Chapter 1 Into the midnight forest

The villagers always said that no sane person wandered into the Midnight Forest after dusk. Tales of strange howls, flickering shadows, and vanished travelers had haunted Raven Hollow for centuries. Children were told stories at bedtime, mothers barred their doors at sunset, and men crossed themselves when the wind carried howls down from the hills.

But tonight, Lila Ainsley didn't feel like listening to old warnings.

She needed an escape - just an hour away from her mother's sharp tongue, from the suffocating little house cluttered with regrets and half-finished embroidery. The forest, so close and yet forbidden, called to her like a secret promise.

She had told herself she'd only sketch the twisted trees, the ancient oaks that lined the path behind the abandoned church. She'd be back before dark. No one would know. No one would scold.

Except she had lost herself. The trees all looked the same in the deepening dusk, and the winding deer tracks mocked her sense of direction.

Now, with night draping its velvet cloak over Raven Hollow, Lila was alone.

She paused under a crooked elm, panting lightly, her breath misting in the chill air. The flashlight flickered in her trembling hand, the beam dancing over gnarled roots and thorny underbrush. Her pencil and sketchbook were gone - abandoned somewhere along the trail when panic had begun to bite at her resolve.

Calm down, Lila, she scolded herself. You're not a child anymore.

A distant howl broke the hush of the forest. Not the yipping chorus of common wolves - this was a single, mournful cry that made her skin prickle. It sounded too close. Too lonely.

Her heart thundered against her ribs. She forced her legs to move, pushing through brambles that snagged her jeans and scratched her ankles raw. The beam caught fleeting glimpses of white mushrooms, dew-soaked ferns, the occasional glint of eyes that vanished before she could scream.

Then the ground betrayed her. Her boot slipped on damp moss, and before she could catch herself, she tumbled down a hidden slope, sharp branches whipping at her arms. She landed hard on her side, pain flaring bright in her wrist and ribs.

The flashlight rolled away, its beam spinning wildly until it struck a mossy stone and died. Darkness swallowed her in an instant.

For a heartbeat, Lila lay there, winded, blinking at the blur of moonlight peeking through the canopy above. She tasted blood where she'd bitten her lip.

And then - a low growl.

She froze. It rumbled again, deeper this time, like distant thunder rolling through her bones. Carefully, ignoring the sting in her wrist, she pushed herself upright.

Her eyes adjusted slowly, shapes emerging in the silvery wash of moonlight. She realized she had landed in a small clearing, encircled by ancient oaks. The air here felt... different. Heavy. Watching.

At the center of the clearing, half-shrouded in mist, stood a figure that shouldn't exist.

He - or it - was massive, nearly seven feet tall even hunched over. Fur as black as midnight clung to broad shoulders that glistened faintly under the moon. Clawed hands curled at his sides, and when his head lifted, she caught a glimpse of eyes - glowing gold, sharp and piercing, locking onto hers with a predator's focus.

The stories her grandmother had whispered at bedtime slammed into her mind all at once. The Midnight Wolf. The cursed beast. A man damned by an ancient sin to wander these woods under every full moon.

Her throat constricted. She tried to speak, but only a hoarse whisper escaped.

"Who... what are you?"

The wolf-man's growl turned into something closer to a sigh, rough and broken. He took one step forward, and Lila nearly collapsed backward in fright.

"Don't-!" Her voice cracked. She raised her hands in trembling surrender. Her heart drummed so loudly she was certain he could hear it.

But he didn't attack. He didn't roar or bare his fangs. He simply stood there, eyes fixed on her face, chest heaving as if fighting an invisible leash.

Something in his gaze snared her panic and twisted it into a strange, painful curiosity. There was anger, yes - but beneath it, sorrow. Loneliness. A desperate hunger that had nothing to do with flesh and blood.

"Why are you here?" a voice rasped. Not quite human, not quite beast. The words scraped the air like claws on stone.

Lila swallowed. Her tongue felt heavy.

"I-I got lost. I didn't mean to- I'm sorry..."

The wolf flinched, as if the apology burned him. His claws flexed, tearing grooves in the damp earth.

"Leave," he growled, the command trembling with something unspoken - fear? Pleading?

Lila's mind screamed Run! but her feet stayed rooted. Something about him tethered her here more surely than chains. She glimpsed shackles at his wrists - old iron half-hidden under fur. A symbol carved into his chest glowed faintly beneath the moonlight.

She should flee. She should scream for help.

Instead, she took a single step closer.

"Are you hurt?" she asked before she could stop herself.

The wolf's eyes widened. For a heartbeat, the clearing fell utterly silent - the forest seemed to hold its breath.

Then the world erupted in motion. A branch snapped behind her, a dark blur lunged from the trees - another wolf, larger than any natural beast, its fangs bared at her throat.

She cried out, throwing up her arms, but before the jaws could close around her, the Midnight Wolf roared. His body collided with the attacker in a blur of muscle and shadow. They tumbled across the clearing, snarls and snapping jaws echoing through the trees.

Lila stumbled backward, heart in her mouth, watching fur and claws tear at each other under the moon's accusing eye.

Finally, with a final guttural snarl, the larger wolf bolted into the trees, leaving the clearing quiet once more.

The Midnight Wolf staggered to his feet, blood dripping from a gash along his shoulder. He turned to her, his chest heaving, eyes wilder than before - but still locked on hers.

"Go home," he rasped, voice frayed by pain and fury.

She opened her mouth - but no words came. Then she turned and ran, crashing through the forest, her mind a whirlwind of terror and questions she couldn't begin to answer.

Behind her, the Midnight Wolf watched until her footsteps vanished among the trees, his claws curling into the earth he could never leave.

One touch, he thought bitterly, and it would all end.

But tonight, he had not touched her. Tonight, the curse still held.

And tonight, for the first time in centuries, hope flickered like moonlight on a lonely path.