Chapter 2: Shadows in the Woods

(POV: Aria / Kai)

Aria

Morning should have been normal. Sunlight creeping past my curtains, Maya humming in the kitchen, the faint rattle of pipes. I tried to let it be normal, moving slow, pretending last night hadn’t happened.

It didn’t work.

The hum under my skin was still there — low and restless, like a light left buzzing in an empty room. The kettle whistled downstairs, too sharp, too loud. I smelled the toast burning before Maya scraped it into the sink. Even the soft cotton of my t-shirt felt wrong, every thread dragging against my skin.

“You’re fine,” I whispered. But I wasn’t.

The night replayed in flashes — the heat, the claws, the gold in his eyes. You’re not entirely human, are you?

By the time Maya knocked, I had managed to sit up with the blanket around my shoulders.

“You alive in there?” she called.

“Barely.”

She peeked in, hair sticking out. “You look like you fought a bear.”

“Feels like I did.”

Her frown softened. “Bad night?”

“You could say that.”

I didn’t tell her the truth. Maya might believe in horoscopes and tarot, but golden-eyed strangers and my hands clawing the dirt? Not yet.

When she left for work, I stared at the tree line. The memory of Kai’s voice lingered: You’re awakening. The forest is listening.

And then I felt it — before I saw it. The pull.

I shoved on my sneakers and went outside.

Kai stood where the grass ended and the pine needles began, still as if the world had grown around him.

“You just show up?” I asked.

“You made it through the night,” he said, looking me over like he was checking for damage.

“That’s one way to put it.” I crossed my arms. “You said you had answers. Start talking. Why were you here?”

“Because if I hadn’t been, someone else would have been.”

The words were heavier than they sounded. “Someone else,” I said slowly. “Like what I felt last night?”

He nodded once. “Darius.”

The name chilled me. “And you? Why you?”

His eyes flickered — not with hesitation, but with something that looked like decision. “Because I asked.”

I wanted to push, demand more, but heat surged through me so fast my knees almost buckled.

Kai caught my shoulder, grounding me. “Breathe. Slow.”

I obeyed, air rushing sharp as pine into my lungs. The hum dulled to a throb.

When I opened my eyes, he was still close. Too close. I stepped back. “You keep saying control. Control what?”

“Control yourself,” he said simply. “Your strength. Your senses. Before they decide for you.”

I swallowed. “So what am I?”

“You’re wolf,” he said. Then softer: “But not just that. You’ll feel the rest soon enough.”

“Not good enough,” I snapped.

“If I name it too soon, I shape you before you can choose yourself. And that breaks people.”

The words hit like a stone but landed true.

Silence stretched, thick and complicated.

“There’s something between us,” I said finally. “I feel it when you’re near. What is it?”

Something flickered in his eyes — longing, warning — then was gone.

“You’ll understand when you’re ready. Naming it now would only drag you faster.”

“It doesn’t feel like nothing,” I whispered.

He nodded once. “Then hold it. Don’t rush it.”

I hated that part of me agreed.

Kai

Most wolves collapsed after their first shift. Aria hadn’t. She was raw, burning, dangerous — and still standing. That alone set her apart.

But Darius had felt her too. He wouldn’t strike tonight, but he would circle. He would wait for the first opening.

I couldn’t let him be the one she heard when that opening came.

“You’re not alone,” I told her. “But you need to learn fast. Every surge you lose control of is a door he’ll try to step through.”

She nodded, fear and fire mixing in her gaze. She wouldn’t back down. That would save her — and maybe break her.

Aria

We stood at the edge of the woods, silence stretching like a wire. I could feel the eyes out there again, watching, patient.

“Is he watching now?” I asked quietly.

“Yes.”

Cold slid under my ribs.

“What do we do?”

Kai’s answer was calm, steady. “We start teaching you how to choose. Which call to follow. Which to ignore. How to survive.”

I wanted to say I hadn’t asked for this. But my wolf stretched inside me, awake and waiting.

And I knew I couldn’t go back.