning the treeline. Nothing moved, yet the shadows felt thicker than before, the air heavier. Beneath the feral scent came another–softer, cleaner. Wild, yes, but threaded with something

older… familiar, even. My heart kicked in confusion. It didn’t feel like danger. It felt like memory.

I couldn’t name it, but it tugged at me–the faint pull of something that once mattered, that once knew me

Another twig cracked, close enough to make me flinch.

“Alright,” I whispered, voice barely more than breath. “Enough exploring for one day.”

I turned toward the path, keeping my steps light but steady. The key was not to run. Running meant prey. and prey triggered pursuit. Every instinct screamed to move faster, but I forced myself into a calm, even rhythm. My hearing sharpened, catching everything–the whisper of leaves brushing together, the rustle of fur in the brush, the low, deliberate breathing of something keeping pace.

Whatever followed wasn’t one creature.

There were at least two, maybe three, spreading out through the trees like a fan. The sound came from everywhere at once, impossible to pinpoint. They were closing the circle.

I gritted my teeth and kept walking, letting my wolf push forward just enough to heighten my senses. My vision brightened, every detail sharp and vivid: bark patterns, shifting shadows, a single feather drifting from a branch. The forest seemed to pulse around me, alive with unseen eyes.

At one point, I could have sworn I saw movement–a blur of gray sliding between trunks–but when I blinked, it was gone. My pulse thundered in my throat.

“Almost there,” I murmured to myself. “Almost home.”

The clearing broke open suddenly, sunlight flooding my vision. Relief hit like a drug. The cabin waited just

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< CHAPTER 9- THE WILD BEYOND

+25 Points

ahead, steady and small against the backdrop of trees. I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath until I let

it go.

But the relief didn’t last.

Even from a distance, I knew something had been there. The grass near the porch was flattened in

irregular patches, the kind that came from pacing or circling. Claw marks scored one of the wooden porch posts, deep enough to curl splinters from the grain. The door itself was still closed–locked, as I’d left it- but a faint smell clung to the air around it. Wet fur. Mud. Blood.

I stood at the edge of the clearing, heart hammering, scanning the treeline. The woods were silent again-

too silent. Whatever had come this close wasn’t here now. But it had been.

Watching. Testing.

I stepped forward slowly, every instinct sharp as a blade. The world felt suspended, waiting for me to

move, to break the invisible line between safety and something else entirely.

When I reached the steps, I saw the faintest print in the dirt–half a paw, half a boot heel, as if something

had shifted mid–form. My blood ran cold.

My wolf pushed forward hard, senses blazing. Whoever it was, they weren’t rogue. Not exactly.

Something else had been here too. The faint, familiar presence I’d scented by the creek lingered in the air

like smoke after lightning.

Two forces.

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