Chapter 2 The boy with silver eyes

The air was thick with frost as Maxine stepped outside. Morning mist coiled through the pines like ghostly fingers. Her boots crunched over fallen leaves, and each breath steamed in the bitter mountain air. But she hardly noticed. Not when her senses had sharpened to a dangerous edge since yesterday.

Since the attack.

Since the burning in her veins had awakened.

She shouldn't have fought back. She shouldn't have let them see.

At the base of the hill, the old bus stop stood crooked, its iron bench rusted and speckled with dried pine sap. Maxine's fingers trembled as she checked her reflection in the broken glass. Her eyes weren't glowing anymore. Human. Normal. Mask on.

"You're late," a voice said behind her.

She turned.

Aurel.

He leaned against a birch tree like he owned the entire forest. The boy from yesterday. The vampire prince. Still wearing that same cold expression. Still watching her like she was prey... or a threat.

Maxine narrowed her eyes. "Did you follow me?"

He didn't deny it. "You're not very good at hiding what you are."

"Excuse me?"

"Witch by aura. Wolf by scent. Vampire by... bite, maybe?" His tone was mocking. "You're a walking contradiction."

She stepped back instinctively. Her nails itched to shift-just slightly, a warning. "You don't know anything about me."

"I know you lit that hunter on fire with your mind. That's not nothing."

A gust of wind sent Aurel's coat flapping, and for a moment, Maxine glimpsed the mark on his wrist-an ancient vampire crest, shaped like a serpent coiled through a crown.

Royal blood.

Of course.

"You should stay away from me," she said flatly. "For your own safety."

He gave a half-smile. "That's the first interesting thing you've said all morning."

The bus rumbled up the road, kicking up dirt. Maxine turned to board, but Aurel's next words made her freeze.

"They know what you are now," he said. "And they'll come. My kind. Yours. The witches. The Elders. You're not a secret anymore, Maxine."

She met his gaze, heart thundering.

"Then let them come."