021 ~ Impossible! ~

The leader was the first to tear himself free from the shock. “Kill him!” The green in his eyes shone even brighter now.

The order cracked through the clearing like thunder, snapping every frozen wolf back to life.

His henchmen charged together, with their blades flashing beneath the moonlight.

Selene sucked in a ragged breath. “No…”

But the stranger didn’t retreat. Instead, his eyes turned blood red, and a scary smile formed on his lips as he let out a growl-like laugh. “Fools.”

The first sword swept toward his shoulder. Instead of stepping away, he slipped inside the strike so fast and accurately, he moved like the wind. His fingers clamped around the attacker’s wrist, twisting sharply.

A nerve-wracking crack echoed and the sword flew from his numb fingers, vanishing into the undergrowth.

The wolf barely had time to gasp before an elbow buried itself deep into his ribs Air exploded from his lungs, and he folded to the ground.

“Watch your back!” Selene cried as the second attacker came from behind.

The stranger never looked. He turned as though he’d sensed the danger long before it existed, slightly missing the blade that sliced through empty air.

He ducked beneath it, and drove his shoulder into the attacker’s chest, launching him backward with enough force to send him crashing through a fallen log.

The wood he landed on tore into pieces and the third wolf stopped dead.

The sword in his hand hung loose, his feet stayed rooted to the floor. “W-What…”

No one else moved as a chilling stillness descended.

For the first time since the ambush began, fear seeped into the wolves’ eyes.

“Who is he?” one whispered, almost afraid to hear the answer.

The leader said nothing. He simply stared, but that silence spoke louder than words ever could.

Selene forced herself upright, one shaking hand braced against the rough bark behind her. Warm blood trickled from a cut above her brow, slipping into her eye, but she ignored the sting.

She couldn’t stop watching him.

Every movement… Every step… Every strike… all felt hauntingly familiar.

There wasn’t any bit of wasted motion or recklessness. No unnecessary cruelty.

Each attack was fast, clean, and merciless.

And unlike the calm around her, her heart raced non-stop “No…” Her voice barely escaped her lips. “It can’t be…”

Another wolf rushed at him with a furious roar.

The stranger caught the descending blade on his own, twisted both wrists, and effortlessly redirected the force. The attacker’s balance disappeared beneath him.

A single kick struck his chest and the impact echoed across the clearing. The wolf skidded several yards before collapsing in the dirt.

Not one of them dared rush in again. Instead, they spread out keeping their distance… Like hunters who had suddenly realized they were standing before something far more dangerous than prey.

The leader lowered his sword ever so slightly. “I knew the rumors were true.”

The stranger remained motionless, looking dangerous under the quiet silver of the moon across his dark clothing, while the breeze stirred the loose strands of hair hiding part of his face.

“So…” the leader continued, amusement creeping into his voice, “the great Alpha really is protecting her.”

He didn’t so much as twitch, and the unbroken silence sent unease rippling through every wolf present.

The leader chuckled.

“Tell me…” He tilted his head. “Does she know?”

For several long seconds, only the wind answered.

Then the stranger finally spoke. “Leave.”

He answered with a single word, and it settled over the forest with the eerie stillness that comes moments before a storm swallows everything.

The leader laughed louder. “I was hoping it was you.”

Selene’s pulse stumbled. That voice… Why did it sound familiar? She’d heard it before. Recently. But where?

The leader lifted his sword. “Take her.”

Everything exploded as all four wolves attacked at once.

Selene’s eyes struggled to follow him.

He wasn’t just fast, he moved before danger arrived.

By the time one wolf moved left, the stranger was already turning.

As another lunged from behind, his blade intercepted the strike before it fully descended.

A third swept low and he stepped over it without even looking. It was as if every attack had already happened inside his mind.

Steel collided again and again, each impact showering bright sparks into the night.

The wolves pressed harder applying pressure and relentless attacks from every direction.

Still… Nothing touched him.

One by one they stumbled back, bruised in different parts of their body, disarmed, with broken bones barely hanging to their flesh

“We can’t hit him!”

“What is this monster?”

“Keep surrounding him!”

“Don’t let him breathe!”

The stranger answered with silence.

His sword flashed once and another wolf’s weapon spun away into the darkness.

Again they tried to touch him but a kick crushed the attack before it could begin.

Again a fist slammed into a masked jaw and blood sprayed across the leaves.

The wolves were no longer fighting to win but to survive.

Then everything changed when one attacker broke away from the battle.

“There!” he shouted. “The girl!”

He sprinted straight toward Selene making her heart skip a beat.

The dagger… Her eyes searched through each layer of scattered leaves.

It was only a few feet away from her so she threw herself toward it but pain exploded through her shoulder, stopping her before she could reach it.

The wolf raised his sword as a deadly grin stretched beneath his mask. “You die first.”

As the blade came down, Selene closed her eyes screaming “No…”

Strong arms wrapped around her waist at once sweeping her feet off the ground.

She collided against a solid chest as the stranger pulled her away from the strike in one impossibly fluid motion.

The attacker’s sword scraped harmlessly against his blade before he drove the man backward with a vicious shove.

For one suspended heartbeat… The battle disappeared.

The shouting faded, the forest vanished.

Selene could hear his heartbeat. It pounded beneath her cheek so fiercely it seemed to merge with her own.

His arm remained firmly around her waist, as though letting go wasn’t even a possibility.

His body stiffened as he stopped breathing and slowly… He lowered his gaze to the woman in his arms.

Moonlight slipped through the branches overhead, washing across his face.

As the darkness peeled away, Selene's gaze locked on those eyes, that jaw, and the face she never expected to see

That impossible face she’d seen countless times before. And for the first time, his scent... Cedar. Rain- soaked cedar sipped faintly into her nostrils and her lips parted. “…Kieran?”

The name barely rose above a whisper, yet it struck him harder than any blade.

Whoever he had expected, it wasn't she. The realization drained the color from his face, leaving him staring as though his mind refused to accept what his eyes had just seen.

As though the very last person he had ever expected to hold was staring back at him beneath the moonlit sky.