EYES OF THE MOONBORN
1388 Words
Eren’s breath trembled. His friends looked confused while humans sensing only tension without understanding its depth.
Then Aldrich stepped back, the shadow vanishing from his expression as easily like a mask, remove from his face.
“Study hard,” he said, turning away.
Only Brian heard the warning buried beneath the words.
As they continued deeper into the administrative corridor, Brian whispered: "They’re young, Aldrich. If they grew up outside the Dominion… someone hid them from us. That means someone wanted them unseen.”
“And secrets,” Aldrich replied, “are never harmless.”
They reached Brian’s office, a modern chamber with glass walls and screens displaying campus data. Once the door closed, then the atmosphere changed.
Brian lowered his voice.
“There have been… incidents. Small, but unusual. Sensors triggering at night, electromagnetic interference in the genetics lab… I think someone is testing wolf physiology behind the scenes.”
Aldrich’s pulse darkened. “Who has access?”
Brian hesitated. "Faculty. But also… donors. Board members.”
Aldrich looked out the window, his silhouette framed like a warlord standing above his battlefield.
In the courtyard, Margery was still reading beneath the tree. Unbothered. Like she was waiting for someone.
Aldrich spoke without turning: “Find everything about the Colt siblings. Their parents. Birth records. Medical files. Guardians. Anything.”
Brian nodded.“Aldrich… if they are powerful..."
Aldrich finally looked at him. “Then they may not be the threat.”
Brian blinked. "Then who?”
Aldrich’s eyes were cold like a steel. “The person who hid them.”
A silence spread between them..thick with questions.
Outside, the wind changed direction. A distant howl echoed, only one wolf could hear. The kingdom Aldrich fought to protect was no longer safe.
And the first crack began inside the school built under his own name.
After the meeting with Brian, Aldrich dismissed his guards and walked the campus alone. No entourage, and no shield of power. Just the shadow of a king disguised as an ordinary man.
He didn’t need protection... not here. If danger existed in this place, it wasn’t the kind that carried weapons. It was the kind that smiled, studied, and hid behind textbooks.
Intelligence is sharper than any blade, he thought.
His steps carried him toward the courtyard, an invisible instinct pulling him through sunlit walkways and quiet gardens. The closer he got, the more the air shifted.. like a forest breathing through concrete.
Then he saw her again...
Margery Colt. She is still under the black pine. While reading alone.
Aldrich watched her quietly.
The world around her seemed muted. The screaming girls from earlier lunch break were gone. Leaves fell without sound. And time itself slowed.
Her eyes moved calmly across the pages, far too wise for someone her age. Her expression was neutral, almost emotionless, except for a faint crease in her brow, like she was thinking far beyond whatever was written in the book.
He approached, and let her feel his coming.
Most wolves sensed him before they saw him. Their pulse stuttered, their breathing changed, their posture shifted.
But Margery? did nothing... She only finished one line before lifting her head. Her eyes are silver-gray, with no fear and without hesitation, she meets his eyes first.
Aldrich stopped a few steps away. "You’re reading during the break,” he said, voice low.
Margery closed the book calmly. “I’m studying.”
Most students would have stumbled over their words in front of him. But her? she spoke like she was stating a fact to someone ordinary.
His lips twitched, amused. “And here I thought everyone wanted a picture with the famous bachelor CEO.”
“I don’t,” she said simply. No aggression.
Aldrich’s eyes narrowed, but he is not annoyed, anyway.
“You don’t seem impressed.”
“I don’t know you,” she replied. “Why should I be impressed?”
The corner of his mouth lifted, “A rare answer.”
She tilted her head slightly. “Isn’t that what you want? People who aren’t blinded by your name?”
For a moment, silence hung like a blade between them. Then Aldrich took one slow step closer. Most wolves would lower their gaze. Even humans felt the pressure of his presence.
Margery did neither. Her eyes stayed locked on his, a steady look like she was ready for anything..
The wind shifted, then her scent reached him again.
Through her scent, Aldrich can identify her kind. He can view the moonlight, through her eyes, a scent of the night soil. A smoke from the forgotten rituals. It means, she is not human, not an omega not beta. She is something primal..
“Where are your parents from?” Aldrich asked.
Not a casual question.
Margery blinked once, slowly. “Nowhere,” she answered.
A lie wrapped in truth.
“No one is from nowhere,” Aldrich replied.
She held his gaze for a second longer, then opened her book again, as if it was the ending of their conversation.
“Some people are,” the girl said. “If they’ve never stayed long enough, they belong to anywhere.”
He paused under his breath... like she had revealed something without giving anything away.
Aldrich studied her hands, there is a slight pressure on the page, and the calmness in her posture. At her age, that level of composure wasn’t natural. It was trained.
“You’re a scholarship student,” Aldrich said. His another test question.
“Yes.”
“You must be exceptional.”
“I work hard,” she simply stated.
Their conversation felt like walking on the thin ice... dangerously revealing the cracks beneath.
Aldrich realized that she wasn’t just hiding something. But she was protecting it. Then he changed the subject, softly.
"Your brother.. Eren. He seemed… gifted.”
Margery’s eyes lifted again. The book lowered a fraction.“My brother is trying to survive,” she said quietly. “Gift has nothing to do with it.”
Survive. The word echoed like a memory of war. Aldrich’s voice dropped, a whisper only wolves would understand.
“Are you in danger?”
Margery closed the book fully.
“No. But people like us? have no fear of facing any danger.”
Right there, she finally said. The mask slipped, just enough. Alpha is not poor in analyzing every word that he hears.
"People like us" means she is not human. She admitted it.
Aldrich stood still, one hand was in his pocket, the other resting behind him. He looked less like a CEO and more like a king examining a stranger who walked into his territory.
“Margery,” he said, deliberately using her name.
It sounded like an oath in his voice. "There will be a time when you will have to choose who to trust.”
Her expression didn’t change. “And who will you choose?” she asked.
Their eyes locked again, as if the cold fire was meeting the silence of the moonlight.
Aldrich stepped closer, close enough for her to feel the gravity of him… but not touching her, just his presence. “I already chose,” he said.
A beat of silence followed after his voice. Margery’s brow tightened slightly.
“You came here for Brian Vargos,” she said. “Not for me.”
“But I will return because of you.” Alpha pointed.
This time, the silence was sharp.
A breeze blew between them. Leaves fluttered around, and to her shoulders like falling feathers. For the first time, something flickered in Margery’s eyes... not her fear, and not her desire.
Aldrich turned away and walked back toward the administration wing. He didn’t look back, but then he listened.
Two heartbeats, one was steady, but the other one was burning. What is the meaning of it?
Behind him, Margery spoke softly, almost to herself.
"You shouldn’t choose me.”
Aldrich’s steps paused, but only for a breath. He heard it clearly. Then, he walked on.
In the shadows beneath the pine tree, Margery looked down at her book. Her fingers trembled faintly. From memory...
On the last page she read, is a single line that was underlined, written in bold ancient script: The Moonborn line must stay hidden. Especially from the Alpha King.
- Writer
