The Lycan's Hidden Flame

Elsa

The full moon hung heavy in the sky, its pale light casting a glow over the castle grounds, but it didn't feel peaceful. It felt suffocating. The air was thick, pressing down on my chest with an invisible weight, and the pulse in my veins raced faster than my heart could keep up.

I could feel it building inside me, like an explosion waiting to happen. Pain.

It started as a twinge, a mild discomfort in my bones. But it quickly escalated, turning into a sharp, unbearable ache, as if my entire body were being pulled apart from the inside out. I gasped for breath, clutching at my ribs, the pressure mounting, unbearable.

The moon—the damn moon—was too close. I knew what it meant. I'd been feeling it for days, this… pulling. Like something was coming, something I couldn't control.

I didn't know how I knew it, but I knew.

I ran. My body moved without my consent, my legs carrying me faster than they ever had before. Through the castle grounds, across the open fields, toward the edge of the forest. The pain was too much to bear, and the instincts inside me screamed for freedom. My heart raced in time with the blood pounding in my ears. The forest called me—it wanted me.

I didn't think. I just followed, driven by the gnawing hunger in my chest. The need to escape the pain, to run from the body that was betraying me. My skin burned. My bones felt like they were reshaping themselves.

"Elsa!" I heard a voice, familiar and yet distant. It was Kieran.

I didn't stop. I couldn't. He couldn't know what was happening to me. I wasn't ready to face it. I wasn't ready for what was coming.

But the truth was, I couldn't escape it. No matter how hard I tried.

The forest seemed to swallow me whole, the trees looming around me, dark and foreboding. I stumbled over roots, my vision swimming as the world around me blurred in waves of agony. My breath was shallow, quick, my chest heaving with every step.

And then—snap.

A bone cracked, sharp and sudden.

I screamed. It wasn't just from the pain; it was from the terrifying, unfamiliar sensation of my body shifting against its will. Something inside me twisted and turned, bones and muscles stretching in ways they shouldn't.

"Kieran! Help me!" I gasped, but my voice barely reached the air, swallowed by the forest's thick darkness. I wanted to scream again, but the pain was so consuming, I could barely keep myself upright. My legs buckled beneath me, and I fell to the ground, hands clawing at the dirt.

Then I heard him. The sound of branches snapping, boots crunching the fallen leaves, followed by a low growl. My heart skipped. He was close. Too close.

"Elsa, stop! You need to fight it!" Kieran's voice was strained, desperate.

But I couldn't fight it. I didn't know how to.

I let out a strangled cry as my body contorted again, the agony intensifying with every breath I took. I could feel my skin stretching, pulling, changing. My fingers—no, claws—ripped through the ground. I couldn't control it. I couldn't stop it.

And then, it happened.

My bones snapped back into place with an audible crack. My senses exploded. The world around me suddenly felt alive. I could smell the wet earth, the damp leaves, the sharp scent of Kieran's sweat as he neared me, even the distant trace of something darker—something I couldn't quite place but instinctively knew was dangerous.

I opened my eyes, and everything was clearer than it had ever been. But I wasn't seeing with my human eyes anymore. I was seeing through the eyes of the wolf.

I was the wolf.

The world shifted in ways I couldn't comprehend, the trees towering like giants, the night sky stretching above me like an ocean of stars. My body, now sleek and white, was agile, fast. And for the first time, I felt powerful. But it was also terrifying.

The pain that had been so overwhelming moments before was still there, but it was different now—more manageable, somehow. I could feel Kieran's presence behind me, his scent strong and urgent as he stepped closer.

"Elsa," he breathed, as if tasting my name on his lips. "You're… you're a wolf."

I didn't know what to say. What could I say? The reality of it hit me like a freight train. I wasn't just any wolf. I wasn't even just a wolf. I could feel it—feel the raw power that thrummed in my veins, as though I were meant for this. But I wasn't ready for it. I hadn't asked for this.

The thought of it made me want to flee again, but Kieran was too close. His hand, tentative at first, brushed against my fur, and I froze. His touch was both comforting and electric, stirring something inside me that I didn't want to acknowledge.

"Elsa, listen to me," Kieran said, his voice rough, a mix of awe and something deeper—something dangerous. "You're the one they've been waiting for. You're the one from the prophecy."

I felt a knot twist in my chest. The prophecy. Of course, it had to be that. It always had to be that.

But my mind couldn't process it all at once. I needed to think. I needed answers. And there was only one person who could give them to me—Kieran. But now, with my mind swimming in the fog of a transformation I barely understood, I couldn't bring myself to speak.

I growled low, the sound vibrating in my chest, and instinctively backed away from him.

"No," I thought, though it wasn't in words. It was just a primal need, an impulse. I wasn't ready for this, for him, for whatever this connection between us meant.

Kieran took a step forward, his movements slow, careful. "Elsa, it's okay," he said, almost like he was trying to convince himself as much as me. "I won't hurt you."

I wanted to believe him. God, I really did. But there was something about the way he said it, the underlying tension in his voice, that made my instincts scream at me to run.

I turned, my body still unfamiliar in this new form, and took a few shaky steps into the forest, moving with a speed I had never known.

But then I heard it.

A soft rustling—like footsteps—coming from deeper in the woods.

The faintest whisper of a voice, barely audible, but unmistakable.

"She's here."

I froze, my hackles rising. Something dark—something terrible—was coming.

And I wasn't ready.

Not for this. Not for whatever awaited us in the forest.

But I had no choice but to face it.

Because at that moment, I realized—whatever they were, they had been waiting for me all along.