Chapter 1
XYRO
They call me evil.
They call me a monster.
Maybe deep down, I am one.
Maybe I'm a monster created to destroy.
And maybe... I enjoy it, too.
Of course I enjoy it.
Anything else would be boring. What does a hunter love more than scenting his prey, hunting it, hearing its heartbeat in the dark, reaching for it, and desiring it until there's nothing left?
The wind cuts through the charred trees of River Hill. The sky is heavy and bloodstained from the glow of fires blazing further down the valley. The smoke stings my throat, but I enjoy it. The smell of ash reminds me of what she has done. She set my world on fire, ensuring that nothing would ever be the same again.
Liora stands before me,
Pale and trembling.
Her once golden hair sticks to her forehead, mixed with soot and blood. There is no fear in her eyes anymore, only quiet, weary resignation.
"And what do you intend to do now?" Her voice breaks. "Kill me?"
"Perhaps."
A hint of mockery crosses my lips. I see her lower her gaze as if she might find a shred of humanity in me. But that humanity died a long time ago.
"Then do it," she says tonelessly. "And release me from this misery."
I laugh softly. "You demand deliverance after committing high treason? Do you know what you're asking of me, Liora? You..."
I stop myself.
I don't want to say those words. They're not what I once felt for her. They destroyed her, and yet they burn on my tongue.
"At what price, Xyro?" She raises her head, and her voice resonates with both despair and defiance. "We are not meant for each other. You cannot force something that was never meant to be."
I take a step toward her as the light from the flames dances across my skin.
"Not meant to be?" My voice trembles, rough with anger. “You thought it wise to hand me over to Kai? What were you thinking, Liora? That I'm so stupid that I'd walk right into your trap? Were you hoping to find me dead again and get away with it? Live a beautiful life with Kai without paying for what you've done?”
"I..."
I grab her and press my mouth over hers before she can say another word. My hand trembles. Not from weakness, but from the violence pulsing inside me. All the anger I've kept chained up for years is bursting forth now.
My blood boils. My breathing becomes heavy. The wolf inside me awakens. It wants to destroy everything.
"Destiny or not," I hiss, "I loved you, damn it!"
Her eyes widen as my gaze changes color—to gold, gleaming and cold.
The beast inside me pushes outward, tearing at me and whispering that I should punish her. Take her life, and take away everything Kai thought he had won. "I didn't care about any of the prophecies," I blurt out.
All that mattered to me was you. Only you. And now?" I leaned closer to her and smelled the metallic scent of her blood. "Now you may die, Liora. You will die knowing that I will burn River Hill to ashes over and over again, every hour, every month, every decade, every millennium."
I feel my hands closing around her throat: hot, firm, and unyielding.
"I won't stop until someone stronger opposes me. Every victim who dies by my hand, their soul will be on your conscience."
She gasps for air, her fingers clinging to my wrists. Tears mix with the dirt on her cheeks.
"You'll regret this, Xyro."
"Regret?" A dark smile twitches across my lips.
"I think you're the only one here who regrets anything. Look around you, Liora. This city is in ruins because of you. You were the catalyst, the spark that ignited everything.”
I lean closer to her until my breath brushes her skin. "Every year, I will haunt July 22nd. Every year, I will return, and every year, your children, your heirs, and all the descendants of this plague will disappear until there is no shadow left of your betrayal."
Slowly, I release my hands from her neck. She gasps for air before her fingers regain any strength. I reach for the dagger in my pocket. Her eyes follow my every movement as she realizes what I intend to do.
Without hesitation, I press the blade against my chest and pull it down from top to bottom. The wound opens, and warm blood seeps out. Pain shoots through my body, but I hold on. Only when my heart is pounding do I put the dagger back in the same place and push it in.
"Xyro, don't...don't do it! Please, Xyro, have mercy!" Her voice breaks and trails off, full of panic that comes too late.
The pain nearly makes my knees buckle as my wolf desperately tries to heal the wound and stop the disaster I have brought upon myself.
"See you in hell, Liora..." I gasp and slowly pull the dagger out of my chest.
Blood runs down the steel and drips from my fingers. It soaks my shirt, sticking heavily to my skin. I turn the blade and hold her gaze for one last moment before I ram the dagger into her chest.
"Xy...ro..." Her whisper is little more than a shaky breath. No resistance. No defiance. Just that quiet, terrible realization that comes too late.
It's not the blade that hurts.
Not even the pain of my own wound.
What burns is the truth that she was never meant for me.
An ancestor died by my blood—my blood, which she should have protected if she had been my destiny.
But she wasn't.
She never was.
She died because no bond tied her to me. No blessing from the moon goddess.
Only betrayal.
At that very moment, she took everything from me.
Everything I could have been. Everything we could have been.
I lower her to the ground slowly, almost reverently—not out of love, but out of bitter respect for the pain she has caused me.
For a moment, she rests in my arms, and I look at her face.
Her eyes lose their light.
Seconds. That's all death needs to assert its claim.
Where fire once burned, there is now emptiness. A dark, endless abyss.
No life.
Only silence remains.
All that remains of her is a body that no longer wants or demands anything and no longer lies.
Yet her spirit appears before me—a pale figure, half pain, half memory. It lifts its head as if to touch me one last time.
Her eyes, now clearer than ever, bore into mine.
Pain.
Suffering.
Remorse.
"I'm sorry," she whispers, her lips moving silently. It's the last remnant of what connected us.
Then she crumbled. She breaks into a silvery mist, carried away by the wind as if she had never existed.
But the world has no mercy on us.
Even as her spirit fades, a howl pierces my soul. Deep. Ancient.
First one, then many join in the howling.
The howl of her descendants and lineage.
Of her loyalty, which has become my enemy.
But nothing is louder than the growl of a wolf who has lost his mate.
It is the growl of a wolf who once fought by my side, hunted with me, and triumphed with me.
An old friend, now an enemy.
A shadow from my past that now claims my future.
I know the game that will destroy us both has only just begun.
