The night was thick with mist, the full moon casting an eerie glow over the dense forest. Shadows stretched and twisted between the towering trees, whispering secrets carried by the wind. Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled—a deep, mournful sound that sent a shiver down Lena’s spine.
She shouldn’t have been here. The warnings were clear. No humans were to step beyond the boundary of the village after dark. Yet here she was, standing at the edge of the unknown, her pulse hammering in her ears.
A snap of a twig behind her made her whirl around, heart pounding. But before she could react, a figure emerged from the darkness—a man, tall and imposing, his silver eyes gleaming like molten steel in the moonlight.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he murmured, his voice a dangerous mix of warning and curiosity.
Lena took a step back, her breath catching. There was something unnatural about him, something untamed. She could feel it in the way the air around him crackled with energy, in the way his gaze pinned her like a predator studying its prey.
“I—” she started, but the words died on her lips when he took a step closer.
His presence was overwhelming, his scent a mix of earth and something wilder, something that made her stomach twist in ways she didn’t understand.
Then, as if the universe itself had decided to intervene, the clouds shifted, allowing the full moon’s light to fully illuminate him.
And in that moment, Lena saw the truth.
He wasn’t just a man.
He was something else entirely.
Something that shouldn’t exist.
