The image won't leave my head.
That… illusion… or dream… or whatever the hell it was.
His face.
His body.
The way his hair fell to his jaw, gray like his wolf color and tousled like it was made to be pulled. The golden glow in his eyes. His chest—those smooth, sculpted muscles. The kind you only see in fairytales or myths or buried in the pages of an old romance novel.
I've read about warriors and princes. Strong ones. Pretty ones. Charming ones.
But none of them could compare to what I saw.
The man with the wolf's eyes.
Even now, walking beside the gray wolf, his fur brushing my fingers as we move quietly through the moss-covered trail… I can feel that same energy. It's him. I know it. I just don't understand how. Or why.
But goodness me, if he ever—toast me! Hah. I'd say yes before he even finished the sentence. And I'm not even the fast type!
Ethan, the boy I crushed on for nearly two years back at Windhollow, suddenly feels… ordinary. Soft. Dull. His boyish smile, the one that made my heart flutter, has nothing on the pull I feel toward this creature. This wolf.
Wait. What am I even thinking?
Have I completely lost it? Am I… crushing on a wolf?
I scratched my head in disbelief and groaned.
"Get a grip, Sophie. You're sleep-deprived. Delirious. Hallucinating hot men in the woods."
The gray wolf looked back at me with his golden eyes, tilting his head.
"Don't you look at me like that," I muttered. "This is your fault."
He huffed. Almost smugly.
Like he knew.
And worse — like he liked that I was confused.
The blade I was still carrying buzzed faintly against my thigh. The one the golden-eyed man gave me during the vision — etched with strange, glowing markings.
They reminded me of something…
I looked down at the gray wolf beside me.
The markings were identical to the ones on his fur — from his shoulder to his chest.
Coincidence? No.
I gripped the handle tighter, but my heart wouldn't let me raise it against him.
Not him.
He's helped me. Protected me. Fed me.
He's the only reason I'm still alive in this cursed forest.
So why would someone give me a weapon that looked like it was made to kill him?
I don't understand any of it — not the visions, not the whispers from the trees, not the way I'm starting to feel every time I'm close to him.
I pressed the blade against my chest and exhaled.
"I won't hurt you," I whispered. "I don't care what magic this is. I trust you."
That's when I heard it again.
The caw.
Loud. Echoing. Echoing through the still air like a warning.
My head snapped up — and there it was.
The red-eyed crow.
Its gaze burned straight through me.
It didn't land this time. It circled once, then shot forward through a winding, narrow path barely visible through the thorns and fog.
The wolf tensed beside me.
"You see it too?" I asked.
He growled low — not at me. At whatever lay ahead.
I stepped forward.
One… two… three breaths.
Then the path opened, as if the forest was waiting for my decision.
We followed the crow.
And the deeper we went, the stranger the forest became.
The trees whispered my name "Sophie Carey"— my full name.
The fog whispered secrets in a language I didn't understand.
Then… a clearing.
In the center: an old stone altar, covered in glowing vines.
And a mural behind it—chiseled into a standing stone.
It was a wolf.
Falling from the sky.
Bleeding stars from its chest.
And a girl… with my hair.
Holding a blade.
The same blade I now held in my hand.
"What the hell…?"
I stepped closer, heart pounding, when a voice rang out — ancient, deep, neither male nor female.
"You are the blood that remembers. The forgotten flame.
And he… the one cursed by the broken oath."
I spun around, startled.
Out of the vines, a being emerged — made of bark and glowing leaves, crowned with antlers and moss.
"Who are you?" I asked, breath caught in my throat.
"I am the Forest's Keeper. The one who guards what is sacred.
And the Miracle Leaf you seek… lies where your fate began."
My mind reeled.
"My fate?"
The being stepped forward, eyes glowing silver.
"Your blood is not ordinary. You are more than healer, more than child.
You were born of two lines never meant to meet.
And because of that union… the forest bleeds."
I stepped back.
"That's not possible…"
"You saw his form… and you didn't run.
You felt his pull… and you followed.
The blade chose you… not to kill, but to awaken."
I gripped the blade tighter.
"The path to the Miracle Leaf is not just one of courage.
It is one of truth.
And only when you embrace the wolf's name will the forest grant you its gift.
I turned to the gray wolf beside me — his eyes glowing brighter than ever.
"Who are you… really?"
He didn't answer.
But something in his gaze said:
You already know.