Lycan Witch

Chapter 5: Hunger In The Dark

The forest stretched endlessly around him, but Kael could not outrun himself.

Every instinct screamed at him to return to her. To guard her. To claim her.

But the more he resisted, the more his beast clawed inside him, restless, prowling, hungry. The wolf wanted Aria not just as mate, but as sanctuary. It terrified him. He had never needed anyone, not like this.

He slammed his fists into a tree trunk, splintering bark. The night swallowed his growl, but the ache remained.

She is a witch, he reminded himself. Their kind has bled us for centuries.

The memory burned—the smell of smoke, the echo of screams, the night he had buried his own mother after witchfire consumed her. He had sworn that day never to let mercy blind him, never to let weakness leave him vulnerable again.

And now fate had placed her in his path.

Her laughter. Her fear. Her scent that tangled with the moonlight and pulled at him like a chain around his throat.

“Damn it.” His voice was a hoarse whisper.

The air shifted, and Kael stiffened.

“You’re slipping, Alpha.”

Darius’s voice slid from the shadows, mocking. He had followed. Of course he had.

Kael turned slowly, eyes flashing gold. “You want to die tonight?”

Darius only smirked, leaning casually against a tree as though Kael’s fury were nothing. “Not tonight. But soon enough, the pack will see you for what you are—a wolf tangled in human softness. In witchblood.” He spat the word like venom.

Kael’s claws flexed at his sides. He should rip his throat out. End the challenge here. But killing Darius outright would fracture the pack at the worst possible moment.

“You think you can lead better?” Kael’s voice was low, lethal.

“I think I can lead without falling for a girl who should’ve been ash the moment you scented her,” Darius replied coldly. “The pack sees your hesitation, Kael. And hesitation gets us killed.”

Kael lunged before thought could stop him. His hand slammed into the tree beside Darius’s head, claws carving deep grooves into the bark. Their faces were inches apart, his eyes burning like molten gold.

“I am Alpha,” Kael growled, his voice shaking with the effort to restrain the beast clawing to be free. “Challenge me again, and I will tear out your heart and feed it to the crows.”

For once, Darius flinched. Just slightly—but enough.

Kael released him with a shove, turning away before his control snapped.

Darius’s laugh followed him, bitter and sharp. “Then pray the witch doesn’t break you first.”

---

That night, Kael prowled the edge of Hollowbrook, unable to stop himself. He stayed hidden in the treeline, a shadow among shadows, watching the faint light glowing from Aria’s window.

Her silhouette moved within—soft, human, fragile.

And yet, when she passed the mirror, the glass rippled faintly, as though the magic inside her strained to surface. She didn’t notice. But Kael did.

The beast in him stirred, a mix of hunger and dread.

She was changing.

And when her power woke fully, the world would burn.