The forest was deep, fresh, and cold—but do you know what the best part was? There were no four-legged, furry, ranked individuals here. Not a single wolf howl to be heard !
This place lay on a path near the borders of the human town and after those stifling celebrations, Vespera had finally thrown herself back into the arms of her true pack.
Allow me to introduce my magnificent herd!
First, there's Chloe. Though she chose law for university, to us, she is still the "Professor of Romance." She can keep you laughing for hours with her ever-changing love life and flirtatious tactics.
And yes, she knows how to hunt! If the subject is trendy hairstyles or shoes, she's a predator. She can scent anything tacky or fake from ten meters away. Anyone with terrible fashion sense is fair game for her.
Her greatest weakness? May the Gods protect us if her nail polish ever clashes with her dress—the apocalypse would be upon us. She might not cause physical harm, but the damage she leaves on your soul is profound.
And then there's Melanie... the true spiritual leader and the "nerd" of our pack. Besides being a brilliant tech genius, she's a total bookworm. If wearing pajamas, pulling the duvet over your head, and scrolling through stories was a sport, she'd hold every athletic record.
Before I even told her my true identity, she was already observing me like a fish in an aquarium. She's the kind of girl who devours werewolf stories like candy—a library dweller in cartoon-print pajama bottoms. I'd swear she knows more about wolves than I do; I can't prove it, but she's "more wolf" than me.
She's in a constant research loop regarding the wolf inside me that refuses to wake up. She doesn't share her data, acting like she's on a covert mission, but I heard from Dominic that she's been poking around some handwritten witch archives. And yes, Dominic's mouth is looser than a rubber band!
And Dominic. Dominic was... just Dominic.
He played games all day; he was addicted to video games. All his money went to local pizzerias, sodas, and gaming. Despite being the ultimate "green flag" guy, he'd likely die a bachelor in his mother's apartment.
His life motto? "Carpe Diem, girls." Or, "A hero who thinks of the end can never be a hero, bro!"
Sometimes, because of his endless gaming and crypto-buying, we called him strange names like "Mufasa of the Virtual Cliffside."
Me? I don't think we want to get to know me.
Chloe was laughing as she toasted her marshmallow, but in that moment, I could feel that strange, cold current flowing through my veins. Kael thought I was a jewel; my father saw me as a dusty memory of the past. In truth, I was the world's greatest paradox.
When my mother was dying all alone on the snow in the depths of the frozen forest, that "Great Alpha" of a father didn't even know. A human womb was too delicate to carry the seed of a wolf. My mother was dying because of me—until that dark, jagged shadow arrived and cursed her with immortality...
I was born baptized by vampire venom from a cold, dead womb, kneaded with wolf blood, and sealed with human desperation.
I had no fancy words to define myself. I wasn't a "rare specimen" as Kael claimed. I was just a flawed, shitty daughter of Mother Nature, sworn to disrupt the balance—someone who should never have survived.
"Vespera? You're drifting off again," Dominic said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
Looking into his grape-black eyes was soothing. His long chestnut hair fell over his forehead in curls. His warm, human touch burned my skin.
"I'm fine," I said with a forced smile. "It's just... it's too quiet here. The stupid thoughts in my head are taking the chance to scream."
In truth, it wasn't quiet. The forest was screaming at the arrival of a stranger. As the stranger watched me from between the trees, he triggered not just a wolf's sense of smell but that uncanny intuition inherited from my mother's dead womb. I was a tightrope walker darting between life and death. It was my destiny to always be nose-to-nose with the cold scent of mortality.
"Please, let it just be one of those simple animals, a wolf," I thought bitterly.
I didn't show it to my friends but I was terrified. I didn't want to scare them too.
They were the only beings who truly cared for me, and I didn't feel I had the right to frighten them with my freakish world. Everyone had enough problems. Mine were vast enough to cover every body of water ruled by the God of the Seas.
Though, if I were to touch the oceans, I carried enough bad luck to turn them as dry as the Sahara.
As a wolf-girl, I would fight an Alpha tooth and nail, blood for blood. Even knowing I'd lose, I'd fight. Even knowing I'd die, I'd throw at least one claw.
But as a nineteen-year-old girl, the thought of being alone with a strange man in a desolate forest made my human side shiver with fear. I would prefer to be torn apart by invading wolves than to be left alone with a man of evil intent.
"No," I said, my eyes locked on that dark spot in the trees. "I can find my own way. I was always on my own path anyway. You guys go..."
I could hear the wolf's low growl.
"God," I prayed fervently. "Let it just be a wolf. Anything but a man..."
Wolves weren't like they used to be. That was why I'd insisted Dominic take the girls home, ensuring their safety. Though they wanted to stay, I lied and told them Kael was coming for me. This was Kael's territory; no one could touch me here.
"In my own domain, no one can ever harm me," I whispered to myself. But my heart trembled like a thin leaf, and my palms were slick with sweat. I didn't even believe the reassurances I was feeding my own soul.
As I stepped away from the warmth of the fire and into the forest's gloom—toward that scent of gunpowder and blood—the doors to the glittering world of humans slammed shut behind me forever. The rustle of giant trees filled the air. In the dead of night, the wind sounded like a low whistle, hurling snow against my face like a barrage of arrows.
Then, the man's eyes glowed in the dark like two embers. They were amber, reminiscent of smoldering coals—a deep brown bleeding into the color of fire. The hunt had begun. And for the first time, the prey felt so dangerously close to the predator. As the heat of the fire faded against my back, I became part of the black ink seeping into the woods.
Every step away from my friends caused my human side to shed like falling leaves. What remained was that ice-cold vampire venom leaking from my mother's dead womb and the wolfish ferocity my father had never deigned to give me. Vespera possessed neither the strength of a wolf nor the speed of a vampire.
She had only the fear-filled heart of a young girl—but the steady shoulders of a survivor.
When the path hit the rocky banks of the river, the world suddenly went silent. The wind cut out like a dead man's final breath. The scent of sandalwood, leather, and tobacco became dominant. I didn't need a wolf's nose to sense it; I could feel it deep within my lungs. It was an overwhelming masculine scent—notes of chocolate cigars and vintage whisky. But the sandalwood was so intense it seemed to coat the entire forest.
Out of the darkness stepped a stranger. He was a black hole, swallowing the very light around him. He stood in the middle of the blizzard wearing a leather jacket over a black shirt.
In that moment, bundled in three layers of sweaters, I felt cold on his behalf. But he was an Alpha; the cold couldn't touch him. His wolf warmed him like sun-drenched summer wines.
When his eyes locked onto mine, I heard a cracking sound deep within my bones. It was the weight of an executioner sizing up his prisoner.