CHAPTER TWELVE

THE WOLF

She’s safe. For now.

I watch from across the street, arms crossed, hidden beneath the shadows of a tree. Her window glows softly with yellow lamplight, no roommate in sight. She’s sitting on the couch, small, quiet. A soda can is in her hands and she’s barely taken a few sips.

I spit out some blood and wince at the aftertaste of flesh on my tongue. I wanted to sink my teeth into those two fools right there and then. I wanted to kill them, watch them bleed and beg for mercy. But I couldn’t with her there. Not with those terrified, panic filled eyes.

Fuck.

I clench my fists at the thought and almost shift again. I want to run like I did last night, into the woods with my paws buried in the night snow. But I don’t want to leave her again. Not at a time like this.

I should have been faster. Should’ve gotten there before they touched her. Before the panic stole her voice and made her cry.

Tarvin was right. Those fools weren’t random. I had been tracking them all afternoon, following the trail of their faint, sour scent.

Thanks to Tarvin for helping me ID them—Eamon’s men. Two of his usual cowards pretending to be delivery men and snooping around the dorms and library. I followed them for hours and waited for them to make a move, but I didn’t expect it to be tonight.

Not like that.

And goddess help me, I didn’t expect her to be wearing that top. That soft black thing clinging to her like a second skin. For one second, I forgot the mission. I almost walked into the library just to breathe in her sweet scent, maybe find an excuse for my sudden disappearance last night.

She was probably expecting me, and I stayed away. I had to.

Seeing her again after last night would’ve made it harder to hold back. Because the dreams are already bleeding too far into reality. I’ve already tasted her in a place I wasn’t meant to.

Now this. Touching her in wolf form. I’ve crossed that invisible line in the real world too. I wonder what she’s thinking. She saw me. But did she recognize me?

The way her fingers curled around my fur, that warmth when she touched me, and that calmness when I pulled the rope off her legs. She wasn’t scared. She must’ve felt it too.

She’s passed out on the couch now. Even here, from the distance, she looks tired and worse, injured. But that’s not a problem. I will visit her by the river tonight and wash all her pain away, just like I have done before. I know I shouldn’t be doing that, taking advantage of the moon goddess’s power like that. It must be confusing for my little wolf too, but I can’t bear seeing her in pain. I can’t let her walk around bruised. She has no idea the same wolf she keeps seeing in her sleep is not just a dream—it’s her future. I’m her Alpha.

And I’m tired of hiding. I want to tell her everything and erase her doubts. But how?I would only be confusing her even more.

I drag a hand down my face and lean back against the tree, exhaling steam into the frozen air. Somewhere behind me, a car engine hums. A pair of headlights sweep over the street before turning a corner and disappearing. I don’t move, I stay there, watching her.

She’s not going to stay safe if I keep playing nice. Eamon’s getting bolder and more reckless. He doesn’t care if she sees things she’s not supposed to. He wants her dead before the next lunar cycle. Before I can bind her to me. Before she remembers who she really is.

That won’t happen. I’ll burn Eldoria to the ground before I let that happen. I have to move faster. There’s only twenty days left.

Pretending to be a professor won’t be enough. She’s my moon chosen. And I already almost failed her tonight. I need to be closer to her in order to protect her. No more hiding, no more watching from the shadows.

Tomorrow, I’m going to make sure she’s protected. Whether she likes it or not.