🌙 Episode 27: The Truth Beneath the Pines
Lila's POV
The forest seemed to hold its breath after the hunters vanished. The silence was deafening, broken only by the faint drip of blood from Ethan's side.
He pulled me along, his stride steady despite the wound. I kept glancing at him, fear gnawing at me.
"You can't just keep moving like nothing happened," I whispered. "You're hurt."
He didn't look at me. "I've had worse."
"That doesn't mean—"
"Lila," he cut me off, voice low but firm. "We don't stop until we're safe."
Something inside me rebelled. I yanked my hand from his, forcing him to halt. "No. I need answers. Right now. You said it yourself—I'm part of this now."
His golden eyes flickered, a storm passing behind them. For a moment, I thought he'd shut me down again. But instead, he sighed, shoulders slumping.
"Fine," he muttered. "But not here."
We found a hollow beneath an outcrop of stone, half-hidden by thick brush. Ethan checked the perimeter with the sharpness of a predator before finally lowering himself onto a fallen log.
I sat across from him, my heart pounding.
He met my gaze, his expression carved from stone. "You want the truth. You'll get it. But once you know, there's no forgetting. No undoing it."
I swallowed hard. "I can handle it."
Ethan's POV
Her eyes didn't waver. Brave, stubborn, reckless—that was Lila. And against all my instincts, I wanted her to know.
So I told her.
About the packs hidden in the shadows of human society. About rogues, wolves who'd abandoned their bonds and turned feral. About hunters, humans who dedicated their lives to killing my kind.
When I finished, she was silent, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
Finally, she whispered, "And you're one of them. A werewolf."
I nodded slowly. "Yes."
Her breath shook, but she didn't flinch away. "Last night… the claws, the eyes… it was real."
"It was me," I admitted. "The part of me I've spent years trying to control."
She looked at me, and I braced myself for fear, disgust, rejection.
But instead, she said softly, "You saved me. Twice now."
Her faith cut deeper than silver.
Lila's POV
I tried to process everything. The hunters' cold smiles, the rogues' feral snarls, the way Ethan had fought with inhuman speed. It all fit now, like jagged pieces clicking into place.
But one question still burned in me.
"Why me?" I asked quietly. "Why are they after me? I'm nobody. Just a human."
He hesitated. Too long.
"Ethan." My voice sharpened. "Tell me the truth."
His eyes softened, the fierce mask slipping. "Because you're with me. And that makes you a target."
The weight of his words sank in. Fear twisted in my chest—but so did something else. Something stronger.
"Then I guess you're stuck with me," I said, trying for a smile I didn't quite feel.
His lips twitched, almost a smile, but his gaze darkened. "You don't understand what that means."
"Then help me understand."
Ethan's POV
The bond pulled at me, relentless. Every time she chose to stay, it tightened, making her part of my world in ways she couldn't yet see.
And it terrified me.
Because the hunters weren't wrong. Humans rarely survived long around wolves.
"I should take you back," I muttered, though the words tasted like poison.
She leaned forward, determination blazing in her eyes. "No. If you leave me now, they'll find me. You know they will. At least with you, I have a chance."
I stared at her, torn between rage at her recklessness and awe at her courage.
Finally, I gave in. "Then we head north. To my pack's territory."
Her breath caught. "Your pack?"
"They won't like that I've brought you. But they'll keep you safe."
Safe. The word felt like a lie. There was no safety in my world—only shifting dangers. But she didn't need to know that yet.
Lila's POV
The decision settled between us, heavy and irreversible. I was about to walk into a hidden world of werewolves and hunters, a world I never could have imagined.
But as I watched Ethan press a hand to his bleeding side, jaw tight with pain he wouldn't admit, I knew one thing.
Whatever came next, I wasn't letting him face it alone.
I moved to his side, tearing a strip from my sleeve and pressing it to his wound. He tried to protest, but I silenced him with a look.
"You protect me," I said firmly. "Let me protect you too."
For the first time, his golden eyes softened completely, the walls around him cracking.
And in that moment, under the shadow of the pines, I realized something dangerous.
I wasn't afraid of him anymore.
I was afraid of losing him.
---
✨ End of Episode 27