Chapter3
1126 Words
(Third Person POV)
The moment Vaelstryx took his eyes off Selene, she struck again.
With a snarl louder than any beast and eyes burning with fury, Selene lunged for the girl. Lyra didn’t even have time to flinch. One second she was standing there, dazed and flushed, and the next—Selene’s palm collided with her head in a vicious blow.
The crack echoed through the trees.
Lyra crumpled like a broken branch, her body falling limply to the forest floor.
“Selene,” Vaelstryx growled.
But the name wasn’t a warning anymore. It was a storm.
She turned to him, chest heaving with rage, her lips curled in defiance. “She bit you. She bit you, Vael! And you’re standing there like she’s some gift from the heavens?”
“I warned you,” he said, his voice low and dangerous. “You crossed the line.”
“She’s a nobody! A filthy, pathetic village girl. Why are you defending her?!”
Vaelstryx didn’t answer with words.
His power pulsed out like a shockwave, rattling the leaves, stirring the wind, silencing the birds. The trees themselves seemed to flinch from his fury. Selene stepped back instinctively, her confidence wavering for the first time.
“You laid hands on my mate,” he said coldly. “You think your jealousy gives you that right?”
Selene’s eyes widened. “Mate?” she echoed. “That thing? That… girl is your mate?”
“Leave.”
She hesitated.
“Now.”
Selene paled, biting back whatever venom she had left. With a snarl of frustration, she spun on her heel and stormed away, her footsteps retreating fast into the forest.
Vaelstryx turned his attention to the girl on the ground.
Lyra.
He knelt beside her slowly. She was breathing, thank the goddess. Her chest rose and fell in shallow movements, her brow furrowed even in unconsciousness. A faint bruise was already forming at her temple.
He should’ve stopped Selene sooner.
Vaelstryx stared at Lyra for a long time, quietly watching her breathe. She was so small, so fragile looking — and yet he could still feel that power inside her. Untamed and dormant. Like a wolf that had never been woken. Does she even know she's a wolf?
How had no one seen it?
How had no one known what she was?
He stayed there in the shadows, keeping a safe distance, but never straying too far. Every sound of the forest sharpened his senses. Every rustle made him tense. He wasn’t going to let anything else happen to her, not even a single mosquito stood a chance against vaelstryx's watchful eyes. Not after this.
Eventually, he heard voices.
Two older villagers came stumbling through the woods, calling her name. He recognized them from the market trips the pack made to the border towns. An old woman and a man with greying hair seemingly her parents, from the way they dropped to their knees beside her.
“Lyra! Oh, Lyra, sweet child, what happened?” the woman sobbed.
“She must’ve fainted. Look—look at this bruise!”
Vaelstryx stayed hidden behind the tree line. He could have revealed himself. Could’ve explained. But he didn’t. Not yet.
Instead, he watched as they gently lifted Lyra and carried her back toward the village. Her head lolled softly against her father’s shoulder.
And once she was safely out of sight, Vaelstryx finally turned away and disappeared into the trees.
---
The scent of herbs and hot tea lingered in the small cottage when Lyra opened her eyes.
Her head throbbed.
Everything was blurry at first, like she was peeking through a fogged window. The wooden beams of the ceiling came into focus slowly, followed by the warm flicker of a nearby candle.
She groaned softly, lifting a hand to her forehead.
“You’re awake!” Her mother rushed to her side, relief flooding her voice.
Lyra blinked, then winced. “What… happened?”
“You tell us,” her father said from the foot of the bed. “You were gone too long, so we went looking. Found you passed out near the stream. What the hell were you doing out there?”
Lyra’s lips parted, but the words caught in her throat.
What could she even say?
That she bit a golden-eyed stranger in the forest?
That she mistook two people for an assault and ended up unconscious?
That she felt a strange, inexplicable pull to someone she had never met before?
They’d think she was crazy. Or worse — cursed.
“I… slipped,” she said instead, sitting up slowly. “I guess I hit my head.”
Her mother reached over and gently checked the bruise. “Oh, my poor girl.”
“It’s not too bad,” Lyra lied. “I was rushing and not watching my step. The bank near the stream is steep. I must’ve fainted.”
Her father sighed, clearly not convinced, but unwilling to push further. “Well, thank the stars you’re safe. That’s all that matters.”
“Do you remember anything else?” her mother asked softly.
Lyra hesitated.
Flashes came back — the intensity of golden eyes, the power rolling off that man like heat from a fire, the strange woman’s shriek, the firm hands that had caught her mid-attack. The way he looked at her. Like she was something important. Like he’d known her before she knew herself.
“No,” she lied. “Just… falling.”
Her parents exchanged a glance, but nodded.
She sipped the tea they gave her and curled back beneath the covers, pretending to sleep even though her mind was wide awake.
---
The days that followed passed slowly.
Lyra returned to her usual chores — fetching water, helping her mother with drying herbs, weaving baskets in the quiet of their porch. The villagers, ever distant, kept to themselves as they always had, barely glancing her way.
Everything looked the same.
But it didn’t feel the same.
Sometimes she’d pause, staring off toward the forest, wondering if he was still out there. Watching. Waiting.
Other times, she convinced herself it had all been a hallucination. Maybe she had hit her head harder than she thought. Maybe the whole strange episode — the fight, the woman’s rage, the piercing golden eyes — was just a fever dream conjured by her overactive imagination and too many bedtime stories.
But deep down, she knew the truth.
Something had changed.
Something had woken up inside her.
And even though she didn’t understand it yet… she was certain it
wouldn’t be the last time she’d see him.
The man in the woods.
The one who hadn’t spoken a word… but had left her entire world shaken.
- Writer
