THREE: Flames of the unknown

🫶LEXI🫶

I was on fire.

In the dream, the stranger from the woods had me pressed against the rough bark of an ancient pine, his body hard and unyielding against mine. His mouth was on me like he was starving....hot, demanding, claiming. His lips crushed mine in a kiss that stole my breath, his tongue sliding deep, tasting, conquering. I moaned into him, my fingers tangling in his dark, moon-streaked hair as he tilted my head back and trailed scorching kisses down my throat.

He sucked hard on the sensitive spot where my neck met my shoulder, and pleasure shot straight between my legs like lightning. I gasped, arching into him, my thighs clamping together desperately in the dream and in reality. The heat pooling low in my belly was unbearable...a throbbing, aching need I had never felt this intensely before. His large hand gripped my waist, pulling me impossibly closer, grinding against me as he licked and nipped at my skin.

“Please…” I whimpered, grabbing fistfuls of his collar when he started to pull away. My voice sounded foreign, husky and desperate. “Don’t stop. Please… more.”

He looked down at me with those piercing hazel eyes, dark with the same hunger I felt. A low, rumbling growl vibrated from his chest as he leaned in again, lips hovering just above mine, ready to devour me once more.

My eyes flew open.

I jerked upright in bed, chest heaving, skin slick with sweat. My nightshirt clung to my breasts, and my thighs were still pressed tightly together, trying to ease the throbbing ache between them. I could still feel the ghost of his mouth on my neck, the pressure of his body, the taste of him.

“What… what the hell was that?” I whispered into the empty room, pressing a trembling hand to my racing heart.

The room was quiet. Just me, the narrow cot, and the faint morning light filtering through the small window. No stranger. No forest. Only the silver pendant lying warm against my collarbone.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and sat there, breathing hard. My cheeks burned. That dream… it had felt so real. So intense. I bit my lip, remembering how good it had felt...the butterflies, the tingling heat, the overwhelming pull. In my nineteen years, I had never experienced anything like it.

At sixteen, I had my first boyfriend, a sweet hunter boy named Finn. It lasted a few months until he grew tired of my “fragile” nature and started spending more time training with the stronger girls. At seventeen, there was Marcus. He was kind at first, but he wanted someone who could keep up on hunts, not someone who tired easily and questioned killing wolves. Then at eighteen, I thought I was finally ready for something real with Jonas. He seemed mature, committed… until I caught him cheating with one of the caravan girls behind the storage sheds. That betrayal hurt the most. I swore off men after that.

And now this. A stranger in the woods invading my dreams and making me feel things I had never felt before. Hot. Restless.

Needy..?

I squeezed my thighs together again, biting my lip harder.

Did that man do something to me? Some kind of trick? A spell? Or was I just losing my mind?

Shaking my head, I forced myself to stand and get dressed. I had to act normal. No one could know about this.

*

Breakfast in the main hall was the usual chaos of clattering bowls and loud voices. I slid onto the bench beside Tomas, trying to keep my expression neutral even though my body still hummed with leftover heat from the dream.

Tomas took one look at me and grinned. “Morning, sis. You look like you barely slept. Another nightmare?”

“Something like that,” I muttered, spooning porridge into my mouth. It tasted like ash.

He nudged my shoulder gently. “You’ve been distracted since yesterday. That forest run? If you need rest today, I can cover for you with Pa.”

I managed a small smile. Tomas had always been my safe place. “Thanks. I’ll be fine.”

Pa entered the hall, his heavy footsteps announcing him before he reached our table. His gaze landed on me, assessing. “Lexi, you’re on lighter duties today. Stick to the workshop. No more perimeter runs until you’re steadier.”

“Yes, Pa,” I said quietly. Part of me was relieved. Another part....the one still feeling that magnetic tug toward the woods...rebelled.

I debated telling them about the stranger. The words rose in my throat but died there. It felt too personal. Too shameful. Like admitting I was drawn to one of the very creatures we were trained to hunt.

The workshop smelled of herbs, metal, and wolfsbane. I spent the morning refining batches of poison paste and checking silver netting, my hands moving automatically while my mind wandered back to the dream. The way the stranger’s mouth had felt…

“Focus,” I whispered to myself.

Merchant Gretonia’s voice drifted in from the courtyard where he was speaking with Pa. I edged closer to the window, listening.

“…the rogue problem is getting worse,” Gretonia was saying, his tone smooth but insistent. “Big profits if we organize a larger hunt. My new weapons will make it easy. Silver netting that delivers a shock strong enough to drop an alpha. We’ll clear the woods and expand our territory.”

Pa grunted in agreement. “The men are ready.”

Gretonia laughed softly. “Good. And that girl of yours, Lexi… the one from the woods. She has a talent for these blends. Almost unnatural, wouldn’t you say? There are rumors of special wolves in these parts lately. Powerful bloodlines.”

My stomach twisted with instinctive disgust. The way he spoke about killing, about profit....it made my skin crawl more than ever. I turned back to my work too quickly and sliced my palm on a silver blade.

“Ow!” Blood welled up immediately. I stared at the cut, then a curious part of me waited. Remembering how the stranger’s wound had scabbed over unnaturally fast in the forest. I watched, hoping… but the blood kept flowing. It stung like any normal cut.

I wrapped it quickly, a bitter laugh escaping me. I might not be one of them, after all. The doubts that had been whispering in my mind since yesterday quieted. I was just Lexi Dawson. Human. Weak. Nothing more.

*

By afternoon, the restlessness became unbearable. I volunteered to check the outer perimeter traps, claiming fresh air would help. Pa reluctantly agreed as long as I stayed close.

The forest pulled at me stronger than ever the moment I crossed the tree line. Every step deepened the magnetic tug in my chest. I found a massive paw print in the soft earth... far too large for any ordinary wolf. Then, caught on a branch, a scrap of torn dark fabric that carried his scent. Wild pine and something darker, masculine. My pulse quickened.

I was examining the scrap when he appeared.

The stranger who I didn’t know his name yet, stepped out from the shadows. He looked worse than before: a deep gash across his chest, blood staining his shirt, face drawn with pain. Yet he still moved with that dangerous grace, eyes locked on me.

“You again,” he growled, voice low and rough. “I told you to stay away.”

The pull hit me full force. His scent wrapped around me, making my skin tingle and my breath catch. Up close, he was even more striking...tall, scarred, powerfully built. My body reacted instantly, heat flooding me just like in the dream. I felt my cheeks burn.

“Why do I feel this way around you?” I demanded, stepping closer despite the warning in his eyes. “What did you do to me?”

He clenched his jaw, conflict flashing across his face. He looked like he was fighting himself. “Nothing. You shouldn’t be here, hunter girl. These woods are deadly right now.”

A low snarl came from deeper in the trees...a wolf - obviously werewolf - bigger and aggressive, charging toward me. The stranger moved like lightning despite his injuries. He shoved me behind him and met the beast head-on, grappling it with raw strength until it fled yelping into the undergrowth.

He turned back to me, breathing hard, blood dripping from his wounds. “Go home. Stop coming out here alone.”

Before I could protest or ask more, he vanished into the mist.

*

I wandered a little farther, heart still racing, and found it near where he had disappeared: a weathered, broken amulet half-buried in the leaves. The symbols on it...a crescent moon intertwined with a thorny crown, matched the faint engravings on my pendant perfectly.

Back in my room later that evening, I compared them secretly under the lantern light. They fit together like pieces of a puzzle. A real connection. To what, I didn’t know.

Outside, the hunters prepared for a night patrol under Gretonia’s pressure. Pa stopped by my door. “Stay inside tonight, Lexi. No exceptions.”

I nodded, but as soon as he left, the pendant began to glow brighter against my chest. A sharp pain lanced through my head. Images flashed...a grand hall, a powerful man with silver eyes roaring as shadows attacked, a baby being snatched away amid blood and chaos.

I gasped, clutching the pendant. Distant howls rose from the forest, calling to something deep inside me. An overwhelming urge to run....to race through the trees, surged through my blood, though I had no idea what it meant.

I stood at the window, staring into the dark woods.

I had to go back out there. Tonight.

Whatever secrets the forest held, they were calling my name.