Chapter 5
1110 Words
THE WALK BETWEEN FEAR AND FAT
Hadn’t meant to say Guide me.
Not out loud.
Not to him.
But the words slipped out anyway, soft, trembling, honest in a way that terrified her more than anything lurking in the forest.
Kael didn’t move at first. He looked at her the way a storm studies a shoreline before crashing into it, a pull held back by inches of fragile control.
When he finally spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper.
“Stay close to me.”
Something in the way he said it, steady, low, determined, sent a shiver down her spine.
Amina nodded once.
Kael turned, scanning the trees with sharp, calculating eyes. The moonlight caught the faint ring of gold still lingering in his irises, the sign that his wolf wasn’t fully settled.
He started walking, not fast, but with purpose. Amina followed a few steps behind, her heartbeat loud in her ears. Leaves crunched softly under their feet. Mist curled around the roots like pale fingers.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
The forest wasn’t silent anymore. With Kael in human form, the Evernight Woods seemed almost alive, rustling, shifting, whispering. Amina couldn’t tell if it was wind or magic or something else entirely.
Eventually, she asked, voice small, “What was that creature?”
Kael didn’t slow. “A wraith-wolf. They linger in these woods.”
“Wraith wolf?” she echoed. “Is that… normal?”
“No.”
Her stomach twisted. “So why is it here?”
His jaw tightened. “Because it sensed the bond.”
Amina stopped walking for a moment.
The bond.
The thing she didn’t want.
The thing that felt like a chain wrapped around her ribs.
Kael turned when he realized she’d fallen behind. “Amina?”
“That thing came because of me?” she whispered.
“Because of us,” he corrected gently.
“But I didn’t ask for this bond. I didn’t want to.”
“Neither did I,” Kael said, voice sharp enough to cut the air.
Amina blinked. She didn’t expect that.
His hands were clenched at his sides, knuckles pale with tension. “Do you think I wanted fate to choose someone who fears me? Someone who runs from me?” His jaw flexed. “I didn’t ask for a mate. I didn’t think I would ever have one.”
Amina swallowed. “Because of your curse?”
Kael’s eyes flickered. Something fragile flashed across his expression, quick, painful, gone in seconds.
“Yes.”
They stood facing each other under the trembling moonlight. For the first time since meeting him, Amina saw something beyond his power. Something human. Something hurt.
She exhaled softly.
“I don’t fear you,” she said, though her voice trembled with honesty. “I fear what being tied to you means.”
Kael eyed her, searching for the lie. There wasn’t one.
He turned away, shoulders tense. “We need to move. The deeper parts of Evernight are unpredictable.”
She followed him again, this time closer.
The forest floor sloped downward, roots crisscrossing like old scars. Amina stepped carefully, relying on her hands to steady herself. More than once, she almost slipped, and each time, Kael slowed instinctively, placing himself where she could catch his arm if she needed.
He didn’t offer help, but he left room for her to take it.
Strangely, that felt safer.
Minutes passed before Amina finally broke the silence. “How long has the curse… affected you?”
Kael inhaled. “Since I was twelve.”
She glanced at him. “That young?”
“Too young.” His voice was a low rumble. “The first time it surfaced, I destroyed half my father’s war room without meaning to.”
Amina stumbled, startled. Kael caught her elbow before she fell. His grip was steady but gentle. The warmth of his hand spread through her like lightning.
They froze.
He let go first.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
“It’s… okay,” she whispered, though her heart hammered wildly.
He cleared his throat. “The curse amplifies everything inside me, instinct, emotion. If I don’t control myself, it takes over.”
“How do you control it?” Amina asked.
Kael hesitated.
“I don’t. Not always.”
A chill ran over her skin.
“So when you shifted earlier.”
“That was controlled,” he cut in. “Barely. But controlled.”
She thought back to the way he fought the wraith-wolf, precise, deadly, unstoppable.
“Why did the moon curse you?” she asked softly.
Kael’s steps slowed. His shoulders stiffened. “It wasn’t the moon.”
A pause.
“It was blood.”
Before she could ask more, a low hum vibrated through the ground again. Kael’s head snapped up, eyes narrowing.
Amina tensed. “Another wraith-wolf?”
“No.” His voice tightened. “Something worse.”
The trees around them shuddered not from wind, but from movement. Heavy. Slow. Purposeful.
A deep growl echoed in the distance.
Kael stepped in front of her instantly. “Stay behind me.”
Amina’s pulse raced. “What is that?”
“Forest mother,” Kael muttered. “The spirit that governs this part of Evernight.”
“Spirit?” she whispered.
“It won’t touch me.”
Then his voice dropped.
“But it might touch you.”
Her blood iced.
A massive shape emerged between the trees, a towering figure of roots, vines, and shifting bark, eyes glowing green like embers buried in leaves. It wasn’t hostile… but it wasn’t welcoming either.
Amina instinctively pressed against Kael’s back.
The spirit leaned down, its wooden face tilting, studying her.
Vines rustled. Branches creaked. The ground pulsed beneath her feet.
Kael’s voice was steel. “She’s with me.”
A long, rumbling growl vibrated from the spirit’s chest, not threatening, but questioning.
Amina didn’t understand the language, but Kael did.
He stepped back, placing a firm hand around her wrist, not tight, but grounding.
“She’s mine,” he said.
The spirit’s glowing eyes drifted to their joined hands.
To the bond humming between them.
The ground stilled. The air quieted.
After a moment, the spirit drew back, melting into the trees.
Amina released a shaky breath. “Why did it listen to you?”
Kael didn’t let go of her wrist.
“The forest respects power,” he said.
“Even cursed power.”
Their eyes met.
Amina didn’t pull away.
Kael didn’t release her.
For one breath, one moment, one fragile heartbeat
The bond didn’t feel like a cage.
It felt like a possibility.
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