Chapter 9 Eyes of the Beast

Kalen's POV

The air was thick with the scent of rain-soaked earth and something sharper, sweeter-her. Elara's presence clung to me long after I should have walked away, long after I told myself she was nothing more than a villager under my protection. My wolf prowled beneath my skin, restless, snarling, straining against the fragile leash of my control.

I should have left her in the Hollow, kept the distance I promised myself I would. Instead, I lingered in the shadows of the forest, watching her return to her cottage with that cautious grace, every glance over her shoulder stirring a hunger I could no longer ignore.

The beast in me growled, She is ours.

My jaw tightened. No. She is not.

I pressed a hand against the rough bark of a tree, claws threatening to burst from my fingers. The curse was unraveling faster each night, and near her, I felt it slipping beyond repair. Her scent called to me, her heartbeat echoed in my chest, and every instinct urged me to claim.

But claim meant destroy.

A crack in the underbrush snapped my focus away from her and toward the forest. The hairs at the back of my neck rose. We were not alone.

I inhaled sharply. Wolf. Not of my pack.

A rival's stench burned through the night air, and my beast surged to the surface.

Before the intruder revealed himself, Elara turned at her doorway. Her eyes locked on the trees where I stood. She could not see me fully, yet she paused, as if she felt me there, as if some invisible thread bound her senses to mine.

For the first time in years, my chest ached-not from rage, not from the curse, but from the weight of her gaze.

Then, the intruder stepped into sight.

A dark-coated wolf, massive, red eyes gleaming with hunger. His teeth bared as he stalked toward Elara's home.

My control shattered.

I launched forward, my body breaking into fur and muscle, claws slashing the ground as I collided with him before he reached her. The impact cracked through the silence of the night. We rolled, snarling, blood spilling across the grass.

Elara's scream pierced through the storm clouds above.

Her fear sliced into me sharper than any fang.

I tore into the rival wolf with merciless precision, every strike meant to kill, but my mind screamed to get her away, to shield her from the horror of what I was. She should not see me like this. Not this beast. Not the monster.

Yet when the rival collapsed under my weight, bones snapping, Elara did not flee. She stood frozen in the doorway, her wide eyes reflecting the moonlight-and me.

The wolf. The Alpha. The cursed beast.

I could not breathe.

The rival wolf twitched once more, and instinct drove me to snap his throat clean. Silence fell, broken only by the sound of Elara's trembling breath.

Her eyes were not just afraid. They were locked on me with something deeper. Recognition.

And my wolf knew then-she had seen too much.

I stepped forward, blood dripping from my jaws. She staggered back against her doorframe, her hand pressing over her chest.

"Stay back," she whispered, but the word carried no strength. Her fear was laced with something else. Something neither of us could name.

The beast in me howled. It wanted her. It wanted to close the space, press her against that door, and leave no part of her untouched by its claim.

I shifted back, dragging air into my lungs as bones cracked and flesh knit. My body ached, but nothing compared to the storm inside me.

"Elara," I rasped.

Her lips parted at the sound of her name from my mouth.

"You should not be here," I forced out.

"You followed me," she said softly, as if realizing it all at once. "You have been watching me."

The truth was a blade between us.

"Yes," I admitted.

Her gaze darted to the corpse at my feet, then back to me. "What are you?"

I clenched my fists. The curse, the blood, the prophecy-they were chains, and she was the key I could not afford to touch. Yet every time I looked at her, the lock inside me cracked wider.

"You already know," I said.

Her throat bobbed, but her eyes did not leave mine. "You are cursed."

The word stung more than claws or silver ever could.

I turned my head, unable to hold her gaze any longer. "Go inside. Do not step out again after nightfall. Do you understand?"

She hesitated, then whispered, "What if the danger is already inside my walls?"

The question froze me.

Her voice trembled, but her eyes were fierce. "You said you would protect me. Then tell me why the wolves are hunting near my home. Tell me why I keep seeing things in my sleep. Tell me why I dream of you."

Her words slammed into me like a strike to the chest. Dreams. Of me.

The beast roared in triumph, clawing at my control.

I stepped closer without meaning to. The air thickened between us, heavy with power, with fate, with the undeniable truth neither of us dared to speak.

"Elara," I murmured, my voice a warning and a plea at once.

Her hand trembled as she lifted it, not to shield herself-but to touch me. Her fingertips brushed against my chest, right over the frantic thrum of my heart.

Fire shot through me. My breath caught, my control shattered, and my wolf surged forward. My eyes burned, glowing, no longer human.

She gasped, her lips parting as if caught between terror and wonder.

"Your eyes..." she whispered.

The beast pressed against me, closer, demanding I claim her now. My breath fanned over her skin, and for a moment I hovered at the edge of ruin.

Then, footsteps thundered through the trees.

I snapped my head toward the sound, snarling. More wolves. More danger.

Elara's hand fell away, her eyes wide with the unspoken question of what came next.

I knew only one thing-if I stayed, she would see the worst of me. If I left, I might never see her again.

The choice ripped me apart.

And still, the night gave me no mercy.

From the shadows of the forest, a voice broke through the growls.

"Alpha Kalen," it sneered. "You cannot hide her forever."

Elara is no longer safe, and a rival knows about her.