The Beast Beneath The Skin
1198 Words
The night howled back.
Aria barely had time to move before Kael shoved her behind him, the scent of blood and something feral riding the wind. His entire body tensed as the first shadow darted past the cave’s mouth, fast, hunched, inhuman. Not wolves. Not men. Something twisted in between.
“Rogues,” Kael growled. “Corrupted by old magic.”
Aria’s throat tightened. “What do they want with me?”
His voice was a low rumble. “Your mark. Your power. If they take you before you awaken fully-"
A snarl ripped through the trees.
Kael cracked his neck once, rolling his shoulders, the air around him shifting, heavy with violence. “Stay. Here.”
Then the beast in him rose.
Aria watched, heart caught between awe and terror, as his bones rippled beneath his skin, muscles stretching, reshaping. Claws pushed from his fingertips, his spine lengthened, his frame broadening. His transformation was fluid, brutal, and somehow beautiful. When he turned back to her, his eyes glowed molten gold, pupils slit and wild.
He looked like death made flesh.
“Kael-”
He didn’t answer. With a blur of motion, he charged out into the night.
The forest erupted in chaos.
Snarls. Screams. The sound of tearing flesh. Shadows danced between trees, illuminated only by slivers of moonlight. Aria stood frozen at the cave’s mouth, her heart pounding so hard it drowned out thought. She should run. She should hide. But her feet wouldn’t move. She was rooted to the spot, helpless and exposed.
Then she saw him.
Kael was a blur, a savage storm of claws and fangs. He moved with lethal grace, ripping through the rogues with terrifying ease. Blood slicked his chest, his growls deep and unearthly. But they just kept coming, snarling, grotesque creatures, half-formed, eyes black as pits.
One broke through the edge, a rogue with half-shifted limbs and a twisted jaw, its gaze locked on her. It lunged.
Aria screamed, stumbling back.
The mark on her wrist burned, sharp, blinding. Heat flooded her veins, spilling into her limbs. Her fingers sparked with light. Real, pulsing light.
The rogue froze, inches away.
Aria’s instincts screamed. She threw up her hand.
A pulse of light exploded from her palm, a shockwave that slammed into the creature, hurling it backward through the trees with a shriek. Bark split, branches shattered. Silence followed.
She stood trembling, staring at her own hand.
“What… the hell…” she whispered.
Then Kael was there, bloodied, panting, his eyes wide with something between shock and recognition. He took in the scorched trail behind her, the light still flickering around her fingers.
“You called the storm,” he murmured, awe lacing his voice.
“I don’t know what I did.”
“Your power is waking faster than it should.”
“I didn’t mean to-”
“Doesn’t matter.” His voice dropped low, dark. “You did it.”
The pull between them snapped taut, an invisible thread strung too tight. She was breathing too fast, her heart pounding in her throat. The glow in her mark pulsed in rhythm with his ragged breaths.
Kael stepped closer, his presence too big, too consuming.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said, his voice thick, guttural.
“I didn’t have a choice-”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Aria backed away, her spine pressing against the cold stone of the cave. “Kael…”
In two strides, he was in front of her. His hands grabbed her arms, hot, firm, anchoring her. She gasped at the contact, the burn of his touch igniting something low in her belly.
“Do you feel it now?” he whispered, his voice like velvet over steel. “The bond is clawing its way out of us. I can’t hold it back forever.”
“You have to,” she said, but her voice betrayed her, trembling.
His gaze was wild, his jaw clenched. “No. We’re not ready.”
But he didn’t let go.
She felt every inch of him, blood-warmed skin, muscle, the heat of his breath. Her mark flared, and Kael groaned low in his throat, a sound of restraint on the edge of breaking.
“You drive me insane,” he muttered. “I should be protecting you. Not… wanting you like this.”
“Then stop.”
“I can’t.”
His face was so close. Their breaths mingled, her lips parting instinctively. She didn’t know if it was magic or madness, but she wanted him. She shouldn’t, but gods, she wanted him.
“Kael,” she whispered. “If you kiss me right now…”
He let out a broken sound. “I know.”
Their lips brushed, just barely, but it was enough to ignite her blood. Enough to ruin her.
Then-
“Alpha!”
The voice was a dagger through silk. A figure appeared at the cave entrance, a tall, broad man in torn leathers, eyes glowing blue.
Kael spun, shielding her.
“She’s here,” the man said, his eyes briefly flicking to Aria. “We tracked the rogues to this ridge. They’re fleeing. But they left a message.”
Kael’s voice was sharp. “Speak.”
“They said the girl doesn’t belong to you. That the bond is false. That they’ll take her before the next moonrise.”
Aria’s stomach dropped.
Kael’s body trembled, not with fear, but fury. His hands flexed at his sides, claws retracting with effort.
“She is mine,” he snarled, voice laced with primal finality. “And anyone who thinks otherwise will bleed for it.”
The scout nodded, then disappeared into the night.
Kael turned back to her. His eyes were still burning, but beneath the heat, she saw the war inside him, desire, duty, and something dangerously close to despair.
“They won’t touch you,” he said, more to himself than to her.
“What do they want from me?”
“More than I’ll ever let them have.”
She looked at him, this beast, this man, this storm barely held together, and knew she was already his, even if she hadn’t agreed to it yet.
“You’re shaking,” he said, softer now.
“I’m fine.”
“Liar.”
He stepped closer again, slower this time, his hand brushing her cheek with surprising gentleness. “I felt your power, Aria. It’s not just light. It’s a storm. And it’s waking up because of me.”
“What if I can’t control it?”
“Then I’ll teach you.”
She swallowed hard, the weight of the night, of the bond, of him, all of it pressing in. “And if I lose myself in it?”
His smile was grim. “Then I’ll find you.”
Silence stretched between them. The air still thrummed with magic, blood, and want.
Then, softer, like an apology: “I won’t hurt you. Not like this.”
Aria nodded, though part of her wasn’t sure if she believed him. Because the storm wasn’t just in her.
It was in both of them.
And it was only just beginning.
- Writer
