Chapter 3 The Pull

The next morning, the world looked exactly the same but I didn’t feel the same.

I woke up to the sound of birds and sunlight pouring through the curtains, but my chest was tight, my thoughts restless. Every nerve in my body seemed alert, waiting for something I couldn’t name.

I sat on the edge of the bed and pressed a hand to my wrist. The crescent mark was faint now, just a ghostly shimmer beneath my skin yet it pulsed softly, like a second heartbeat.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened in the forest. The way his eyes had glowed. The warmth that spread through me when he touched me. The growl I’d heard from something else, something that wasn’t him.

It should’ve terrified me.

But instead, it felt like… a tether.

Every time I tried to think about anything else breakfast, chores, the list of groceries I didn’t get because of him my mind slid back to Donald. His voice. His scent. The way his presence filled the air around him.

And that scared me more than the wolves ever could.

I stood up quickly. “No. Not happening,” I muttered. “You don’t get to live in my head rent-free, Mr. Gold Eyes.”

Determined to shake off whatever was happening to me, I went outside. The morning air was crisp, smelling faintly of pine and dew. My grandmother’s old herb garden had gone wild since she passed, and I spent the next hour pulling weeds just to keep my hands busy.

But the moment I stopped moving, the feeling returned. A tug soft at first, then stronger somewhere deep inside my chest.

It wasn’t pain. More like a pull, gentle but unrelenting, like invisible strings trying to guide me in one direction. Toward the forest.

I swallowed hard. “Nope. Absolutely not.”

But my feet moved anyway.

By the time I realized what I was doing, I was halfway down the trail behind the cabin. Sunlight filtered through the trees, golden and warm, but the air carried a strange energy thick and humming, like the forest itself was alive.

Each step made the pull stronger.

It wasn’t until I reached the old creek that I saw him.

Donald stood across the water, his head bowed slightly as if he’d been waiting for me. His black shirt clung to his chest, damp with morning mist. The moment his eyes lifted to meet mine, the world seemed to still.

My breath caught.

That same golden light flared in his gaze not bright, but warm. Familiar. Like the sun after a storm.

“I didn’t call you,” he said softly. “You came on your own.”

I crossed my arms, though my heart was pounding. “Don’t flatter yourself. My feet just brought me here.”

He smiled faintly. “That’s the bond.”

“Stop saying that word.”

“I can’t. Because it’s the truth.”

I shook my head, trying to focus on the trees, the stream, anything but him. “You make it sound like I’m under a spell.”

“Not a spell,” he said. “A connection. It’s stronger than magic. It’s nature. Fate.”

I let out a sharp laugh. “Fate doesn’t drag people through the woods against their will.”

“No,” he said gently, “but it calls to them when they’re lost.”

I hesitated. For a moment, I thought I saw sadness flicker in his eyes, like he knew more about being lost than anyone ever should.

“What do you want from me, Donald?”

He took a step closer, his voice quiet but firm. “I just want you safe. Last night proved what I feared. They know who you are now.”

“Who I am? I’m nobody.”

He shook his head slowly. “You’re not nobody, Clara. You’re everything.”

My throat went dry. “Stop saying things like that.”

“I can’t help it,” he admitted, his tone low. “Ever since I found you, it’s been like breathing for the first time after years underwater.”

My chest ached. I didn’t know how to respond. Every word he said felt like it brushed against something deep inside me, something old and half-forgotten.

“I don’t even know you,” I whispered.

He nodded. “Then get to know me.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because whether you believe it or not,” he said softly, “your soul already recognizes mine.”

The forest fell quiet again.

I wanted to tell him he was wrong, that this was all madness, but when our eyes met again, I felt it the pull, stronger now. My heartbeat matched his rhythm, steady and sure. I could almost sense his emotions: calm, steady… and worry.

I stepped back, shaken. “No. I can’t do this.”

He didn’t follow. “I won’t force you.”

But even as he said it, I could feel him in my mind not words, just presence. It was like knowing someone was standing behind you without turning around. Comforting, but terrifying at the same time.

I turned to leave, but something stopped me. “You said they’d come for me. The rogues. What happens if they do?”

“Then they’ll answer to me.”

His voice was calm, but the weight behind it sent chills down my spine. It wasn’t arrogance it was certainty.

“What are you really, Donald?”

His golden eyes glowed faintly. “What you saw last night that was just the beginning.”

“Then tell me everything.”

“Not here,” he said, glancing toward the trees. “They watch from the shadows. You’re safest near me.”

I wanted to laugh. “You realize how that sounds, right? The big mysterious man telling the human girl she’s safest beside him? Classic horror movie line.”

He actually smiled this time a real one that reached his eyes. “You’re not wrong. But I mean it.”

There was something disarming about that smile, something that made me feel… less afraid. I hated it.

“Fine,” I muttered. “You get ten minutes. After that, I’m going home.”

He nodded once. “Ten minutes.”

We sat near the creek, the sunlight dancing on the water between us. Donald spoke quietly, explaining his world packs, bonds, the Moon Goddess, and the ancient laws that governed their kind.

It sounded like something out of a fairy tale, yet his tone was too serious, too grounded to be fantasy.

“So you’re saying you’re a werewolf?” I asked finally.

He shook his head. “Not were. Wolves. Born wolves. Not cursed humans.”

I blinked. “Right. Totally normal.”

He chuckled softly. “I didn’t expect you to believe me yet.”

“Good. Because I don’t.”

But deep down, I wasn’t so sure anymore.

When I’d first seen his eyes glow, I told myself it was a trick of light. When I’d felt that strange heat between us, I blamed fear. But now… now I wasn’t sure any human could feel what I was feeling.

The air around him shimmered faintly, like the edge of a mirage. His energy filled the space not suffocating, but powerful, ancient, alive.

The pull grew stronger again, tightening around my chest like a heartbeat shared between us.

“I should go,” I said, standing quickly.

“Clara”

“No. I can’t be near you right now. It’s… confusing.”

He nodded slowly, though something in his expression told me it hurt him to let me leave. “I’ll keep my distance. But if you need me”

“I won’t.”

He gave a faint smile. “You will.”

I turned and walked away, refusing to look back.

But halfway up the trail, I stopped. I didn’t hear him following me, yet I felt him the faint warmth at the edge of my mind, like a quiet heartbeat whispering my name.

No matter how far I went, that pull didn’t fade.

It was as if an invisible thread connected us fragile, glowing, and impossible to break.

And deep down, I already knew the truth I wasn’t ready to face:

I could run from him as much as I wanted…

But he was already a part of me.