Chapter 1
925 Words
Midnight hated disappointing people.
Which was exactly why she was standing in the freezing rain at eleven-thirty at night, holding two ripped grocery bags while her manager screamed at her over the phone.
“You were supposed to cover the shift.”
Midnight adjusted the bags digging into her fingers and kept walking down the empty sidewalk. “I already worked twelve hours, Denise.”
“And? You think everyone else doesn’t?”
Midnight closed her eyes briefly.
Three… two… one…
The strange heat beneath her skin eased just enough for her to breathe again.
“I said I was sorry.”
“You’re always sorry,” Denise snapped. “Maybe if you stopped acting helpless for once—”
The call ended before Midnight realized her phone screen had shattered in her hand.
She stopped walking.
Rain poured around her in silver sheets while tiny cracks spread beneath her boots across the sidewalk.
Midnight stared at the ruined phone.
Her chest rose sharply.
That heat again.
No.
Not heat.
Something else.
Something alive.
It moved beneath her ribs like claws scraping against bone.
Hungry.
A low whine escaped her throat before she could stop it.
Panic hit instantly.
Not here.
Please not here.
Her breathing turned uneven as the streetlights overhead flickered violently. One burst with a loud pop, showering sparks onto the wet pavement.
Midnight stumbled backward.
This had been happening more lately.
The headaches.
The blackouts.
The nightmares.
God, the nightmares.
Forests drenched in blood. Screams echoing through the trees. Massive claws tearing through flesh while glowing red eyes stared back at her from the darkness.
Waiting.
Watching.
Calling her.
She pressed a trembling hand against her stomach.
“Stop,” she whispered.
The thing inside her answered with a growl.
Midnight froze.
Not around her.
Inside her.
Her emerald eyes widened in horror.
A car sped past too fast, splashing freezing water across her jeans. The driver yelled something vulgar through the open window before disappearing down the street.
Normally she would have ignored it.
Tonight—
Something snapped.
The growl returned louder this time, vibrating through her entire body.
Pain exploded through her spine.
Midnight cried out, dropping the groceries as she collapsed onto one knee in the alley beside her apartment building.
Her nails dug into the concrete hard enough to crack it.
What the hell was happening to her?
Her pulse thundered violently.
Every sound around her sharpened.
Dripping rain. Buzzing electricity. Footsteps three blocks away. The frantic heartbeat of someone hiding behind the dumpster nearby smoking a cigarette.
She could smell him too.
Sweat. Nicotine. Fear.
Fear?
Midnight lifted her head slowly.
The man behind the dumpster peeked around the corner—and immediately staggered backward like he’d seen death itself.
“What the f**k…” he breathed.
Midnight blinked.
The world suddenly looked… wrong.
Sharper.
Darker.
She could see the heat coming off his body.
Her stomach twisted painfully.
Hungry.
The word slithered through her mind in a voice that did not belong to her.
The man bolted from the alley.
Midnight sucked in a horrified breath as another wave of pain ripped through her body.
Her canines sharpened instantly.
“No—”
Bones cracked.
The sound was sickening.
Midnight screamed as black smoke curled beneath her skin like veins of living shadow. Her back arched violently, muscles tightening while something monstrous clawed its way closer to the surface.
And then—
A voice cut through the darkness.
“Enough.”
The alley went still.
Completely still.
Even the rain seemed to hesitate.
Midnight’s head snapped upward.
A man stood at the mouth of the alley dressed entirely in black. Rain rolled off him without him seeming to notice. Tall. Broad. Inhumanly still.
Predatory.
His eyes locked onto hers.
Silver.
Not human.
Every instinct inside her screamed at once.
Run.
But she couldn’t move.
Because the thing inside her—the creature clawing beneath her skin—had suddenly gone silent.
Not afraid.
Recognizing him.
The stranger inhaled slowly.
Then his expression changed for the first time.
Shock.
Pure shock.
“No,” he said quietly, almost to himself.
Midnight’s chest tightened painfully.
He crossed the alley in seconds.
Too fast.
Definitely not human.
She tried scrambling backward, but he crouched in front of her before she could move. His scent hit her instantly—smoke, forest, winter, and something dangerously male beneath it all.
Wolf.
Her entire body reacted.
The creature inside her purred.
The stranger looked furious about it.
His silver eyes darkened as he stared at the black smoke twisting beneath her skin.
“That’s impossible.”
Midnight’s voice shook. “What’s happening to me?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, his gaze dragged slowly over her face like he was trying to solve something horrifying.
Then his jaw clenched.
“You should not exist.”
The words hit harder than they should have.
Midnight flinched.
Something flickered in his expression after that.
Regret.
Gone almost instantly.
Another violent crack tore through her spine and she cried out again.
The male cursed under his breath before grabbing her face firmly.
The second his skin touched hers—
Fire exploded between them.
Not heat.
Something deeper.
Ancient.
Possessive.
Midnight gasped as images slammed into her mind.
Golden eyes glowing in darkness.
Blood staining snow.
His hands around her throat.
His mouth on hers.
Death.
Desire.
A bond.
The stranger jerked away from her like he’d been burned.
Impossible.
But Midnight barely heard the word this time.
Because her eyes had started glowing red.
- Writer
