The wind howled through the trees as I ran, the sound of my heartbeat louder than the crunch of dead leaves beneath my boots. Something was following me. I could feel it—like a shadow that wasn't mine, breathing down my neck.
I didn't know why I'd come out here alone. Maybe I was chasing that strange dream again—the one where the moon bled silver and a voice whispered my name from the darkness. Aria. Always the same voice. Always the same dream. I used to think it was just my imagination. Now, I wasn't so sure.
The hairs on my arms prickled. I skidded to a stop in the clearing, gasping for breath, and that's when I saw it.
A wolf.
Not just any wolf—huge, midnight black, and staring at me with glowing violet eyes. It didn't growl. It didn't charge. It just… watched.
My instincts screamed run, but my legs were frozen. And somewhere beneath the fear, something stirred inside me. Recognition. Like I'd seen it before.
"What… are you?" I whispered.
The wolf took a step forward.
The ground trembled.
Pain flared up my spine, sharp and sudden, and I collapsed to my knees. My skin burned as if something was clawing its way out from inside me. I cried out, clutching my arm as a silvery symbol appeared—glowing faintly under the moonlight. A crescent surrounded by stars.
The wolf snarled, but not at me. It turned sharply, leaping into the trees just as a figure emerged from the shadows.
He wore black—tall, lean, and cloaked in the kind of darkness that didn't belong to the forest. His eyes glowed the same violet as the wolf's.
"You shouldn't be out here," he said, voice low and cold. "Not tonight."
I forced myself to my feet. "Who are you?"
He tilted his head slightly. "The better question is... what are you?"
Before I could answer—or even understand the question—he stepped forward, and in the blink of an eye, he was in front of me. I stumbled back, heart pounding.
"You're marked," he said, his gaze on the glowing symbol on my skin. "You've been chosen."
"Chosen for what?" I demanded, my voice shaking.
His expression didn't change, but his words chilled me.
"The prophecy has begun."
End of Chapter 1