The moment the voice drifted through the clearing, every muscle in Elara's body locked in place. It wasn't the forest whispering. It wasn't the Wild calling her again.
It was a human voice.
A familiar one.
"Elara?"
The single word echoed through the trees, cracking the fragile silence between her and Riven. His body tensed instinctively, stepping in front of her like a shield. The torchlight flickered across his shoulders as he scanned the shadows, ready to strike.
"Stay behind me," he murmured.
Elara's heart pounded—too fast, too loud.
She recognized that voice. She wasn't sure she wanted to.
A figure stepped slowly into the glow of the Heartroot. He was tall, wearing a tattered backpack and a jacket that had clearly been through storms. His face was streaked with dirt and dried sweat, but his eyes—those gray-blue eyes—were unmistakable.
"Eli?" Elara breathed.
Her older brother.
His expression broke into stunned relief. "It is you… I thought—Elara, I thought you were dead!"
Elara took a step forward before she could stop herself. Memories rushed back—late-night talks, arguments, his refusal to join her research trip, the way he had always tried to protect her even when she hated admitting she needed it.
Riven moved with her, blocking her path.
She touched his arm gently. "It's okay. I know him."
Riven didn't relax. Not even a fraction.
Eli's attention shifted to the wild-looking man standing protectively in front of his sister. His eyes hardened. "Elara… who is that?"
Before she could answer, Riven spoke, voice calm but edged with warning.
"Why are you in the inner forest? No outsider crosses this boundary."
"I'm not here for you," Eli snapped. "I'm here for my sister."
Elara exhaled shakily, stepping around Riven to face her brother.
"You followed me?"
Eli's jaw clenched. "You vanished for days. Your tent was torn apart. Your gear was scattered. What was I supposed to think? I tracked what little I could. When the trail disappeared, I kept going."
Elara's heart softened despite the storm inside her.
But then Eli's gaze flicked to Riven again.
"And when I heard rumors in the foothill camps—a feral man living deep in the woods—I feared the worst."
Riven's expression darkened dangerously.
"Elara," Eli said slowly, "are you safe with him?"
Before she could respond, Riven stepped forward, voice low.
"She is choosing to stay."
Eli bristled. "Choosing? She's clearly under stress! Alone in a dangerous forest—"
Elara cut him off.
"Stop. Eli, I'm fine. Riven saved my life more than once."
Her brother blinked, thrown off balance. "He… saved you?"
Riven didn't speak, but the tension in his posture eased slightly.
Eli exhaled, rubbing a hand across his face. "God, Elara… I've been searching for you every day. I thought I'd lost you."
Emotion tightened her throat. "I didn't mean to disappear. Everything happened so fast."
"But why didn't you try to find a way back?" Eli asked. "You know I'd never stop looking."
Elara opened her mouth—
And stopped.
Why hadn't she insisted on leaving?
Why hadn't she begged Riven to guide her back?
Because the forest felt alive.
Because she felt connected to it.
Because Riven…
Riven looked at her like she was something rare in a world that had forgotten beauty.
And the truth terrified her.
Eli misread her silence. "Elara… what did he do to make you stay?"
Riven stiffened.
"Elara stays because the Wild has chosen her," he said coldly. "It's not something you would understand."
Eli's eyes narrowed. "Don't speak like you own her."
"I don't." Riven stepped closer.
"But the forest marked her. The Heartroot responded to her."
Eli's confusion deepened. "What are you even talking about? Marked? By a tree?"
Elara stepped between them.
"Both of you, stop. This isn't helping."
Riven's eyes dropped to her hand—raised as if to separate them—then slowly lifted to meet her gaze.
"Elara… the forest doesn't react like that unless you're part of it."
Eli stared at her, horrified.
"What does that mean? Are you sick? Cursed?"
"No," she said firmly.
"I'm changing. I can feel it. The forest… listens to me."
Eli shook his head in disbelief, backing away.
"This is insane. We're leaving right now."
But Elara didn't move.
Riven noticed. Eli noticed.
"Elara?" her brother whispered.
"I can't leave yet." Her voice trembled, but her resolve didn't.
"There's something here I need to understand. Something inside me."
"You're not serious," Eli breathed. "This place—it's messing with your head."
"Maybe," she admitted softly. "But it's also telling me the truth."
Eli looked pained, torn between fear and frustration.
"And him?" he asked quietly.
"Where does he fit into this 'truth'?"
Elara hesitated.
Riven glanced away, as if bracing for her answer.
But before she could speak, the ground beneath them shuddered—
A deep, resonant tremor.
The same heartbeat she had sensed earlier, but now louder. Stronger. Urgent.
The glowing moss across the clearing flickered violently.
Riven's head snapped toward the trees.
"That's not the Heartroot."
"What is it?" Elara asked.
"The forest is warning us," Riven said.
"Something is coming."
Eli grabbed her wrist. "We need to run!"
Riven's voice dropped to a dangerous growl.
"No. Running will attract it. Stay close."
"Elara, don't listen to him!" Eli hissed. "You belong with people—"
A chilling howl cut him off.
Not an animal.
Not a guardian.
Something darker.
Riven pushed Elara behind him, his entire body coiling like a predator prepared to strike.
Eli's voice trembled. "What the hell was that?"
Riven answered without looking away from the shadows.
"A hunter of the Wild. A creature that hunts those the forest chooses."
Elara felt her blood freeze.
"It's coming for me."
Riven turned his head slightly, eyes locking with hers—wild, fierce, and filled with something that looked terrifyingly like devotion.
"I won't let it take you," he murmured.
The forest went silent.
Too silent.
Then—
The trees exploded open.
And the hunter lunged.