The forest was never truly silent, but that night it held its breath.
Lightning crawled across the clouds, and the air smelled of rain and blood.
Lena ran.
Branches whipped her arms, roots clawed at her boots, but she didn't stop. Every instinct screamed that something unnatural hunted behind her. She didn't know what she'd seen in the woods near the border—only that the patrol hadn't returned and her little brother's voice had vanished mid-scream.
Now it was only her, the storm, and that terrible sound: a growl too deep to be wolf, too sharp to be human.
Her lungs burned. The pendant around her neck—her mother's last gift—glowed faintly with warmth, pulsing like a heartbeat. She pressed it once, whispering, "Please, just a little more light."
A flash answered—not from the charm, but from eyes gleaming ahead.
Lena skidded to a stop. The figure stepped out from the shadows, tall and broad, rain running down a black coat. His eyes, one silver and one crimson, glowed like twin moons.
"Move," she gasped. "There's something behind me!"
He didn't move. "There's nothing behind you worth fearing more than me."
The voice was deep, quiet, and wrong—like two tones speaking at once.
Another growl rose from the trees, closer now. Lena turned, and the storm exploded with motion: a rogue wolf lunged from the darkness, bigger than any she'd ever seen. Its fur was matted with ash, its eyes wild with bloodlust.
The stranger didn't flinch.
In a single breath, his coat tore away as he leapt. Not a shift like a normal werewolf—this was faster, sharper. Claws burst from his hands, fangs flashed, but his form didn't lose its human shape. He was both—muscle and fur, man and beast, something impossible.
The rogue hit the ground before it could even howl.
Lena stood frozen as thunder rolled overhead. The creature—he—looked back at her, chest rising and falling, rain washing the blood from his hands.
"Don't come closer," she warned, voice trembling. "Who are you?"
"You shouldn't be here," he said. "Humans don't cross this border."
"I'm looking for my brother."
"Then he's already gone."
The bluntness cut deeper than claws. Anger flared through her fear. "You don't know that!"
His red eye flickered, softening for just a heartbeat. "I do."
Silence fell again, filled only by the storm. He turned away as if to leave.
"Wait!" she shouted. "At least tell me your name."
He paused. "Kael."
Then he was gone, vanishing into the rain.
---
Two hours later
Kael stood on the ridge overlooking his pack's hidden valley. Below, the faint glow of torches marked the patrol's return. Another attack, another set of bodies to bury.
He could still smell the girl's fear—the human scent threaded with something… other. His hybrid senses picked up what wolves couldn't: old magic, faint but familiar.
He hated that it made his pulse quicken.
Inside the old fortress, the council waited. Warriors lowered their heads as he passed; respect and fear mixed in equal measure. Kael didn't need mind-links to hear their thoughts. The curse tied him to every heartbeat within his territory. He felt their pain when they fought, their fear when they doubted him.
That was his punishment for being born what he was—half vampire, half wolf, belonging to neither.
"Another rogue breach," said Daren, his beta, as Kael entered the chamber. "Two dead. They were drained before we found them."
"Drained," Kael repeated. "Not killed by claws."
Daren nodded grimly. "The vampires are testing the border again."
Kael's jaw tightened. "Then they'll learn it still bites."
He dismissed the council, but Daren lingered. "You're bleeding."
Kael looked down—thin lines on his arm where the rogue's venom had burned through skin. It should've healed by now.
"It doesn't matter," he said.
"It always matters, Kael. The curse—"
"Enough." His tone dropped, cold as the storm outside. "I control it."
But as he turned away, his reflection in the window betrayed the lie. The crimson in his eye had deepened. The curse was spreading again.
....
Elsewhere in the valley...
Lena crouched beside the dying fire of an abandoned cabin. She'd followed the stranger's trail despite the storm's fury. Her brother's pendant now burned hot against her skin, pulsing faster the closer she came.
She didn't understand it, but she knew—somehow—the man who saved her was tied to her brother's disappearance.
A faint sound broke through the wind: a howl, low and haunting. It wasn't a cry of territory. It was pain.
She wrapped her arms around herself. "Kael," she whispered, testing the name. It felt heavy, like an ancient word she wasn't supposed to speak.
Then the door creaked open.
She spun, dagger raised.
"Put that down," came the same deep voice. "You'll hurt yourself."
Kael filled the doorway, half shadow, half man. He looked different now—eyes dimmer, skin paler, exhaustion carved into the angles of his face.
"You followed me."
"I had no choice. You killed that thing like it was nothing. You know what's happening out there."
He stepped inside, shutting the door against the wind. "And you think I owe you answers?"
"No. But you saved me, so I figure that means something."
Kael stared at her for a long moment. "You shouldn't have come here. This place—me—we're cursed."
"Then maybe that's why I'm here," she said quietly.
His expression flickered—pain, surprise, maybe even fear. "You don't understand what I am."
"Try me."
The storm raged outside as Kael's control wavered. The marks along his arm glowed faintly crimson, veins darkening under his skin.
"The blood that saved you," he said, voice strained, "is the same blood that destroys everything I touch."
He turned away, gripping the edge of the table as if to anchor himself. "Half of me hunts the night. The other half howls at the moon. And the curse binds them both. When the seal breaks…"
He looked back at her, eyes burning bright red and silver again. "Everyone dies."
Lena's heart pounded, but she didn't step back. "Then let me help you stop it."
Kael almost laughed—a sound full of bitterness. "Help me? You're human."
She touched the glowing pendant. "Not entirely."
The light flared between them, warm and blinding. For the first time in years, Kael felt the curse falter. The twin voices inside him went silent, listening.
Outside, the storm ceased as if the world itself were holding its breath.
Somewhere deep in the forest, something ancient answered the light with a whisper.
The prophecy had begun.