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 bmake /ba reckless move, not when the unknown lurked so close. A crawling prickle of bunease /bworked its way up the back of my neck, my instincts speaking in an ancient, silentnguage: 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 btang /blurking 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. bBut /bthere was nothing;! bno /bfootsteps, no breathb, /bno rustle of movement in the darkness.

“Did I bmishear/b?” 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 bruin /bin a pale, ghostly glow. I took a cautious step forward and felt my shoe dip into something slick.

I nced down, sharpening my wolf vision to pierce the gloom. It bwasn’t /bmud, nor water. It was blood, Dark, congealed, and pooling in shallow hollows.

My gaze followed the blood to where scattered bonesy half–buried beneath moss and dirt. Not old enough to be forgotten, bnot /bfresh enough to still reek. The sight seuled ba /bcold 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 ce. I could feel it deep in my bones, in the way the very air seemed to press against my skin, thick and oppressive like ban /binvisible 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 blook /bbback/b. Don’t make ba /bsound,” bPhina /bwhispered.

bAnd /bI followed bthat /binstinctb, /buntil something bmade /bme stop cold.

There, in the ruined chamber ahead, crouched a figure

Naked, coated in ayer 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. bAnd /bthe way he sat motionless, silent sent shards of ice through my veins.

His posture wasn’t fully bhuman/b. Nor fully wolf. It was something in–between, as though he’d been left behind by time itself. ban /bancient piece of the ruin. His head hung low, hair matted and tangled, and though I couldn’t see his bface/b, bsomething /babout the shape of him was wrong. Fundamentally wrong.

bWas /bthis his ce? Was he alone? Or were others bhiding /bbin /bthe bshadows/bb, /bwatching?

I didn’t want to find out

| took a brautious /bbstep /bback, then another. Each binch /bof distance felt like a bsmall /bbsalvation/b. I was nearly clear of the my heel snapped a dry branch beneath it.

The bsound /bcracked 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, bthat’s /ball I had before he would be upon me.

I braced myself, only to feel a hand mp 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 bwas /bgone.

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 hisrge body and little to no space in the tree, his chest waspletely touching my bback /band 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 band /bstill be respected. However, I always kept a healthy distance with males away from training so how did I bend /bup 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 blook /bany 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 bsat /bdown again, just as before, his spine rigid, his face tilted toward the moon. His lips moved in a voiceless chant, though worshipping the blight/b. 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 bfor /ba moment.

Both our eyes remained locked and neither of bus /bblinked bas /bI realised in what dangerous proximity we were in