Bound to the Billionaire Alpha: A Forbidden Love Across Timelines
495 Words
Bound to the Billionaire Alpha
Subtitle: A Forbidden Love Across Timelines
Chapter 1 — Part 2: Shadows Between the Trees
The campfire’s light painted the night in trembling gold, throwing long shadows against the hide walls of the healer’s tent. The air smelled of damp earth and pine resin, heavy with a distant, restless wind. Amelia sat on a low bench, her knees drawn close, watching the healer’s hands—brown, calloused, and steady—wrap strips of linen around her scraped palms.
“You fell hard,” the healer murmured, her voice low but edged with something unspoken. “Or… someone sent you falling.” Her amber eyes flicked briefly to the tent’s entrance before focusing on her work again. “Things like this do not happen by chance in Eldoria.”
Amelia’s breath caught. “What do you mean—”
A shadow moved in the doorway. Prince Kael stepped in, his broad frame filling the entrance. Even without his ceremonial armor, he seemed carved from the night itself—sharp lines, a presence that demanded the air’s attention.
“She’s had enough questions for tonight, Liora,” Kael said, voice like iron dipped in velvet. His gaze swept over Amelia—not lingering, but not cold either—before he set down a wooden tray. A bowl of steaming broth, a wedge of dark bread, and something that smelled faintly of wild herbs.
“I thought you might not eat if left alone,” he said simply.
“I’m not a child,” Amelia replied, though the warmth in her chest betrayed her.
“No,” he agreed, crouching to her level. “Which is why I’m telling you—do not step beyond the firelight tonight. The forest doesn’t sleep. And it… notices new scents.”
Outside, the wolf-cry came again—closer this time. It wasn’t just a howl. It was layered, almost human, a note of warning hidden inside the call. The hair on Amelia’s arms rose.
Later, long after most of the camp had settled, she woke to the sound of soft footfalls. Not Kael’s—too light, too measured. Pulling aside the tent flap, she froze.
A figure stood at the treeline, half in shadow. Its form was wrong—taller than a man, but hunched, its skin pale under the moon, eyes glowing with an otherworldly silver. Fur rippled across its shoulders, and yet its face… was almost human.
It tilted its head at her, nostrils flaring as if scenting her. Then it spoke, a low rasp that carried through the cold air:
“So… the bridge has come.”
Before she could answer, Kael’s hand clamped over her shoulder, pulling her back into the tent. His voice was a quiet snarl.
“Stay away from it, Amelia. That thing shouldn’t know you exist.”
She swallowed hard. “But it does.”
And outside, the creature’s silver eyes lingered on the tent, unblinking.
Too long.
- Writer
