MATED TO THE NIGHT WOLF (MTTNW)

[29.1] THE HUMAN

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"The stories are real Dula. The nightmares father used to tell. The beasts are coming. The villages have disappeared. There is darkness in the air. Do you not feel it?"

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[KAYOS]

The human girl trembles before us. Her hair is thin, long, and stringy, a fade-off from the color of the earth. Her scent is strong, a musk of sea and land, salt and dirt.

Her sunken eyes remain glued to the stoned floor she kneels on, eyes darting all over the place. Her heart is a hard pound within her.

I know what she feels. It is a pain that calls out to my very being. Releasing a hunger in my wolf.

She is in a foreign land amongst beasts that could rip her to threads in a breath. Perhaps that is why she fails to breathe normally as one would.

Instead, it is a harsh wind against her dry torn lips, her hands shivering in her tattered lap.

"She can speak," I state, head tilting slightly, taking in the human.

"She has not spoken a word." Vaeln counters, starting at the small creature.

"She will."

I feel his eyes on me at my reply. It is not a promise, it is merely for telling.

"if she wishes to see the sunrise tomorrow." I finish.

The girl's eyes immediately rise at this, wide as saucers, her first mistake. Her eyes fall into mine, trapped in the abyss of chaos that lives in them.

Fear in return echoes in her eyes, so deep, I was certain it was the only reason she couldn't look away after. Paused treacherously, a way in which I was able to read her soul.

"Kayos," Mother whispers desperately beside me.

She has seen this one too many times.

"You're scaring the girl," she hisses, her voice a soft plea.

Mother's heart is soft. It is filled with light. Bitter when need be, strong when called upon. But she does not understand the chaos that lives inside me. She does not understand why I thrive on fear, why the wolf inside me stirs at its taste.

"She is better off scared, than dead, mother."

The girl's eyes widen ever so slightly ad my words. I keep her eyes hostage in mine, unwavering- pulling at the darkest memories that stretch deep within the outline of her soul. For these are the ones that hold pain, that hold fear, that draw chaos and calls out to the endless.

Her breaths deepen, then form into bare grasps as she struggles for air. It is not because she can not breathe.

Humans have no wolves to protect their souls, therefore stealing them is rather effortless. She is a meal presented before the endless, a soul to take, pain, fear, and heartache just there-

Waiting for it to feed.

She gasps because she can feel her soul slipping away, dissolved in the abyss of the endless that is carved in the eclipse of my eyes. The veins around her neck deepen to dark lines as she leans forwards, and I circle her slowly.

She is prey, and the chaos, the endless inside me wants to feed.

"Kayos!" Mother blurts, louder this time. She catches herself, swallowing deeply as she regains her posture, her tone lower and firmer, "This can not be necessary."