Chapter 3

That night, sleep was a stranger I couldn’t find. The rain had finally stopped, leaving the forest damp and dripping under a thick blanket of fog. The kind of fog that wraps around you like a secret, whispering things you’re not ready to hear.

I was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, when movement caught my eye through the window. Something, or someone, was out there, slipping between the trees like a ghost. My heart skipped, and I grabbed my camera from the bedside table without thinking.

Stepping outside, the cold air hit me, sharp and real. The ground was soft beneath my feet, the smell of wet earth and pine filling my lungs. I squinted into the gray shadows, but all I could see was the forest breathing, alive and watching.

Then, like a flicker in the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse...those golden eyes. Just for a moment. Enough to set my blood racing and my skin prickling like I’d touched electricity.

The wolf was still there, watching, waiting.

I took a hard breath and whispered, “Who are you?”

No answer, just the quiet sigh of the wind.

I didn’t know what to feel, fear, curiosity, or something strange that felt like belonging.

That night, I didn’t sleep again. Because something was changing in me, and in the forest, and I had a feeling it was only just beginning.

The rain had slowed to a gentle drizzle by the time I made my way down to the river’s edge. The water was swollen and wild, rushing over rocks like it was trying to tell me something, something urgent I couldn’t quite hear.

I pulled my jacket tighter around me, the damp clinging to my skin, and scanned the misty shoreline. That’s when I saw him, Kade, standing just a few feet away, his dark hair plastered to his forehead, eyes locked on the restless water.

“Why do you keep coming back here?” he asked without turning to look at me.

I shrugged, feeling suddenly shy under his gaze. “Maybe I’m waiting for answers.”

He was silent for a long moment, then spoke quietly, “Answers don’t come easy around here.”

The way he said it made the words feel heavier, like the forest itself was listening.

We stood close, the rain falling softly between us, and I caught a whiff of pine and something deeper, earth, rain, and a wildness I couldn’t name.

I wanted to say something, anything, but the words caught in my throat.

For the first time, I realized this wasn’t just a town. It was a world I was stepping into, one that didn’t always welcome outsiders.

Maybe i can think Kade was the key to unlocking whatever mystery had wrapped itself around me...

anyhow!?!...

The sky was bruised with clouds, heavy and low. I found myself back near the river again, drawn like a moth to the flickering glow of something I couldn’t explain.

Kade appeared out of nowhere, stepping from the shadows like he was part of the storm itself. His eyes met mine, dark and stormy, holding a weight I could almost touch.

“I see you in my dreams,” he said, voice low, almost like a confession.

I blinked, heart catching in my throat. “Me?”

He nodded slowly. “Every night. Before I even knew you.”

That sent a shiver down my spine. Was this some cruel trick of fate? Or something deeper, something written in the stars long before I ever set foot in Shadowpine?

For a long moment, we just stood there, the rain starting to fall again, soft and steady like a promise or a warning. I realized the storm inside me was only just beginning.

It was supposed to be just another quiet evening, until the snarls ripped through the forest like lightning tearing the sky apart. Rogue wolves. Wild, reckless, dangerous.

I barely had time to react before they were on me, teeth bared, eyes wild. Panic slammed through me like a tidal wave, and I was frozen, until Kade was there, like a shadow made flesh.

His shift was brutal and fast. Muscles rippled, bones cracked, and suddenly, he wasn’t just a man anymore, he was something fierce, something primal. The air hummed with power as he tore through the attackers, and when the last wolf fled, leaving the forest trembling, he turned to me.

I was shaking, breathless, blood dripping down my arm from a shallow bite.

Without hesitation, Kade leaned in, licking the wound gently, his breath hot against my skin. His voice dropped to a growl that sent chills straight to my core.

“Mine.”

The word hung in the air, heavy and undeniable.

In that moment, everything changed.

I wasn’t just a lost girl anymore.

I was his mate.

The rules, whatever they were, didn’t matter anymore.