Chapter 3: What Hunts Under The Moon
877 Words
Alex didn’t move.
Neither did I.
The growl rolled through the trees again, low, deliberate, territorial. It wasn’t an animal. I knew that with a certainty that settled deep into my bones, like a memory that didn’t belong to me.
“Sophia,” Alex said quietly, without taking his eyes off the darkness, “I need you to listen to me very carefully.”
My throat was dry. “You’re glowing.”
That finally made him glance at me.
Just for a second.
Whatever he saw on my face made his expression change, shock, fear, something dangerously close to awe.
“Go inside,” he repeated, more urgently now. “Lock the doors. Don’t look back.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
Another shape moved between the trees. Then another.
Eyes reflected moonlight, golden, feral.
My heart should have been racing.
Instead, it slowed.
The world sharpened. I could hear breathing that wasn’t human. Smell damp earth, pine, and something metallic, blood.
Alex swore under his breath.
“They weren’t supposed to find me yet,” he muttered.
Yet.
I grabbed his arm. “What do you mean yet?”
He looked down at my hand on his skin. His muscles were tense, vibrating like a restrained animal.
“Sophia,” he said softly, “there are things about this world you don’t know.”
“I’m starting to think there are things about me I don’t know.”
That earned me a sharp look. “This isn’t the time.”
The bushes exploded.
A figure lunged forward, impossibly fast. Alex moved before I could even scream, he shoved me behind him, his body blocking mine completely.
The moonlight caught his eyes.
They weren’t brown anymore.
They were glowing gold.
The figure skidded to a stop, crouched low, lips pulled back to reveal fangs.
A werewolf.
My knees should have buckled.
Instead, something inside me rose.
Hot. Cold. Ancient.
“Alpha Montclaire,” the werewolf said, voice rough, distorted. “You’ve been hard to track.”
Alex’s shoulders squared. “You’re trespassing.”
The werewolf’s gaze flicked to me. “And you’re protecting a human now?”
Alex growled.
A real growl. It vibrated through his chest and into mine.
“She’s not part of this.”
The werewolf laughed. “You sure about that?”
My head throbbed. The air felt thick, heavy with power. I felt… wrong. Like my skin was too tight, like something inside me was pushing outward.
“Alex,” I whispered. “I don’t feel...”
The werewolf lunged again.
This time, I moved.
I didn’t think. I didn’t plan. My hand shot out, palm facing the attacker.
“Stop.”
The word wasn’t loud.
But it wasn’t mine.
The werewolf slammed into an invisible force, skidding backward across the grass like he’d hit a wall. He stared at me in disbelief.
So did Alex.
“What the hell…” he breathed.
I stared at my hand, trembling. The veins beneath my skin looked darker. More pronounced.
The other wolves hesitated.
Fear flickered across their faces.
“Impossible,” one of them muttered. “She’s...”
“Human?” I finished softly.
Something inside me laughed.
Alex turned fully toward me now, hands gripping my shoulders. His touch grounded and overwhelming at the same time.
“Sophia,” he said urgently, “look at me. What did you just do?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “But I think they do.”
The werewolf who’d spoken earlier bowed his head, just slightly.
Recognition.
Respect.
“Told you,” he said slowly, eyes fixed on me. “Her blood isn’t human.”
The word blood echoed through my mind.
My mother’s face flashed before me, pale skin, dark eyes, the way she’d always avoided mirrors, sunlight.
My dad’s voice. Don’t ask questions, Sophia.
The truth slammed into me all at once.
“I’m not human,” I said.
Alex didn’t deny it.
“I was trying to protect you,” he said, voice rough. “From all of this.”
“By lying?”
“I didn’t know you’d awaken this soon.”
The wolves shifted, uneasy now.
“This changes things,” one of them said. “If she’s what we think she is...”
A sudden wave of dizziness hit me. The world tilted. Alex caught me instantly, pulling me against his chest.
His heartbeat thundered beneath my ear.
Strong. Steady.
Safe.
“Sophia,” he murmured. “Stay with me.”
“I don’t want this,” I whispered. “I didn’t ask for it.”
His arms tightened around me. “Neither did I.”
Sirens wailed in the distance, teachers, security and normal life rushing toward us.
The wolves backed away, melting into the trees.
“This isn’t over,” the first one said. “Blood always calls to blood.”
Then they were gone.
Alex looked down at me, his golden eyes slowly fading back to brown.
Everything between us had changed.
Graduation was over.
So was my old life.
And standing under the moon, in the arms of the boy I was supposed to hate, I knew one terrifying truth:
Whatever I was becoming…
the world was coming for me.
- Writer
