He is Ghost

Void

She was so fucking stupid.

Her paws pounded, turning up dirt as she ran. Faster and faster through the forest, she ran. The trees blurred in her peripheral vision, casting an eerie quality on the already haunting forest of Judd's outer territory. Blood thrummed loudly in her ears, competing with the whispers of the leaves for her full attention. It was a losing battle; everything was swallowed up by that sound, her heart hammering. Even her other senses were devoured, pushed to the background as if they had never been there at all. She could feel nothing, smell nothing.

Was nothing.

It was a sensation Neira did not like. There was a sense of betrayal in her bones. It was completely and entirely irrational. Vaguely, she knew it was the work of the mate mark, but at that moment, Neira couldn't pull all the erratic emotions apart. Her level-headed self was thrown into a world of chaos from not only this heat but also by Judd. By this damned mark.

How could she have missed this vital piece of information? An alpha male living with a faint female scent, all the cryptic talk between him and the other members of his pack, the hints?

They were all so clear now, flashing red lights right in her face.

Why did she even care? She was using him just as he was using her.

He marked you.

Fuck.

She needed space, distance from Judd and his alluring mate mark. She needed to think for a damned moment for herself.

Had she just been so relieved not to have to go through that pain again, so eager not to be that horrible writhing thing once more that she'd let herself be bound? The second she'd stumbled upon a male strong enough, she had taken him up on whatever he had offered. Even that mark...

She was so fucking stupid.

Maybe he hadn't had a choice? Perhaps it was the only thing he could do at that moment to calm her down - put his teeth in her throat. The guilt ate at her. Part of this was her fault. The stories her mother had told of mates were always so different. Maybe it was bred out of them? Maybe things would be different for her than it had been for her mother...

But what if it wasn't different?

Neira knew that her mother's stories could very well be just that, stories. Stories told around the fire at night with her and Elias giggling like embarrassed teens. Still, they had talked about it. The possibility of finding a mate. They even entertained the thought of being with one another until that, too, was crushed by one of Lumi's bedtime tales.

What about before? The other female? Was this a habit of his? A sick kind of obsession? Neira didn't know what to believe now. Who to believe: the lying saviour or this haunting newcomer? So many things she didn't know, things she was too naive to understand.

What happened to her, the other female? His other mate? His first choice? Neira needed everything to click into place. She needed to understand.

Things still didn't add up. He was a strong and dominant alpha male with a pack and a large expanse of territory. How had she never heard of him before? It should have been common knowledge, table talk.

Unless they had been lying low.

She was so fucking stupid.

A sick knowing part knew this other female was dead. That answer was written on his stupid face. But how did she die? And when? How long had she been his alpha female before her death?

Why?

Shade implied something horrible had happened. It was something that had burned them both and pushed Judd's pack into hiding. And yet, she'd never heard of this other alpha either. In all her travels, she'd never even heard a whisper of Shade.

Something horrible indeed had happened to this other female.

What was Neira to Judd then? A plaything? She tried not to let it bother her.

There were so many questions that her head pounded, and her vision blurred, and she stopped wondering where she was running to. The trees blended together, bluing into wisps of pine green and chocolate. Mist coated the earth at her paws, still thundering through the brush. She thanked her lucky stars she hadn't marked him back.

Had that male, Shade, been warning her? No. He'd looked at her like she was a prize to be won. She saw his eyes in her head still, black and bottomless. Like a well. They had reflected her image back at her like a mirror. They were a dark reflection of her own, filled with shadows and smoke.

Like the smoke that was curling around the base of that tree...

She shook her head to cast the haze from her mind, her ears hitting the side of her face. Even before she opened her eyes, she knew it would be gone - the wisps pulled back to wherever they came from. Neira huffed loudly. These woods were playing tricks on her.

Or perhaps it was her own mind that was spreading chaos through her vision, letting her see things.

She couldn't place it, the eerie feeling these woods gave her. Something seemed to watch her, follow her, over every fallen log or piece of brush - around every corner. She couldn't shake it, the tingling, the quakes deep in her legs-

There was a crack to her left. Neira skidded to a halt and froze.

An icy chill coasted up her spine. The hair on the back of her neck shuddered as it came to life. Her gut sank so low in her belly that she thought she might be sick. Fear so consuming gripped her like a vice. Neira held her breath.

Slowly, oh so slowly, Neira turned her head.

And she knew, even before her eyes landed, what kind of nightmare waited for her.

An onyx wolf stood off to the side, too large for these woods, this world. He was massive, taking up the space between two hulking trees like a cork in a wine bottle. There was no room for him here, no room for anything else. No room to even breathe. His legs stretched tall. They were too long, his ears more pointed than she'd seen before. And his coat - it was silk, black strands reflecting the misty light of the forest. It bothered her, his colouring, his stance. It bothered her more than it should.

Maybe she could have withstood the darkness he brought. Maybe she could have looked this hulking, horrible creature in the face if not for his eyes. They were not the same as his human eyes, black and bottomless, seeming to swallow the light.

In this form, they were stark white.

White like snow.

Void.

Void of any colour, taking over the pupil entirely.

Gazing at its eyes, Neira felt fear grip her in its clutches anew. The chilling feeling along her spine intensified; her legs screamed at her to run. Her heart threatened to burst inside her chest. She could only stare, frozen in place, her gaze fixed on his own.

But his eyes weren't on her...

The white empty eyes of the wolf were fixed on nothing, staring off into the forest above Neira's head. She didn't dare move, not even breathe, as he just stood there. Time seemed to slow, long moments passing with her heart hammering. Her still. Him frozen. Seconds? Minutes?

His head dipped not even an inch towards the ground, and Neira couldn't hold her breath any longer.

Upon her small inhalation, his eyes landed on her. Pinned her to the spot as if it were an arrow through her heart. The void of his eyes swallowed her thoughts, and yet it still appeared like his gaze wasn't wholly fixed on her. It was as if he hadn't even seen her, only heard her...

She took a step back, and in response, he snarled low. So low she felt it shudder through the air between them. It shook the ground at her paws, rattling into her skin like a jackhammer.

But even now, his eyes weren't really fixed on her. Neira stretched a paw out, kicking against a fallen branch, rattling the leaves it nestled in.

His gaze shot to it, tall ears moving, searching for her.

He was blind.

This body, this form of his, was fucking blind.