Jessie stood as still as stone. Dancing in public was bad enough; now dancing with Richard, who was looking at her like she was the only person in the room, was unbearable. She swayed awkwardly, arms stiff, wishing the floor would swallow her whole.
Relax, Jess," Richard murmured. His hand brushed hers, steadying her. "I don't bite you know."
That was the problem. It was him. The one who had loved her all these years. The one she should love back but her heart has stubbornly refused. Sometimes, she doesn't even know what her heart really wants.
She forced a weak laugh, but the alcohol caught up with her and made her stomach lurch, causing her knees to buckle.
"Jessie?" Richard caught her instantly, her head falling against his shoulder. He didn't hesitate. Scooping an arm around her waist, he guided her out of the party, shielding her from curious eyes and whispers.
Outside, the night air hit her like a slap. She groaned weakly, clinging to him.
"I've got you," Richard whispered, holding her steady.
Jessie tried, she really did. But the room tilted suddenly, her stomach twisting as the alcohol's bitterness and unfamiliar taste betrayed her. Within seconds, she was bent over the bushes, coughing until her eyes watered.
A gentle hand rested on her back. "Hey… easy."
She turned to meet Richard's warm eyes, filled with unspoken concern. He didn't look annoyed. He didn't even look surprised. Just… present, like someone who refused to let her go through this alone.
"You shouldn't have forced yourself," he said softly. "Come on, I'll take you home."
Too weak to argue, Jessie let him guide her through the crowd. His arm was steady, protective, a quiet anchor against the noise of the party.
The ride back was silent, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Jessie leaned against the window, embarrassed but oddly safe and by the time they reached the dorms, Jessie could barely walk. Richard half-carried her, her head pressed against his shoulder in a way that would have looked intimate to anyone watching. And someone was watching.
Across the dimly lit parking lot, Travis leaned against a lamppost, eyes hooded and sharp. His gaze followed Richard as he carried Jessie inside with her arm draped around his neck.
Neither of them noticed but Travis saw everything.
****
Travis sat hunched in the chair of his narrow quarters, head in his hands. The walls smelled faintly of chalk dust and old books. The lie he lived as Professor Barry Harcourt, all because of her.
"A college girl", he scoffed at himself. "At your age, chasing her around like some fool with nothing better to do. Shameless."
His wolf chuckled low in the back of his mind. "Say what you will, but we both know why we're here. She stirs something in you neither of us can ignore."
"Or maybe I'm just a pervert," he muttered, disgust curling in his chest. He should be with his pack, ruling, not sneaking glances at a human girl who didn't even know his name.
But Jessie's laughter, the way she carried her innocence in a world that had stripped his long ago… it drew him like a moth to flame.
He shut his eyes, and the memory of another woman cut through the haze; Alicia. His now ex Luna.
She had looked every bit the angel when he first chose her to be his wife; poised, graceful, and adored by the pack. To the world, she was light. But behind closed doors, evil spilled through her. Sometimes, he would catch her standing too still, eyes gone black and glinting with malice. Other nights, her voice would warp, dripping venom as she lunged at him with a dagger, or pressed a pillow to his face as he slept. The next morning, she would rise at his side, smiling sweetly, speaking as though nothing had happened. Acting like the perfect Luna once again.
It was like living with two women, one cherished by the people, the other hellbent on destroying him. He had protected her, covered her sins, and swallowed her madness out of loyalty to her father's memory, out of reverence for his pack. But the night they celebrated the end of the age-long war with the Darkfang province, a night when the Council of Elders, the High Priestess of the Moon, his battle generals, the Blood Seers, and even the Luna Circle filled his Den in feasting and praise, that same night was when Alicia chose to launch her betrayal.
While the drums thundered and his people drank to peace, she slipped away to grant the rogue Alpha passage into their sacred grounds. Had a servant not grown suspicious and warned him, the attack might have claimed his life and shamed his throne in front of all who had gathered. The rogue fled like a coward, abandoning his men to die at Travis's claws and Alicia… his Luna, his supposed other half, had been the one to open the door for him.
Any other traitor would have been dragged to the gallows and hanged before the council. But Travis, out of mercy for her bloodline, demanded banishment instead. Sending her away into the deadly forest where no wolf returned whole to be left for death. It had nearly broken him. But letting her stay would have broken them all. Even now, the image of her twisted smile still haunted him.
"And still, here you are", his wolf teased, "running after yet another woman, and this time, a human. Maybe you're not cursed, Travis. Maybe you're just stubborn enough to chase what everyone says you can't have."
He pushed to his feet, the room suddenly suffocating. He needed air and freedom. Slipping out the back door, he moved into the woods where the night air was sharp and merciless.
His bones cracked, fur bristled, claws tore into the earth and in a matter of moments later, the disguise of Professor Barry Harcourt fell away, leaving room for the Alpha of the Nightveil Dynasty to leap out into the forest; his wolf carrying both his torment and his secret hunger into the wild.
***
The chamber reeked of smoke and the metallic tang of old blood, while Alicia stood in the center of a circle of candles with flames bending unnaturally as the witch chanted, her voice thick and guttural. Symbols, painted in ash and crimson, coiled across the floor, binding the ritual with ancient power.
"Open the channels between the living and the dead," the witch hissed, slicing her palm and letting the blood drip into a bronze bowl. "Let the portals open for this vessel to pass through."
Alicia's body trembled, her skin clammy and lips pale. She collapsed, chest rising in shallow gasps, a lifeless doll in the firelight. Yet in the underworld she wandered, her wail piercing the silence of the dead. "Let me go!" she cried, clawing against shadowed hands that fought to drag her deeper.
In the circle, her body arched violently. Her eyes snapped open. No longer warm and hazel, but pits of black, glossy and endless, as slow, deliberate breath filled her lungs. She rose with eerie grace, each movement smooth, predatory.
The witch clapped her hands together, tears of triumph shining in her eyes. "The gods have accepted you!" she exulted, falling to her knees. "Through you, their will shall reign. You will command wolves to bend, and none shall resist!" She showered praises in her ancient tongue, her frail body quivering with zeal.
Alicia's lips curved into a strange, measured smile. She flexed her fingers, admiring the power surging through her veins, the intoxicating sense of control licked along her skin like silk.
"Thank you," she said sweetly, tilting her head as though she were a child overcome with gratitude. She stepped lightly from the circle, her eyes locked on the witch. Every step was deliberate, her poise both regal and unsettling.
When she reached her, Alicia cupped the witch's face gently, her touch deceptively tender. The witch sighed, relief flooding her, foolishly mistaking it for affection.
Alicia leaned close, whispering, "Thank you… so much."
Then, in one swift movement, she wrenched the woman's neck sideways. A sickening crack echoed in the room. The witch's eyes widened in shock, pain flooding them as her body crumpled lifelessly at Alicia's feet.
Alicia looked down at the corpse, her expression hardening. She kicked it aside as though sweeping dirt from her path. "Nothing personal," she murmured coldly. "Just tidying up loose ends."
Her laugh filled the chamber, sharp and cruel, bouncing against the stone walls. She lifted her arms as if to embrace the forces that coiled around her, her voice thick with venom.
"And now," she declared, eyes gleaming like a predator scenting prey, "I have scores to settle with an old friend."
The candle flames guttered out one by one, leaving the circle cold and black. Outside, Alicia smiled into the darkness and vowed:
"Soon, we'll meet again Travis."