Chapter Three

The last thing I remembered was the red eyes closing in. My chest had been tight, my legs frozen, and then… those piercing grey eyes. They weren’t like the rogues’. They were calm but strong, steady enough to make my heart stop. That was when the world tilted, the ground rushed up to meet me, and everything went black.

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on the damp forest floor. My head throbbed, and the taste of dirt coated my tongue. The air was heavy with the smell of blood and wet leaves. For a moment I thought it had been a dream, but then I heard it—low whimpers fading into the night, the kind of sound only a dying wolf makes.

I pushed myself up slowly, my arms shaking. The clearing was a mess. Two rogues lay twisted in the dirt, their throats torn open. Their bodies were still, their blood soaking into the soil. My stomach churned, bile rising to my throat.

And then I saw him.

At the far edge of the clearing, standing tall and silent, was the black wolf. His fur shimmered like shadows, blending into the trees. His grey eyes glowed faintly under the moonlight, fixed on me. Not red. Not cruel. But watchful.

My breath caught. My fingers curled into the dirt. The connection I felt earlier sparked again, like a string pulling between us. My chest warmed, though I was trembling all over.

The wolf tilted his head, studying me. For a moment, I thought he might step closer. But then a branch snapped deeper in the woods. His ears twitched, and he turned away, vanishing into the darkness as though he’d never been there at all.

“Wait,” I whispered, my voice weak. But he was already gone.

I was alone.

The silence pressed down on me. My heart pounded too loud in my chest, and the forest suddenly felt larger, hungrier. My body screamed at me to run. I staggered to my feet and stumbled through the trees, branches scratching my arms, leaves crunching underfoot.

“Aria!”

The voice was distant at first, then closer. I froze, my heart jumping. Lantern light flickered between the trees.

“Aria!”

It was Leah. She burst into view, skirts gathered in her fists, a lantern swinging in her other hand. Her face was pale with worry, her eyes wide when they landed on me.

“Oh, thank the Goddess!” She rushed forward and caught me in her arms. “I thought I’d lost you! What happened? You’re shaking all over.”

I clung to her without meaning to, my whole body trembling against hers. “There were rogues,” I whispered. “Three—no, four of them. They almost—” My voice broke.

Leah pulled back, holding the lantern higher to see my face. “Did they hurt you?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I thought I was done for, but then… then there was another wolf.”

Her brow furrowed. “Another wolf?”

“Yes. Black. Huge. His eyes were… grey.”

Her face drained of color. She looked at me for a long moment, like she didn’t believe me, or maybe like she did but wished she didn’t. “Aria, there are no wolves like that here. Grey eyes? That’s not possible.”

“I saw him,” I insisted, my voice trembling but certain. “He saved me. He killed the rogues. Then he just—left.”

Leah bit her lip, glancing into the trees as if expecting the wolf to step out again. Her lantern hand shook. “We shouldn’t talk about this out here. Come on, we need to move before the patrol finds us.”

She grabbed my hand, tugging me forward. I stumbled after her, too tired to argue.

We hadn’t gone far before a group of men stepped into our path. The patrol. Four of them, their faces grim and their bodies tense. The leader, Ronan, shifted back from wolf form, his chest bare, his jaw clenched.

“What is this?” he snapped, his gaze sharp on me. “What are you doing out here, Aria?”

Leah quickly stepped in front of me. “She was scared. She ran out when she heard noises in the woods. I found her and was bringing her back.”

Ronan’s eyes narrowed, his lip curling. “Do you have any idea what trouble you’ve caused? The rogues were a distraction. Because of you, we had to break formation and search. You’re lucky you’re not dead.”

Shame burned in my chest. I looked at the ground, unable to meet his eyes. “I didn’t mean—”

“Enough.” His voice was harsh. “Get her out of my sight before she brings more danger to us all.”

Leah tugged at my arm, urging me to keep walking. My throat ached, but I swallowed the words I wanted to throw back at him. What would it matter? To them, I was nothing.

We hurried through the last stretch of trees until the Hale house came into view. Lanterns burned near the doors, guards posted and watching. Leah didn’t stop until we were inside, the heavy door shutting out the cold night.

“I don’t care what anyone says,” she whispered fiercely as she helped me up the stairs. “You’re alive. That’s what matters.”

I wanted to thank her, but the words wouldn’t come. My legs carried me to the attic as if on their own. The moment I shut the door behind me, I collapsed onto the thin mattress.

For a long while, I just lay there, my hands pressed against my face. The forest still clung to me—the smell of blood, the sound of growls, the flash of red eyes. But what haunted me most was the black wolf.

Those grey eyes. The way they had looked at me, steady and searching, like they knew me.

I pulled the blanket around myself and closed my eyes, but sleep didn’t come easy. When it finally did, it dragged me into dreams filled with shadows and wolves. I was running through a forest lit by moonlight, always chased, always falling. But no matter how far I ran, I felt him there. Watching. Waiting.

When I woke, the image still burned behind my eyelids. The black wolf. The grey eyes.

And deep down, a thought I couldn’t shake whispered to me.

He didn’t just save me. He found me.