Chapter 1

I’d been chasing storms for years, well, chasing moments, really. The kind where the sky turns angry, and the forest seems to hold its breath, waiting for something wild to break loose. That’s why I was out in Shadowpine Forest, camera strapped to my neck, rain soaking through my jacket, and heart beating with this weird mix of fear and excitement.

The wind howled like a beast with a throat full of broken glass, twisting tree branches into claws that scraped my skin as I pushed deeper into the woods. The GPS on my phone was dead, no signal. Typical.

I wasn’t worried, though. Not yet.

That’s when the thunder cracked like a whip right above my head. The storm wasn’t just coming. It was here.

I scrambled to find shelter, my boots slipping on wet moss and tangled roots. My breath came out in ragged bursts, partly from panic, partly from the cold seeping into my bones. Then I heard it, a low growl from behind a bush, sharp and urgent.

My stomach dropped. Bears weren’t rare in these parts, but this felt different. Closer.

I paused, and just when I thought I was done for, a massive black wolf exploded from the shadows like a shadow itself, eyes glowing golden like twin suns. It barreled between me and the bear with a ferocity that made my heart stop.

The bear roared, swiped, and then bolted, probably smart enough to know it wasn’t a fight it could win.

The wolf turned to me, those golden eyes burning through the rain, and for a heartbeat, I swear we understood each other. Then it vanished into the trees, just as suddenly as it had appeared.

I stood there, soaked, shaking, and completely, utterly alone.

After the black wolf disappeared, I didn’t move for a long time. The storm had settled into a steady drizzle, but my heart was still beating fast like I’d run a marathon. My fingers trembled as I wiped the rain off my camera lens, but I barely noticed what I was shooting. The forest around me looked different, like it was watching me back.

I kept telling myself it was just a wild animal, nothing more. But those eyes… golden and fierce, not like any wolf I’d ever seen before.

I decided I should get back to town before the rain got heavier, but the woods had other plans. The path I thought I knew twisted in ways that didn’t make sense. Every tree looked the same, and my sense of direction completely vanished.

Minutes turned into an hour, or maybe more. My boots squelched in the mud. My stomach grumbled, not from hunger exactly, but the kind of emptiness that comes from feeling completely lost.

I stopped beside a fallen log, catching my breath. “Okay, Shea,” I muttered to myself, “time to figure this out.” But when I checked my phone, there was still no signal. Great!!

Just then, the distant howl of a wolf cut through the forest, raw and haunting. It made me shiver, not because I was scared, but because it felt familiar. Like the wolf was calling me.

I took a deep breath and stood up, muscles stiff. Somewhere deep inside, a voice whispered I wasn’t as alone as I thought.

As the rain started to pick up again, I pulled my jacket tighter and started walking. Maybe toward home. Maybe toward whatever that wolf was trying to tell me.

I finally stumbled out of the forest just as the sun was dying behind the mountains, painting the sky orange and purple. My clothes were soaked, my hair plastered to my face, and I probably looked like I’d been dragged through a swamp. But home was home, even if it wasn’t much.

Shadowpine wasn’t exactly the kind of town that made you want to stay forever. Small. Quiet. A few old cabins, a diner that smelled like burnt coffee and nostalgia, and more pine trees than people.

But what really got me was the way the locals looked at me. Like I didn’t belong. Like they could see the wolf hidden under my skin, even if I couldn’t.

I pulled my collar up and kept my head down, but I felt their eyes. Sharp, curious, maybe even a little scared.

I ducked into Maggie’s Café, my usual refuge when the rain chased me away from the forest. Maggie smiled when she saw me, warm and tired, like she carried all the stories of Shadowpine in her eyes.

“You’re soaked,” she said, sliding a mug of black coffee toward me. “Thought you’d been swallowed by those woods.”

I smiled back, grateful. “Almost.”

As I sipped, my mind kept drifting back to that black wolf. To the way he saved me. To those golden eyes burning like secrets I wasn’t ready to understand; for the first time in a long time, I wondered if maybe... just maybe, this town held more than I bargained for.