Chapter Two

Aiden’s throat tightened. “You you saw that, right?”

Cass nodded, his eyes wide now. “Yeah. Not a coyote.”

Something was out there.

They stood in tense silence, surrounded by trees that whispered secrets on the wind. The flashlight beam wavered in Aiden’s shaky hand, casting erratic shadows across bark and brush. He gripped the handle tighter, knuckles white, the other hand pressing against the bleeding tear in his hoodie. It was shallow but burned like fire.

They needed to get out. Now.

“Let’s go,” Aiden muttered, voice raw.

Cass didn’t argue. He turned, grabbing Aiden’s sleeve, yanking him along a barely-there trail. But the forest wasn’t letting them go so easily. Every snap of a branch, every gust of wind sent panic through Aiden’s chest. He felt like they were being watched hunted.

Something growled.

Close.

They ran.

Branches clawed at them as they pushed through the underbrush, roots grabbing at their feet. Aiden’s lungs screamed, asthma tightening his chest like a noose. He wheezed, stumbling over a rock, falling to his knees.

Cass spun back. “Aiden!”

“I’m okay,” he lied. But his vision was swimming, and the pain in his side was worse now hot, spreading.

Cass grabbed his arm, dragging him upright. “Just a little further. I think I see the road.”

But before they could move, a low snarl rumbled behind them.

They turned slowly.

And saw it.

Tall. Lurking in the shadows between trees. Its eyes were gold, glowing in the dark. Not human. Not animal. Something in between. Muscles rippled beneath dark fur. Claws scraped against the earth. And when it stepped forward, the moonlight hit its face—

Aiden’s breath caught.

It was a wolf.

But standing on two legs.

It was real.

He didn’t have time to run.

The creature lunged, faster than either of them could react.

Cass shoved Aiden to the ground. “Go!”

A blur of fur and teeth knocked Cass off his feet.

“No!” Aiden screamed, crawling toward him.

Cass hit the earth with a grunt. The wolf pinned him, jaws open wide—

And then…

A howl. Loud. Piercing.

The creature paused.

Another shape burst from the trees, another wolf—bigger, darker, faster. It collided with the first, sending both beasts tumbling into the bushes.

Aiden didn’t wait to see who won.

He grabbed Cass’s arm. “Get up, get up, we have to go—”

They stumbled toward the road, the sound of growls and yelps behind them like a nightmare they couldn’t wake from. When the treeline broke open, Aiden could have cried with relief.

A single pair of headlights appeared through the fog.

A car.

It screeched to a halt.

Sheriff Monroe stepped out, gun already drawn. “Get down!” she shouted.

Cass collapsed to his knees.

Aiden just stood there, covered in blood, shaking.

The forest fell silent behind them.

No more growls. No more wolves.

Just trees.

Watching.

Sheriff Monroe’s boots thudded on the asphalt as she stormed toward them, her flashlight sweeping across their pale, bloodied faces.

“What the hell were you boys doing out there?” she demanded, holstering her weapon only after confirming there was no one or no thing behind them.

Cass tried to speak, but only a strangled cough came out.

Aiden wavered where he stood, swaying like a tree in the wind. “Something… attacked us,” he mumbled. “We didn’t— we didn’t mean to—”

“Save it,” Monroe snapped, catching his arm just before he collapsed.

The flashlight beam landed on the gash in his side.

Her voice softened, but only just. “You’re bleeding bad, kid. Sit down. Help’s coming.”

Sirens echoed in the distance faint but growing.

Cass dropped beside him, both boys panting like they’d run from the edge of death which, in truth, they had. Aiden leaned back against the cool gravel, the stars overhead spinning. His head throbbed. Every nerve felt scorched.

And in his chest… something pulsed.

Something new.

He pressed a trembling hand to his ribs, feeling the rhythmic thump of his heart but it was too strong. Too fast. Like it had been rewired with something more wild than human.

Cass glanced over at him, pale and bruised, dirt smeared across his cheek. “You okay?”

“No,” Aiden said honestly. “Are you?”

Cass just laughed a weak, breathless sound. “Nope.”

The sirens grew louder. Red and blue lights bled across the trees. The ambulance arrived first, followed by two deputies. Monroe barked orders like a general, keeping everything neat and clean and out of the public eye.

By the time they loaded Aiden into the back of the ambulance, he was drifting half-awake, half-asleep, suspended in a fog of pain and adrenaline.

Cass stayed behind to answer questions.

Aiden barely remembered the ride. Just the sound of monitors beeping, the feel of cold metal beneath him, the soft muttering of the paramedics.

“She’s not gonna like this,” one of them said.

“Who?” the other asked.

“His aunt. You know, the doctor.”

Dr. Wolfe.

Right. His aunt.

His only family.

The hospital lights were too bright.

White walls. Sterile air. The distant hum of machines and footsteps.

Aiden blinked awake slowly, squinting against the glow.

“Hey,” a soft voice said beside him.

He turned his head.

Dr. Helena Wolfe sat at his bedside, still in her lab coat, dark hair pinned up like always, her eyes sharp with worry. She looked tired—like she hadn’t slept in days.

“You scared me,” she said, brushing a bit of dirt from his forehead. “They said you were attacked by an animal?”

He opened his mouth.

Paused.

How could he explain what he’d seen? That it wasn’t just an animal? That something had looked at him in the forest with eyes that understood?

“I—I don’t know,” he said.

She searched his face for a beat, then nodded like she understood more than she let on.

“You’re lucky, Aiden,” she said quietly. “You could have died.”

Maybe he had, he thought. Because this didn’t feel like his life anymore. Something was different. Off.

His senses were… sharper.

He could hear the squeak of rubber soles in the hallway, someone coughing two rooms over, even the hum of a vending machine down the corridor.

He could smell her perfume. Lavender and eucalyptus.

He could hear her heartbeat.

Aiden sat up suddenly, chest heaving. “What’s happening to me?”

Helena’s expression flickered—but only for a moment.

“You need to rest,” she said gently. “I’ll run some tests in the morning. For now, just breathe.”

But he couldn’t.

Because his breath wasn’t his anymore.

It was deeper. Thicker.

Like he’d inhaled the forest and it refused to leave.

He laid back, staring at the ceiling.

Something had changed him.

And it wasn’t done yet.