Novels by SCIARTIST

Zach The car ride to the cabin was quiet. I kept stealing glances at Nicole, trying to convince myself she was really here, beside me. Her gaze stayed on the window, lost somewhere I couldn’t follow. I tried to listen—truly listen—to her thoughts the way I sometimes could, but her mind was a storm tonight, too chaotic for me to grasp. So much had happened these past days. So much I would have avoided if I could. But my hands were tied. All I could do was try to make her happy—even if that meant hiding the truth. I didn’t know if tonight would fix anything. The lies, the silence, the games… they were eating me alive. There were things about me she couldn’t know—not yet. If she saw me for what I really was, if she knew my true identity, she’d see a monster. Only another halfling could understand my dilemma. I wanted her desperately, but our worlds were too far apart. “Zach…” Nicole’s voice pulled me back as we stepped into the cabin. I’d spent hours making sure everyt

Nicole I found myself in a space encircled by darkness. “Nicole,” a voice whispered. Zach. That was all I could think of as my eyes fluttered open. The voice marched straight to his face—it was him. A kiss landed lightly on my cheek. His lips hovered just inches away, and I instinctively lifted my hands to feel where he had just touched me, to confirm it was real. Opening my eyes, I saw him smiling right before me. For a moment, I wasn’t sure this was real. “Are you real?” I whispered, not wanting to wake from what felt like a dream. Relief and disbelief tangled in my chest. “I’m right here with you, Nicole. Of course I’m real,” he replied, kissing my cheek again. “What… what happened?” I jolted upright. “How are you here? What’s going on?” I scrambled to my feet, heart racing. “Calm down, Nicole,” he said gently, stepping closer. “Don’t you dare,” I snapped, taking a step back. “Don’t tell me to calm down. You’ve been acting weird ever since, and I’m the on

Zach I still couldn’t believe I was hearing Nicole’s voice. Leah’s murmurs on the other end were barely audible, and I suspected she was speaking to Nicole. The distance in their tones, the effort it took to speak, only made the ache in my chest worse. I tried to focus on the conversation, but my mind refused to stay still. My grip on the phone tightened as a flood of emotions hit me—relief that Nicole was alive, guilt for not being there when she needed me, and a simmering anger I couldn’t place. The murmurs on the other end were almost unintelligible, yet their weight pressed down like a boulder. I wanted to scream into the phone for answers, but the words wouldn’t come. Finally, I pressed the red button, ending the call abruptly. Silence followed—deafening. My reflection stared back at me from the black screen, questioning, accusing. Nicole needed me… and I’d hung up. The guilt churned in my stomach as I stood beneath the stars, fists clenched, heart racing. Cold see

Zach It had been a long, grueling week. I and Jack had been hunting rogues, one after another, each hunt lead fizzling out like a candle flame that couldn’t stay lit after another. It was easy to get exhausted over it. The rogues didn’t follow any particular kind of order, they did not have a pack, and that made them unpredictable, but not just do, they were also dangerous. It made the hunt feel endless, like I was chasing shadows that always slipped out of reach. I landed a punch on a man, one of the rogues. He had been running from us for days, but we finally caught a few minutes ago by chance. Because of how hard he made it for us to get hold of him, I wanted to make him pay with all the anger boiling within my bones. He stumbled backwards, clutching his ribs, eyes wide, open with pain. I was furious at him, furious at the hunt, furious at the frustration that kept building inside of me. I wasn’t a violent man by nature, but this week had tested every ounce of my pat

Nicole The glass shattered into a hundred tiny pieces, scattering across the floor like confetti. I wasn’t upset—not really. Small accidents like this had become routine. “Oh my… Leah! Are you alright?” I asked, moving quickly to scan her hands and feet for cuts as I bent down. “I’m fine, Nicole,” she muttered, holding my gaze before crouching to pick up the shards. “Leah… what’s going on? You’ve been acting strange lately, and now this?” I knelt beside her, helping gather the fragments. She chuckled nervously. “I was startled for a moment. Then I remembered—there are no werewolves here. Maybe you saw a very big dog that looked like one.” Her laugh should have eased my concern, but I had a nagging inkling she wasn’t being entirely honest. I’d known Leah too long to expect answers when I asked. If I wanted the truth, I’d have to figure out another way. We both stood, hands pressed against the counter for balance. “Are you really okay?” I asked again, moving towar

Zach I sat on the edge of my bed, staring at the floor, trying to steady my breath. My ribs still ached from the fight with the rogues, but the pain was mild now. Compared to before, it was just a faint throbbing now. The adrenaline that had kept me going earlier was gone, leaving behind an exhaustion that seemed to seep into my bones. I felt like my joints were frozen. Jack stood by the window, his arms crossed over his chest, looking out at the thick woods that surrounded the pack house. The fading sunlight cast long shadows across his face, but I could see the tension etched on it, like markings carved into it by some wood fairy. “You know what this means, right?” he finally spoke, his voice low but firm. I didn’t look up right away. I already knew what he was going to say, and I wasn’t ready for it. Instead, I nodded, my fingers running through my hair. “Yeah?” I muttered, the words came off like a question but not so clearly. “We have to find the rogues and