Chapter 9 - Way Back Home

🌙𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐡

He didn't answer.

I turned to him, my voice rising. "People went missing here. Students. You can't drive through here—this place is—"

"Stop the car!" I shouted. "This path is crazy. It is not normal—people disappear—they come back different. It is not safe!"

The forest thickened around us, shadows twisting against the windows. The wheels gripped gravel and something else I couldn't name. Cold seeped into the cabin.

He said nothing.

I lurched forward, trying to grab the door, but the car went faster.

"Please," I gasped. "I'm serious, please—stop!"

The vehicle didn't slow.

It accelerated.

Faster. Faster. Trees blurred. The wheels no longer felt grounded.

Then—

I screamed.

The car launched forward, fast and hard, and I felt myself lifted off the seat—but before I could slam into the glass, a strong arm snapped around my waist, anchoring me in place.

My breath caught.

My head turned, almost in disbelief.

He was still calm. Still watching the road like this wasn't insane. Like we weren't—

I looked forward.

My eyes widened.

We were heading straight for a cliff.

"No—no, no—"

I ducked, arms over my head, bracing for the crash.

But the car didn't fall.

The world bent.

Colours exploded beyond the windshield—shimmering blues and greens, a liquid haze folding over itself in impossible layers.

We were no longer in the forest.

We weren't anywhere at all.

The tyres didn't crash.

They landed.

Soft, like brushing into silk. The entire vehicle hummed as if it had glided through something alive.

I blinked rapidly. The light outside had changed. No more trees. No more fog. No more cliff.

Instead...

My eyes caught steel and glass gleaming in thr night light.

Moonlight bouncing off buildings I didn't recognize. Wide streets. Shadows shaped like statues. A skyline I had never seen in my life. Snow fell from the sky, already gathering on buildings and pavements. The temperature had dropped.

Where the hell were we?

My hands trembled. "What—what was that? What did you do?"

No answer.

Of course.

He simply stared ahead, more relaxed than he had been before acting like we hadn't just driven off a cliff into a wormhole. Like this was routine.

I should I slapped myself right there.

Of course to him this waa routine.

This situation was only absurd to me.

I turned fully in my seat, heart hammering. "Where are we?"

Silence.

"I said, where are we?!"

Nothing.

I gripped the armrest like it could give me answers. "You can't just—just drive me through some warped space and act like that's normal! What the hell is this?!"

His eyes flicked toward me briefly.

Cold. Unmoved.

Then back to the road.

We passed what looked like a patrol unit. We stopped.

The patrol unit stepped forward, fully armored, sleek black gear with silver detailing. Their weapons were slung casually, but their posture shifted the moment they saw him.

One of them lowered his head slightly.

"Alpha," he said. "Welcome back."

The other mirrored him with a nod. "All clear. No incident on record since your departure."

His nod was curt then the car began to move. The car rolled on.

I leaned forward, eyes scanning what lay ahead.

Tall gates rose like ancient guards, stone pillars as high as a building, wrought iron bars inlaid with silver. At their center, a white wolf's head insignia glowed faintly in the cold light, a high watch tower shinning light briefly on us.

Everything else around us was unlike the city. It was simply woods, isolated and quiet, eerily so.

The gates parted silently and the moment the gates closed behind us, I felt the shift.

Like something final had clicked into place.

The road narrowed. Tall, skeletal trees flanked either side, their branches black against the snow. A long driveway curved ahead, its path lined with lights that pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat.

Then I saw it.

The mansion.

Cold steel and midnight glass. Massive. Imposing. Its windows were tall and dark, like eyes watching from above. A single terrace jutted forward, and on it, a white wolf statue stared down the drive, teeth bared.

I swallowed hard.

It looked less like a home and more like a fortress designed to intimidate.

We stopped at the front. Two people flanked the entry, standing straighter at the sight of him.

No words were exchanged.

The door beside me clicked open.

I didn't move, I was too paralysed with fear.

She stepped into view, heels silent against the stone. For a second, I was too stunned to breathe.

She was breathtaking.

Sharp features, sculpted like a marble statue, but warm-skinned and ageless. Her hair shimmered like copper wire spun in candlelight, straight and pulled into a sleek tail that grazed her waist. Her amethyst eyes caught the moonlight, beautiful, but cold. Too cold.

She wore a suit; tailored like it had been sewn on her body. Midnight black, crisp, with a white shirt beneath and silver cufflinks that shimmered like frost. Pinned to her lapel was the same white wolf insignia I'd seen on the gates. The crest glinted against the fabric, catching my attention even as I tried not to shrink into the car seat.

Her body moved with the effortless confidence of someone who had never once been questioned. Tall. Poised. Sculpted like a warrior goddess. She looked like she could knock a grown man out with one well-placed kick and barely wrinkle her suit doing it.

She extended a hand to me.

For a brief second I felt something like relief. A woman. Maybe she would...

Her fingers snapped shut before I could reach.

Her amethyst gaze darkened, voice flat and sharp enough to cut bone.

"Your legs work, don't they?" her voice had a thick accent, one I recognised as Russian.

I stiffened.

Any trace of softness I thought I'd seen evaporated.

"Step out," she ordered. She didn't need to threaten me the command was an order and a threat wrapped impeccably in one.

I shook as I obliged.

The woman's grip on my arm was iron—elegant fingers wrapped too tightly around my bicep, nails just shy of digging in. Her touch wasn't meant to hurt. It was meant to control.

I flinched and tried to twist away. "Please," I said, breath hitching. "Let me go. I—I didn't mean to—just let me out."

She didn't release me.

Her expression didn't shift. The silence stretched painfully.

Then, a slow smile tugged at her mouth. Not kind. Not amused. It was the sort of smile that said she already knew what I'd say next.

"In that case," she said lightly, "can you find your way out? In the snow? With no guide?"

I nodded, far too quickly. "Yes. I can."

She studied me for a moment longer, then finally let go.

With a snap of her fingers, she turned toward the guards stationed nearby. "Open the gates."

They moved without hesitation. Not a word was spoken.

She reached into her blazer pocket and handed me a small silver card. "Show this to the patrols. They'll let you through. Once."

I took it like it might burn me.

No one spoke. Not her. Not the Alpha. Not the guards.

Everyone just watched.

My legs felt like water, but I forced them to move. I stepped down, boots crunching softly against the snow.

The gates creaked open again, the sound low and final.

I ran.

I didn't look back—until I did.

He stood near the car, still as stone. Watching. Face unreadable. Like he had known from the beginning that I would run.

And he wasn't stopping me.

He wasn't even moving.

That terrified me more than anything.