Vivid Imagery

Mate. I froze mid-step, Venom has never said that word before. I've suddenly forgotten the Rogues I was chasing, my whole attention now on the emotions I was feeling. My vision sharpened, focusing on the faint sound of labored breathing just ahead. My heart hammered in my chest as I walked closer, the bond pulling me forward with an urgency I hadn’t felt in decades. The first thing I saw was her hair, a messy dark bun with strands of white, unusual yet unique. She sat curled up against the base of an old tree, arms wrapped tightly around her knees, shoulders trembling. Her thin, tattered sweater barely shielding her from the cold air. She looked... fragile, a word I never thought I’d associate with my mate. Ariel’s life has been anything but easy. Orphaned as a child and left in the care of a cruel stepfather and stepbrother, she’s endured years of emotional and physical abuse. Despite her circumstances, she’s always felt something stirring beneath the surface—an unexplained restlessness, vivid dreams of running under the moonlight, and a deep connection to the forest around her. Zayn, the alpha of the Shadowcrest pack, has spent years searching for his fated mate, the one who would complete him and stand by his side to no avail…he had finally given up on ever finding her. His pack thrives under his leadership, but his heart has grown weary, doubting the Moon Goddess’s promise of a mate. When a chance encounter leads him to Ariel, he’s stunned to discover that the fragile, broken girl is his destined partner—and more than that, she’s a wolf completely unaware of her true nature.

Some love stories never fade. Some return… with secrets and shadows. —---------- I thought I knew how my life would go—until my boyfriend broke up with me on my eighteenth birthday and took my future with him. Just when I’m picking up the pieces, Axel moves back into the house across the street. He was my childhood friend and my first crush. Now he's back, older, quieter… and hiding something. The more time we spend together, the more I feel a deep and sensual pull between us. But his return has brought strange happenings to our small town: unnatural sightings in the woods, claw marks in odd places, and the dreams—dark, vivid flashes of something lurking in the woods, something that feels too real to be an imagination. Axel knows more than he’s saying. And whatever he brought back with him… it’s not just out for him. It’s coming for me too. Now I have to choose who to trust—the old flame who left me and now seeks redemption, the childhood crush whose return holds secrets, or the mysterious alpha whose presence feels like a warning and a promise all at once. And I have to decide fast. Because the world I thought I knew is slipping away, something ancient is waking, and whatever's coming for me is already here.