Marked by Midnight

                                   Eva  

The first time I saw him shift, I thought I was going to die.

I should have.

Moonlight spilled across the estate courtyard, pale and accusing, catching the silver glint of his eyes. Shawn Monteal didn’t walk like a man; he moved like a predator who owned the night and everything in it.

Shawn Monteal. His legacy was built, even from the werewolves world to the ruins we humans lived in, he was known. World class billionaire. There was something strange and dangerous about him though. People who encountered him had said. I never did. 

But now, I realize it. He is a werewolf. 

Nobody really knew. Nobody except me and his fellow werewolves. 

I freeze, clutching the edge of my cloak. I am a human. I am not supposed to be here. And yes, I'm very much aware that the werewolves lived behind the threshold border. And yet, here I am. 

Before you judge me, just know I was out to pick wildflowers, that'll be used to prepare the next batch of pain relief ointments I sold in the market centre. 

I've always snuck out here to get them, but never have I encountered such a sight as today. 

Run. Flee. Do not look at him.

Too late.

He was already aware of me. The faintest twitch of his jaw, a tilt of his head, and I felt the weight of his gaze pierce me like steel.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he say. His voice is velvet-smooth, yet, cold, and deadly. “You don’t survive what you’ve just seen.”

I swallow. A cold shudder runs down my spine. The words come out too fast, too sharp. Very unbelievable, even to myself. “I didn’t see anything.”

Who tells a lie this transparent?

 I am no kid, and it isn't my first lie, but for some reason, I feel too jittery to even maintain eye contact. 

He smiles. The corner of his mouth barely lifts, but it is enough. I see the teeth.The fangs. The ones meant for tearing. I see the wolf under the skin, watching, calculating.

“You lie poorly,” he say, looking at my feet briefly, before meeting my gaze again. “And yet… you are still alive.”

I shiver. His presence is suffocating. The air around him carried weight, metal, snow, and something darker I couldn’t name. I felt myself curl inside me, my instinct screaming, This is the end. This is the end.

And then he steps forward.

Time slows down.

I should have run. I couldn’t. My legs betrayed me. My mind betrayed me. The way he moved—graceful, unyielding, made my blood beat faster, a rhythm my chest recognized as a challenge.

I'll tell you something for free. I've never had to cower from anything. I was that fearless, hence my being inside the werewolf territory, hunting wildflowers. 

Am I stupid? Probably. Am I ready to acknowledge it? Definitely not now. 

"You stand unmoving" he says like he notices and keeps tabs. “Do you feel it?” One step closer. His eyes never leave mine. “The bond?”

I don't understand.I don't want to. I didn’t want to. What bond could there be between a wolf and a human? I had never heard of it, unless this was a first. Talking about "bond", I didn't feel any connection to the man or rather wolf before me.

 What I feel is more like a transfixion. I was stunned. Unmoving, like a deer caught in headlights. But a spark of fire? No. Nothing. Nada. 

Shawn stops, close enough that I can see the black in his eyes is not a reflection. It is a warning.

“You will answer me,” he says, Calm, patient, lethal. “You are mine now, whether you wish it or not.”

I try to back away, try to escape. My head screams loudly at me. I feel my adrenaline rush kick in. I'm in that fight or flight mode, but my legs falter. I can barely move away. And then his hand, ice-cold, impossibly strong, clamps over mine. The moment our skin touches, everything changes.

The world is tilting. I whimper. My mind screams again, this time, louder than before. I feel every heartbeat, every instinct, every shred of fear and excitement pulling me into him, into the monster he has become.

"Let! Me! Go!" I scream with defiance back at him. 

No way I belonged to him. True, I had seen what I wasn't supposed to, but if I didn't admit to seeing anything, what if I was telling the truth and he shouldn't be holding me captive?

"You don't get to go. Not now. Not ever." 

"Why is that? I told you, I didn't see anything." 

"But you did", he says, his claw trailing along my chin, down to my jugular vein. 

For the first time, I feel myself actually panicking. The type of panic that makes you weak in the knees. Yeah, that kind.

"You're no wolf, and you've seen what your eyes shouldn't. You have to die… or, I could let you live. But as a wolf. You've already seen too much." 

"Please, just let me go." I plead, being reduced to a whimpering mess. "I'll tell no one. I don't have a family or a relative to tell. Your secret is safe with me. I promise." Even though I had no family, I didn't want to die. Not yet. I had promised my late mother that I would live my life to the fullest. And now? A werewolf of all things would take that life from me? I grow more frantic, begging and pleading. 

"You may not know this about me, young lady but I do not practice mercy. You are no different" he said looking down at me, "your options were to die or to be turned. Although I'm quite sure you wouldn't survive the turning. No one does."

I just got an offer to die or to die. But what rubbed me wrong, was the condescending look I got from Shawn, the man above me. Bold of him to think I'd choose any of his options. 

"I would REALLY REALLY love to go" I say, tilting my head and giving him a lopsided smile that implies 'I'm still bargaining'.

I must have provoked him or something with that smile, because without warning, he pounces on my neck. Fangs, deep in the side of my throat. The pain travels around my body. I feel the bite so deep, the pain spreads throughout my body like molten lava, then I black out. 

I should die here.

I don't.

And worse—neither does he.