CHAPTER TWO
1617 Words
CHAPTER TWO
AMETHYST'S POV
"At last."
The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once.
The crimson symbol beneath my feet exploded with light and began to glow even brighter, illuminating the twisted trees around me with an eerie red light. It glew so bright that I had to throw an arm over my eyes.
The ground began to tremble violently again. I stumbled backward and fell hard onto the floor.
"What…" I whispered.
A powerful gust of wind exploded through the clearing.
Every hair on my body stood on end, and I couldn't breathe properly.
As I tried to finally get up, a terrifying pressure crashed into the clearing, pressing against my chest so hard that I dropped to my knees again. I tried to stand up again, but my legs failed to move.
There was suddenly silence. Complete silence at that. No sounds from insects, no wind sounds, no distant animals.
Nothing.
Slowly, as I trembled from head to toe, I lowered my arm. I noticed that someone was standing inside the glowing symbol.
It was a man.
At least... he looked like a man.
He was impossibly tall with broad shoulders and long dark hair whipping around him despite the absence of wind. His body was partly hidden by darkness and crimson light. I couldn't see his face, but I saw his silhouette.
Every instinct inside of me screamed danger.
Run.
Run.
Run.
The man slowly lifted his head, and then he stretched his arms as if waking from a long deep sleep.
A very long one at that.
Then the man spoke. He uttered just three words.
"I'm finally out."
The moment those words left his mouth, I screamed and ran.
****
I didn't stop because I just couldn't.
Branches tore at my skin and roots caught at my bare feet, and I still kept running.
That thing…
That man…
Whatever he was...
He wasn't normal.
Not a wolf.
Not a rogue.
Not anything I'd ever seen before.
The image of his silhouette refused to leave my mind as I ran until my legs nearly gave out. I finally dared to look behind me and how glad I was when I saw nothing.
I saw that no one was there, and it made me feel instant relief that disappeared almost immediately. Because somehow… I felt worse because I couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching me. It felt as though I was being followed.
My wolf whimpered. And for the first time in years, I felt genuine fear from her because whatever had awakened back there… even my wolf was terrified of it. And the realization made me run even faster before something meets up with me again.
****
By the time I spotted the pack house, my entire body was shaking.
The mating ceremony had already ended, the music was gone, the bonfires had burned low, and most wolves were already returning home.
I ducked behind trees, keeping to the shadows so that no one would be able to spot me.
The last thing I needed was someone seeing me, especially after I disobeyed Beta Dennison's direct order.
I hurried toward the side of the house and climbed back through my bedroom window.
The moment my feet touched the floor, I felt so relieved at last. I was so glad that I made it without anyone seeing me.
Before I could settle in, my bedroom door was pushed open. And fear made me spin around.
Beta Dennison stood in the doorway with his face dark with fury.
Two warriors stood behind him, and suddenly… I realized that they probably knew.
His murderous and cold eyes locked onto mine. The same eyes he always looked at me with. The eyes of a man who hated his own daughter.
"You disobedient little wretch," he screamed at me.
He slapped me so hard that I crashed into the edge of the bed. I cried out while my vision blurred.
Before I could recover from the slap, he grabbed my arm and yanked me upright.
"Where were you?"
"I…"
Another slap landed on my cheek, and this one was even harder.
More tears began to drop from my eyes.
"I asked you a question."
"I was only…"
"Only what?" his voice got so loud that it thundered through the room.
"You were only disobeying me?"
"You were only embarrassing this family?"
"You were only proving that you're incapable of following simple instructions?"
Each sentence felt like another blow, but I lowered my head because answering never helped. Nothing I said ever mattered, and the hatred in his eyes deepened.
"I should have known," he said to me
"Known what?" I asked confidently.
"That you would ruin tonight."
The words hurt more than the slap. How did my action affect the ceremony whatsoever? Tonight had never been about me, and yet somehow I was still the problem.
My wolf curled deeper inside me. She felt small and broken just like me.
"Beta Dennison, please…"
The look he gave me made me instantly regret speaking.
"Don't call me that as though we're close."
Something shattered inside me again. It always shattered, and yet somehow, there was always something left to break.
A sharp knock interrupted the room.
One of the warriors opened the door, and a Gamma stumbled inside. He looked absolutely terrified.
"Beta,” he called out.
Father frowned.
"What?"
"There is... a situation," the Gamma said.
"What situation?" Father asked, still frowning.
The Gamma looked pale.
"A man is waiting in the throne room," he responded.
Father scoffed.
"Then remove him. I told you I don't want to see anyone tonight. "
"We tried,” the Gamma responded, his voice shaking.
"He killed two guards."
Beta Dennison and the other guards got shocked.
Even I felt surprised at this.
Killed?
Inside pack territory?
That was impossible because our guards weren't weak.
Father's expression darkened.
"Who is he?" He asked.
"We don't know," the Gamma replied.
"What does he want?"
The Gamma hesitated and then said quietly, "He refuses to tell us."
A strange chill slid down my spine.
"He only said he would wait," the Gamma continued.
Father immediately released me as his attention shifted completely.
"Gather the warriors."
"Already done."
Father nodded sharply and then turned toward the door.
"Stay in this room."
That was the last thing he said to me before leaving my room as if I had ever been allowed anywhere else.
I sat motionless on the bed while my cheek throbbed and my arm ached but neither compared to the strange unease growing inside me.
I thought about the man who was waiting in the throne room who happened to have killed two guards and somehow...
I couldn't stop thinking about the figure in the forest. The one that was standing inside the crimson light.
No.
That was ridiculous.
It couldn't be connected.
Could it?
I hugged my knees tightly, trying to calm my racing thoughts.
Minutes passed, and more and then I noticed that the house had become strangely quiet. It was too quiet as there was no shouting, fighting, or sounds of warriors.
Curiosity slowly began overpowering fear.
What was happening downstairs?
Why hadn't anyone returned?
Carefully, I stood and then moved toward the door.
My hand touched the handle, but I hesitated because Father would be furious if he found me wandering.
Then again… he was already furious, and what worse could happen other than the usual he already always does to me.
Taking a deep breath, I slipped into the hallway, which I found empty. There were no guards or servants. There was no one.
The entire house felt abandoned.
Slowly, I followed the grand staircase downward, and voices echoed faintly below.
I reached the bottom step and froze.
The throne room doors were wide open, and dozens of wolves filled the room, yet no one moved or spoke. It looked as though the entire pack had forgotten how to breathe.
My gaze slowly shifted forward and then landed on him. That was when everything else disappeared.
He sat casually in one of the throne chairs with one leg crossed over the other, looking completely relaxed as if he owned the room and owned everyone inside it too.
I got dumbstruck by his looks.
Beautiful.
That was the first word that entered my mind.
“Beautiful,” I let out the word from my mouth.
Dangerously beautiful at that.
He had dark hair, sharp jaw, pale skin, and his features??? They were just perfect for anyone to ignore.
He had the kind of face artists would spend lifetimes trying to recreate, and not even any of that actually frightened me.
What exactly frightened me was his eyes. Those dark, ancient, and predatory eyes were everything.
He looked like he had witnessed civilizations rise and fall. As if he had buried kingdoms and death itself sat comfortably beneath his skin.
Then he looked up directly at me, which made my blood turn cold instantly.
I realized that I knew him.
I didn't know his face, but I knew him.
I connected everything to the forest, the symbol, the crimson light, and the terrifying silhouette.
It was him. The man I had awakened from the forbidden territory.
Then slowly… very slowly… a smile spread across his face.
It was as though the room vanished, the people vanished, and even the world vanished, leaving behind only him as he watched me.
His gaze locked onto mine, and for the first time in my life… I understood what true terror felt like.
His smile widened, and then he spoke out words that made my entire body go numb.
"Found you.
- Writer
