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Episode 1 · Mature · 18+ private alpha

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Prologue: Run, Little Hunter

An Old Hunter’s Rhyme

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#Dark Fantasy#Tragic Romance#Werewolves#Fairy Tale Retelling#Forbidden Love
Table of ContentsEpisode 1 · 2 episodes available

About this story

Roja was born to be a Hunter.

At least, that was what everyone believed until her power never awakened.

While her younger brother inherited the strength, instincts, and future meant for their bloodline, Roja learned to wear red—the color marking those who cannot protect themselves. She still believes in her people, their duty, and the warning every Hunter child knows:

Never trust a wolf.

Then she runs straight into one.

Takowa should be everything Roja has been taught to fear. Instead, he catches her when she falls, lets her go when she retreats, and slowly becomes the one person who never asks her to be anything other than herself.

But Takowa carries a secret written into his very blood.

He is Kowa—the last of the Original wolves, descendants of an ancient bloodline Hunters have sworn never to forgive.

Roja has spent her life believing the story of the Hunter woman who trusted an Original and paid for it. Now she must decide whether centuries of warning matter more than the man standing before her.

Takowa knows the truth behind that old story.

He also knows some truths come with a price.

Their ancestors once proved that a Hunter’s heart and a wolf’s may meet.

Roja and Takowa are about to discover what happens when blood remembers what the heart would rather forget.

Blood betrayed them both.

Your guide through this story

Aly Star

Meet Aly Star

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View story content warnings

These warnings apply to the story as a whole.

  • This story contains dark and potentially distressing themes, including:
  • • Violence, blood, injury, and death
  • • Fantasy violence and supernatural violence
  • • Death of a major character
  • • On-page character death and grief
  • • References to historical persecution and mass killing
  • • Prejudice and violence based on ancestry/bloodline
  • • Family rejection, favoritism, and emotional neglect
  • • A child being accidentally injured by another child
  • • Sibling conflict and violence between family members
  • • Attempted killing and life-threatening injury
  • • Body transformation and loss of bodily autonomy
  • • Involuntary magical instincts and actions
  • • A character unintentionally killing someone they love
  • • Discussions of extinction and the loss of an entire bloodline
  • • Bereavement, survivor grief, and loneliness
  • • Doomed/tragic romance
  • • Themes of inherited hatred, generational trauma, and distorted history
  • The story draws inspiration from the darker tradition of folklore and fairy tales. Some characters experience violence, loss, and consequences they did not choose.
  • Please read with care.

Sun above and moon below,
Mind the path where wolf-blood goes.
Clap your hands and turn your head—
Never follow where wolves have led.

Pretty words and silver eyes,
Wolves wear love as wolves wear lies.
Take his hand and lose your name;
Kiss his mouth and feed the flame.

One for tooth and two for claw,
Three for blood beneath the law.
Four for maidens led astray,
Five for what the wolf takes away.

Hunter born and Hunter bred,
Keep your heart and cloak it red.
Should moon-blood touch your cheek,
The Hunter wakes. The wolf grows weak.

Run, little Hunter. Run him through.
Before the wolf makes wolf of you.
Remember well what came before:
A wolf may love and still make war.

A Hunter’s heart and a wolf’s may meet,
By silver wood and winter sleet.
But when blood wakes and old fears start,
Love and death will share one heart.

An ornate parchment featuring “Run, Little Hunter” in antique-gold text, framed by a golden sun, silver moon, leafy branches, a red-ribboned spear, and a howling wolf. A dark evergreen forest, distant mountains, lake, and golden triple-moon symbol fill the bottom.
Run, Little Hunter poem

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End of Episode 1

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Question from the author

Did you grow up with any children’s rhymes or games that seem surprisingly dark now that you’re older?

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