Selene POV – The Stranger
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The afternoon sun spilled lazily across the quiet streets of our little town, painting long shadows between the low brick houses and the scattered trees that edged the neighborhood. I sat on the porch, hands wrapped around a warm mug of tea, trying to focus on its comforting heat. Lyra, as usual, chattered beside me, her voice full of school gossip and endless questions, but my mind kept drifting elsewhere. Something had been… off lately. A restless tug I couldn't name, a sensation at the edges of my awareness that made my chest tighten for no reason I could explain.
"You're quiet again," Lyra said, cocking her head. "Something's on your mind. Spill it."
I forced a smile, one I hoped looked convincing. "Just thinking. Nothing important," I said. But the words felt hollow, even to me. I could feel my stomach twisting, a low, steady pull in my chest that made my skin prickle. I had learned long ago to ignore it — people always called me "sensitive" or "weird" for noticing things others didn't. Sometimes I wondered if it was just nerves, or if I had a mind that worked in ways no one else could understand.
And yet today, the sensation was different. Sharper. More insistent. My gaze drifted toward the treeline beyond the town, where the forest began. The pull was strongest there, a subtle tug that I had always interpreted as intuition, a strange sense of direction or danger. I tried to push it aside, to concentrate on Lyra's endless chatter, but I couldn't.
Then I saw him.
A man standing across the street, leaning casually against the trunk of a tree. At first, I thought I was imagining him — the afternoon sun made shadows shift strangely — but the longer I stared, the clearer it became. He was real. And worse, he was watching me. His eyes, dark and precise, didn't look at me like a stranger would. They lingered, focused, and for a moment, I felt the undeniable tug of fear curl in my chest.
Lyra noticed him too. Her voice broke my thoughts. "Do you know him?" she asked, a little too sharply.
I shook my head, unease coiling tighter in my stomach. "No… I've never seen him before." But even as I said it, my heart thumped in warning. Something about him felt wrong.
He stepped forward, slow and deliberate, but polite. There was no aggression in his movement, only a confidence that made my instincts flare. My wolf — Luna, though I had never known her by name, only felt her presence as that inexplicable intuition — stirred faintly at the back of my mind. Danger.
"You're Selene, aren't you?" His voice was smooth, calm, almost unnervingly familiar, though I had never met him before.
My heart jumped. How could he know my name? I glanced at Lyra, who looked equally confused and uneasy. "I… I'm sorry. Do I know you?" I asked, trying to sound composed, but my voice trembled slightly.
"No," he said, smiling faintly. "Not yet. But I think we can help each other."
A cold shiver ran down my spine. I wanted to tell Lyra to move away, to keep her distance, but something stronger than thought tugged at me — a warning I couldn't quite define. My instincts screamed, but I didn't understand why. I didn't know that the pull in my chest, the sudden urge to step back, was the same voice I had always felt in the forest, the same one that had guided me away from danger before. I didn't know that this stranger was part of a world I had never seen, a world that would soon challenge everything I thought I knew about myself.
Lyra glanced at me, her brow furrowed. "You okay?" she asked.
I nodded, even though I wasn't. Something about him made the air feel heavier, tighter, like the weight of a storm pressing down on us from a distance. And though he smiled, though his tone was polite, though he gave every impression of harmlessness, my instincts whispered differently. My chest tightened, and I had the unshakable feeling that the moment I stepped closer, something would change.
He tilted his head, eyes sharp, studying me as though measuring how much he could get away with. "I've been looking for you," he said softly. "And I think… I can guide you."
The words made my stomach twist. Guide me? What did that even mean? I had never asked for help. I had never wanted attention. But something in the way he moved, the way his gaze lingered, made my hair rise at the back of my neck. I could feel the intuition that had always been there, the one I had long dismissed as imagination, sharpening into clarity.
I didn't understand why I felt the way I did. I didn't know the truth about myself, the power stirring beneath the surface, the danger lurking just out of sight. But I knew — without knowing how I knew — that I could not trust him. And yet, I couldn't tear my eyes away.
Something about him was dangerous. And that realization, though incomplete, was enough.
Stranger POV – The Hunter's Shadow
The town was quiet. Too quiet. Perfect. From the edge of the street, I observed her — Selene — sitting on the porch with her friend. The girl looked ordinary, fragile even, but I knew better. I had tracked her movements for weeks, deciphered patterns most would overlook, and I had finally found her.
She didn't see me. She never would. Humans were blind to the currents that ran beneath the world, to the unseen threads that pulled destiny into place. But she was the key, and I could not fail.
I allowed a small, polite smile to touch my lips, knowing it would disarm her. My role here was subtle: guide her without alarming her, draw her curiosity, and lead her toward the path my master had laid out. Every step I took was calculated. Every word I would speak was carefully chosen.
The girl's instincts were keen, though she did not understand them. I could see it in the way she tensed, in the brief hesitation when she glanced toward me. Something inside her told her that I was not like the others, that I was… different. That was good. Fear without knowledge sharpened them, made them pliable.
I had orders. Capture her, secure her, and deliver her to the right hands. The packs hunting her, the rogues and witches circling like vultures, none of that concerned me. My allegiance was singular, and my purpose precise. Yet I could not ignore Kael's scent nearby — the Alpha of the Bloodfang Pack. Strong. Ruthless. Predictable in ways only a creature of his kind could be.
He would not leave her unprotected for long. That was why timing was everything. I had to strike before the predator arrived. The girl's power was latent, unknown even to her, but the threads of fate were moving. And I would ensure she was guided — whether she realized it or not — toward her destiny.
I stepped from the shadows, careful to keep my expression calm, approachable. Politeness was a weapon; curiosity, another. The girl would never suspect the danger she already faced, the power she carried unknowingly, the storm building around her.
"Selene," I said softly, letting my voice float to her without seeming intrusive. "I've been looking for you."
Her eyes widened, confusion and a flicker of fear crossing her features. Good. That was exactly the reaction I wanted. She had to be cautious. She had to listen.
The world was changing, and she had no idea.