Chapter 4: Heat and Visions
981 Words
Luna Callahan POV
The mark on my wrist pulsed like a heartbeat.
It wasn’t always visible—sometimes it faded to a silvery shadow beneath my skin, like a memory trying to hide—but when the moon rose higher in the night sky, it glowed faintly, as if answering to something ancient in the heavens.
I had only been in the cabin for a day. Maybe two. Time blurred strangely out here. There was no clock. No phone. No signal. No sign of the golden-eyed man who had vanished into the snow like a ghost.
I didn’t even know his name.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about him. The way his voice wrapped around my name was like a secret. The way he looked at me, like he knew things I hadn’t even begun to suspect about myself.
And I dreamed of him.
Oh gods, I dreamed.
Not the broken, half-remembered fog of ordinary sleep. These were visions—so real, so visceral, that I woke up drenched in sweat, gasping for breath.
The first night, I saw fire.
A forest consumed by flame, the trees howling like beasts in agony. I stood barefoot in the center of it all, untouched by the heat. The flames licked at my skin but didn’t burn. And in the distance—eyes. Dozens of them. Wolves, surrounding me in a perfect circle, their eyes glowing like twin moons.
They didn’t growl. They bowed.
To me.
The second night, I ran.
I could feel the ground beneath my paws—paws, not feet—as I raced through the woods under a blood-red sky. Trees blurred past, wind rushing through fur, heart hammering like a war drum. I wasn’t afraid. I was wild. Alive.
Free.
Until I saw him.
Not the golden-eyed man.
Another.
A black wolf, massive and scarred, standing atop a hill under the blood moon. His eyes were endless silver, his body cloaked in shadow. I skidded to a stop, and he lifted his head and howled.
And when I woke up, the echo of his howl still rang in my bones.
But last night—last night was different.
Last night, I heard my name.
Whispered from deep within the dream.
A voice older than time, full of longing and heat and something primal that clung to my skin long after I opened my eyes.
“Luna…”
I shot upright in bed, drenched in sweat, my skin fever-warm, my breath ragged.
The fire had gone out. The cabin was cold. But my body burned like I was standing too close to a star.
Everything felt… sharper.
The scent of pine in the air was overwhelming. I could smell snow melting outside, the metallic tang of wet bark, even the faint musk of deer somewhere deep in the woods.
My hearing had changed too. I could hear the wind whistling through distant treetops. A raven’s wingbeat. The creak of old wood somewhere on the roof.
This wasn’t normal.
This wasn’t human.
I stumbled out of bed and went to the washbasin near the window, splashing cold water on my face. My skin steamed. My pupils were dilated, my eyes a darker shade of blue than usual—almost violet.
And the mark on my wrist?
Bright as moonlight.
I stared at it, breathing hard. “What are you doing to me?” I whispered.
The mirror above the basin offered no answers.
I sat at the desk and tore a page from the old journal I’d found. I needed to write it down—all of it. The dreams, the heat, the marks, the voice.
Especially the voice.
Luna…
There it was again. But this time, I was awake.
I froze, my heart racing. The whisper was soft—almost like a breeze rustling through the trees. But it said my name. Not in fear. Not in anger.
In recognition.
I turned slowly toward the window.
The mist outside was thick. Snow had begun to fall again—soft, silent flakes that danced against the glass.
And then I saw it.
In the woods.
A massive wolf.
Black fur. Eyes like silver lightning. Watching me.
It stood perfectly still among the trees, not moving, not blinking.
And then—its mouth opened.
“Luna.”
I screamed.
Fell backward off the chair, my heart hammering against my ribs like a caged beast. I crawled to the door, yanked it open, and stumbled into the snow barefoot, lungs burning.
The cold hit me like a slap, but I didn’t stop. I ran through the mist toward the place I’d seen him.
But when I got there, the clearing was empty.
No paw prints.
No wolf.
No sound.
Just me.
Breathing hard, trembling, the moonlight painted the snow an eerie, bluish silver.
“What the hell is happening to me?” I whispered.
Then something shifted in the air.
A low growl. Behind me.
I spun around—
And saw nothing.
But I felt it.
The presence.
Watching. Following. Waiting.
I backed away slowly. My skin prickled, every hair on my body standing on end.
Then I heard the whisper again.
Not from the woods.
From inside my head.
“Find me, Luna…”
And then, for the briefest moment, I wasn’t in the woods at all.
I was standing on the fire.
Wolves surrounded me again, eyes glowing, bodies tense. The black wolf stepped forward. Towering. Regal. Dangerous.
He looked straight at me—and his mouth moved.
“Come to me, my mate.”
I gasped and blinked—and the forest returned.
But now the mark on my wrist burned. It seared like a brand, and the crescent moon within it flared bright silver, brighter than I’d ever seen.
The trees groaned.
Something ancient had been awoken.
Something was calling me.
And this time… it wasn’t going to wait.
- Writer
