Chapter 2 Mark Of The Curse

Lila didn't stop running until the forest spat her out at the edge of Raven Hollow, breathless, scraped, and covered in sweat and mud. She stumbled down the overgrown path behind the abandoned church, hands trembling so violently she could barely clutch the old iron gate for balance.

The village was asleep - lamps dark behind shuttered windows, chimneys sending up the last sighs of smoke into the cold spring night. She forced her lungs to obey, sucking down air in ragged gasps while her mind replayed the clearing over and over: the glowing eyes, the iron shackles, the blood on fur that shouldn't have bled like that.

It wasn't a nightmare. It wasn't a figment of her exhausted brain. She had spoken to him. He had spoken back.

She didn't realize she was crying until her mother's voice sliced through the fog.

"Lila Ainsley! Where have you been?"

The front door banged open, spilling yellow light onto the rickety porch. There stood her mother, hands braced on her hips, apron still tied over her nightgown. Her expression flickered from fury to concern the instant she saw Lila's state.

"I'm sorry- Mama, I-" But the words stuck in her throat, tangled up with howls and glowing eyes.

Her mother crossed the yard in three strides, gripping her shoulders so tightly it hurt. "Look at you! Covered in filth - Lord have mercy, child, you're freezing. Where did you run off to?"

Lila could only shake her head, the truth burning on her tongue like poison she didn't dare spit out. Who would believe her? The Midnight Wolf was a legend for scaring disobedient children - not a living, breathing man with a curse older than the village itself.

Her mother's gaze softened, though worry etched deep lines around her mouth. "Come inside before you catch your death. We'll talk tomorrow."

Lila didn't argue. She let herself be herded inside, stripped of her muddy clothes, and wrapped in an old blanket by the fireplace. Her mother fussed over her scrapes in silence. Questions hovered in the air but never fell. When she finally curled up in her narrow bed, the house quiet but her mind anything but, sleep found her in restless snatches.

And in her dreams, he found her too.

The next morning dawned cold and gray. Rain pattered on the roof, drumming a steady warning she ignored as she slipped from the house before her mother stirred. Her wrist ached where she'd landed on it, but her feet moved on their own, carrying her back to the forest edge.

It was madness, she knew. But if she didn't see him again, if she didn't prove to herself that she hadn't imagined it all - she would lose her mind.

Raven Hollow still slept as she crossed the churchyard. The iron gate squealed in protest. Beyond it, the forest loomed like a memory waiting to swallow her whole.

She paused just inside the first ring of trees, hugging her coat tighter around her thin shoulders. The clearing wasn't far, but each step felt heavier than the last.

Her mind spun with questions she didn't dare shape aloud: Who was he before the curse? Why did he spare her? Why did he look at her like she was something precious he didn't deserve to touch?

A branch cracked behind her. She whirled around, heart leaping into her throat - but it was only an old woman, hunched under a heavy cloak, collecting wild herbs in a wicker basket.

The crone regarded her with pale, sharp eyes that seemed to pierce straight through her thoughts. "Looking for the wolf, are you, child?"

Lila's mouth fell open. She stammered, "I- what do you mean?"

The old woman's cracked lips twitched into something that wasn't quite a smile. "You have his mark. Clear as moonlight. Be wary, girl. The forest takes what it's owed."

Before Lila could ask more, the woman turned and vanished among the trees, leaving only the echo of her stick tapping over roots.

Lila found the clearing again just before noon. It looked different in daylight - smaller, almost ordinary, the moss bright green instead of ghostly silver. No sign of the beast. No torn earth or bloodstains to prove the fight had happened.

She stepped to the center and sank to her knees, brushing trembling fingers over the flattened grass where he had stood. A strange warmth pulsed under her skin, as if the air itself remembered him.

A twig snapped behind her. She spun, breath catching.

He was there.

Not in full beast form this time - but not quite human either. Shadows clung to him like a cloak, hiding most of his body save for the wolfish ears pricking through dark hair and the flicker of golden eyes watching her warily.

"You shouldn't have come back," he said. His voice was softer now, but sadness laced every word.

Lila's throat worked. She forced herself to speak. "Who are you?"

A bitter laugh escaped him. "No one. Nothing. A ghost chained to this forest."

"Why are you cursed?"

His gaze dropped to the iron shackles still hugging his wrists. "Because once, I believed love could conquer greed and betrayal. I was wrong."

She took a hesitant step closer. He didn't flinch this time.

"Tell me how to help you," she whispered.

His eyes rose to meet hers - sharp, hungry, impossibly ancient. And behind that hunger, a glimmer of something fragile. Hope.

"You can't," he rasped. "But you can ruin yourself trying.