LOGINRose stood in front of the bathroom mirror, the faucet running on high. She splashed freezing water onto her face, her hands shaking as she grabbed the bar of soap. She rubbed it against her palms and began scrubbing her jaw and her wrists. She scrubbed hard, her skin turning a dark, raw red under the bright bathroom light.But it didn't matter how much soap she used. When she leaned close to the mirror, she could still smell it. It was faint to her human nose, but it was there, the unmistakable, heavy scent of fresh rain, pine needles, and an approaching storm.Ace's scent.It was glued to her skin from where his large fingers had pinned her against the door the night before.She let out a shaky breath, looking at her reflection. She was nineteen, completely out of her depth, and her skin still felt like it was burning from that electric current.She pulled the high collar of her denim jacket up, trying to hide the red marks on her neck where his thumb had pressed against her pulse.
The walk back from the clinic was really long for Rose. The cold night air cut through her jacket. Her skin felt really hot. Her mind was a mess of images: flesh fixing itself, claws ripping through skin, a man's jaw opening wide on the clinic table. The people who lived in the woods. The Nightroot Pack.Her aunt's words kept repeating in her head like a song, keeping rhythm with the sound of her sneakers on the road. The forest was next to her, a big wall of dark trees under the cold moon.After that loud wolf howl echoed through the clinic window, the woods felt alive, like lots of eyes were watching her. She kept her head down, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, almost running until she finally reached the porch of her aunt's house.With shaky hands, she put the key in the lock, turned it, and slipped inside, slamming the heavy door shut behind her. She locked the deadbolt with a click, leaning her back against the solid wood as she finally let out a deep breath.The house w
The man on the table had been stitched, sedated, and moved. The clinic was quiet again, the sudden silence was almost louder than the chaos that had filled the room just moments before.Rose stood at the porcelain sink in the dim back room, scrubbing her hands under the rushing stream of water. The water was scalding hot, but she barely felt the heat. She scrubbed until her skin was raw and red, desperately trying to wash away the memory of how that man’s flesh had felt beneath her fingertips.It had been entirely too hot like a raging fever that should have cooked his internal organs from the inside out. But what truly fractured her mind was what happened next.The jagged, deep lacerations across his chest had already started to close, the tissue knitting itself back together before she had even finished pulling the last sterile suture through.It defied every medical textbook she had ever memorized during her years of intense study. Mira walked towards her, the heels of her boots
The sound was really loud. A scream followed by the sharp crash of glass. It was not something falling it was a fight. Mira did not wait.She was already moving before the noise stopped, her face changing to a sharp and deadly focus. Rose was behind her her medical instincts kicking in. They turned the corner into the trauma room. The air hit Rose like a punch. The nice smell was gone, replaced by the smell of blood and a thick dirty heat that made the hair on her arms stand up."Get back!" a nurse yelled, running away from a hospital bed that had been flipped over. In the middle of the room stood a man. Or what used to be a man. He was huge his shirt torn, his skin slick with sweat and deep cuts that should have made him pass out..He was growling, a sound so low and rough it vibrated in Roses teeth. "Sedate him!" Mira ordered, reaching for a syringe. "It won't work, Mira!" the woman at the desk cried out her voice shaking. "He's changing! It's too early!" Rose stared, her mind r
Then Mira spoke without turning around."Finish your food. You'll be coming with me later."Rose looked at her, confused."Where?"Mira put down her spoon."To the clinic."Rose frowned."The clinic?"Mira nodded."You got a job there.""I never went for an interview.""It's a favor from a friend," Mira replied."Okay..."That morning, they left the house together.The town looked the same as before.This time, Rose noticed something.People greeted Mira.Not warmly.Not openly.Just small nods.Like they were acknowledging someone important.Rose frowned slightly as she walked beside her."You didn't tell me you were well known here."Mira didn't look at her."It's not important," she said simply.People still stepped aside as they passed.They walked along the road again.Rose's steps slowed without her realizing it.The forest was visible from there.Rose stared at it.Mira noticed."Don't look at it for too long," she said quietly.Rose turned her head."Why?"Mira paused before a
Ace stood by the store window, staring out into the descending gloom. The heavy glass pane vibrated slightly beneath his palm as his fingers brushed against the frame.The girl had left, her small, hurried figure swallowed by the shadows of the thick pines at the edge of the road. Yet, the air in the shop remained unsettled. Something about her still bothered him. It felt off. It felt wrong.There was a faint, completely unidentifiable frequency humming beneath her skin, a ghost of an aroma hidden beneath her human scent that his wolf couldn't identify.The shopkeeper cleared his throat nervously behind him, the sound loud and abrasive in the absolute silence of the room."Alpha?" the man asked, his voice shaking, his head bowed so low that his chin nearly touched his chest.Ace didn't change his expression. His golden-ringed eyes remained fixed on the empty street where her footprints had already vanished into the dirt."Watch her," he said calmly.His voice carried no anger, but the







