Calla's POV
"Run."
The word hissed through the air, quiet and forceful, sending a shudder down my spine.
I halted, my palm tightening on the leather-bound journal I'd unearthed in the dusty west wing of Silverwood Manor. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, drowning out the calm of the huge library.
"Did you hear me?" The voice again, low and full of suppressed menace. "Run. Now."
I turned, my breath catching. Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the flickering light of a single candelabra, stood Lucian Grey. His glittering eyes flashed like molten steel, his body tight, as if barely holding himself back. He was impossibly tall, the sharp angles of his face dark yet shockingly apparent, like an oil painting brought to life.
"I wasn't—"
"Don't lie to me, Calla." His voice ripped through my words, as sharp as the wolfish edge in his tone.
"I—I just wanted to know what you were hiding." Though it shook, my voice held its ground. "You cannot keep driving me away while hoping I would stay. I have the truth due me.
Lucian came forward, the smell of rain and cedar all around. "The truth?." His laughter was harsh and gloomy. The truth will wipe you off.
"Try me," I said, my frustration driving more confidence.
Lucian's eyes softened momentarily, and I saw regret there. suffering? But it vanished as fast as it had first shown.
You have no idea what you have come upon. His voice now was quieter, tinged with something I couldn quite identify. That dairy is not only filled with old tales. This is a curse. a death sentence.
Though I felt a cold run down my spine, I would not back down. "Then why let anyone discover it here? Given how perilous it is, "
"Because it's bait," he said, closing the distance between us in two quick steps. "To attract those unable to resist their interest. People similar to you enjoy this.
I pushed back against the cold stonewall of the library, swallowing fiercely. Now he was so close; I could feel the heat radiating off him, the raw strength under his surface placid veneer flickering.
"I didn't ask to be involved in this," I said softly. "I didn't ask for any of this."
"You find me to have done it? His voice cracked, and for a brief instant his burden was exposed. From me, this curse has claimed everything. my relatives. My freedom. And right now it is trying to grab you.
My heart hammered, a concoction of terror and something else—something I couldn't name—welling inside me. "Take me how?"
The hand of Lucian emerged, his fingers touching my cheek. Though it was feather-light, it burnt through me like wildfire. His voice barely above a whisper, he said, "by making me want you."
At his words, my breath stopped. His confession felt to me like a storm approaching, equal parts terrible and sedative. I could not ignore the magnetic attraction between us, the way his presence occupied every vacant place within me. It wasn't only an attraction, though. It was something darker, more profound connected to the truths he refused to reveal.
I could see the struggle happening in his eyes, his emotions pushed and pulled. Lucian was poised on the brink of something primordial for all his control. And I wasn't sure whether I wanted to let him fall or drag him back.
"Lucian...'" Though I wasn't sure what, my voice sounded like a plea.
"Don't say my name like that." His voice sounded like a deep growl, and his hand fell away to create a frigid emptiness where his warmth had been.
"Like what?" asked. I pushed beyond the lump in my throat and demanded. Like you are someone worth rescuing?
His laugh lacked comedy and was harsh. You're not right. I have little worth worth saving. And neither are you if you hang around here.
"That's not your decision to make," I said, thrusting the diary up against his chest. "I am not a damsel you could imprison in a tower to stay safe. Let me fight if this is also my battle.
Lucian grabbed the diary quickly; his power served as a sobering reminder of the beast hiding behind his flesh. "You're asking for something else entirely, Calla."
Then let me know about it. My voice resounded in the library off the old stone walls. Tell me the truth; stop treating me like a child. You are most terrified of what?
His eyes blazed with a mix of wrath and hopelessness, his jaw tightened. At last, his voice raw, "You," he said. "I worry about what I would do to you should I lose control. Of what I already experience close to you.
Tension permeated the air between us, a wire too tightly poised for a snap. We neither spoke for a moment.
I said gently, not scared of you.
"You ought to be.."
As Lucian leaned in and his lips hung inches from me, the distance between us vanished. A war drum drowning out all else, my heart thundered in my chest.
His breath warm against my skin, he murmured, "You should hate me." But right now you are here. Why?"
"Because I see you," I said, my voice quivering with the weight of the truth. Not the beast. not the curse. Just you."
For a heartbeat, the world stood still. And then his lips crashed into mine.
The kiss was fire and desperation, a release of everything we'd been holding back. His hands held my waist, pressing me toward him as if he could shelter me from the world—or maybe from himself. I clung to him, lost myself in the moment, in the man who was as much a mystery as he was a deliverance.
But then, just as suddenly as it began, he drew away.
"No," he answered, his voice thick with grief. "I can't. I won't."
Before I could react, a low, guttural growl rippled through the library. The shadows seemed to shift and move, taking on a life of their own.
"Lucian?" I muttered, worry creeping into my voice.
He turned toward the sound, his entire body tense and ready for a fight. "Stay behind me," he ordered, his voice the calm before the storm.
But the growling grew louder, closer, and I realized with a sinking feeling that whatever was coming wasn't just after him—it was after me.
The door to the library burst open, splinters flying as a massive, dark-furred wolf charged in. Its eyes glowed an unnatural yellow, and its snarl sent chills down my spine.
"Darius," Lucian hissed, his voice harsher than I'd ever heard.
The wolf changed, its form twisted till a man replaced it. He was tall and skinny, and his harsh demeanor made my gut turn around.
The man said, "Well, well," his yellow eyes fixed on me. This is the small lamb you have been hiding.
Lucian hissed as his body rippled with barely restrained wrath. "Don't touch her."
Darius grinned and never turned away from me. Oh, I wouldn't. not yet. But soon enough, she'll beg me to."
Lucian lunged, but before he could reach him, Darius fled into the darkness, his laughter booming through the room like a promise of destruction.
And I was left trembling, clutching the journal to my chest, as the weight of what I'd just stepped into finally began to sink in.