The Moonheart Heir

Chapter 2: The Eyes In The Darkness

A low, deep growl came from behind me somewhere in the room.

The moment I heard it, every single muscle in my body tightened up all at once. It hurt. It felt like my whole body was in one big, painful cramp. I couldn’t even pull in a breath to gasp. The growl happened again. It rolled through the room a second time, louder and deeper.

My mouth became so dry it felt like there was no spit left at all. A cold shiver started at the top of my head and slid all the way down my back, slow and heavy.

My body froze. The shiver traveled up my spine. This time the growl was even deeper. I could feel the sound vibrating through the floor and into my feet. It was too low and too deep to be a normal dog.

It didn’t sound like a pet. It sounded hungry. Like it wanted to eat. The growl circled around me again. My body locked up. My brain was screaming at me to run, but my body would not move.

“Don’t look,” I told myself in my head. “Whatever it is, don’t look. Don’t turn around.” But my legs stayed stuck to the floor. They wouldn’t move.

“Please,” I whispered, but my voice was so weak I could barely hear it. “Move. Please, move.” But my legs did not listen. They stayed glued to the floor no matter how loud my brain shouted “RUN!”

With a lot of pain and fear, I moved very, very slowly. My neck made a small creaking sound as I turned my head.

I turned toward the back half of my apartment. Shadows were thick there. The only light came from the pale yellow hallway light behind me. In that dim light, I could finally see something. There was a tall, shadowy figure of a man standing completely still in my room, and then the darkness moved. Two bright silver eyes opened in the dark. They looked right at me for a second, but they weren’t looking at me.

He was staring past me. At something behind me.

Slowly, the man took one step forward. Then another. His jaw was locked tight. His face was serious. He did not look away. His silver eyes stayed locked on the darkness behind me. Then he spoke. His voice was calm and even. It cut through the silence. “Don’t turn around.” The man walked out of the shadows, and for the first time I could really see him. He was very tall. He was wearing all black, from his head to his feet. It was like the darkness itself was wearing clothes. His shoulders were broad. He looked like a wall standing between me and the rest of the apartment.

He did not rush. His steps were slow and careful.

He moved like someone who had been close to death many times before. Like someone who was not afraid of it anymore.

Moonlight came in through the living room window and touched his face.

That’s when I saw a small, thin scar on his jaw. But the strangest thing was his eyes. They glowed a little. They had their own light in them, like silver. It made me feel uneasy. I didn’t know why, but the hairs on the back of my neck stood up again. He still did not look at me. All of his attention was on the dark corner further back in my apartment. His jaw tightened when another low growl came from that darkness.

The air in the apartment suddenly felt heavy, like it was hard to breathe.

“Stay behind me,” he said quietly.

His voice was low, but firm.

“And don’t make me tell you twice.”

I wanted to ask him a hundred questions.

Who are you? How did you get in here?

But before I could say anything, he lifted his hand just a little bit. He didn’t say any words, but the message was clear: _Stay right there. Don’t move. His breathing was calm and shallow. Mine was fast and shaky, like I had been running, and at that moment, the apartment didn’t feel empty anymore. It didn’t feel lonely. No. It felt like two wild animals were standing at opposite sides of the same room, and I was stuck right in the middle of them.

Then a loud noise hit me. It was so loud it felt like it would break my ears. It was like a giant wave crashing. The force threw me back and slammed me against the wall behind me. At the same time, the big window in my living room exploded.

Glass shattered everywhere. A million tiny pieces of glass flew into the air and sparkled in the light.

I threw my hands up to cover my face. The glass cut into the skin on the back of my hands and my arms. It felt like a thousand tiny needles. A scream tore out of my throat. Cold air rushed into the room from outside. With the cold air came two smells. One was wet dirt. The other was blood. Fresh blood. It wasn’t a bad smell, but it was strong.

And then something huge crashed through where the window used to be.

A massive black wolf jumped into my apartment.

I had never seen anything like it in my life.

It was almost as tall as the tall man’s shoulder. Its fur was so black it looked like it was eating the light in the room. There were streaks of bright red blood on its mouth and muzzle. Its eyes were fire red. They looked right into my eyes, and the hunger in them took my breath away. But the wolf wasn’t looking at the man standing between us. It was looking at me.

A deep growl came from the bottom of its throat. It sounded like it came from the earth itself. Thick ropes of spit dropped from its mouth onto my wooden floor.

Every part of me was screaming to run. But my feet felt like they were made of cement. I couldn’t move. The tall man still didn’t move. He stood there calm, like nothing was wrong. His face didn’t change.

“I warned you, remember?” he said without looking away from the wolf. “Leave.”

The wolf showed its teeth. They were long and sharp, like knives. Its lips pulled back in what looked like a terrible smile. Then the wolf spoke, and its voice was low, but it was a human voice. “Step aside, Alpha,” the wolf said. “She belongs to him.”

The moment those words were said, a strange warmth spread out from my chest.

It was warm and heavy. Then my heart started pounding so loud that it was the only thing I could hear. Thump. Thump. Thump. For just a few seconds, my hearing became super clear. I could hear the water dripping from the kitchen tap.

I could hear the wind moving outside the broken window. I could even hear the wolf breathing, and then, just as fast, that strange feeling was gone.