{ Lucian }
I felt him before I saw him.
A pressure along the edge of my territory—sharp, foreign, powerful. Not fear. Not aggression either.
Challenge.
My gaze lifted slowly from the village below to the ridgeline where the forest thickened into shadow. The night had gone quiet in the way it only does when something dangerous decides not to hide.
Interesting.
Beside me, Mia leaned against the stone railing, arms crossed, gold eyes still scanning the village like she was afraid it might vanish if she blinked. The moon painted her hair silver, her presence a constant hum against my senses—bright, untamed, unfamiliar in a way that pulled at something old in me.
I looked at her once.
Then I said quietly, "Come with me."
She turned, one brow lifting. "That's not ominous at all."
"Trust me," I replied, already stepping back from the edge. "You'll want to move."
The pressure sharpened.
Whoever was out there wasn't just passing through.
Mia must've felt it too, because her posture shifted—alert now, coiled. "You sensed something."
"Someone," I corrected.
I didn't wait for another question.
The shift took me cleanly this time—bones folding, muscle flooding with heat, fur exploding across my skin like fire catching dry grass. The world snapped into clarity: every sound sharpened, every scent layered and precise. The castle behind us faded into irrelevance.
I was a wolf again.
I glanced at Mia.
For half a second, she just stared at me—then she laughed, sharp and fearless. "Race you."
Gold light surged around her, brilliant and wild. Snow-white fur burst free, her form hitting the stone with impossible grace. Larger than most wolves. Lean. Radiant. Her eyes burned like twin suns.
Beautiful.
Deadly.
Mine to protect.
I leapt first.
The drop from the castle balcony should've shattered bones. Instead, the wind roared past us as we fell—then hit the slope in a controlled roll, paws digging in, momentum turning into speed.
We ran.
The village rushed up to meet us, lanterns blurring into streaks of light. Wolves scattered instinctively as we passed, heads bowing, bodies pressing low to the ground as my presence rippled outward.
Alpha.
Mia kept pace beside me.
Not struggling. Not lagging.
Matching me.
Her laughter carried through the night, breathless and free, and for a moment—just one—I forgot the pressure at the border, forgot the stranger in my woods, forgot every war I'd ever fought.
Then the scent hit us again.
White.
Gold.
Male.
My stride lengthened, muscles bunching as my growl rolled low and warning through my chest. The village fell silent behind us. Every wolf felt it now.
Intruder.
I angled us toward the forest edge, toward the ridge where the land rose and the shadows thickened. Mia didn't question it—she followed instinctively, her movements sharper now, energy flaring subtly around her paws.
Good.
Whatever waited for us out there…
it wasn't prey.
And as we broke through the treeline, moonlight spilling over stone and pine, my eyes locked on the shape standing tall against the night—
A massive white wolf.
Bigger than Mia.
Older.
Watching us without fear.
My lips pulled back from my teeth in a slow, deliberate snarl.
"Well," I thought grimly, planting my paws into the earth as the forest held its breath.
"This just got interesting."
{ Mia }
I stopped so abruptly Lucian skidded a step past me.
My paws sank into the damp earth as I stared.
The wolf standing across the clearing was… wrong.
Not wrong like dangerous—wrong like a mirror that shouldn't exist.
Snow-white fur, just like mine. Not pale. Not silver. White. Clean and stark against the dark forest. His build was heavier, broader through the shoulders, unmistakably male, power rolling off him in controlled waves. His eyes weren't gold—but they weren't ordinary either. Pale, sharp, intelligent.
Too intelligent.
My breath caught.
Lucian moved instantly, stepping in front of me, hackles rising, Alpha pressure slamming outward like a warning bell. The forest seemed to recoil.
"Stay behind me," he growled.
But the white wolf didn't react with fear.
He lifted his head higher instead—neck straight, posture proud. Not submissive. Not challenging either.
Assessing.
Slowly, deliberately, he stepped forward.
I found myself moving too, circling without realizing it. We moved like reflections on opposite sides of glass, paws silent, eyes locked. Every instinct screamed at me to understand something my mind refused to touch.
He smelled like me.
Not similar.
The same.
My heart pounded so hard I thought it might crack my ribs.
Then the wolf stopped.
He lowered his head—not in submission, but to reach the ground—and picked something up gently between his teeth.
Paper.
My stomach dropped.
He lifted it again, letting it hang clearly in view.
A photograph.
My photograph.
Human me. Taken from a distance. Laughing, unaware. A street behind me I recognized instantly.
My vision tunneled.
Lucian's growl turned lethal. "Where did you get that."
The white wolf shifted his weight, calm as stone, and then—
he spoke.
"I'm looking for this girl."
His voice was deep, steady, accented with restraint. It didn't echo like Lucian's Alpha command—it cut, precise and controlled.
Every muscle in my body locked.
"She's been hiding," he continued, eyes never leaving Lucian's. "But her scent is everywhere. On the city. In the forest. On the wind."
My ears rang.
Lucian didn't answer.
The wolf's gaze flicked—just once—to me.
Not suspicion.
Recognition.
Something in my chest twisted painfully.
"I've followed it for hours," he said. "It leads here. Then disappears. Like she stepped off the world."
Lucian shifted, positioning himself fully between us now, his presence flaring sharp and dominant. "You're standing on protected ground."
The white wolf inclined his head slightly. Respectful. Controlled.
"I know," he said. "That's why I'm asking instead of taking."
Silence crashed down.
My thoughts spiraled.
That's me.
He's talking about me.
How does he have my picture?
Why does he smell like—
Lucian's voice dropped, dangerous and cold. "Why do you want her."
The white wolf didn't answer immediately.
When he did, his voice was quieter. Heavier.
"Because she belongs to me." He said sternly.
My claws dug into the earth.
Every instinct in me screamed to run. To attack. To scream the truth.
But I stayed silent.
The wolf lifted the photo again, eyes hard, unwavering.
"So I'll ask you, Alpha," he said.
"Have you seen this girl?"
The forest held its breath.
And for the first time since I'd woken up in Lucian's room—
I was terrified not of being found…
…but of being recognized.