Chapter 4: The Monster

Kaelen’s POV

The creature bursts through the trees, the entire forest trembles. Birds flee in frantic spirals. The earth cracks beneath its claws.

Luna flinches behind me—her heartbeat a wild, terrified drum.

I expected the hunters.

I expected wolves.

I didn’t expect this.

Not tonight.

Not this soon.

The creature’s hulking form fills the clearing—massive, twisted, fur matted with dried blood, eyes glowing a sick, corrupted yellow.

A Feral.

One of them.

The King isn’t playing games.

He sent something that used to be a wolf.

A twisted experiment.

A monster bred to kill anything that threatens his throne.

Luna.

The prophecy.

The last piece he needs to break the seal.

The creature roars—loud enough to shake leaves from branches. It charges.

I step forward.

My muscles ignite.

My bones hum.

Power ripples beneath my skin, begging to be unleashed.

But I can feel her behind me—small, trembling, scent drenched in fear.

“Don’t move,” I command her.

“I—I’m not planning to!” she snaps, voice shaking.

Good.

The Feral leaps.

I let go.

My body tears open—flesh bending, bones splitting, shadows swirling like black fire. Not shifting into a wolf. Not anything normal.

No.

I shift into what they made me.

A creature of both moon and shadow.

A curse given flesh.

A weapon sealed away for a century.

My eyes burn gold.

The ground cracks under my feet.

Power howls inside me.

The Feral swings its claws—

I catch its arm mid-air.

Its snarl turns into confusion—then terror.

“Wrong prey,” I growl.

I throw it across the clearing. Its body smashes through a tree, wood exploding. The forest goes silent for a heartbeat—

Then the creature launches back at me.

Fast.

Desperate.

Mindless.

We collide, claws and teeth and raw strength grinding against each other. Its claws rake across my ribs—burning, deep—but I retaliate with a slam that sends shockwaves through the ground.

It tries to get up.

I don’t give it a chance.

I crush its skull with a burst of shadow, and the Feral collapses in a heap of mangled fur.

Silence.

Heavy.

Fragile.

Waiting to break.

I turn slowly… then force my body back into human form.

The transformation is violent.

Shadows rip free of my skin before settling. Bones snap back into place. My breath trembles, sweat rolling down my spine.

Pain burns everywhere.

But none of that matters.

Luna stares at me like she’s seeing a nightmare wearing human skin.

Her lips part.

Her pupils shrink.

Her breath stutters in her chest.

“W-What… are you?” she whispers.

I wipe the blood from my jaw. “You’re safe.”

“That’s not what I asked!”

Her voice breaks—half fear, half fury.

She backs away. I step forward.

“No,” she whispers, hands trembling. “Stay where you are.”

That hurts more than the claws.

“Luna,” I mumble. “I told you not to run from me.”

“Because you knew?” Her voice cracks. “You knew something like that was coming after me?”

“Yes.”

“And you didn’t tell me?!”

“Telling you wouldn’t have saved you.”

“But it could’ve saved me from trusting you!”

I freeze.

That word.

Trust.

Something I haven’t earned.

Something I might never deserve.

She wipes her tears roughly with shaky hands. “You killed it like it was nothing. No wolf can do that.”

“I am not a wolf.”

“So what are you?”

The prophecy whispers in my ears, ancient and heavy.

Not yet.

Not now.

But her blood calls to the truth.

“The truth,” I say, voice low, “will hurt.”

“It already does.”

Damn it.

The wind shifts.

I smell more coming.

Not Feral's—wolves. Real ones.

Too close.

No time.

“Listen to me,” I say urgently, stepping toward her. “They will find us in minutes. We need to move.”

Luna shakes her head. “Answer me first.”

I clench my jaw. She’s stubborn. Stronger than she knows.

“Fine.” I walk closer, slowly. “You want the truth? Here it is.”

Luna stiffens as my eyes glow—uncontained, unfiltered.

“I am Kaelen Arcturus.

The Lost Alpha.

The moon’s cursed shadow.

The King’s greatest sin.”

Her heartbeat stutters.

“And you…” I lift my hand, brushing a fallen leaf from her hair—soft, dangerous.

“You are the last descendant of the Primordial Line.”

She pales. “I—I don’t know what that means.”

“It means,” I whisper, “your blood can destroy the King.”

Her breath catches.

“And it means,” I continue, “he will kill every living soul just to find you.”

A twig snaps in the distance.

Wolves approaching.

Fast.

“Luna,” I say, grabbing her wrist. “There’s no time.”

“Let go!”

“I can’t.” My grip tightens. “Because whether you accept it or not—your life is tied to mine.”

“What does that even—”

A howl erupts so close the ground vibrates.

Luna’s eyes widen in terror.

“They’re here,” I say. “And they won’t take you alive.”

Her breath trembles.

Her voice cracks.

But her hand grips mine back—

Not out of trust.

Out of pure survival.

“Run with me,” I whisper.

“Just for now.”

And before she can answer, I pull her into the shadows—

Just as the King's hunters burst into the clearing.