Chapter 14
907 Words
Kael POV
I hear them before I see them.
Two humans, their steps fast and sharp—fear sharpening their scent. They’re coming straight for the cabin. Straight for her.
I stay in the shadows, jaw tightening as Selene steps into the doorway. Even from here, I can sense her heartbeat—steady, warm, trusting. Trust she shouldn’t have for someone like me.
Mira reaches her first, breathless. “Selene, what were you THINKING coming out here alone?” She clutches Selene like she needs to pull her away from this place. From me. “This forest isn’t normal. You shouldn’t be anywhere near it.”
Dalton arrives a second later, hand already on his gun, scanning the treeline like he expects something to jump out. His eyes graze over the shadows where I stand, but not long enough to see me.
Good.
“I told you this cabin was trouble,” Dalton mutters. “Every time someone stays here, something happens. And now you? What exactly were you doing out here, Selene?”
Selene’s lips part, but Mira answers first.
“I bet someone was here with her.” She looks around sharply, suspicion in every line of her body. “Some man she won’t tell us about.”
My muscles tense.
Dalton steps closer, voice low. “If there *is* someone out here with you, Selene, he needs to come out. Now. I don’t like strangers in my forest.”
His forest.
He has no idea who truly owns these woods.
Selene wraps the blanket tighter around herself, avoiding their eyes. “No one’s here. I just needed space.”
She’s lying for me—protecting me—and both of them sense it immediately.
Mira’s eyes narrow. “You’re hiding something. Selene, look at me. Did someone hurt you?”
Hurt her? The thought rattles something deep in my chest. If I wanted to hurt her, she wouldn’t be standing.
Dalton huffs. “Whoever he is, I don’t want him anywhere near you. A man who lurks in these woods? No. You don’t know what people like that are capable of.”
Yes, she does.
She saw what I can do, and she didn’t run.
Selene lifts her chin. “He didn’t hurt me.”
Her voice is steady. Firm. Protective of me in a way that twists something inside me I don’t want to name.
Mira scoffs. “You don’t KNOW that. Selene, we need to go. Now.”
Dalton steps closer to the cabin door, sensing me without understanding what he’s feeling. “If he’s still around, I’ll find him.” His hand tightens around his gun. “And I’ll deal with him.”
A low growl rises in my throat before I can stop it.
Dalton freezes.
Mira goes pale. “What was that?”
Selene’s eyes flick to the trees—toward me. A silent plea.
Stay hidden. Don’t let them see you.
I step back deeper into the dark, forcing the growl down, fighting the instinct to protect her by any means.
They don’t know me.
They don’t want to.
To them, I am danger. A stranger. A threat.
But to Selene…
Her eyes soften. Her breath stumbles. She whispers into the shadows, too quietly for them to hear:
“Kael… please.”
She doesn’t want me gone.
Even if they do.
Even if the whole forest does.
Dalton puts a hand on Selene’s shoulder. “We’re getting you out of here before whoever’s hiding in these trees comes back.”
I watch as they guide her toward the truck, Mira clinging to her, Dalton scanning for me with suspicion carved into every line of his face.
They think I’m the danger.
They have no idea what else is hunting her.
KAEL — POV (JEALOUS)
Selene leaves with them.
Mira holding her arm like she owns her.
Dalton walking too close, looking at her like he has the right to protect her.
A snarl builds low in my chest before I can stop it.
Jealousy is a human word.
Too small for what claws at me.
This is instinct.
Possession.
Warning.
Wild.
I pace the shadows long after their truck disappears, the wolf beneath my skin scraping against bone.
Dalton touched her.
His hand on her shoulder flashes through my mind again.
I felt the heat of it from across the clearing.
He doesn’t even understand what hunts these woods, yet he thinks he can stand between her and danger.
He can’t.
He never could.
And Mira—
She stares at me like I’m the threat.
But Selene…
Selene looked back.
Twice.
Her head turned toward the tree line as if she could feel me watching.
As if she didn’t want to leave.
That does something to me—
Something sharp, dangerous, terrifyingly alive.
I shouldn’t feel this.
Not for her.
Not for anyone.
But when Dalton leaned closer, whispering something into her ear,
the wolf inside me lunged.
Fury tore through my ribs like claws.
I wanted to break through the trees.
I wanted to rip his hand away from her.
I wanted to drag her back to where she smelled like me instead of them.
I didn’t.
But the forest heard what I wanted.
And it went quiet.
Completely.
Unnaturally.
Because it knows:
there are two things I will not tolerate.
The monsters that hunt this forest.
And any man who thinks he can touch Selene Hart.
- Writer
