The Girl Who Shouldn’t Have Been There

The morning after the Blood Moon, Cedar Hollow felt different.

The sun was out, the market stalls were busy, and the scent of baked cinnamon bread drifted through the air like it always did but something in the atmosphere pulsed, sharp and electric, like the forest was holding its breath.

Or maybe it was just me.

I’d barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him again the stranger with amber eyes burning like wildfire, standing in the moonlit clearing as if the night itself bowed to him.

I had no business seeing an Alpha.

No human girl did.

But here I was, nervously tugging the sleeves of my faded sweater as I walked down the road leading into the village square, pretending last night was just a dream.

“Aria!  Mrs. Kim’s  voice snapped me back to reality. The old baker waved her flour-dusted hand at me from her stall. “You’re up early.”

I forced a smile and approached her stall. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Storm coming,” she said knowingly, even though the sky was perfectly clear.

People in Cedar Hollow rarely meant the weather when they talked about storms.

I paid for a bread roll and started walking again, trying not to look toward the tree line that bordered the village.

Trying not to remember the sound of his voice.

Mine.

The word wasn’t spoken like a question or a request. It was a command, dangerous and intimate at the same time, like he could bend the world with it.

Whoever he was, he wasn’t human.

And he definitely wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near me.

I kept walking until I reached the old wooden bridge that crossed the stream. A soft wind rustled through the leaves. The hairs on my arms rose.

Someone was watching me.

I stopped breathing.

Slowly, I turned.

Nothing.

Just the forest.

But my heart wouldn’t stop racing. The clearing wasn’t far from here. And the wolves well, they didn’t always stay on their side of the border.

I took one step backward.

A crunch echoed. Not mine.

“Who’s there?” I called, immediately regretting it. I sounded braver than I felt.

Silence.

Then

A shadow moved between the trees, large, powerful, purposeful. Not a deer. Not a hunter.

My pulse hammered.

The figure stepped closer, still half-hidden, but I could make out a broad silhouette, tall enough to make my breath catch.

Amber eyes glowed.

My stomach dropped.

It was him.

The Alpha.

He didn’t come out into the open, but I felt his presence like a storm behind clouds waiting, watching, deciding.

My voice came out small. “Why are you here?”

The wind carried his answer, low and rough, sending a shiver straight through me.

“To make sure you’re safe.”

My knees weakened. Safe? From what? From him?

I took a step back. His eyes followed every movement.

“You shouldn’t be near me,” I whispered.

A soft, dangerous hum left his throat. “And yet you walked into my forest last night.”

Heat rushed up my neck. “I didn’t mean to! I didn’t know”

“You answered the call.”

His voice. Deep. Certain. Like he knew the truth better than I did.

“I don’t even know your name,” I said.

He finally stepped fully out of the shadows.

Tall. Broad shoulders. Dark hair. Eyes that glowed like molten gold. He looked carved from danger and moonlight, an Alpha radiating a power that made the air vibrate.

“Justin,” he said.

The single word rolled through me like thunder.

“Alpha Justin Rowan.”

My heart stuttered.

The strongest Alpha in the North.

The one mothers warned their daughters about.

The one who never allowed humans close to him.

“What do you want from me?” I managed.

Something flickered in his eyes possession, longing, something fierce and undeniable.

“You.”

My breath caught.

“You’re not safe in this village anymore,” he said calmly, as if he hadn’t just shattered my entire world with one sentence. “And until I understand why I felt the pull to you…” His gaze softened, almost achingly. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I don’t need your protection,” I whispered.

He stepped closer, until the world behind him blurred.

“You have it anyway.”