A Beast Beneath My Skin
651 Words
It started with a fever.
Calla woke drenched in sweat. Her sheets were tangled, her skin hot to the touch. The mark on her neck throbbed like a wound, glowing faintly in the dark. Her breath came in short gasps. The room spun.
She dragged herself out of bed and stumbled to the mirror.
Her eyes glowed.
Faint, but unmistakable—silver light pulsing in her irises, like moonlight trapped in glass. She blinked, rubbed them, leaned in closer.
The reflection wasn’t entirely her. Her features were the same—sharp chin, full lips, storm-gray eyes—but her expression was different. Harder. Wilder.
And then it smiled at her.
She staggered back, heart slamming.
The fever pulsed higher.
Flashes flickered in her mind—images not her own. Running through trees. Blood on her hands. A circle of wolves kneeling before her.
A voice whispering inside her skull: Wake up, Calla. You were never meant to be human.
---
She collapsed.
When she came to, she was lying in a shallow tub filled with ice. Someone was sponging her forehead.
“She’s burning,” a voice said.
“She’s transforming,” Riven’s voice growled. “Too fast.”
She tried to move, but her limbs felt bound. Her skin sizzled against the ice.
“Don’t fight it,” Rhea’s voice muttered. “It’ll only hurt more.”
She screamed.
Power erupted from her spine—liquid lightning coursing through her veins. Her back arched. Her fingernails lengthened into claws, then retracted. Her teeth shifted. For a moment, she saw her own shadow on the wall—and it had ears.
And a tail.
“Make it stop!” she gasped.
“It can’t,” Riven said. “It’s your nature surfacing.”
“You did this to me!”
“No,” he said. “You were always this.”
---
The fever passed after hours. Her body calmed, her mind clearer than it had ever been.
And yet… something felt different.
The walls didn’t feel like walls anymore. She could hear the wind outside. The heartbeat of the guard in the hall. The breath Riven held when he was near.
She stood on shaky legs. Looked at herself in the mirror again.
Her eyes had stopped glowing.
But now, they looked... ancient.
---
Riven came to her that night. Not like before.
He entered her room quietly. No smirk. No threat. Just silence.
“You shifted,” he said.
She nodded.
He studied her. “You weren’t supposed to. Not this soon.”
“Tell me the truth,” she said. “What am I?”
He sighed and moved closer.
“You’re what happens when the gods curse a bloodline and forget to erase it.”
She stared.
“You’re Moonblood. You’re the original vessel. The first soul they made to contain the howl. Before alphas. Before packs. You were meant to keep the wolves controlled.”
Her voice was a whisper. “But I’m not controlling anything.”
“Yet,” he said.
---
She turned away, but he followed.
“I can feel your power now. It’s loud. It wants out.”
“I want out.”
“Then earn it,” he said. “Shift fully. Master it. Show them you’re not prey.”
“I don’t want to be a monster.”
He grabbed her wrist, pressed her hand to his chest.
“Neither did I,” he said softly.
They stood like that, hearts thundering. Then slowly, as if by magnetic pull, their lips met.
The kiss wasn’t gentle.
It was heat and fury and desperation. Her nails dug into his shoulder. His hand tangled in her hair. She bit his lip. He growled into her mouth.
When they pulled apart, both panting, he whispered, “This isn’t safe.”
“Nothing about you is,” she said.
And she kissed him again.
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