Chapter 4 : Fire and Blood
779 Words
The smell of smoke filled the cabin quickly.
Zara’s eyes burned as the thin gray cloud began curling across the ceiling.
“They’re really doing this…” she whispered.
Outside, the men laughed again.
A bottle shattered somewhere near the wall, followed by the hungry crackle of flames catching dry wood.
Zara’s heart dropped.
“My cabin,” she said helplessly.
Kael moved toward the window again, his movements slow but controlled. His injury clearly hurt him, but something else had taken over now—something stronger than pain.
He pulled the curtain aside slightly.
Orange firelight flickered across his face.
“How many?” Zara asked.
Kael’s eyes moved carefully across the forest.
“Five,” he said.
Zara swallowed.
“Five hunters with weapons?” she said.
Kael nodded once.
“And wolves nearby.”
Her brain struggled to process everything.
“You mean… like the wolves you said earlier?”
Kael’s gaze sharpened.
“They won’t stay wolves for long.”
Another loud bang hit the side of the cabin.
Zara jumped.
“They’re breaking the walls!”
Kael turned toward her.
“Listen to me,” he said firmly.
“This cabin won’t last long.”
“So we leave.”
Zara stared at him like he had lost his mind.
“Leave?” she said.
“You’re injured, there are five men outside, and apparently supernatural wolves in the forest.”
“Yes,” Kael said calmly.
“Which means staying here is worse.”
Before Zara could respond—
The front door shook violently.
BOOM.
The wood groaned under the impact.
One of the hunters shouted from outside.
“Break it down!”
Another heavy hit slammed into the door.
The hinges rattled.
Zara backed away instinctively.
“They’ll get in,” she said.
Kael’s golden eyes flashed.
“Not before I get to them.”
Zara grabbed his arm.
“You’re not going out there!”
The moment her fingers touched him, she felt something strange.
Heat.
Not normal body warmth.
It felt like energy humming beneath his skin.
Kael looked down at her hand.
Then back at her face.
“You helped me,” he said quietly.
“You saved my life.”
“So I won’t let them hurt you.”
Zara opened her mouth to argue.
But suddenly—
CRACK.
The door splintered.
A piece of wood broke inward.
Smoke rushed into the cabin.
“Alpha!” a voice shouted from outside.
“Come out and die like a wolf!”
Kael’s entire posture changed.
The air in the room felt heavier suddenly.
Zara noticed something terrifying.
His eyes.
They were glowing now.
Not just golden.
Glowing.
“What’s happening to you?” she whispered.
Kael exhaled slowly.
“They pushed too far.”
Outside, the hunters prepared to strike the door again.
Kael looked toward the back of the cabin.
“There’s another exit?”
Zara nodded quickly.
“Back window.”
“Good.”
Before she could ask his plan—
Kael suddenly grabbed the wooden table beside him.
With one powerful motion—
He flipped it across the room.
The table slammed into the weakening front door just as the hunters crashed into it again.
BOOM.
The impact held.
For a moment.
“Go,” Kael said.
Zara didn’t move.
“What about you?”
Kael picked up the knife again.
His voice became dangerously calm.
“I’ll slow them down.”
Zara stared at him in disbelief.
“You can barely stand!”
Kael gave a small, humorless smile.
“You still think I’m just a man.”
Outside—
The hunters roared angrily as the blocked door held them back.
One shouted again.
“Burn it down!”
The flames outside grew louder.
The heat pressed against the cabin walls.
Kael looked at Zara one last time.
“Back window,” he repeated.
Zara hesitated.
Then finally ran toward the back of the cabin.
As she pushed the window open, cool night air rushed inside.
She climbed halfway out—
But then she heard something behind her.
A low sound.
Deep.
Dangerous.
Zara turned.
And froze.
Kael stood in the center of the cabin.
His shoulders were broader now.
His muscles tensed beneath his torn shirt.
And his glowing golden eyes had become something wild.
Something ancient.
Outside—
The wolves began howling again.
But this time the sound was different.
Not hunting.
Answering.
Zara’s voice trembled.
“Kael…?”
He looked at her.
And for a split second she saw the man she had saved earlier.
Then the door finally shattered.
Hunters burst into the cabin.
And Kael stepped forward to meet them.
- Writer
