The temperature went from balmy to chilly as soon as I moved under the cover of trees. With no idea how far to go, I kept walking, senses on alert for sound—the crack of a twig, the pant of a breath, anything.

Silence pressed in on me, unnatural and eerie, because forests were never quiet; there was always some creature pottering about, be it night or day. But tonight, the only sound was the thud of my steady heartbeat. Fuck this. The alpha was expecting me, so making me stand about in a forest surrounded by creepy silence was simply a power play on his part.

I didn’t like being toyed with. “Hello! I know you’re out there, so if you don’t mind, can we get this over with?”

I wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but the deep silence thickened and then every hair on my body stood to attention. The Lycan inside me tensed, hackles rising and quivering with the absolute certainty that I was no longer alone.

A deep, rattling growl vibrated the air to my left and terror fisted my heart, forcing the heat of adrenaline to saturate my limbs. It was flight or fight, but instead my legs gave way, pulling me to the ground in a purely primitive defensive position. I waited, body low, arms up, ready to protect myself.

The rattling growl came again, to the right now, closer. So close that the air reverberated against my skin.

Breath coming fast and shallow, bladder tight with the need to expel, I tucked in my chin, dropping my gaze as the Lycan inside me recognized the superiority of the predator circling me. It surrounded me with its scent—a sharp, musky aroma that clung to the back of my throat.

“So you’re the little hybrid in my territory.” The voice was lava, thick and deep, evoking a strange heat in the pit of my belly. “I can smell your fear, little one.”

I wanted to speak, but my mouth was ashes, and my heart was a hummingbird slamming itself against the cage of my ribs.

“Why are you here, Lycan?” He said the word as if it was a dirty thing.

And, oh, God, he expected me to reply. I licked my lips and squeezed my eyes shut. Come on, Quinn, you’ve got this. “I inherited a house.” My words were less than a whisper. Shit. Speak up, dammit.  “My mother’s house.” Louder this time. Good.

“The clifftop house, yes. It passes through hands. But why come? Why leave your life. Surely you’ve heard the stories of this place?”

“Rumors. But nothing much.” I sounded almost normal now and it gave me confidence. “My partner and I…We wanted a fresh start. A home.”

“You want to make Hawthorne your home?”

“Yes. Please. I can work for you. I’m a freelance enforcer.”

A derisive chuckle was followed by a rush of air, and then hot, wet breath blasted the side of my face and the hummingbird in my chest choked, because even though I couldn’t see it, I could sense his magnitude, his power, the danger. The real mortal fucking danger. It zinged across my scalp and dug its claws into my neck.

I’d almost been torn to shreds by rogue Lycans. I’d been scared, but the heat of adrenaline had allowed me to set aside the fear and fight. But now, with the alpha of the Hawthorne Pack breathing down on me, and with his undeniably predatory presence hammering my skin, I finally appreciated the meaning of being shit scared. My bladder threatened to let go and my breath came too fast, limbs trembling with fear. I needed to run, but if I did that I was as good as dead.

“You want to work for me?” His tone dropped to an impossibly deep timber, one only a Lycan ear could pick up. “You, a terrified, sniveling specimen? What could you ever do for me?”

I opened my mouth and all I could manage was a squeak.

He moved behind me and something sharp and tapered brushed the back of my neck. A claw. He had a claw to my neck. Fuck. I squeezed my eyes shut, breathing shallowly through my nose.

“There is no room for fear in my world. No place for a coward. It would be an act of kindness to simply put you down.”

My neck burned. He’d cut me. Dug the tip of his claw into my flesh and cut me. In that moment, I knew with absolute certainty that I’d failed some kind of test.

He was about to kill me.