The Stranger in the Hallway

Calista Rivers' POV

I did not sleep that night.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the forest. The fire. The dagger.

By the time my shift ended, the sun was rising. I walked to my car in the hospital parking lot, my body moving on autopilot. I needed to go home. I needed to forget what happened.

But when I reached my car, someone was leaning against it.

The man from the operating room.

He stood there like he had been waiting for me. He wore dark jeans and a black jacket now, not a hospital gown. His wounds were gone. Completely healed. Not even a scar.

He looked at me with those impossible silver eyes, and I froze.

"Dr. Rivers," he said. His voice was deep, smooth, like gravel and honey mixed together.

"How do you know my name?" I demanded. My hand moved toward my phone in my pocket.

"We need to talk."

"No. We do not." I unlocked my car door, my fingers trembling. "You need to leave, or I am calling security."

"You saw something last night," he said. "In the operating room. You saw me heal."

I stopped. My breath caught in my throat.

"That is impossible," I said.

"You know it is not."

I turned to face him. He had not moved, but somehow he felt closer. Like the space between us was shrinking without him taking a single step.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Kael Varyn," he said. "And you are in danger."

I laughed. It was a bitter, exhausted sound. "The only danger I am in is from lack of sleep. Now move, or I swear I will run you over."

He stepped aside. But before I could get into my car, he spoke again.

"You had a dream last night. A forest on fire. A man with a dagger."

I froze. My hand gripped the car door so hard my knuckles turned white.

"How do you know that?" I whispered.

"Because I was there," he said.

I stared at him. My mind raced, trying to make sense of what he was saying. He could not have been in my dream. Dreams were not real. They were just my brain processing stress.

But those silver eyes. I had seen them before. Not in a dream. In a memory I did not have.

"You are insane," I said. My voice shook.

"Maybe," Kael said. "But you felt it, did you not? When I touched you in the operating room. You felt something."

I had. A rush of emotions that were not mine. Love. Rage. Grief. They had slammed into me all at once, so powerful I thought I might drown in them.

"I do not know what you are talking about," I lied.

Kael stepped closer. This time, I did not back away.

"You are running out of time, Calista," he said. "Whatever you think you know about the world, you are wrong. And if you do not let me help you, you will die."

"Are you threatening me?"

"No," he said. His eyes softened, and for a moment, he looked sad. "I am trying to save you."

Before I could respond, a sound split the air. A low, guttural growl that did not come from any animal I had ever heard.

Kael's entire body tensed. He turned toward the parking lot entrance, his eyes narrowing.

"Get in your car," he said. His voice was no longer calm. It was sharp. Commanding.

"What—"

"Now!"

I saw it then. A shadow moving between the parked cars. It was too large to be a dog. Too fast to be human. And when it stepped into the light, I saw its eyes.

Red. Glowing. Hungry.

The creature lunged toward us, and Kael moved faster than anything I had ever seen. He shoved me behind him and met the creature head-on.

And then he changed.

His body twisted, bones cracking, muscles expanding. Fur erupted across his skin. His face elongated into a snout filled with sharp teeth. Within seconds, the man was gone.

In his place stood a massive wolf with silver-gray fur and glowing eyes.

He was a werewolf.

I could not breathe. Could not move. Could not think.

The shadow creature slammed into Kael, and they rolled across the pavement in a snarling mass of claws and teeth. Kael fought with brutal efficiency, his jaws clamping down on the creature's neck. Black blood sprayed across the ground.

The creature shrieked and dissolved into smoke, vanishing into the morning air.

Kael stood there, panting, his massive wolf form heaving with each breath. Then he turned to look at me.

I should have run. Should have screamed.

But all I could do was stare.

Because somewhere deep inside me, in a place I did not understand, I recognized him.

Kael shifted back into his human form. He was bleeding from a gash on his shoulder, but he did not seem to care.

"Now do you believe me?" he asked.

I opened my mouth to answer.

And then the world went black.