CHAPTER 1

Before him, the Carpathian Mountains bulked, their serrated peaks tearing apart the dark sky. The full moon rode over them, long, bony fingers of shadow stretching outward to claw across the silent pines.

Lerder sensed ancient tension, his muscles tightening under his thick, graying coat. He growled, his chest rumbling.

‘This change never becomes easier.’ He was alone, fortunately, in this neglected part of the forest far from his pack and their disapproving glare.  He shifted his position, his claws spilling out as he felt growing pressure. 

He was the creature of shadows, a creature of moonlight, a werewolf bound to the cycle of orbs in the sky. He took no pride or satisfaction in it. He would question himself, as to why his life couldn't be more just.

“Why me?” he asked himself, his question sounding through all the silence of the ancient forest. They would only insist upon his unwavering loyalty to the will of the pack.

Looking forward he saw a human.

Elara. The moonlight caught her as she drew in a tattered, leather-bound alongside a moss-smothered boulder. Her long slender fingers worked with an elegant precision that belied all sense in this wild, untamed environment, she fascinated him.

The transformation stayed his hand by a flood of something almost, something he hadn't felt in so long. This being of radiance and beauty represented such stark contrast to his darkness. 

“Wonderful,” he growled, shocked at himself for thinking such gentleness. ‘Too serene to be in such a place.’

Senses honed by impending change, he sensed the faint signs of her presence: sweet perfumes of lavender and sandalwood, an undercurrent of fear.

Her head lifted upwards, her eyes glowing with moonlight.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, more shocked than scared.

“You. surprised me.” 

Lerder fought to regain his voice. The change welled again, more insistently. 

“I. I didn't mean to,” he sneered, his voice coarse. “I didn't see you there.”

“Are you all right?” she asked, her voice gentle. “You look upset. Are you lost?”

Lerder paused “Lost? Maybe, but not in the way you would think." 

He changed again, unable to hide the change happening. The muscles in his leg surged tight, his senses shrieked in something between hunger and terror of ancient power unfolding. He was a werewolf, and the truth unfolded as he watched her responses closely.

She wasn't shrieking and running; she was looking at him and was fascinated. Elara stared, her eyes wide devouring his changing form. 

“You’re changing. You’re.”

“A werewolf,” he concluded for her, the word hanging in the night air. It felt like a raw and cruel admission. He steeled himself for rejection and terror, but something in her face was unreadable. 

“A werewolf?” she breathed, fear mingling with fascination in her voice. 

“But that’s. impossible.” “Is it?" Lerder taunted, something of defiance in his voice. He leaned in closer, her sandalwood and lavender scent tormenting his senses. She left him with such temptation, even as his urges screamed at him to turn from her, something snapped behind Elara. She spun. 

“What was that?” Lerder's senses heightened. 

“Get behind me,” he warned, his voice hard and imperative. He sensed something in the dark—a predator, powerful and deadly, something monstrous. This wasn't him in his heightened perception with his change, a pricking at the nape of his neck, an anticipation of something monstrous. 

Two glowing red eyes exploded through the dark, much nearer than that snapping twig had indicated, a rasping sound that caught at Lerder's very bones. This was not the same, wasn't one of those territorial calls from some roving predator. 

“What's that…?” Elara whispered, her words hardly loud enough to pierce the growing wind. 

She pressed her sketchbook to her chest, her wide, fearful, awestruck eyes fixed upon Lerder.

It was an assortment of emotions that reflected Lerder's turmoil, it was fear that he sensed from her, but also something else. 

A sense of curiosity she did not fear him, but rather huged Lerder's body tight. It wasn't instinct; this was an instinctual response, one that spoke to his ancient blood.

“Not wolf,” Lerder breathed, his whisper barely heard but metallic calm. “Something else.”

It felt the change come to an end, the shift fully taking hold all swam together in overwhelming contrary impressions. A tremendous dark shape released from standing in front of the trees, moving in fluid, silent motion for something so huge. 

The beast loomed much larger than anything Lerder had ever fought. It took him an instant to see shape in the dark, but the sheer power emanating from it was unmistakable. Lerder felt his hairs rise in uneasiness, something far more profound than simple fear of being harmed.

Before Lerder had even had time to respond, the creature attacked, revealing not only teeth but rows of ancient symbols carved along its flank—symbols that eerily duplicated those in Elara's drawn book, symbols Lerder knew with a chilling certainty to be associated with a prophecy they couldn't decipher. The markings pulsed in the moonlight, glowing with an energy that sent a shiver down him. This creature wasn't a predator, the creature was something…

But something else lay hidden beneath, a spark of determination that caught Lerder off guard and fascinated him.

"Run!" Lerder bellowed.

His rough words are more of an order than a request, his primitive nature at last breaking through his restraint and curiosity. Fight that's all which made sense to him. Protect her, he would this was his instinctive role, despite all his questioning doubts and profound reservations.

But the beast was too swift and strong. It was upon them before Lerder had even taken one step. The creature's mouth opened wide, revealing teeth too massive for any normal animal glinting in the crimson glow of its eye, which blazed with an inferno of menace. There was a tremendous amount of power emanating from the beast, a tidal wash of power and elder energy that hung in the air almost tangibly.

Lerder braced himself to change completely, muscles and claws outstretched, battle ready. He would not allow it to hurt Elara nor to take her, not when he still had movement, fight and protection.

"Behind me!" Lerder growled. 

He launched himself forward, facing the monster directly, his claws slashing a frenzied battle under the moon's frozen stare.

The battle was ferocious, the beast much stronger than Lerder had expected, its fluid movements, deliberate strikes reckless.

He battled with his werewolf's raw power, his reflexes razor sharp, but his opponent appeared to always be one step in front of him.

Its teeth cut through his side, with a searing pain coursing through his muscle, causing shocks of agony to course through him that felt as though they laced to his very core. The old power emanated from the creature, a solid wall of night and raw wild energy that was vile and somehow fascinating.

Elara stood, her face pale but set. She wasn't screaming or running in horror, she stared at him with her eyes wide, That was an unfamiliar one, but there for him, he fought not merely to live but for this woman, for this weird unexpected thug he felt for this woman who'd tumbled out of her world.

Lerder automatically moved his body, reacting in instinct even before his mind caught up with something happening. The scratching of claws, the gnashing of teeth, and the slamming of their bodies together - all in an ugly dance under the peeping eye of an uncaring moon.

Just when the beast had the advantage, with his fangs mere inches from Lerder's neck, Elara screamed.

“No Ooooh.”

The beast shrieked with raw fury and agony before crashing to the ground, body disintegrating into dust. The fiery glow in its eyes disappeared, replaced by nothingness. The ancient glyphs disappeared with everything fading to nothing. 

Lerder gazed at Elara, his breathing ragged, his body shaking with the intensity of the fight. Not merely stunned by the annihilation of the beast, he was stunned by what Elara had done. 

Only in ancient mythologies had he witnessed such power before. 

What had she done? 

What was she? 

There was silence in the forest, thick with oppressiveness. Elara then lost consciousness as the light that saved them faded. Lerder crouched down beside her, his heart racing, with an icy premonition taking hold of him.