Thunder ripped across the sky as she came back to consciousness.The ground was wet beneath her palms, the air heavy with the smell of earth and blood. Not her blood. Something else's. Something enormous.
A roar.The kind that vibrates in your chest.
She scrambled upright, panic surging. Towering trees surrounded a moonlit clearing. A few meters away, a colossal beast, a predator with four curved fangs, stared at her, ready to strike.There was nowhere to run.
The creature lunged.
And then, suddenly, a dark shape shot between her and the monster.
A man. Or at least… almost a man.Tall, bare-chested, silver hair, glowing yellow eyes, and fangs far too long to be human.
He growled, muscles coiling, and in a fluid motion, he slammed the creature to the ground. The fight lasted a second.
Then he turned toward her.
She wanted to back away, but her legs refused to move. Panic surged, crushing everything. And then… he stopped.
His gaze softened, his breath evened out.
"…What did you do to me?" he murmured, as if speaking to himself.
He knelt before her, sniffing her, sniffing her again, and then swallowed, surprised.
"A human… here?"
Her heart skipped a beat.
He placed a hand on her throat, not to harm her. To feel her pulse.
He shivered.
"You… quiet my instinct."A wolf who could no longer obey its nature.
He lifted his gaze, and she saw something new there. Something dangerous.Something possessive.
"You're coming with me."
And without waiting for an answer, he scooped her up in his arms.
The forest screamed again.But this time, it wasn't the danger she feared.It was the man with wolf's eyes, still trembling under a force he couldn't understand.Her force.
Scene Bonus: "The Wolf's Name"
Lunaya struggled to open her eyes.The world was spinning.Her heart was racing.And the warmth of a hand on her arm kept her from slipping away.
"Hey… calm down, human. Breathe."
Her throat was dry.Her voice barely a whisper.
"Lun…"
She tried again, voice trembling.
"Lunaya…"
The wolf-man stared at her.A nearly imperceptible flicker passed through his pupils.
"Lunaya."He repeated the name as if he wanted to memorize it forever.
She closed her eyes.A strange sensation ran through her.An echo.A vibration.
A word.A foreign identity brushing against her mind.
"K… Kael…?"
She opened her eyes, surprised at what she had just said.
He froze.
"How… do you know my name?"
She shook her head, confused.
"I… I don't know.It just came out. Like an echo."
Kael stepped back very slowly, as if she had just done something impossible.
"Your Resonance…" he murmured.She can… sense identities.
Lunaya didn't understand.
Kael did.
And he had never been this afraid.