CHAPTER 1- THE CHASE
1049 Words
(Evelyn’s POV)
The night air was sharp enough to sting my lungs. I hadn’t meant to stay so late on campus, but one assignment turned into two, before I knew it the library lights were dimming and I was the last one booted out.
Typical Evelyn Hart, classic me too stubborn to leave work unfinished, too distracted to realize how empty the streets had gotten.
Long walks have always been therapeutic for me. My mind would wander around and I’d be lost in my thoughts, letting the music take me away.
I kept my earbuds in as I walked, my favorite tote bag bouncing against my hip as I readied the playlist that would get me through this walk.
I made a stop at my favorite Bagel shop to get a couple of freshly baked ones with a can of soda. I had lost track of time doing the assignments and forgot that I hadn’t taken any meals since breakfast.
I plugged in my earbuds once more after checking out and immediately dove into the first bagel, it tastes like Heaven.
This, plus my music and a long walk ahead.
I was enjoying my little patch of paradise, the city had a way of feeling safe to me.
The bright shopfronts, the streetlamps flickering like halos, the occasional drunk couple laughing their way out of a bar. It was all background noise I’d grown used to.
The traffic had reduced significantly, probably because it was getting late, but when the laughter and traffic faded, I felt it.
That shift in the air. That prickling on the back of my neck.
Like I wasn’t alone.
I tugged one earbud free.
Silence.
No, not silence. The faint scrape of claws on pavement.
I froze, my breath misting in the cool air.
My first thought was of a stray dog. A big one, maybe. But the sound came again—closer, heavier, deliberate.
I quickened my pace, my sneakers tapping faster against the pavement. My heart picked up with them.
Don’t look back. Don’t look back.
I looked back.
And that’s when I saw them.
Two wolves.
Not the lean, skittish shapes I remembered from National Geographic specials. No. These were hulking, monstrous things, their shoulders almost to my chest even on all fours.
Their fur was slick and dark, glowing faintly under the streetlight, and their eyes—God, their eyes lit up like burning coals.
Intelligent. Focused. Fixed on me.
The breath caught in my throat. My body forgot how to move for a heartbeat, terror rooting me in place.
Then the first growl ripped through the night.
It snapped me into motion.
I ran.
My tote bag slammed against my side as I bolted, my lungs burning instantly.
The wolves thundered after me, their claws scraping asphalt like knives dragged across stone. The sound shredded through me, urging my legs to go faster.
“Help!” I screamed, my voice cracking. “Somebody, please!”
But the streets were empty. The windows are dark. The city that had always felt so alive now seemed abandoned, a stage cleared for my death scene.
I swerved down a side street, sneakers skidding on damp concrete, but the wolves were fast—too fast. I could hear their panting, the snap of their teeth in the air behind me.
My chest ached. My vision blurred. Panic clawed at me.
Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop!
The alley opened into a wider street. Relief surged until I saw him.
A third wolf.
Bigger than the first two.
It stepped into the pool of a flickering streetlight, shadows clinging to its massive frame. Its fur was darker, thicker, and its eyes were glowing brighter than the others. It didn’t need to bare its teeth for me to understand—I was trapped.
I staggered to a halt, chest heaving, my body pressed against a brick wall. I had nowhere to go. The wolves circled, low snarls vibrating through the pavement, my skin, my bones.
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “No, no, no…”
The biggest wolf crouched. Muscles rippled. Its eyes locked on me.
And then—it leapt.
I squeezed my eyes shut, a scream ripping out of my throat
But its teeth never sank into me.
Instead, something darker than shadow crashed into the wolf midair.
The impact rattled the street. Snarls and yelps erupted, claws raking, teeth tearing. Another wolf, larger, black as midnight, had joined the fight.
It moved with terrifying grace, a predator’s precision in every strike.
Blood sprayed across the concrete. Bone crunched under jaws.
My stomach lurched, with bile burning the back of my throat.
The black wolf was unstoppable. Within seconds, the other wolves were nothing but broken bodies, their glowing eyes dimming, their snarls fading to silence.
I stood frozen, back against the wall, chest heaving so hard it hurt. My legs trembled violently.
The black wolf turned.
Its eyes glowed gold, hotter, fiercer than the others. They pinned me like a spotlight, holding me in place. My breath caught, my body refusing to obey the instinct screaming at me to run.
And then—before my eyes—it shifted.
The fur melted into skin, the body reshaping itself with sickening cracks and snaps of bone. What rose from the ruined heap of wolves wasn’t an animal.
It was a man.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. His chest glistened with blood that wasn’t his. His hair was dark, wild, matted from the fight. And his eyes—the same burning gold as the wolf’s—seared into me.
Naked. Terrifying. Beautiful in a way that made my heart stutter against my will.
I pressed harder against the wall, shaking my head. “Stay away from me—”
He stepped forward. Just one step, but it was enough to steal the air from my lungs.
“You’re mine.”
His voice was deep. Rough. Like gravel and smoke.
I froze. My mind screamed at me to run, but my body was locked in place, as if the words had bound me there.
He reached out before I could scream again, his hand closing around my arm like iron.
And in that moment, I knew: whatever nightmare I’d just escaped, this one was worse.
- Writer
