The forest had claimed her.
Aria didn't realize how far she had walked until the city lights vanished behind the dense trunks of towering oaks and pines. Moments ago she was in her dorm room reading but something had made her leave her works and be drawn to the forest. Mist curled around the roots like living fingers, curling and twisting in patterns that made her head spin. Each step she took seemed both natural and impossible, as if her body remembered a rhythm she had never consciously learned.
Her senses were alive, too alive. Every leaf, every ripple of wind, every scuttling creature seemed to broadcast its presence directly into her mind. Her heartbeat echoed in her ears, but so did another steady, deliberate, strong. Someone, or something, was moving among the trees. Watching.
She froze.
Golden eyes.
They were there again glowing through the darkness, floating between shadows. Her chest tightened. The pulse of her blood surged like wildfire.
Damien.
He stepped forward, silent, predatory, yet impossibly calm. The forest seemed to bend around him, shadows twisting and falling to reveal his form. The black of his clothing swallowed the faint light, but the fire in his eyes burned, bright and unyielding.
"You shouldn't be here," he said softly, voice low, resonant, carrying through the stillness like a bell tolling in the night.
Aria opened her mouth, but her words died in her throat. Fear, awe, and desire warred within her. Her body ached with power she didn't yet control, and the golden sparks in her eyes flickered as if mirroring his own.
"I… I had to," she whispered. "I couldn't stop myself. The forest… it calls to me."
He stepped closer, the ground almost trembling beneath each footfall. "It does," he said, voice gentle but firm. "But it is dangerous. You are not ready for it alone."
Aria swallowed, her pulse racing. "I… I feel it, though. The power, the....." She faltered, trying to explain sensations that words could never capture: the fire in her veins, the hunger, the pull of the forest, the awareness of life in ways that both terrified and thrilled her.
Damien's gaze softened slightly, but the intensity never left his eyes. "I can help you control it. But you must trust me."
Aria's stomach twisted. Trust him. She barely knew him, yet every instinct screamed that she already did. There was a resonance between them, unspoken and primal, as though her body recognized him before her mind could.
And then she heard it a low growl, deep and menacing, rolling through the mist.
Her blood ran cold. Another presence. Not human, not wolf… something else, something darker, moving closer.
Damien's eyes sharpened. The golden fire in them flared, and suddenly, Aria could feel the tension in the forest as if it were his own heartbeat. He moved faster than she could track, shadow melting into shadow, and stepped between her and the threat.
Aria stumbled back, heart hammering. "What"
But Damien held up a hand. A flick of his wrist, and the mist swirled violently, forming a barrier that rippled through the trees. The creature beyond hesitated, its growl faltering, confused by the sudden shift in energy.
Golden eyes flared. Damien's, now closer, now impossibly commanding. "You will not touch her."
The creature let out a screech that split the night, a sound that rattled the ground and made Aria wince. It retreated slightly, uncertain. And in that moment, Aria saw the truth: Damien was not just powerful; he was something otherworldly. A force of nature. A predator among predators.
"Who… what is it?" she whispered, voice trembling.
"Hunters," Damien said quietly, almost grimly. "But not ordinary ones. They seek the forest, the pack, and everything connected to it. Including you."
Aria's stomach turned. "Me? Why me?"
He didn't answer immediately. His eyes studied her, measuring, reading, assessing. "Because you belong to this world now. Whether you like it or not, Aria, you are marked."
The word sent a shiver down her spine. Marked. The dreams, the fire, the pull it all made sense now, and it terrified her.
The growl came again, closer this time. Aria's eyes widened as shadowy figures moved between the trees, partially obscured, but definitely humanoid. They carried weapons that glinted in the faint light: long, curved blades, rifles, and something else, something old, ceremonial, tied to rituals she could not name.
Her hands shook. She wanted to run, to flee back to the city, to Lila, to the normal life she had known. But the forest had her. And Damien was here.
He placed a hand lightly on her shoulder. The contact was warm, grounding, steady. "Stay behind me," he said, voice low. "And trust me."
Aria nodded, unable to speak. Every instinct told her that defying him, even slightly, would be catastrophic. Her heartbeat synced with his as he stepped forward, golden eyes blazing, and the shadows recoiled.
The hunters faltered. They had not expected him. Not like this. Not with the forest itself seeming to answer his presence.
"Now!" Damien's command was sharp, clear. The air shifted, and the ground beneath the hunters' feet seemed to ripple. Trees groaned, branches snapping as if moved by invisible hands. The hunters stumbled, confusion spreading across their faces.
Aria's breath caught. She felt the forest surge through her, responding to him, to them, together. Power thrummed in her veins, wild and electric. She didn't understand it fully yet, but she knew she could feel it, taste it, and somehow… control it, if only a little.
Damien moved again, swift and silent, weaving through the shadows. Golden eyes glinted in the dark as he disarmed one hunter with terrifying precision, knocking a blade aside, sending another sprawling to the ground. The mist swirled, masking his movements, and Aria realized with awe that he was more than human. He was something else entirely.
Her body trembled. Something inside her stirred, awakening further at the sight of him in motion. Power, fire, hunger all intertwined. She felt alive in a way she had never known.
The hunters regrouped, fear flickering in their eyes, but Damien's presence was overwhelming. He stood in the clearing, golden eyes blazing, the forest itself seeming to rise with him. The threat faltered, then turned, retreating into the shadows, leaving only the echo of growls and footsteps.
Aria sank to her knees, heart pounding, legs weak. She could barely process what had happened, could barely believe she had witnessed it.
Damien stepped toward her, placing a hand under her chin, lifting her gaze to meet his. "Do you see?" he asked quietly. "You are part of this world now. This power, this pull it is yours. But you must learn to control it, or it will destroy you."
Aria's lips trembled. "I… I don't know if I can."
A small smile touched his features, fleeting but undeniable. "You will. I'll make sure of it."
Her chest rose and fell rapidly as the adrenaline subsided. Her golden-flecked eyes still flickered with sparks of power, and she felt a strange warmth radiate from where his hand had touched her.
The forest was quiet now, but it felt different aware, alive, watching. Aria could feel the eyes of unseen creatures following her, sensing the bond she had just begun with Damien.
She wanted to ask him a thousand questions: Who were those hunters? Why were they after her? Why did she feel drawn to him in ways that frightened her?
But she couldn't. Not yet.
Instead, she did the only thing she could: she nodded, and allowed herself to be guided through the forest.
Step by step, the darkness retreated around them, golden eyes leading her not just out of danger, but deeper into the unknown.
And Aria knew, with a certainty that frightened and thrilled her, that she would never be the same again.
Damien's presence, the forest, the fire in her blood it had all begun. And there was no turning back.