LOGINAri’s POV The mark on my hand wouldn’t stop throbbing. I tried to work through it. Fixed the nets, carried tools to the shed, helped my sister chase chickens that weren’t even ours. Nothing worked. The pain pulsed like a heartbeat that wasn’t mine. By noon, I gave up. I walked fast toward the cliffs, fists jammed in my pockets. The path curved along the edge of the sea, sun bouncing off the water so bright it felt like walking through glass. Every step pulled me harder. She was there. Same spot as before. Rhea sat on a flat rock, sketchbook open, the wind catching loose strands of her hair. She didn’t look up at first, but I saw her shoulders tense she knew I was coming. When I stopped a few feet away, she sighed and turned slowly. “You really don’t get tired of this, do you?” “Of what?” “Following me.” “I wasn’t.” “Sure.” She shut her sketchbook with a soft snap. “Let me guess, you just happened to be walking the only empty cliff on the island?” “I could s
Ari She saw me first and tried to pretend she didn’t. Her head turned just enough to catch me in the corner of her eye, then she faced forward and kept walking faster. I followed anyway. “Rhea,” I called. She stopped. Not all the way just enough that the wind caught her hair before she turned. “Hey,” she said, like she’d been caught doing something harmless. “You were in the woods last night.” Her smile flickered. “Was I?” “Don’t do that.” “Do what?” “Lie like it’s a game.” She looked down at her hands, pale against the strap of her bag. “You don’t know what you saw.” “I know what I heard. You were surrounded by wild dogs. You could’ve died.” “But I didn’t.” I stepped closer. “Cause I saved you. Why were you there?” “Because I like walking,” she said, still not meeting my eyes. “Because the beach gets crowded and the forest doesn’t.” “Then why hide in the dark? Why not call for help?” She finally looked up. “Because I don’t need saving.” Something i
Ari I couldn’t sleep. The house was quiet, but my mind wouldn’t stop moving. I lay there staring at the ceiling, listening to the faint tick of the clock and the waves hitting the rocks far below the hill. It felt like something inside me was moving in the opposite direction, restless under my ribs. I threw the blanket off, swung my legs to the floor, and stood. The moon was bright through the window, clean and heavy. It made the walls glow faint silver, and for some reason that light made me ache. I pulled on a shirt, left it unbuttoned, and stepped outside. The air was cool enough to sting. The sand under my feet was soft, cold, alive. I started walking without a plan—just following the sound of the water until the movement turned into running. My breath fell into rhythm, slow and deep. Each step pulled the tension higher. I ran harder. The tide was out, leaving a wide strip of wet sand that caught the moon like a mirror. I ran until the stretch of beach curved and the world
Ari By the time I reached the pier, the smell of fish and salt clung to the air and gulls were screaming for scraps. Father was already there, sleeves rolled, loading nets into the small boat with the other men. He looked up when he saw me, his grin easy. “You’re late.” “I’m here, aren’t I?” “Barely,” he said, handing me a coil of rope. “Let’s make you useful.” The dock creaked under our weight as we pushed off. The boat drifted into open water, the town shrinking behind us. I could see the stretch of beach curve toward the cliffs. A few figures dotted the sand—kids running, couples walking, tourists with cameras. And then her. Rhea stood near the waterline, hair lifted by the wind, skirt tugged at by the tide. She wasn’t sketching this time. She was just watching the sea, calm and quiet, like she’d been born to wait there. My chest tightened. I tried not to stare, but my body ignored me. I waved before I could stop myself. She saw me, smiled small but real and raise
Ari’s POV The heat came early that day, sitting heavy on everything like a dare. By noon the island looked dipped in light—roads shining, roofs glinting, waves rolling slow and lazy against the pier. I wasn’t supposed to be out again. Father had a list of things to fix on the boats, and Mother said the market would be full of tourists. But I’d already started walking before the excuses could line up. I told myself it was habit, that I liked watching people, that the cliffs pulled me out of the house. Lies travel better when you’ve said them before. Halfway down the hill I spotted the hat first. She was sitting on the wall near the market road, sketchbook open, sunlight pressing down on her shoulders until her skin looked too soft for this place. The smell of roasted fruit and oil carried through the air, but beneath it faint, impossible her scent found me. It wasn’t perfume. It was something sharper, cleaner. Like rain over stone. My pulse tripped. I slowed. The wolf und
Ari’s POV The island woke like it always did slow, gold, and humming with salt. I ran before sunrise, bare-footed down the narrow road that cut between palms and the sea. My breath came steady; the wolf under my skin wanted to sprint, to drop the pretense and tear across the beach, but I kept my pace human. That was the rule. Stay small. Stay quiet. The sky broke open in streaks of blue and pale silver. Every morning looked painted new here, the horizon a clean line that promised nothing but distance. I liked that. Distance never lied. When the first boats slid out from the dock, I slowed. The fishermen nodded; I nodded back. None of them knew what I was. To them, I was just Kael’s boy the quiet one who helped fix engines and sometimes stared too long at the water. I wiped sweat from my face and leaned on the railing above the rocks. The sea below moved calm, folding light into itself. Then the light shiftedand there she was. A girl sat near the cliff edge, sketchbook bala







