Chapter 3 Secrets Beneath the Moon

For a moment, neither of them moved. A crow cawed somewhere high in the canopy, its hoarse cry cutting through the hush that had wrapped itself around Lila and the creature who should have terrified her - but didn't.

By the soft light of dawn, he looked even less like a monster and more like a man left behind by time. His hair fell in tangled waves over his brow and down the sharp lines of his jaw. Ragged trousers clung to his hips, their edges torn and caked with forest grime. Iron shackles bit into the flesh of his wrists, chafed raw from fighting bonds older than her village itself.

Lila's throat tightened at the sight. The bruises and half-healed scars spoke louder than any words he might say. She had come prepared to flee at the first snarl, but instead, all she wanted to do was kneel and whisper that he wasn't alone anymore - though she didn't know how or why she felt so certain.

"You saved me," she said, and her voice trembled with the weight of it. "Last night. That other wolf would have-"

"-killed you." He finished her thought in a voice so soft and resigned it nearly broke her.

He stood just beyond the circle of weak sunlight, half-shadow and half-man. His eyes - that impossible shade of molten gold - flicked down to the moss at his feet. He seemed more interested in a beetle crawling across a fallen branch than in her gratitude.

"I shouldn't have," he murmured, not looking at her. "I should have let you run. Let you forget."

"But you didn't."

Her defiance startled even herself. Her mother would have dragged her back by the ear if she knew Lila was standing here, talking to the monster mothers warned children about at bedtime. But here she was - not running, not screaming.

A breath that might have been a laugh escaped him. It came out more like a sigh. He shifted, the iron cuffs scraping against each other with a harsh rasp that made her flinch.

"Why did you come back?" he asked, but his tone made it sound like a curse, not a question.

Lila squared her shoulders, ignoring the knot of fear writhing in her stomach. "Because I needed to know if you were real. If what I saw... if you were a dream or a warning."

A dry leaf fluttered down between them, spinning once before settling in the moss. He watched it fall as though it were the only thing in the world worth seeing. Then he lifted his gaze to hers - and her breath caught at the sorrow carved deep into his face.

"You shouldn't want me to be real, girl." He took a step closer. Chains rattled softly. "Nothing good comes from knowing what lives in this forest."

"I'm not afraid," she lied.

His lips curved in a mockery of a smile, just for an instant. "Brave little thing. Or foolish. Do you think I'm a fairytale waiting to grant you wishes?"

"No," Lila whispered. "But I think you're alone. And you shouldn't have to be."

That struck something in him - she saw it flicker in his eyes before he turned away sharply, shoulders stiff. He paced a tight circle, boots scuffing against roots, the shackles dragging behind him like old regrets.

"I don't want your pity," he snapped. The words came out half-growl, half-plea.

"Then don't take it as pity," she shot back, voice rising. "Take it as... as thanks. You risked your life for mine. I can't just pretend I don't owe you something."

He stopped pacing. He stood so still she thought the forest had frozen with him. A breeze tugged at his hair, stirring shadows that clung to his sharp cheekbones.

"Do you really want the truth?" he asked, softer now. "You won't sleep easy again once you know it."

Lila lifted her chin. "Tell me."

He lowered himself onto a mossy log, the iron dragging with a low, weary clink. It looked like it cost him effort just to sit still - a caged predator forever fighting invisible chains. Lila inched closer, careful not to startle him. She perched on a low root across from him, knees brushing wet moss.

"My name was Adrien," he said at last, staring at the tangled forest as if the trees themselves remembered better days. "Once. Long ago, I had a father who called me heir. A mother who sang to me by moonlight. I belonged to a clan who kept these woods safe - balanced. We were not monsters then."

Lila's breath caught. A prince? A clan that guarded the forest? This was no peasant's fireside tale.

"What happened?" she whispered.

"Betrayal." His lips twisted around the word like it tasted rotten. "Jealous men with iron and envy. A witch with poison in her smile. I thought I was striking a bargain for vengeance. I traded my crown for claws. My freedom for fangs. By the time I saw her true price, my kin were dead, and my name was shackled to the roots of this cursed place."

He lifted his wrists, showing her the rusted iron and the old, infected scars it hid. "Now I am the ghost they warn children about. And worse still - the forest will never let me die. Not until the moon forgets my name."

Lila reached out before she could stop herself, fingertips brushing the iron cuff. It burned cold and rough under her touch, like the edge of a nightmare.

"Can't it be broken?" she asked, voice trembling. "There must be a way."

Adrien laughed - low, bitter, more beast than man. It scraped against her heart.

"Only blood and fire break curses like mine. And I won't let you spill either."

A sudden rustle deeper among the trees made him freeze. His ears twitched - too sharp for a human's - and his eyes flared molten bright.

"They come," he snarled. "The forest feels you, girl. They smell your warmth. RUN."

He surged to his feet, towering over her now - no longer a sad, chained prince, but something fierce, fur bristling at his jawline, fangs glinting as his lips curled back.

"Go, Lila. GO!"

Instinct overruled fear. She stumbled backward, then spun and tore through the trees, brambles whipping at her cloak. Behind her, a snarl ripped the air - Adrien, lunging into the shadows to shield her from whatever prowled behind the ancient oaks.

And though her feet flew over roots and moss, her mind clung to one thought:

She would come back.

No matter how many monsters howled in the dark.