CHAPTER 4
747 Words
MIRA'S POV
I didn’t sleep.
Not even for a second.
The journal Kael gave me sat heavy on my lap. The leather cover was old and cracked, and the pages smelled like dust and forgotten secrets.
Her name was Anna.
The first entry was short.
“I was brought here in winter. I thought the cold would be the worst of it. I was wrong.”
I read every word like it was a warning.
Anna had lived in that same room. Sat on this same bed. Heard the same howls that crawled under my skin.
She had also asked questions—too many.
And the answers she got nearly broke her.
“The east wing holds more than locked doors. It holds their truth. Their curse.”
Curse.
She wrote it like she knew exactly what it meant.
I didn’t. Not yet. But I could feel it pressing in from the walls. The way the air shifted after dark. The way the staff avoided eye contact. The way Kael never stayed near me for long.
He was hiding something.
And I was done pretending I didn’t care.
By morning, I had only slept an hour. Maybe less.
Madra arrived at my door again—this time holding a silver tray with breakfast.
She didn’t speak.
She just stared at me, waiting.
I stood slowly. “I want to talk to Kael.”
“No,” she said without blinking. “He’s not to be disturbed.”
“I’m not a prisoner,” I snapped.
Her expression didn’t change. “Aren’t you?”
The door closed behind her before I could respond.
I waited until the hallway was clear.
Then I ran.
I didn’t have a plan—just a pounding heart and the journal clutched in my hands like it would protect me.
I didn’t go to the east wing this time.
I went outside.
The back doors led to a long stone balcony that overlooked the forest. Mist floated over the trees like ghostly fingers.
I stepped onto the cold stone.
And breathed.
Freedom.
Even for a moment.
But the peace didn’t last.
Because something moved in the trees.
Fast.
Big.
I stumbled back. The wind carried a scent—earthy, wild, sharp. Like pine needles and blood.
A shape flashed between the trees.
Too tall. Too fast.
I gripped the railing.
Then, suddenly, Kael was behind me.
I felt him before I heard him. The air bent around him. Heavy. Tense.
“You shouldn’t be out here,” he said, voice low.
“You can’t keep me locked inside like some broken toy,” I snapped.
He stepped closer. “I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“From what? That thing in the forest? You?”
His jaw clenched. “Yes.”
I blinked.
“You?” I repeated.
He didn’t answer.
The wind lifted his coat, revealing a glimpse of something beneath his collar—black veins, dark and pulsing. Like something was alive inside him.
I stepped back.
“What are you?” I whispered.
Kael looked down at me, his eyes darker than usual. Gold flickered at the edges of his pupils.
“Something you should fear,” he said softly.
And then he turned and walked away.
I didn’t eat that day.
I read more of the journal instead.
Anna had written about the pack.
“They live in the woods. They serve him. But they don’t love him.”
She wrote about the full moon.
“He locks himself away, but the others roam. They are not human. Not entirely.”
I didn’t want to believe it.
But Kael wasn’t human either.
The way he moved.
The way he heard things no one should.
The way the forest responded to him.
I wasn’t in a mansion.
I was in a den.
And Kael was the Alpha.
That night, the house felt different.
No howls.
No footsteps.
Too quiet.
I stood by the window and stared out at the trees.
And I remembered something Anna wrote.
“The mansion listens. When it goes silent, something is coming.”
The doorknob rattled.
I spun, heart pounding.
But no one entered.
The handle twisted once more.
Then stopped.
Then came the voice.
Low. Ragged.
“Help me.”
I didn’t recognize it.
It wasn’t Kael.
It wasn’t anyone I’d met.
It sounded broken. Lost.
I backed away from the door.
Whoever was out there... wasn’t human.
And it knew my name.
- Writer
