The Lycan's Hidden Flame

Elsa

The air in the castle was stifling. It felt like the walls were closing in on me, and the weight of everything pressing on my chest made it harder to breathe. The tension, the anger—everything was so thick it was suffocating. But despite the chaos swirling inside these stone walls, one thing had become undeniable: I couldn't stay here forever.

The whispers I'd been hearing for days—faint, almost inaudible—had only grown louder. At night, they haunted me, pulling me towards the one place I knew I shouldn't go. The Shadow Forest.

I had to see it for myself.

I waited until the moon was high, casting silver light through the narrow gaps in the stone walls. I couldn't sleep anyway, so sneaking out wasn't hard. I slipped into the shadows of the castle, moving as quietly as possible, every step deliberate. No one would miss me.

At least, that's what I thought.

I reached the edge of the forest, the place where the trees seemed to swallow up all light. The air grew colder, thicker, and I could hear the faintest rustling in the underbrush. I took a shaky breath, my heartbeat thumping in my chest, and stepped into the darkness.

The moment I crossed the threshold, the whispers intensified. I could almost make out the words now—chilling and insistent. Come closer, Elsa. We know you're here.

I froze. How did they know my name?

Before I could react, figures emerged from the shadows, their cloaked forms blending seamlessly with the trees. Cultists. I should have known.

"You shouldn't have come here," one of them sneered, stepping forward. His eyes glowed faintly in the dim light, and the air around us felt heavy with their presence.

Another cultist stepped closer, this one younger, his voice laced with mock sympathy. "But we've been waiting for you. We knew you'd come eventually."

I stepped back, my heart racing. "What do you want from me?"

One of them, a woman with sharp features and a cruel smile, tilted her head. "We want you, Elsa. We've been tracking you ever since you escaped." She paused, and I saw the glint of something in her hand. A vial of blood. My blood.

"You've been tracking me?" I gasped, feeling my pulse quicken. "What is that? Why do you need my blood?"

"Because it's the key," she said simply, as if it were obvious. "Your blood will open the door, Elsa. The Shadow Forest will belong to us. And with you… we'll have everything we need."

My stomach turned. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I knew one thing for sure: I wasn't going to be their pawn.

I backed away again, but the cultists closed in, their movements too fast for me to outrun. The woman with the vial stepped forward, her eyes narrowing. "You can't escape, Elsa. Not now."

I turned to run, panic rising in my chest, but it was too late. The moment my foot hit the ground, something slammed into me from behind. I was thrown to the ground, the air knocked out of me.

I gasped for breath, my vision spinning. The cultists were all around me now, closing in. My pulse hammered in my ears. I could feel the cool touch of their hands on my skin, like ice. They were stronger than they looked.

I struggled, but it was useless. One of them held me down, the others murmuring around me, their words incomprehensible. The vial was pressed to my neck, the cold glass digging into my skin.

"Get off of me!" I cried, my voice cracking. My vision blurred, and my breath was shallow.

Suddenly, a roar split the night air. It was like nothing I'd ever heard—deep, guttural, and filled with an unmistakable fury. The cultists froze, their hands faltering as they looked around, panic spreading across their faces.

A blur of motion shot through the trees. Before I could comprehend what was happening, Kieran's massive wolf form tore through the clearing, his fur a dark, shifting shadow in the moonlight. He moved like lightning, faster than anything human.

The cultists didn't stand a chance. He tore through them with a ferocity that took my breath away. Blood splattered the ground, and the forest seemed to echo with the sounds of the battle. The air around me was thick with the scent of blood, the metallic tang assaulting my senses.

I couldn't move, couldn't breathe as I watched him fight. His strength was terrifying, and as the last of the cultists fell, I realized just how powerful he truly was.

Kieran stood over the fallen bodies, his chest heaving, blood dripping from his jaws. His golden eyes locked onto mine, and for a moment, the world seemed to stop.

I didn't say anything. I couldn't. I just stared at him—at the wolf who had just saved my life.

But that moment didn't last.

Kieran shifted back into his human form with a swift, fluid movement, his body morphing in a way that felt wrong, like something ancient, something wild. When he was finally standing before me, fully clothed, his eyes still burned with fury.

He took a step toward me, his expression hard, his jaw clenched. "What the hell were you thinking, Elsa?" he growled, his voice thick with anger.

I pushed myself up, still dazed, trying to gather my bearings. "I had to know. I had to see it for myself," I said, my voice weak, but defiant.

His eyes flashed, his anger palpable. "You're not some damn experiment, Elsa! You have no idea what you've just walked into."

"I don't care!" I snapped, finally getting to my feet. "They were going to use me, Kieran! I have to know why."

Kieran's eyes softened for a brief moment, but his anger never wavered. He stepped toward me, and I took an instinctive step back. "This isn't your fight. You're not safe here. Not anymore."

"Where else am I supposed to go?" I asked, the words slipping out before I could stop them. "I'm not going to just let them use me, Kieran. I don't even know what I am anymore."

His gaze turned dark, and for a moment, I thought he might lash out at me again. Instead, he reached for me, grabbing my arm with a gentleness that surprised me. "I'm taking you back to the castle. And you're never leaving it again, Elsa. Not without me."

Before I could protest, he scooped me into his arms, and without another word, he began walking toward the edge of the forest.

I should have been angry. I should have fought back. But as his strong arms held me close, as his scent—earthy and raw—enveloped me, something inside me softened. Despite the anger and the confusion, despite everything I didn't understand, I felt… safe.

For the first time since I had entered this world, I felt like maybe, just maybe, I wasn't completely alone.

But I wasn't fool enough to think this was over. Not by a long shot. The cult was still out there. Zoran was still out there. And I had no idea what Kieran was really hiding.

The night was far from over. And so was the storm that was coming.