Birthright

Chapter 12 - a stranger - Jackson PoV

Lex steps through the doorway first, and I follow close behind. The moment we cross the threshold, the warm buzz of chatter and clinking mugs washes over us. I can’t help but grin.

“So, do you think we should drink whatever they had?” I murmur, my voice low but teasing. I feel like a curious teen sneaking into somewhere I probably shouldn’t be.

But the words barely leave my mouth before the entire room goes quiet.

Lex stops dead in his tracks, and I nearly bump into his back. Every pair of eyes in the inn, wolves, fae, vampires, turns toward us. The laughter fades into a tense silence thick enough to choke on.

“What did we do?” Lex whispers, barely moving his lips.

I shrug behind him, though I doubt he can see me.

Behind the bar stands an older man with greying hair and eyes sharp enough to cut through the dark. His hands rest on the counter, long, scarred fingers beside rows of half-filled mugs.

“And who are you boys?” he asks, his tone calm but warning. “We don’t want no trouble here.”

Around the room, a few men push back their chairs and rise to their feet, muscles coiled, ready to strike if things go sideways.

Lex raises his hands, palms out in mock surrender. “No trouble,” he says quickly.

I step beside him, forcing a faint smile. “We mean no harm. We’re new here. Just passing through. Thought we’d check out this rather quirky place of yours.”

“New?” The old man’s eyes narrow, studying us like he’s peeling back layers of our souls. “And where exactly are you from, boys?”

Before I can answer the old man, the doors burst open with a crash. Two women tumble inside, breathless and wild-eyed. “Guards!” one of them shouts, her voice slicing through the tension like a blade.

The room erupts into chaos, chairs scraping, mugs spilling, people scattering toward back exits and shadowed corners. In the commotion, one of the women stumbles, her foot catching on the uneven floorboards. Instinct takes over, I move before I even think, catching her just as she falls.

The noise around us fades, swallowed by the thundering of my own heartbeat.

When I look down, time seems to still. Her skin glows softly in the lantern light, her chest rising and falling with hurried breaths. Her eyes, goddesss, her eyes, sapphire with flecks of gold, catching the dim light like they were spun from starlight itself.

For a heartbeat, I forget everything, the mission, the danger, even who I am. All I can do is stare, caught in a trance by the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen or imagined.

“Jackson, we need to go, this can’t be good if everyone’s running for the door,” Lex warns, already scanning for an escape route.

I glance at him, then back at the woman still in my arms. The world around us feels blurred, movement and panic reduced to background noise. She coughs softly, a subtle hint that I should probably let her go.

“Right,” I mutter, loosening my hold, though part of me doesn’t want to.

She steadies herself, eyes locking with mine once more. “Follow me,” she says, her voice low and melodic like music carried on air. “I know somewhere safe.”

For a second, I just stare, struck again by the impossible calm in her tone despite the chaos swirling around us. Then I nod to Lex. “You heard her.”

He gives me a look that says this better not get us killed, but falls in behind us anyway.

And just like that, I follow the stranger, the angelic voice, into the unknown.

We hurry through the narrow, filthy streets, the echoes of shouting and crashing from the inn still chasing our heels. The night air is thick with smoke and fear. Ahead of us, the woman, no, the goddess, runs like the wind itself, her movements quick and effortless.

“Where’s she going?” Lex mutters, but I don’t answer.

She darts into an alley that ends in a high brick wall. I’m about to shout a warning when she suddenly leaps catching the edge, vaulting over it with inhuman grace. I blink, stunned for half a second.

“Impressive,” I murmur, before following her lead. My boots hit the ground on the other side just as Lex lands beside me, muttering under his breath.

We’re plunged into darkness, the kind that swallows light whole, but our Lycan sight kicks in, painting the shadows in shades of silver and gray. The woman’s scent lingers in the air, intoxicating, sharp and wild, like rain on a hot day mixed with spiced apple, she’s a wolf but different. Something other.

“This way!” she calls from up ahead.

“Great,” Lex grumbles, brushing mud off his sleeve. “Perfect. Let’s just follow the mysterious stranger through dark alleys, what could possibly go wrong?”

Despite myself, I almost laugh almost. Because somehow, I already know that following her will change everything.