The Man With Amber Eyes
625 Words
Chapter Two
The howl echoed through the night.
It wasn't the cry of any animal Aurora had ever heard.
It was deeper.
Older.
Almost...human.
Every hair on the back of her neck stood up.
"What...was that?" she whispered.
The stranger didn't answer.
His amber eyes remained fixed on the rooftops across the street.
He was listening.
Not with fear.
With calculation.
"Stay behind me."
Aurora frowned.
"There you go again, ordering me around."
Another gunshot exploded through the air.
The marble pillar beside her shattered, sending stone fragments flying.
The stranger grabbed her wrist.
"Move!"
Before she could protest, he pulled her through the ballroom.
Guests screamed as security rushed everyone toward the emergency exits.
Crystal glasses shattered.
People trampled over abandoned handbags and designer heels.
The orchestra had stopped playing.
Panic spread faster than fire.
Aurora searched desperately for her mother.
"Mom!"
No answer.
Only frightened faces.
Another explosion echoed somewhere below.
Smoke began pouring into the lobby.
"What is happening?" Aurora asked.
The stranger never slowed.
"They're creating chaos."
"Who?"
"The people trying to kill you."
Aurora yanked her arm free.
"I don't even know you!"
He stopped so suddenly she almost crashed into him.
His expression was cold.
"Exactly."
"What does that mean?"
"It means if they found you..." His voice dropped. "...then we're already too late."
Before Aurora could demand an explanation, a man wearing a hotel security uniform stepped into the hallway.
"Miss Vale!" he shouted.
Relief flooded through her.
Finally.
Someone normal.
"I'm here!" she called.
The stranger moved in front of her instantly.
"No."
Aurora stared.
"What?"
"He's not security."
The man smiled politely.
"Miss Vale, your mother's waiting downstairs."
Aurora stepped sideways.
"See?"
The stranger didn't move.
Instead...
He inhaled.
Slowly.
Like he was smelling the air.
Then his entire body became rigid.
"Run."
Aurora rolled her eyes.
"You seriously need to stop saying—"
The stranger shoved her to the floor.
A knife sliced through the air exactly where her head had been.
The smiling security guard no longer looked friendly.
His face twisted with rage.
His eyes...
Were glowing.
Golden.
Aurora's breath caught.
"What..."
The man snarled.
His teeth lengthened into razor-sharp fangs.
"No..." Aurora whispered.
"This isn't possible."
The stranger stepped between them.
"I told you."
The fake guard laughed.
"So the Alpha finally found her."
Aurora looked from one man to the other.
"Alpha?"
Neither answered.
The guard lunged.
He moved impossibly fast.
The stranger met him head-on.
Their collision sounded like two cars crashing together.
Aurora stumbled backward.
Her mind refused to accept what she was seeing.
The men fought with impossible speed.
One moment they were throwing punches.
The next they were halfway down the hallway.
The fake guard slammed into the wall hard enough to crack concrete.
No human could do that.
No human should survive it.
Yet he stood.
Smiling.
Blood dripped from his mouth.
"You've gotten slower, Kael."
Kael.
So that was his name.
The stranger's voice was ice cold.
"I'll ask once."
"Who sent you?"
The guard laughed.
"You already know."
Kael's jaw tightened.
"The Crimson Fang."
The guard smiled wider.
"They want the girl."
Aurora's stomach dropped.
"They've waited twenty-three years."
Twenty-three years.
Exactly her age.
Her heartbeat thundered in her ears.
"Why?" she whispered.
No one answered.
The guard reached into his jacket.
Kael's eyes widened.
"Get down!"
A deafening blast shook the hallway.
Not a gun.
An explosion.
The floor beneath them cracked.
Aurora lost her footing.
The world tilted.
She screamed as the marble floor gave way beneath her.
She fell into darkness.
The last thing she saw before everything went black...
Was Kael diving after her.
And for the briefest moment...
His eyes glowed the same impossible gold as the attacker's.
- Writer
