Beauty and the beast.

“How am I supposed to find a white moonflower in the middle of the night?” I grumbled, shoving a branch out of my way. It snapped back, nearly hitting me in the face. “Damn it.”

The cold was almost too much for my body to handle, and the wind howled through the trees like it was laughing at my misery.

I pushed forward, boots sinking into the muddy ground, the sound of snapping twigs only added to my fear. If something was hiding in the shadows, I was making it really easy to find me.

“Astrid, you witch,” I muttered under my breath. “If I don’t freeze to death out here, I swear I will put poison in your food.”

Not that I would ever actually do it. No matter how much I hated my sister, I wasn’t a killer. Just a fool. A fool wandering through a dark thick forest because Astrid had ordered me to.

My stupid sister had sent a maid to wake me in the middle of the night, ordering me to find a white moonflower and I wasn’t allowed to return home until I did.

I had no choice but to obey because I had always been the unwanted one. The forgotten child. The one shoved aside while Astrid enjoyed love and praise. I had spent my whole life as a shadow, never truly seen, never truly heard. My parents treated me like a servant, not a daughter. And the worst part? I had let them. Not like there was anything I could do.

My fingers curled into fists as I walked faster, forcing my way through the forest. Maybe one day, I would stop being the girl everyone trampled over. Maybe one day, they would regret making me feel so small.

But first, I had to survive this damn night.

“Oh, finally.” The words slipped out before I could stop them, my voice filled with relief. My heart pounded, not from fear this time, but from pure exhaustion. I had been walking for hours, my legs screaming, my body aching. And now finally, there it was.

A white moonflower.

It stood alone in the middle of a clear path, glowing under the moonlight. Just one. But that was enough.

Moonflowers were rare, stupidly rare, and somehow, I had managed to find one. Maybe the universe didn’t hate me as much as I thought.

I let out a breath and stepped forward, closing the distance between me and the flower. Slowly, I bent down, fingers brushing over its petals before carefully plucking it. A small smile on my lips as I internally thanked the moon goddess.

Then..

The smile vanished.

Something changed.

The atmosphere felt wrong. Like something unseen had just passed by me.

A shiver crawled up my spine as the cold night wind swept through my hair. Goosebumps erupted across my skin, my body reacting before my mind could catch up. I wasn’t sure what had just happened, but I knew one thing for certain.

I was no longer alone.

“Akela, did you feel that?”

I reached out through our mind-link, expecting my wolf to answer right away. But there was nothing. Just silence.

Akela was never silent, especially not on a full moon. If anything, she was usually loud, opinionated, and impossible to ignore. But now? Nothing. Not even a growl of acknowledgment.

That was weird. Too weird.

“It’s probably nothing,” I muttered to myself, shaking off the feeling. No need to freak out over every little thing. I had the flower, and that was all that mattered.

I stood up, dusting off my dress, and tucked the moonflower safely into my pocket. Time to head back home, crawl under a warm blanket, and pretend this ridiculous errand never happened.

I was about to turn but then..

I froze.

I heard a crack in the forest behind me. The sound of a branch snapping under a footstep.

I suddenly forgot to breath. Every hair on my body stood on end.

No. Nope. Not happening. I had walked through this forest for hours, and the only things I had seen were crickets, the occasional owl, and the full moon lighting my path. No people. No creatures.

So why, why was there suddenly someone behind me?

Nope. I wasn’t sticking around to find out who.

I ran.

My feet hit the ground hard, my heart beating fast as I ran like hell. I didn’t dare look back. That was how people died in horror stories, looking back like an idiot instead of using that time to run.

And then I started hearing it, footsteps. Loud ones running after me as I ran.

My lungs tightened. But it wasn’t just the footsteps. No, that would have been too easy.

I heard growlings, snarling and snapping behind me too as I ran. Something was chasing me and I was too scared to turn back to see what.

Oh, hell no.

I had heard the stories. The ones whispered around dying campfires about monsters in this forest. The ones meant to scare kids into staying inside after dark.

But they were just stories. Right?

Except

A story wasn’t supposed to be running after me. A story wasn’t supposed to have claws.

And yet, here I was.

Running for my life.

"Oh, dear Moon Goddess, help me! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!"

I screamed inside my head as I ran for my life. My legs burned, my lungs ached, but I didn’t stop, not when the thing behind me was getting closer.

I didn’t want to see what was chasing me, but curiosity was a terrible thing.

So, against my better judgment, I risked a quick glance over my shoulder and instantly regretted it.

A blur. A monstrous, ridiculously fast blur.

My stomach dropped. Nope, nope, NOPE. I snapped my head forward, focused on running, but before I could run farther

BAM.

I slammed straight into a wall.

No. Not a wall.

A person.

A very strong person.

The impact sent me falling to the ground, hitting the dirt.

"Argh!" I groaned, clutching my head as pain shot through my skull. What the hell had I just run into? A damn mountain? A tree disguised as a man?

Then I heard the voice of the man.

"Well, well. What is something so delicate doing out here all alone?"

His voice sounded like it could both seduce and kill at the same time. It sent shivers down my spine, not entirely from fear.

Whatever was chasing me behind had gone. Just like that.

Slowly, very slowly I lifted my head, eyes traveling up, up, up until I finally saw him.

And oh, wow.

My brain? Gone.

The ability to form words? Deleted.

Because standing in front of me was not just a man. No, that would be too simple. Too normal.

This was something else.

Something unreal.

White hair like freshly fallen snow fell over broad shoulders. His eyes? An unnatural shade of ice-blue, so piercing they could probably freeze time. His face? A crime. Sculpted to perfection, sharp jawline, cheekbones that could cut glass.

And his body?

Let’s just say, if muscles had a ranking system, he would be in a league of his own.

Who the hell was this guy?

"Should I just kill all the rogues in this forest?" he mused, not even looking at me, as if I were an afterthought. "No, shouldn’t involve myself in the affairs of the weak."

Oh. Okay. Rude.

I just blinked, trying to process everything. My brain wasn’t catching up fast enough. I was still stuck on who this dangerously beautiful man is and why does he sound like he is debating whether or not to commit mass murder?

Then out of nowhere, he looked down at me and muttered under his breath.

"Tch. She looks at me like the others. Disgusted. Shocked. Just another person horrified by how ugly I am. At least this one is not screaming"

I froze.

Wait.

Ugly?

My eyebrows shot up.

"Pardon me, what?" I blurted before I could stop myself.

Did he just?

Was he serious?

"What do you mean ugly?" I suddenly asked, looking around in mock confusion. "Did I die? Is this the afterlife? Because I always imagined otherworldly beings would look like you."

That got his attention. His cold expression changed, eyes narrowing slightly as if trying to figure out if I was joking.

"What do you mean?"

I sucked in a breath, trying to ignore how unnervingly pretty he was up close.

"Your hair." I gestured at it, eyes shining with fascination. "It is, white. Like snow-white. I have never seen anything like it."

He looked confused.

"You see it?" he asked, taking a step closer.

I instinctively dragged myself back on the floor, not sure if I should trust.

But wait.

Why did he sound so surprised?

"Well, it is obvious, don’t you think?" I said, still staring at him like he wasn’t real.

The man didn’t react. Instead, he tilted his head slightly, his piercing blue eyes on me like he was searching for something. "Describe what I look like."

I blinked. What kind of weird request was that? But I played along. "Tall, blue eyes, white hair, ridiculously white. Unreal. You look like you walk out of someone’s imagination"

I expected him to laugh, maybe smirk, or at least say something back. But no, he just stared, a slight look of shock on his face. Like I had just said something impossible.

Now, I wasn’t exactly used to making men speechless, but this guy? He looked like I had just told him the moon goddess was my sister.

For a long second, neither of us spoke. The night air was cold, making the silence between us even more uncomfortable. The way he was looking at me made me scared as I rose to my feet slowly, prepared to run

Then

A sound.

A crack behind me.

Instinct took over, and I turned around so fast to see what it was that I nearly tripped over my own feet.

But there was nothing, just trees.

My pulse pounded. I gulped, turned back and nearly screamed.

He was gone.

Vanished. Like he had never even been there in the first place.