Chapter 4 – Through the Veil
964 Words
Chapter 4 – Through the Veil
Darkness swallowed the forest as Seren ran, breath ragged, heart pounding like war drums in her chest. Branches tore at her arms, her dress—once elegant silk for a dinner she never wanted—now hung in tattered shreds. Blood streaked down her cheek where a thorn had caught her, but she didn’t stop.
Couldn’t stop.
Gavin was behind her. Somewhere. Somewhere close.
The cold night bit at her skin, fog curling in from the earth like claws of the dead. But it was nothing compared to the terror chasing her. Her bruises still ached. Her ribs throbbed. Every breath reminded her of the last time he’d thrown her against a wall and smiled while she choked.
She was done being owned.
Done being his.
"Keep going," she whispered to herself.
The forest thinned, revealing jagged stone and a clearing glowing faintly under the moonlight. Seren stumbled forward, her feet raw, torn, but something called her—a whisper through the trees, a pull beneath her ribs. She pushed past a cluster of pines and then stopped.
A wall of silver light shimmered before her, suspended between two towering trees. Like a mirror made of smoke. It pulsed with energy. Ancient. Wild. Alive.
She blinked, heart stalling. "What in the hell..."
The air shifted. The sound of a branch snapping echoed behind her.
Gavin.
Panic surged. Seren turned to run again, but a flash of white light burst from the barrier, nearly blinding her. A wind unlike any she’d felt before roared outward, and suddenly the forest behind her disappeared—swallowed by a light so thick it became everything.
She screamed.
And then fell.
---
Seren hit the ground hard.
Snow.
She lay gasping in silence, the world around her unnaturally still. Her limbs ached. Her skin burned where the light had touched her. Slowly, she sat up, blinking against the haze.
Gone was the forest she knew.
Gone was the humid air of summer.
She now sat beneath towering pine trees draped in frost. The sky above shimmered with violet stars, and two moons hung in the sky. One was full. The other, red as blood.
Her breath came out in clouds. "This isn’t real."
But it was.
The shimmer was gone. No sign of the barrier. No sign of Gavin. Only silence and snow.
She tried to stand, wincing from the pain in her ankle. A distant howl echoed through the trees. Not a dog. Something older. Deeper.
Her skin prickled.
A second howl answered. Then another.
Wolves.
She turned in a slow circle, taking in her surroundings. Everything was... sharper. The air, the trees, even the silence felt charged. Magic. That was the only word that made sense. And she had walked right into it.
Seren stumbled forward, away from the trees, toward what looked like a ravine. The ground was slick, her feet numb, but she forced herself onward. She didn’t know where she was, but anything—anything—was better than going back.
Until she heard the first growl.
It rumbled from the shadows. Low. Predatory.
She froze.
Amber eyes blinked open in the dark. Then another set. And another.
Shapes moved around her, circling. Wolves the size of horses, their fur as dark as midnight, teeth bared. But something about them was... wrong. Their eyes glowed too bright. Their movements too smooth. Almost human.
Seren took a step back.
A snarl erupted behind her. One of the wolves lunged.
She screamed—and then something slammed into the beast mid-air.
Fur. Claws. A blur of motion.
A larger wolf, silver-gray and massive, tackled the attacker to the ground. The pack snarled and lunged, but the silver wolf released a bone-rattling howl that echoed across the trees like a command.
The others hesitated.
Then, slowly, they backed away, retreating into the shadows with growls of warning.
The silver wolf turned to her. Its eyes were golden—piercing, intelligent. Seren stumbled back.
"S-Stay away," she said, her voice shaking.
The wolf tilted its head, then, impossibly, began to shift.
Bones cracked. Fur receded. Limbs reshaped.
Before her stood a man. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Shirtless, his skin marked by scars and a strange tattoo over his chest. His eyes remained golden. His hair was long, black, and tangled from the shift.
He didn’t smile.
"You’re not supposed to be here," he said, voice like gravel and thunder.
Seren stared at him. "Wh-What are you?"
He ignored her question. Stepped closer. Sniffed the air.
Then his expression shifted. His jaw tightened.
"You're marked."
She backed away. "I don't know what you're talking about."
The man glanced at her wrist. She looked down. The mark—the strange crescent-shaped scar she’d had since childhood—was glowing.
"s**t," the man muttered.
She looked up, panicked. "Where am I? Who are you?"
"You crossed the veil," he said. "You're in the Hollowlands now. And you shouldn't be."
He stepped closer.
Seren raised her hands. "Don't touch me."
"If I wanted to hurt you, you'd already be dead."
"Reassuring," she muttered.
The man sighed. "Name."
"Seren."
"Kaelen," he said. "Alpha of the Moonborne."
He turned, whistled sharply. A few moments later, more wolves appeared, shifting mid-step into warriors dressed in fur and armor.
Kaelen looked at her again, as though trying to decide something.
"Take her to the village. And don’t let her out of your sight."
One of the warriors frowned. "She's human."
Kaelen’s eyes narrowed. "And she’s marked. That means she’s our problem now."
Seren wanted to protest. Wanted to scream. But exhaustion overtook her. Her legs buckled, and the last thing she saw before darkness claimed her was Kaelen’s golden gaze, watching her like she was a riddle he didn’t want to solve.
- Writer
