CHAPTER THREE
1359 Words
By the time Zara and Kael reached the bottom of the school building, the blackout had spread across all of Greywood. Not a single window glowed. Not a single generator hummed. The silence was unnerving, too complete.
Kael paused near the exit, nostrils flaring as if scenting the air.
Zara swallowed. “What? Do you smell something?”
He gave her a sideways look. “If I said yes, would it calm you or make you panic?”
“Panic,” she admitted.
“Then I smell nothing at all,” he said dryly, pushing open the door.
Zara blinked. “You’re not funny.”
“I’m hilarious,” he muttered. “You’re just stressed.”
She glared, but it didn’t stop the tiny, shaky laugh that escaped her. It felt good, normal, ike her chest loosened for the first time since the shift.
They walked quickly through the dark streets. Zara kept glancing at Kael’s profile. He moved like he expected danger around every corner, like every shadow hid someone. Or something.
“Is the Council really that bad?” she whispered.
Kael snorted softly. “Bad is a polite word. Controlling, paranoid, ruthless, those are closer.”
“Why?”
“Because they like being in charge,” he said simply. “And because your kind scared the hell out of them.”
The words made her stomach twist.
She hesitated. “My… kind. What were they like?”
Kael’s steps faltered. He didn’t look at her. “Dangerous.”
Silence stretched.
Then his voice softened, just barely. “Not because they wanted to be. They were… different. Wolves made from shadow, not moon. Their instincts were sharper. Their senses stronger. The Council couldn’t control them, so they tried to erase them.”
Zara walked in silence, absorbing every word.
“Can I…..” she started carefully. “Can I trust you?”
Kael didn’t answer right away. His jaw flexed.
Finally, he sighed. “Against my better judgment… yeah.”
She stopped walking. “Why does it sound like you regret saying that?”
“Because I do,” he said bluntly. “Caring about people has a terrible track record in my life.”
That shut her up for a moment.
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Come on. Your aunt’s house is close.”
Aunt Mara’s little blue bungalow looked strangely ominous in the deep blackout. Zara’s heart pounded. The idea of bringing a stranger—an inhuman stranger—to her aunt’s home made her chest tighten.
But she didn’t have a choice.
She knocked twice.
The door cracked open almost instantly, Mara’s silhouette against candlelight behind her.
“Zara?” Mara’s voice trembled. “Where have you…..”
Her gaze landed on Kael.
The fear on her face shifted. Hardened.
“Oh,” she whispered. Not frightened. Not confused.
Resigned.
Zara froze. “Aunt Mara… you know him?”
“No,” Mara said. “But I know what he is.”
Kael raised a brow. “You hide it well. Most humans can’t sense us.”
Mara’s lips thinned. “Most humans didn’t raise her.”
Zara blinked. “Okay, someone start explaining……”
“Not outside,” Mara cut in. “You two, inside. Now.”
Kael shot Zara a tiny smirk. “Your aunt’s scarier than half the Council.”
Mara glared. “And I’ll be scarier than all of them if you bring danger to my doorstep.”
Kael’s smirk faded.
They stepped inside.
The house smelled like lavender and old books. Normally comforting. Tonight, suffocating.
Mara shut the curtains tightly and locked every window. “Sit.”
Zara sat.
Kael leaned against the wall instead, arms folded.
Mara eyed him. “You too.”
He made a face. “I don’t do chairs.”
“Sit,” Mara repeated.
Kael sighed dramatically and sat in the nearest chair like it personally offended him.
Zara would’ve laughed if her head wasn’t spinning.
Mara turned to her. “How much do you know?”
“Nothing,” Zara said. “Apparently I’m some kind of shadow-wolf species the Council murdered.”
Mara closed her eyes, pain flickering across her features. “I hoped we had more time.”
“Time before what?” Zara pressed.
“Before this,” Mara whispered. “Before your shift. Before they felt you. Before hunters started moving toward this town.”
Zara’s chest squeezed. “Hunters?”
Kael nodded once. “Elite wolves trained by the Council. They don’t negotiate.”
“Fantastic,” Zara muttered.
“Kael……” she turned to him “...you stay in the guest room. You’re not leaving Zara alone.”
Kael blinked. “yes I know that but we can't stay here”
“You heard me.”
Zara stared. “Wait, Aunt Mara, you’re… okay with him staying?”
Mara’s face softened. “He’s the only one who can help you control what you are. And I… I can’t protect you from the Council. Not anymore.”
Kael looked away, clearing his throat. “I’m not exactly the nurturing type.”
Mara raised a brow. “But you survived them.”
His expression flickered, raw, tight, full of something Zara didn’t understand.
Pain.
Deep, old pain.
He covered it instantly with a sarcastic shrug. “Survive is a strong word. Let’s just say I’m inconvenient to kill.”
Zara’s brows lifted. “That’s comforting.”
Kael smirked. “I’m full of comfort.”
“You’re full of something,” she muttered.
His smile twitched wider.
Later, when Mara retreated to her bedroom to gather old documents, Zara found Kael standing by the window, staring into the dark street like he expected monsters to appear.
“Do they really come this fast?” she asked quietly.
Kael didn’t turn. “They’ve been watching for a Moonless awakening for years. They’ll send a scout tonight. A team by tomorrow.”
Zara sank onto the couch. “Great. I can barely stand without shaking. How am I supposed to run from them?”
Kael finally looked at her.
“By not doing it alone.”
She studied him. “Why are you helping me? Really?”
He exhaled slowly. “Because once… someone helped me when they shouldn’t have. And I didn’t listen. And they died for it.”
The room went still.
Zara’s voice softened. “I’m sorry.”
He looked away again, shoulders tightening. “Don’t be. I’m not telling you because I want sympathy.”
“Then why tell me at all?”
Kael hesitated.
Then, grudgingly, he said, “Because you asked.”
Zara blinked.
“Don’t get used to it,” he added quickly. “I prefer being mysterious and emotionally unavailable.”
She snorted. “You’re doing a great job.”
“Thanks. I try.”
Mara reappeared, carrying a small, old wooden box. She set it on the table.
“Zara,” she said softly, “there’s something you need to know. Something I’ve kept from you since you were a baby.”
Kael stiffened instantly.
“She deserves the truth.”
Zara leaned forward, heart pounding.
Mara opened the box.
Inside lay an old black cloth, frayed, torn, and stitched with symbols Zara didn’t recognize.
But Kael did.
His face drained of color.
Zara asked “Is that…..”
“Yes,” Mara said quietly. “The crest of the Moonless Pack.”
Zara stared. “My pack?”
Mara nodded.
Her breath hitched. “Why me?”
Mara’s eyes glistened. “Because you were the only one who didn’t cry when the eclipse took the moon that night. Because you were the only one who survived the flames.”
Kael’s gaze snapped to her. “The eclipse?”
Mara nodded. “The night she was born.”
Kael rose slowly, tension rolling through him. “We don’t have hours anymore. Hunters will come faster.”
Mara quietly locked the box. “Then we prepare.”
Zara looked between them, her aunt with her secrets, and Kael with his charming smile.
Her world felt like a storm building pressure.
- Writer
