Chapter Eight – The First Bite
607 Words
The gala was still spinning with music, but I couldn’t feel my feet anymore.
I stood frozen, my heart still pounding from the silver-haired man’s words. Wolf. Hunt. Prize. All of it circled in my chest like knives.
The billionaire didn’t let me go. His hand still snatched me, firm, unshakable, like he feared I would run.
“Enough for tonight,” he said lowly. “You’re leaving.”
But before I could argue, the lights in the ballroom flashed.
Once. Twice.
Then they went out.
Chokes rose. Someone dropped a glass. Music screamed to silence.
For a moment, there was nothing but black.
Then came the sound.
A growl.
Low. Hungry.
Not human.
The crowd panicked. Men shouted. Women screamed. Heels banged against marble. But in the dark, I could only hear my own heartbeat and that sound — closer, closer, like it was crawling through the shadows toward me.
Then the lights snapped back on.
And I saw it.
Blood.
One of the men in a suit lay collapsed on the marble, blood cells across his collar. His shoulder was ripped open, teeth marks carved deep into his skin.
And standing over him — a shape too big, too wrong.
A wolf.
But not the kind I had ever seen before. This one was hideous, taller than my chest, muscles thick as stone, teeth dripping red. Its eyes glowed silver, sharp and cold.
The room broke out into chaos. People shoved, ran, cried, dashed for the exits.
I couldn’t move. My body locked. My breath caught in my throat.
The wolf turned its head.
Its glowing eyes found me.
My knees went weak.
But before the beast could pounce, a blur of black cut through the room.
Him.
The billionaire.
He moved too fast for a man. His body slammed into the wolf, dragging it away from the crowd. The marble floor cracked beneath them. Growls and roars shook the air.
I slipped back, squeezing the edge of a table. My heart screamed at me to run, but my eyes refused to look away.
The billionaire’s suit ripped apart as his body bent, twisted, shifted. Bones cracked. Muscles stretched. His skin tore into fur, black as smoke. His hands turned to claws. His teeth lengthened into fangs.
In seconds, the man I knew was gone.
And in his place stood a wolf — larger than the monster he fought.
Black. Golden-eyed. Terrifying.
The two wolves clashed in the middle of the gala, glass shattering, tables crashing. Feet ripped, teeth tore. Blood splashed across silk gowns and marble floors.
The guests screamed and ran, but I stayed rooted. My chest heaved. My whole body was shaking.
This wasn’t a nightmare. This wasn’t a dream.
It was real.
My billionaire was a wolf.
My legs finally moved, slipping backward toward the door. But before I could escape, the silver-haired man appeared again, calm in the storm, his smile crueler than ever.
He caught my wrist.
“Now do you see, little dove?” he said. “Now you know what he truly is.”
I pulled, but his grip was iron. My eyes burned with tears.
“Let me go!”
He leaned close, his voice colder than the growls shaking the hall. “Oh, I will. But not yet. The first bite always decides the game. And tonight…” He weaved his head toward the battling wolves. “Tonight, one of them bleeds for you.”
My heart stopped.
The wolves roared again, crashing through chandeliers, sparks raining down like fire.
And I knew — I was no guest at this ball.
I was the prize.
- Writer
