The baby suckled quietly in Camila's arms as she sat on the edge of her bed, lost in thought. The room was warm, lit softly by the afternoon sun spilling through the curtains, but her heart was anything but calm.
She couldn't stop thinking about him. Her jaw clenched. Her chest rose and fell with the weight of her anger. He had vanished when she needed him most, and now she was left to figure everything out on her own. Just like her, he had no family or friends… nobody to report to or ask of his whereabouts. Only his workers gave her the answers she needed. He wasn't missing, he was just away, living somewhere new and going to work from wherever that was. Maybe there was another woman or worse another family.
A sudden knock broke her thoughts.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Camila blinked and looked up, startled at first, then figured it was probably one of the neighbors, maybe coming to see the baby.
"One sec!" she called out.
She gently lifted her daughter from her chest and placed her in the crib, wrapping her in a blanket. Then she headed for the door.
As she opened it, her breath caught in her throat.
It was her husband.
Standing right there. Disheveled. Guilt written all over his face. And just like that, the anger that had been boiling beneath her skin erupted.
"You're unbelievable, Mav!" she snapped, eyes blazing.
"Hun, please… just calm down—"
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Her voice shook with rage. "Do you even know what I've been through? I gave birth while you were God-knows-where, ignoring my calls like I meant nothing!"
"I can explain—"
"Oh, you want to explain? Explain what? How you walked out that door and never came back? How you said it was one meeting, and days turned into weeks?" Her voice cracked, her fists balled tightly at her sides.
Then she saw it.
A faint smudge of lipstick on his collar.
Her breath hitched. Tears welled up and spilled over before she could stop them. She choked back a sob, then shoved him as he stepped closer.
"Don't touch me!"
"Camila—please, I didn't—"
She didn't let him finish. Her palm flew across his face with a loud crack.
He staggered slightly, then turned to face her with fury rising in his eyes.
"What's come over you, Cam!?"
"You really want to know?" Her voice dropped low, trembling with rage. She reached for the nearest thing on the table—a vase—and hurled it at him. He ducked, and it shattered against the wall.
Before she could move again, he lunged forward and grabbed her wrist, holding her in place.
His grip was firm. Too firm.
Then something shifted.
His body tensed. His breathing deepened. And suddenly… his eyes changed. They weren't brown anymore.
They glowed a piercing, unnatural sunset orange.
Camila froze.
Mav looked at her—really looked at her—and then slowly released his grip, as though even he wasn't sure what was happening to him.
She stumbled backward, her heart pounding, eyes wide with fear. The crib was only a few steps away.
She didn't think. She just moved.
Snatching up her baby, she backed toward the door, her eyes never leaving the man who now looked like something else entirely.
Then she ran out of the room.
Down the stairs, out the house, through the cold wind, barefoot and trembling. Behind her, she heard it. A loud, guttural howl that rose into the sky like a warning.
Mav had transformed into something strange.