Chapter 3:The Boy in the Shadows
930 Words
Elera didn’t sleep.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw them—those glowing amber eyes watching her from the darkness. She could still feel the echo of that voice inside her head, like a whisper that refused to fade.
You belong to the moon now.
“No,” she muttered under her breath, pacing her room. “I don’t belong to anything.”
But even as she said it, her chest tightened. That strange energy was still there, humming beneath her skin, restless… waiting.
By morning, the town of Lunaris looked normal again. Too normal. People walked the streets, shops opened, and the sun shone like nothing had happened. Like the night hadn’t changed everything.
But Elera knew the truth.
Something was wrong with her.
And she needed answers.
That evening, as the sky began to darken, Elara found herself back at the edge of the forest.
She hadn’t planned to go there. She told herself she wouldn’t.
Yet here she was.
The air felt different again—charged, alive. The same pull from the night before wrapped around her, stronger now, almost impossible to resist.
“Elera.”
The voice came from behind her.
She spun around sharply.
A boy stood a few feet away, half-hidden in the shadows of the trees.
He looked about her age, maybe a little older. Tall, with dark hair that fell messily over his forehead and eyes that—
Elera’s breath caught.
Amber.
The same glowing amber she had seen in the forest.
“You…” she whispered, stepping back. “Who are you?”
The boy didn’t move closer, but his gaze didn’t leave hers. It was calm, steady… almost too calm.
“My name is Kael,” he said quietly.
Elera shook her head, her heart racing. “What do you want?”
Kael’s expression hardened slightly. “That’s not the question you should be asking.”
“Then what should I be asking?”
He tilted his head, studying her carefully. “You should be asking what you are.”
The words hit her like a slap.
“I’m human,” Elara snapped, though her voice wavered.
Kael took a slow step forward. “Are you?”
Elera’s chest tightened. “Stay back.”
But he didn’t stop.
“You saw it, didn’t you?” he continued. “Last night. You felt it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said quickly, but even she didn’t believe it.
Kael let out a quiet breath, like he had expected this. “The burning in your chest. The way your senses sharpened. The voice.”
Elara froze.
“How do you know that?”
His eyes darkened slightly. “Because I’ve been where you are.”
Silence stretched between them. The wind rustled through the trees, carrying that same wild scent from before.
Elera’s hands trembled. “What… am I?”
Kael hesitated, just for a moment. Then he said it.
“You’re one of us.”
Her heart dropped. “No.”
“A werewolf,” he added, his voice firm now.
“No!” she shouted, backing away. “That’s not real!”
Kael’s gaze sharpened. “Then how do you explain what’s happening to you?”
She opened her mouth to respond—but nothing came out.
Because she couldn’t.
The pain. The eyes. The voice.
It was all real.
“I don’t want this,” she whispered, her voice breaking.
Kael’s expression softened, just slightly. “None of us did.”
Elera looked up at him, searching his face. “Then help me get rid of it.”
Something flickered in his eyes—something unreadable.
“It doesn’t work like that,” he said quietly.
Her stomach sank. “What do you mean?”
Kael took another step closer, lowering his voice. “The curse isn’t something you can just walk away from. It’s in your blood. It always has been.”
Elara shook her head slowly. “That’s impossible…”
“Is it?” he asked. “Or has your family just been keeping secrets from you?”
Her mother’s warning echoed in her mind.
You shouldn’t wander at night. Not here.
Elera’s breath caught.
“You know something,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “About my family.”
Kael didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he glanced toward the deeper part of the forest, his expression suddenly tense.
“We don’t have much time,” he said.
Elera frowned. “Time for what?”
Before he could answer, a distant howl echoed through the trees.
Not one.
Multiple.
Elera’s blood ran cold.
Kael’s entire posture changed, his body going rigid.
“They found you,” he muttered.
“Who?” Elara asked, panic rising in her chest.
Kael looked back at her, his amber eyes glowing faintly in the growing darkness.
“The others.”
A low growl rumbled somewhere deep in the forest.
Closer than before.
Kael grabbed her wrist suddenly, his grip firm but not painful. “If you want to survive this,” he said urgently, “you need to trust me. Now.”
Elera hesitated.
Everything in her told her to run.
But the howls were getting louder.
Closer.
And deep down, that same wild instinct whispered the truth she couldn’t ignore—
He was the only one who understood what she was becoming.
Elera swallowed hard.
“Okay,” she said.
Kael nodded once.
“Then don’t let go.”
And with that, he pulled her into the darkness of the forest.
- Writer
