Chapter 2 The Scar That Burned

Nina woke at dawn, shivering.

The cold wasn't just from the forest chill. It was something deeper something that had settled in her bones and refused to leave. Her clothes clung damp against her skin, her breath fogged in the icy air, and her chest felt hollow like something important had been carved out of her in the night.

She sat up slowly. Her head throbbed...and then...the pain.

A sharp burn shot through her arm. She hissed and yanked up her sleeve...three claw marks.

Still red. Still raw. Not deep enough to need stitches, but far from normal. The skin around the slashes was slightly raised, almost glowing faintly with heat. A hot pulse beat under the surface, like something lived there now.

"God," she breathed, heart stuttering.

She remembered.

The clearing. Milo's blood. The black monster. The silver beast. Those golden eyes locking onto hers...and then the mark.

She looked around.

Her tent was still zipped shut, her things untouched. No signs of the beast. But the silence outside felt different-too still. Like something was watching, just out of sight.

She stumbled out into the foggy morning..and there he was....Milo.

Still lying where she had last seen him. His black fur was soaked through and stiff. His eyes... vacant.

Nina fell to her knees.

"No... please, no," she whispered.

She touched his sidecold. Her chest collapsed inward.

"I'm so sorry, baby," she choked out. "I shouldn't have let you run."

She cradled his lifeless form, sobbing into his fur, whispering apologies into the still morning air.

Then she buried him beneath a tree...With trembling hands and a rusted camping shovel, she dug until the earth gave in. She placed his collar on top of the mound, her fingers brushing the worn tag one last time.

"Thank you for finding me," she whispered. "For saving me."

And then she left.

The drive back to the city blurred behind her teary eyes. Her hands barely kept the wheel straight. By the time she reached her apartment, she felt cracked open like the drive hadn't brought her back, just moved the grief with her.

The hospital was a blur. A nurse raised her brows at the claw marks.

"You said a wild animal?" she repeated, skeptical.

Nina nodded stiffly. "Big. Black. Like a wolf."

She didn't mention the other one. Or the golden eyes. Or how the scar on her arm throbbed hotter every hour.

Back at her apartment, she locked the door and drew every curtain tight. She held her flashlight in bed and slept with a knife beneath her pillow.

But the sleep never came...the nightmares did.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw them-trees dripping with blood, growls echoing through the dark, silver fur flashing through the trees. She always woke gasping, her arm on fire.

And then she started hearing things...not in the forest-here, in her apartment...scratches on the fire escape...a low breath near the window.

Sometimes, when the city hushed, she thought she heard footsteps soft, padded, like something with claws walked the rooftop above her.

She tried to rationalize it. Grief..Trauma...Exhaustion.

But then she started drawing them.

Golden eyes...Everywhere...On napkins...Grocery receipts. Her mirror.

When she realized what she was doing, she tore the sketches up. Burned one in the sink.

And still, the mark on her arm pulsed..burned..

Then one night...

She opened her eyes to the dark room, her skin slick with sweat..and across the street...golden eyes stared back.

Not glowing..Not human..just... watching.

Then gone.

She blinked fast, pulse thudding, backing away from the window with her breath caught in her chest.