Chapter 12 Guess
SERAPHINA
What was that shadow?
I half–shifted in an instant, pressing my back hard against the damp, crumbling stone, the coldness of it seeping into my skin. I didn’t dare make a reckless move, not when the unknown lurked so close. A crawling prickle of unease worked its way up the back of my neck, my instincts speaking in an ancient, silent language: something was terribly wrong here
The air was dense, unnaturally heavy, carrying the thick scent of decayed moss and stale earth, with a sharper, metallic tang lurking beneath it. A scent 1 knew too well
Blood.
I held my position, every muscle locked tight, straining to hear past the thundering of my own pulse. But there was nothing;! no footsteps, no breath, no rustle of movement in the darkness.
“Did I mishear?” I asked my wolf.
Phina’s voice was low and certain in my mind. “No, 1 definitely sensed something”
I waited another beat, pulse pounding in my ears, before easing away from the stone wall. Moonlight filtered through the fractured ceiling, illuminating slivers of the ruin in a pale, ghostly glow. I took a cautious step forward and felt my shoe dip into something slick.
I glanced down, sharpening my wolf vision to pierce the gloom. It wasn’t mud, nor water. It was blood, Dark, congealed, and pooling in shallow hollows.
My gaze followed the blood to where scattered bones lay half–buried beneath moss and dirt. Not old enough to be forgotten, not fresh enough to still reek. The sight seuled a cold knot in my gut.
My muscles tensed. This wasn’t just another decaying part of the ruin.
“We’ve stepped into someone’s territory,” I murmured under my breath.
A forbidden, dangerous place. I could feel it deep in my bones, in the way the very air seemed to press against my skin, thick and oppressive like an invisible hand.
I needed to get out. Now.
Carefully, I began to edge sideways, sliding one foot after the other without letting the soles scrape against the dirt. Each breath I took was shallow, my entire body coiled tight, ready to bolt at the slightest sound.
“Don’t look back. Don’t make a sound,” Phina whispered.
And I followed that instinct, until something made me stop cold.
There, in the ruined chamber ahead, crouched a figure
Naked, coated in a layer of dried mud and streaked with old blood, the moonlight pooled over him, catching the jagged ridges of his spine and the rope–like cords of muscle along his back. His body was a grotesque canvas of grime, old wounds, and twisted scars. And the way he sat motionless, silent sent shards of ice through my veins.
His posture wasn’t fully human. Nor fully wolf. It was something in–between, as though he’d been left behind by time itself. an ancient piece of the ruin. His head hung low, hair matted and tangled, and though I couldn’t see his face, something about the shape of him was wrong. Fundamentally wrong.
Was this his place? Was he alone? Or were others hiding in the shadows, watching?
I didn’t want to find out
| took a rautious step back, then another. Each inch of distance felt like a small salvation. I was nearly clear of the my heel snapped a dry branch beneath it.
The sound cracked like a gunshot through the oppressive silence.
space when
Chapter 12 Guess
-3 Pearl
And the man moved.
Shit, I inwardly cursed. The sharp crack of the branch beneath my heel was deafening in the bride, unnatural dence
The man’s head jerked up a low, animalistic growl tearing from his throat Crimson sapped toward the sound, burning from beneath the tangle of hair and filth. But I had already ducked behind a gnarled tree
Only he wasn’t fooled
The way he moved, jolting to his feet in a single. feral motion was wrong. Too fast. Too lent
My heart lurched into my throat.
As the man surged toward the gnarled tree where I had been hiding, the air rippled with the sound of his snarl My chest heaved as I pressed myself against the rough bark, already half shifted,
He was too close. Too fast
Five seconds, that’s all I had before he would be upon me.
I braced myself, only to feel a hand clamp firmly over my mouth, yanking me back against a solid, familiar chest. A Cap caught in my throat as a presence I knew all too well pulled me up, my body hauled effortlessly into the dense branches above.
By the time the creature reached the base of the tree. I was gone.
From the tangle of branches overhead, I crouched beside Ronan, my breathing ragged, pulse thundering like a war drum my ears. His hand fell away, but the feel of him lingered. Our eyes met in the dark, and for a moment neither of us spoke
Why did he do that
“Why are you here?” I mouthed. I hadn’t even heard him follow, or enter.
“Guess.” he whispered.
The corner of my lips twitched. How the hell had I forgotten that he had actually been the hunter. He must have chased me so that he could hunt me down
Due to his large body and little to no space in the tree, his chest was completely touching my back and my heart was racing like a horse from being so close to him. As an Alpha’s daughter was not allowed to be so close to this man and losing one’s virginity before mating and marking with your soulmate was out of the question,
That’s why my father would always be furious whenever I trained with male wolves. I hated this rule that only chained females while males would fuck every hole they could get their hands on and still be respected. However, I always kept a healthy distance with males away from training so how did I end up in this situation with this Alpha? With his me so closely, as if storing every little detail of my feature to his memory.
I slowly tore my eyes from him, not letting him look any further and figure something out about me
eyes watching
We both watched, silent and unmoving, as the man prowled around the base of the tree. His head twitched, those ceric, blood–bright eyes searching the darkness. And then, as if something unseen called him back, he turned and wandered slowly to his previous spot
The man sat down again, just as before, his spine rigid, his face tilted toward the moon. His lips moved in a voiceless chant, though worshipping the light. The ruin swallowed him once more, a living shadow amid the ancient stone.
I slowly let go of thy breath in relief. “Now we should saying. I turned to look at Ronan but as soon as I tilted my head to him. I found our faces an inch away from each other
I froze in surprise and he seemed to be in the same state for a moment.
Both our eyes remained locked and neither of us blinked as I realised in what dangerous proximity we were in
