Calm
913 Words
~Lucar POV~
I didn’t slow until the noise of the pack faded into nothing, swallowed by the deeper arteries of the den where silence ruled. The corridors narrowed, the air cooler, heavier. Torchlight thinned, shadows stretching and twisting like living things along the stone.
Every step echoed accusation.
Aria lay against my chest, her breaths uneven, shallow, her warmth bleeding into me in a way that unsettled my wolf. Too alive. Too present. Her heartbeat brushed mine again and again, and each time it did, something primal stirred alert, possessive, restless.
She was light.
Unnaturally so.
That terrified me.
I reached my chambers and shoved the door open with my shoulder. The ancient stone groaned in protest before yielding, the sound final, decisive. Once shut, the rest of the pack ceased to exist.
This space had always been mine alone.
Cold stone walls carved with old sigils. Weapon racks polished from years of habit. A massive bed layered with thick furs, built for an Alpha who slept lightly and woke ready to kill.
A room meant for control.
I crossed the floor and eased her down onto the furs, my movements careful despite the tension coiled tight in my arms. Releasing her felt wrong like loosening my grip on something fragile in the middle of chaos.
She shifted slightly, lashes trembling as her eyes opened. Confusion clouded her gaze as she took in the room.
“This is…” Her voice faltered. “Where am I?”
“My quarters,” I said, already stepping back. Distance was necessary. Dangerous instincts tugged me forward.
Her expression tightened. “I shouldn’t be here.”
The words struck deeper than they had any right to.
“You should,” I replied too quickly.
She flinched not in fear, but surprise.
I forced a slow breath, reining myself in. “You’re not trapped,” I said more evenly. “And you’re not being punished. You’re here because the pack doesn’t understand you.”
And some of them never will.
Zari’s scent lingered in my thoughts—sharp with envy, poisoned with resentment.
“They’re afraid,” I continued. “Fear makes wolves cruel.”
Her gaze dropped to the furs, fingers curling into them as though grounding herself.
I scrubbed a hand down my face, tension clawing beneath my skin. “You’ll remain here until your strength returns. That’s all.”
Her head lifted. “And then?”
“Then you can leave,” I said. “Return to whatever life you had before this.”
My wolf slammed against the inside of my chest.
Don’t lie.
I clenched my fists. “You didn’t ask for our world. You didn’t ask for me.”
She searched my face, uncertain. “Am I… going to be alright?”
Something in me fractured.
“Yes,” I said quietly. “While you’re under my roof, nothing will harm you.”
She nodded slowly, holding onto the words like a lifeline.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “For not letting me die.”
I turned away.
Because I was the reason she almost had.
“I was the one who bit you,” I said. “I don’t deserve your gratitude.”
“You stopped it,” she said simply. “That matters.”
I sat beside the bed, not touching her, but close enough to react if needed. She didn’t recoil from my presence.
“Rest,” I murmured. “Your body is still… adjusting.”
Her eyes slid shut. Her breathing steadied.
And I watched her.
The human who defied death.
The girl who survived my bite.
Something deep inside me shifted old, instinctive, irreversible.
“Only until she heals,” I whispered to myself.
I slipped out and closed the door softly behind me.
The moment it shut, my wolf surged uneasy, prowling, furious at confinement.
I barely made it down the corridor before voices reached me.
Raised. Heated.
Jayce spoke first. “Lower your voices. Alpha will handle this.”
Zari’s reply cut sharp as broken glass. “Handle what? A human sleeping in his bed?”
Growls rippled through the hall.
“She doesn’t belong here,” another voice said. “Humans weaken packs.”
Zari laughed, cold and bitter. “She’s useless. Nearly collapsed just standing. And what happens when she dies in our walls? When whatever curse she carries spreads?”
My claws extended before I realized it.
Jayce snapped, “She survived an Alpha’s bite. That alone makes her different.”
Silence.
Then whispers.
Zari’s tone dropped. “Or it makes her dangerous.”
Another wolf hesitated. “Is Alpha planning to keep her?”
Zari scoffed. “He’ll send her away once the guilt fades. He’ll choose a proper mate. Someone worthy.”
Something inside me broke.
I stepped forward.
The hall fell dead silent.
Zari stiffened as my gaze locked onto her.
“She remains,” I said. “Under my protection.”
Shock rippled outward.
“Alpha”
One step.
Every wolf bowed.
“That is not a suggestion.”
Zari’s voice trembled. “Why her?”
I didn’t answer the truth.
I said only, “Because I chose to.”
She bowed, humiliation burning sharp in her scent.
I turned away.
Back toward the room.
Back toward the girl who slept unaware of the storm she had awakened.
She was the calm center of it.
And my wolf already knew
Nothing about this would be temporary.
- Writer
