The storm raged through the night, rattling the windows and howling against the roof, but inside Claire's small living room, there was only heavy silence.
Lucian stood by the door, dripping water onto the hardwood floor, his silver eyes never leaving hers. Claire sat curled on the couch, arms wrapped tightly around her knees, trying to process the impossible truth that had just shattered her reality.
Werewolf.
Moonbound.
Connected to me.
The words spun around her mind like leaves caught in a violent wind.
Finally, she found her voice, hoarse and trembling.
"Connected how?"
Lucian hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck with a hand that shook slightly. For the first time, Claire saw past his powerful, otherworldly aura—he was just as scared as she was.
"There's an old bond," he said quietly. "Older than the forests. Older than memory itself. Sometimes, when a Moonbound sees someone... someone they're fated to..." He trailed off, searching for the right words. "It's like the world narrows. Like nothing else matters except finding them. Protecting them. Being with them."
Claire's stomach flipped.
"You're saying... you think I'm..."
She couldn't even finish the sentence.
Lucian gave a sad, almost broken smile. "I know you are."
Claire shook her head violently, a tear slipping down her cheek before she could stop it.
"This is crazy," she whispered. "I don't even know you. How can you know something like that?"
"I don't expect you to believe me," Lucian said softly. "But you feel it too, don't you? The pull?"
Claire hated how right he was. Even now, every instinct screamed at her to move closer to him, to trust him, to belong to him.
It was terrifying.
She wiped at her face, breathing hard.
"Why me?" she whispered again.
Lucian stepped closer, cautious, as if approaching a wounded animal. "I don't know. Fate doesn't explain itself. But once the bond forms, it's permanent. For us... it's everything."
Claire stared at him, her heart hammering wildly.
Permanent.
Everything.
She wasn't ready for this. She didn't even know what this was.
The clock on the wall ticked loudly in the silence between them.
Finally, Claire pushed herself up from the couch, forcing strength into her shaking limbs.
"I need time," she said firmly. "I need space to think."
Lucian nodded, a flicker of pain crossing his face, but he didn't argue.
Instead, he pulled a small silver pendant from around his neck and held it out to her.
A wolf, carved in intricate detail, wrapped around a crescent moon.
"This will keep you safe," he said. "As long as you wear it, I'll know if you're in danger. I'll find you if you need me."
Claire hesitated, then slowly reached out and took the pendant. It was surprisingly warm against her skin.
Lucian backed toward the door, pulling his hood up against the rain.
"I'll stay away," he promised. "But Claire... be careful. Not everyone in my world will be as willing to protect you."
And with that, he disappeared into the storm, leaving Claire alone with a million questions and a pendant that throbbed with a strange, comforting warmth in her palm.
Sleep didn't come easily that night.
Claire tossed and turned under her blanket, the events of the day replaying endlessly behind her closed eyes.
Every time she drifted toward sleep, she saw silver eyes flashing in the dark, heard the soft snarl of the creature in the woods, felt the raw certainty of Lucian's words.
She wasn't just imagining things.
The world really was darker and deeper than she had ever believed.
And somehow, she was standing right at the heart of it.
Morning came wrapped in cold mist, the rain reduced to a fine drizzle.
Claire stood by her kitchen window, cradling a mug of coffee she hadn't touched, staring out at the forest beyond her backyard.
The trees looked different now.
Less like silent sentinels and more like something alive, watching, waiting.
Her phone buzzed on the counter, making her jump.
It was a message from her best friend, Harper.
HARPER: Coffee? Gossip? I'm dying for human interaction.
Claire hesitated, then typed back quickly.
CLAIRE: Meet you at Benny's in 30.
Maybe a dose of normalcy was exactly what she needed.
Benny's Diner was a tiny, cheerful place at the center of town, famous for its greasy breakfasts and perpetually sticky floors.
Claire found Harper already waiting in a booth by the window, waving frantically when she spotted her.
"You look like hell," Harper said cheerfully as Claire slid into the seat across from her.
"Thanks," Claire muttered, forcing a smile.
Harper leaned in, eyes wide. "So? Spill. What's got you looking like you spent the night wrestling demons?"
Claire hesitated.
She couldn't exactly say, Well, I met a werewolf who says we're soulbound for life.
Instead, she shrugged. "Bad dreams."
Harper frowned, more serious now. "You sure that's all? Because there's been weird stuff happening. Like, people seeing things in the woods. Howling at night. Old man Prescott swears he saw a giant wolf near his barn."
Claire's blood ran cold.
Harper kept talking, oblivious to Claire's rising panic. "And get this—Tommy's dog went missing. They found tracks all around the yard but no sign of the dog."
Claire clutched the silver pendant hidden beneath her shirt.
Lucian had said danger was coming.
Was it already here?
After coffee, Claire drove aimlessly around town, trying to clear her head.
But everywhere she looked, there were signs—small, subtle things she would have missed before.
Claw marks on the trunk of a tree near the playground.
A deer carcass by the side of the road, torn apart by something far bigger than a coyote.
The heavy, watchful feeling that never left her, even in broad daylight.
By the time she pulled back into her driveway, her nerves were frayed to the breaking point.
She needed answers.
And she knew exactly where to find them.
That night, Claire returned to the woods.
Armed with nothing but a flashlight and a racing heart, she slipped through the trees, following the narrow path she had walked a thousand times as a child.
The forest welcomed her and rejected her all at once—branches snagging at her clothes, roots trying to trip her, shadows closing in from every side.
But she pressed on.
She needed to find him.
Needed to know more.
Needed to understand what was happening to her, to Eldergrove, to the world she thought she knew.
Finally, after what felt like hours, she stumbled into a clearing lit by weak moonlight filtering through the clouds.
And there he was.
Lucian.
Waiting.
As if he had known she would come.
Their eyes met across the clearing, and for one breathless moment, Claire felt the world stop turning.
The bond between them flared to life, pulsing in the air like a heartbeat.
Neither of them spoke.
They didn't need to.
Claire took a shaky step forward, and Lucian mirrored her, his silver eyes burning with something fierce and wild and desperate.
The storm had passed.
But the real danger was only just beginning.