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Echoes of the Feral
chapter15: A Path of No Return
The forest swallowed Riley whole.
The further she walked, the more the weight of her choice settled in her chest, heavy and unrelenting. She had left Kieran and Nova behind. Left the only people who had truly cared about her.
And for what?
For Callum?
For answers, she wasn't sure she even wanted.
Beside her, Callum moved with an easy confidence, his golden eyes gleaming in the dim light filtering through the trees. He didn't speak, didn't gloat like she had expected him to.
And somehow, that was worse.
It meant he didn't need to say anything.
Because he had already won.
Riley exhaled slowly, trying to steady her breath. "Where are we going?"
Callum smirked, tilting his head toward her. "Somewhere you can learn."
That wasn't an answer.
But before Riley could snap at him, a sharp pain lanced through her skull.
She stumbled.
Callum was in front of her instantly, catching her before she could fall. His grip was firm, grounding, but she barely noticed.
Because her head was splitting open.
Not literally but it felt like it.
Images flickered in her mind, too fast, too blurred to make sense of.
A flash of golden eyes.
A snarl of rage.
Blood in the snow.
And then
A voice.
"You're not supposed to be here."
Riley gasped, her vision snapping back to reality.
Her knees nearly buckled, but Callum steadied her, his expression unreadable.
"What was that?" she whispered.
Callum studied her for a long moment, then murmured, "Looks like we're not the only ones watching you."
Riley's stomach twisted.
She yanked herself free from his grip, her pulse slamming against her ribs. "That wasn't real."
Callum arched a brow. "Wasn't it?"
She opened her mouth and then shut it.
Because she didn't know.
She had never experienced anything like that before. It wasn't just a nightmare. It felt real. Like a memory
Except it wasn't hers.
Her breathing quickened. "What the hell is happening to me?"
Callum's smirk faded, his golden eyes darkening with something serious.
"That," he said softly, "is what I'm going to help you find out."
Riley swallowed hard, trying to push down the panic clawing at her throat.
Because she had a sinking feeling
That this was only the beginning.
Riley's hands trembled as she pressed them to her temples, her skull still throbbing from whatever the hell had just happened. The memory, if that's what it even was, was already slipping away, leaving only the ghost of a voice and the sharp sting of wrongness curling inside her chest.
"You felt that, didn't you?" Callum murmured, watching her with unsettling amusement.
Riley inhaled sharply, forcing herself to steady her breath. "I don't know what that was."
Callum took a slow step forward, his golden eyes gleaming. "It was a warning."
Her stomach twisted. "From who?"
Callum tilted his head, considering. "Now that's the real question, isn't it?"
A low growl built in Riley's throat before she could stop it. She was sick of his games, his riddles, the way he always knew more than he said. "Start talking, or I walk."
Callum laughed at that, shaking his head. "Walk where exactly? Back to your precious Kieran? You chose this, Riley. You walked away from them."
Her jaw clenched. "That doesn't mean I trust you."
Callum smirked. "Good. You shouldn't."
The admission startled her.
For a second, she didn't know how to respond.
But before she could process it, the air around them shifted.
Callum tensed.
So did Riley.
The trees, once swaying gently with the wind, suddenly stilled. The usual sounds of the forest, the rustling leaves, and the distant chirping of birds vanished, swallowed by a heavy, unnatural silence.
Something was watching them.
Riley's pulse spiked. She turned sharply, scanning the treeline, but there was nothing.
No movement.
No scent.
And that was what made her blood turn cold.
Callum let out a low breath, his voice barely above a whisper. "They've found us faster than I thought."
Riley's fingers twitched. "Who?"
A sharp crack echoed through the trees.
Riley spun.
A dark figure stepped out from the shadows.
Not a wolf.
Not even a man.
It was something else entirely.
And the moment Riley met its eyes
She knew.
This was what had been calling to her.
This was what had been waiting for.
The figure's voice was like smoke curling through her mind, low and ancient.
"You don't belong to him, child."
Riley's breath caught.
Because for the first time
She wasn't sure if it was talking about Callum.
Or Kieran.
Riley's blood ran cold.
The figure stood at the edge of the trees, just barely illuminated by the silver slivers of moonlight filtering through the branches. It wasn't just a shadow, it was something else, something ancient.
Tall. Cloaked in darkness. Its features weren't entirely human, yet they weren't entirely beast either. Its eyes gleamed like polished obsidian as if they had seen things no mortal ever should.
And when it spoke again, the voice didn't come from its mouth.
It pressed into Riley's skull, wrapping around her thoughts like smoke.
"You don't belong to him."
Riley's breath hitched.
Callum took a step forward, placing himself slightly in front of her. His usual cocky expression was gone, replaced by something sharper. "Took you long enough," he muttered.
The figure didn't move. Didn't blink.
But somehow, Riley felt its attention shift.
"You are meddling in things beyond your understanding, wolf."
Callum's smirk returned, but it was tight. "And yet, here we are."
Riley swallowed hard. "Who are you?" she demanded.
The figure's gaze snapped back to her.
The ground beneath her shook.
Not physically but something inside her reacted to it, like a second heartbeat pounding beneath her ribs.
"You already know the answer, child," the voice whispered.
Riley's stomach twisted.
No.
No, she didn't.
She couldn't.
But the burning sensation in her chest said otherwise.
Memories that weren't hers flickered at the edges of her mind golden eyes flashing in the dark, a silver blade dripping with blood, a name that had been lost to time.
Riley staggered back, pressing a hand against her chest.
What was this?
What was happening to her?
Callum glanced at her, his expression unreadable. "Looks like you're finally feeling it, huh?"
Riley barely heard him.
The figure stepped closer, its movements slow and deliberate.
"You are not meant to be here," it murmured. "You were not meant to survive."
Riley's breath caught in her throat.
And for the first time since this nightmare began
She realized that whatever she was turning into
It hadn't been an accident.
It had been a mistake.
A mistake the universe wanted to correct.
A sharp chill ran down Riley's spine.
The figure's words settled in her bones like ice, freezing her from the inside out. You were not meant to survive.
She wanted to reject it. To tell this creature that it was wrong. That she was meant to be here, meant to fight, meant to exist.
But deep down, in the place she had been too afraid to look, something in her agreed.
Something inside her had always felt off like a piece of her soul didn't quite fit.
And now she knew why.
She wasn't supposed to be here.
The knowledge clawed at her, sinking sharp fangs into her thoughts. Was that why everything was spiraling out of control? Was that why she was changing too fast, slipping away before she could even understand what she was becoming?
Had she been living on borrowed time all along?
Riley's hands curled into fists. "What are you saying?" she forced out.
The figure took another step forward.
Callum tensed beside her, his usual amusement gone. "Back off," he warned, his voice low.
The figure ignored him.
"You were meant to die that night, child," it whispered. "But something interfered. Something wrong."
The words hit her like a fist to the ribs.
Her head spun, flashes of that night the attack, the pain, the way Kieran had looked at her afterward why had he looked at her like that?
Riley sucked in a sharp breath. "You're lying."
The figure's obsidian eyes gleamed.
"Am I?"
The world tilted beneath her feet.
No.
No, this wasn't possible.
But
The mark.
The way she was changing too fast.
The way even Kieran had hesitated when she demanded the truth.
Oh, God.
What if
What if this wasn't just happening to her?
What if someone had made it happen?
Her pulse pounded in her ears. "Who?" she rasped. "Who interfered?"
The figure was silent for a long moment.
Then, softly, it murmured
"You already know."
The words hit harder than any physical blow.
Riley's breath caught.
And in that single, horrifying moment
She knew.
She knew.
She turned sharply, her chest aching, her vision blurring
And locked eyes with Kieran.