Chapter one
Aria Lawson had always hated the woods.
Not because of the rumors, not because people in her small town loved to whisper about wolves with glowing eyes, and not even because the forest seemed to breathe whenever the wind moved through it
She hated the woods because they made her feel watched.
And Aria wasn't the kind of girl who liked feeling vulnerable.
At nineteen, she was stubborn, sharp-tongued, and carried herself like someone who refused to be afraid of anything—even if she secretly was. She had grown up in Crescent Hill, a quiet town surrounded on three sides by towering pine forest and on the fourth by an endless stretch of farmland.
"Aria! You'll be late for work!" her Aunt Miriam shouted from the kitchen.
Aria rolled her eyes and tied her curly black hair into a puff. She worked part-time at a small café on Main Street, one of the few places in town that wasn't constantly empty.
"I'm going!" she yelled back.
The morning sunlight filtered through her curtain in strips, lighting up the small bedroom she had lived in her entire life. It was cozy, familiar, and safe—unlike the woods.
Especially at night.
She grabbed her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and headed downstairs. Her aunt was kneading dough, flour on her hands and worry in her eyes.
"Aria, I don't like you biking alone so close to the forest," Miriam said immediately. She always said that.
"Aunt Miri, please," Aria sighed. "This town is tiny. What's going to happen? A raccoon attack me?"
Her aunt didn't laugh. "It's not raccoons I'm worried about."
Aria swallowed. The wolves.
For months now, people had whispered about strange things happening in Crescent Hill—livestock disappearing, deep claw marks left on trees, strange howling that didn't sound like any normal wolf.
But Aria didn't believe in monster stories.
Or at least, she tried not to.
"I'll be careful," Aria promised.
Her aunt exhaled. "I know you don't like me worrying, but… the woods aren't the same anymore."
Aria kissed her aunt's cheek. "I'll be back before dark."
She said it casually, but that was a promise she kept religiously. She refused to be near those trees after sunset.
The forest didn't scare her because it was dark.
It scared her because it felt alive.