TETHERED SHADOWS
877 Words
CHAPTER SIX– TETHERED SHADOWS
It was late when I slipped out of the house again. The moon was a sliver barely enough to cast light across the Hollow but I didn’t need it. My body knew the path now. I felt it in my blood, in the pull beneath my skin like a magnet. Toward him. I found Leo where I always did lately leaning against the old ash tree near the lake, his silhouette drawn in silver against the dark water. He didn’t turn as I approached. Just said quietly, “I wasn’t sure you’d come.”
“I wasn’t either,” I admitted. Finally, he looked at me. His eyes weren’t glowing now, but they still saw too much.I sat beside him. The quiet stretched, comfortable and taut at once.
“I hate this,” I said.
“What part?”
“That I don’t know who I am. That I’m supposed to choose between people I love and the truth. That you’re the only one who’s ever told me something real, and you’re still holding back.”
Leo’s jaw tightened. “It’s not because I want to. It’s because I have to.”
“I don’t care,” I said, turning toward him. “I want to know all of it. Even if it hurts.”
He looked at me like he was memorizing my face. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
I leaned closer. “Then show me.”
His hand lifted, fingers brushing my jaw. Soft. Careful. His skin was warmer than it should’ve been, like something wild simmered just beneath the surface. He bent forward, forehead resting against mine. My pulse thundered. The space between us dissolved. His voice was barely a whisper. “If I cross this line with you, I won’t come back the same.”
“Maybe I don’t want us to.”
His lips brushed mine just a breath. Heat surged through me, a deep, aching pull like gravity had finally found its true center. But then, A howl echoed in the distance. Not wolf. Something older. Leo froze.
“Someone’s watching,” he murmured, pulling back. I looked around the tree line. Nothing moved but I felt it too.
He cursed under his breath. “I shouldn’t have let it go this far.”
He stood, but I grabbed his hand. “Don’t leave.”
“I have to. For now.”
He looked down at me, tortured. Then he was gone.
I wandered back toward the trail, my breath still unsteady, heart caught somewhere between ache and adrenaline. The silence in the woods pressed in, thick and knowing. Then a voice behind me, velvet-smooth and annoyingly amused:
“Rough night, moon girl?”
I turned sharply. Kieran stepped from the shadows like he’d always been there, his hands casually tucked into the pockets of a black coat that barely disturbed the air around him.
“Do you live in the trees or something?” I snapped.
“Not quite.” He offered a slow, crooked grin. “But they do talk. Especially when people like you start stirring up old blood.”
I crossed my arms. “What do you want now?”
“I told you. To help.” He circled me slowly, deliberately. “Though I didn’t expect your little moment with Hale to get quite so… heated.”
My cheeks burned. “Were you watching us?”
“Relax,” he said. “Just passing through.” He stopped in front of me. “Besides, he’s not the only one with secrets.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You keep saying that. Why don’t you start proving it?”
Kieran’s gaze shifted, more serious now. “Your family wasn’t just part of the werewolf bloodline, Maya. They led one of the oldest packs The Hollowborn. Silent watchers. Guardians of balance.”
I blinked. “They said we were protectors. That we hid.”
“They did hide. From themselves. From the truth. Because the Hollowborn made a pact, centuries ago with something not entirely wolf and not entirely human.”
“What kind of pact?”
He leaned in slightly, voice low. “A blood one. It bound your bloodline to this place to the Hollow. And to its fall. Which is coming, by the way.”
A chill crawled across my spine.
“Your parents thought ignoring it would keep you safe. Hale thinks loving you will save you. But neither of them understand what you really are.”
I hesitated. “And you do?”
His smile returned, softer this time. “I think you’re a storm that hasn’t decided whether to flood or burn.”
I should’ve walked away. Should’ve told him to stay the hell out of my life. Instead, I asked, “Why do you care?”
He stepped closer, his fingers brushing a strand of hair from my face. “Because you’re waking up. And when you finally see what you’re capable of someone’s going to need to remind you you’re more than just a pawn.”
His eyes lingered on mine, steady and unreadable.
Then he stepped back. “See you soon, Maya.”
And just like that he was gone again.
- Writer
