Chapter 5 Denial and Panic

The forest was too quiet after the battle.

Smoke rose from the torn earth, the air thick with the metallic scent of blood and pine. Donald stood just a few feet away, his golden eyes watching me as if one wrong word might make me shatter.

Maybe he was right. Because I was already breaking.

The image of what I had just seen wolves fighting like living storms, men shifting into beasts it all replayed in my head over and over again.

And at the center of it all was him. Donald.

Calm. Deadly. Beautiful. Terrifying.

“You’re safe now,” he said softly, taking a step toward me.

I stumbled back. “Don’t!”

He froze. “Clara”

“No!” My voice cracked. “Stay away from me!”

The pack had begun to disperse, their whispers fading into the trees, but my heart only pounded faster. I felt trapped surrounded by things I didn’t understand, by creatures that shouldn’t exist.

I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to catch my breath. The warmth beneath my skin flickered again that strange silver glow I’d seen when he touched me.

“What’s happening to me?” I whispered.

Donald’s expression softened. “It’s your awakening. Your wolf is responding to the bond.”

“No!” I shouted, shaking my head violently. “Stop saying that! I’m not a wolf, I’m not your mate, and this, this isn’t real!”

He reached out, but I flinched away.

Something in his eyes dimmed, but he didn’t move closer. “Clara, listen to me. I know it’s a lot to take in. But running won’t change what you are.”

“What I am?” I laughed, but it came out broken. “I’m a human! Just a person who lives alone in a cabin, who likes books and tea and normal things! You you’re talking about fate and wolves and bonds and magic! It’s insane!”

His gaze held mine, calm and patient. “It’s truth.”

“Then I don’t want it!”

The words tore out of me, sharp and trembling.

For a moment, he said nothing. Only the forest spoke wind in the branches, the distant cry of an owl.

Then, quietly: “You can reject it, if that’s what you truly want.”

I blinked. “Reject it?”

“The bond,” he said. “You can sever it. But it will hurt you. It will hurt me.”

I shook my head, tears burning my eyes. “You’re not making sense.”

He took one careful step closer. “Please, just breathe. I’ll take you home. We’ll talk tomorrow”

“No.”

The single word came out sharp, final. I turned and ran.

Branches whipped against my face as I sprinted through the forest, heart hammering. The ground was uneven, wet, covered in leaves, but I didn’t stop.

I didn’t care where I was going. I just needed to get away.

Away from his golden eyes.

Away from the pull in my chest.

Away from the truth I wasn’t ready to face.

“Clara!” His voice echoed behind me firm, commanding, but full of worry. “Stop! Please, you’ll get hurt!”

I didn’t listen. I couldn’t.

The more distance I put between us, the colder the air felt. The faint warmth that had been glowing inside me began to fade, replaced by a strange emptiness.

For a moment, I thought I heard his heartbeat steady, strong and then it vanished, leaving a silence so deep it scared me.

I tripped over a root and fell hard, scraping my palms on the dirt. The pain barely registered. I pushed myself up, gasping.

The trees around me looked unfamiliar now. I had run too far.

“Okay,” I whispered to myself. “Okay, think, Clara. You just ran into a forest filled with wolves. Brilliant plan.”

A branch cracked nearby. I froze.

It wasn’t Donald’s voice this time. It was something else heavier, slower, and breathing too loudly.

“Please,” I whispered to the darkness, “not again.”

The shadows shifted. For a heartbeat, I saw the gleam of eyes red, not gold.

Rogues.

Panic flooded my chest. I turned to run, but before I could take two steps, a familiar voice cut through the air.

“Enough!”

Donald’s roar shook the ground.

I spun around just in time to see him appear between me and the threat silent, swift, his presence like lightning in the dark. The rogues vanished into the trees without a sound.

He didn’t look at them. His eyes were on me.

“Are you hurt?”

I swallowed hard, trembling. “You followed me.”

“I had to.”

“You can’t keep doing that!”

“I can’t not,” he said simply.

The honesty in his tone hit harder than any argument. There was no manipulation, no demand just truth.

And that made me angry. Because I wanted to hate him, but I couldn’t.

He stepped closer, his expression unreadable. “You’re scared. I understand. But you have to stop running. Not for me for you.”

“I don’t even know what that means!” I cried.

“It means,” he said softly, “that if you keep denying what’s inside you, it’ll destroy you from within. The awakening has already started. You can’t undo it now.”

My knees went weak. “I don’t want this,” I whispered. “I don’t want any of it.”

“I know,” he said. “But it’s yours anyway.”

Something in his voice broke me then.

Tears welled in my eyes, blurring the world. “Why me? Why did it have to be me?”

Donald looked up at the moon before answering. “Because the Moon Goddess never chooses by mistake.”

I sank to the ground, my breath shaking. I felt small, human, powerless everything he said I wasn’t.

But beneath my panic, the pull inside me stirred again. A faint warmth, a whisper of something ancient and alive.

I hated it. And yet… I didn’t.

Donald crouched beside me, careful not to touch. “I’ll take you home,” he said quietly. “You don’t have to decide anything tonight.”

“I don’t trust you.”

He nodded. “You don’t have to. Just let me keep you safe.”

The sincerity in his tone left me with no argument. Exhausted, I nodded faintly.

He helped me up, his touch steady and warm too warm. The silver light flickered again beneath my skin, and I pulled my hand away, heart racing.

Donald’s gaze softened. “When the time comes, you’ll understand what that means.”

“I don’t want to understand.”

He smiled sadly. “You will anyway.”

By the time we reached my cabin, the moon hung low, bathing everything in pale light.

Donald stopped at the door. “I’ll stay near the forest line. You won’t see me, but I’ll be close.”

“You don’t have to.”

He tilted his head. “I do.”

I didn’t argue this time. I just went inside, closed the door, and slid down against it, burying my face in my hands.

For a long time, I sat there, trying to slow my breathing.

The night outside was silent again no howls, no growls, no chaos. Just stillness.

But in that stillness, I could still feel it.

The pull.

The warmth.

The invisible thread that tied me to him, no matter how far I ran.

And I hated how a small part of me… didn’t want it to go away.