Chapter 13
730 Words
CHAPTER 12 — KAEL POV: THE THING THAT HUNTS
The wall shouldn’t shake like that.
Not unless something big hit it.
Not unless something older than fear was already waiting outside.
My body reacts before thought does.
Selene’s legs are still around my waist, her breath still warm against my neck, her taste still on my lips—but the moment the cabin shudders, instinct takes control.
I put her down gently.
Gently, even though everything inside me is a storm.
“Behind me,” I growl, low and sharp.
She obeys, stepping back, breath uneven… maybe from the kiss, maybe from the danger. Probably both.
I can still feel her heartbeat.
I can still *smell* her want.
And that alone makes the threat outside a hundred times worse.
Because the forest should not dare to touch what’s mine—
No.
Not mine.
I force that thought back into the dark.
Another hit.
The wooden boards shudder. Dust falls from the beams.
Selene whispers, “What is that?”
Not *who*.
*What*.
Smart girl.
Something drags its claws across the wall—slow, scraping, taunting.
Like it knows I’m inside.
Like it knows she is.
The sound is wrong. Too deep. Too uneven. Too… hungry.
My skin bristles.
Not from fear.
From recognition.
“It’s not one of my kind,” I say. “Not anymore.”
Selene swallows. “What does that mean?”
I step forward, letting the shift ripple just enough to sharpen my senses.
Not fully—if I shift completely, I’ll lose control around her.
And after what almost happened between us, that is a line I am not ready to cross.
But I need power.
My bones heat.
My vision sharpens.
The wolf presses against my skin, ready to tear the door off its hinges.
“It used to be a shifter,” I say. “A long time ago.”
She whispers, “Used to be?”
“It’s feral now. Lost its mind. Lost its body. Lost everything but hunger.”
The creature slams into the door.
Hard.
The hinges scream.
Selene jumps. I feel it.
The fear. The rush. The instinct to run.
And something inside me snaps—
a possessive, old, uncontrollable instinct:
**No one touches her.
No one scares her.
No one.**
A low growl vibrates from my chest, deeper than anything human. It shakes the air in the cabin. Selene’s breath stutters.
“Kael…”
My name on her lips is its own kind of danger.
“Stay back,” I breathe.
The door cracks.
The creature pushes its snout inside—black, rotting fur, teeth like jagged stones, eyes glowing with a sickly green light.
Selene gasps quietly.
Not loud enough for a human ear.
But loud enough for the thing outside.
It snarls.
My vision flashes gold.
Every piece of me—man and beast—wants to rip it apart for looking at her.
For sensing her.
For wanting her.
I step closer to the door, muscles coiled tight. “You picked the wrong night,” I snarl.
The wrong prey.
The wrong woman.
The wrong wolf to challenge.
The creature roars—an inhuman, broken sound that shakes the walls. It tries to force its body through the frame, claws tearing at the wood, foam dripping from its jaws.
Selene whispers, “What do we do?”
Not run.
Not hide.
*We.*
I shouldn’t like that.
I do.
“You stay behind me,” I say. “And no matter what happens—you don’t run.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’ll chase what runs.”
I glance back at her.
“And I need you where I can reach you.”
Lightning flashes outside. The creature’s silhouette appears—taller than a man, bent and twisted, walking on limbs too long, too wrong.
The last of my restraint snaps.
The shift tears through me—not gentle, not controlled, but brutal, necessary. My bones c***k, spine lengthens, muscles pull tight, jaw reshapes. The pain feels like fire and release at the same time.
Selene watches, wide-eyed, as the monster that kissed her becomes the monster that will kill for her.
The door explodes inward.
The feral creature lunges—
And I meet it head-on with a snarl that shakes the ground.
Tonight, the forest does not get her.
It gets me.
- Writer
