The night was darker than usual, the thick canopy of Blackwood Forest swallowing what little moonlight managed to pierce through its ancient boughs. Selene hurried along the trail, her heart pounding a frantic rhythm against her ribs as she clutched the small silver bracelet she had left behind during her earlier hike. She had meant to return home before nightfall, but time had slipped away from her like water through cupped hands. The air was thick with an eerie stillness that seemed to press against her skin, and every rustling leaf sent shivers dancing down her spine.
The forest felt different at night—alive in a way that defied explanation. Shadows moved with purpose, branches reached like grasping fingers, and the very air seemed to pulse with ancient secrets. The metal bracelet in her hand thrummed with energy, responding to her growing unease in a way that both comforted and frightened her.
As she made her way past the towering trees, their bark black as pitch in the darkness, a low growl stopped her in her tracks. The sound was unlike anything she had ever heard—not quite animal, not quite human, but something that existed in the terrible space between. Her breath hitched, forming small clouds in the cool night air. She turned her head slowly, her eyes darting through the dense foliage, searching for the source of that otherworldly sound.
That was when she saw it.
At the edge of a clearing bathed in what little moonlight filtered through the leaves, Cane stood trembling, his body hunched over as if in terrible pain. His muscles spasmed beneath his shirt, his breathing ragged and harsh in the stillness. "Cane?" she called, but the word barely left her lips before his body began to contort in a way that defied nature itself.
His clothes tore apart like paper in a storm, thick fur sprouting over his skin like dark flames. His fingers extended into cruel claws, bones cracking and reforming with sickening sounds that echoed through the clearing. His face elongated into a monstrous snout, and when he looked up, a pair of glowing, golden eyes locked onto her frozen form with terrible recognition.
A strangled shriek escaped Selene as she stumbled back, her hand flying to her mouth. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears like war drums, and the bracelet in her other hand grew hot against her palm. Cane—her Cane—was shifting into something unnatural, something that shouldn't exist outside of nightmares and ancient legends.
His massive form loomed under the moonlight, muscles rippling beneath thick fur as his claws dug into the dirt. He let out a deep, guttural snarl that shook leaves from nearby branches. Then, as if realizing who stood before him, his ears flattened against his head, and he let out a low whimper. He stepped forward hesitantly, like a guilty dog approaching its master.
"Selene," Cane's voice came through, deep and distorted but still recognizably his. The sound of her name from that monstrous throat sent fresh shivers down her spine. "Please... don't run."
Selene shook her head violently, her entire world tilting on its axis. Everything she thought she knew about reality was crumbling around her. "This—this isn't real," she whispered, her entire body trembling like a leaf in a storm. "This can't be real."
Cane lowered his massive head, his golden eyes filled with something almost... human. When she took another unsteady step back, her foot catching on a root, his form began to shift again. Bones snapped and cracked, fur retracted like shadows at dawn, leaving him kneeling before her in the moonlight. Sweat glistened on his bare skin, his breath ragged and pained.
"I never wanted you to find out like this," he rasped, barely able to lift his head. His voice carried the weight of centuries of secrets. "But you need to know the truth. All of it."
Selene's lungs burned as she tried to breathe properly, her mind racing to process what she had witnessed. The world seemed to spin around her, reality bending like a dream. "You're a werewolf," she finally said, her voice barely audible above the whisper of wind through leaves.
Cane nodded, watching her carefully with those eyes that now seemed so much older, so much more dangerous than before. "Yes. And I swear to you, I have never hurt anyone. The real danger isn't me—it's them. The alphas that have been hunting us. That's why my family moved here. Those bodies—those people who have died—it wasn't us. It was them. I've been trying to stop them."
Her mind swirled with confusion and fear, pieces of a terrible puzzle falling into place. "You—you've been fighting them? Alone?"
"I have no choice. If I don't, they'll keep killing. They'll keep spreading their darkness until nothing remains of what makes this place special."
Selene pressed a hand to her forehead, trying to process his words. The weight of it was suffocating, crushing her beneath revelations she never wanted but couldn't ignore. She wanted to deny it, to call him a liar, to run screaming into the night, but deep down, she knew he was telling the truth. The strange things she had noticed about him—the way his eyes glowed in the dark, how he moved with unnatural grace, the unease Naksu had felt—they all suddenly made terrible sense.
"I don't know what to say," she admitted, her voice cracking like thin ice. The bracelet in her hand had grown cold, as if responding to her emotional turmoil.
"Then don't say anything yet. Just... don't be afraid of me. Please." His voice carried a note of desperation that tugged at her heart despite her fear.
Selene hesitated, torn between terror and something deeper, something that had taken root in her heart long before this night. The rational part of her screamed to run, to never look back, but something kept her rooted in place. He was still Cane. The boy she had laughed with, walked with, and grown to care for. Yet, he was also something else—something dangerous and ancient and beautiful in its terrible way.
After a long pause that seemed to stretch into eternity, she exhaled shakily. "I won't tell anyone. But I need to go. I need time."
Cane's face fell, but he nodded, understanding in his golden eyes. "I understand."
Without another word, she turned and ran. The forest blurred past her as she sprinted home, her chest tight with fear and uncertainty. When she reached her house, she fumbled with the door, her hands shaking as she forced herself inside.
Unbeknownst to her, Allen stood at his window, watching her with narrowed eyes. His fingers drummed lightly against the glass as he observed her pale face, her panicked movements.
Something had changed tonight. And he intended to find out what.