Chapter 12: A Warning
310words
"You can and you will," he insisted. "For your own safety."
"Are you threatening me?"
"I'm warning you." He looked away, his jaw tight. "There are others like us who wouldn't be as... restrained... as I've been."
A chill ran down my spine at his words. "I understand," I said quietly. "Thank you for helping me last night."
He didn't respond, simply waiting for me to exit his truck. As I climbed out, I couldn't help but feel I was leaving something important behind—not just the discovery of werewolves, but something more personal, a connection I couldn't quite define.
"Goodbye, Charlotte," he said firmly, the finality in his tone unmistakable.
I closed the door without responding, watching as he drove away, back toward the depths of the forest and its secrets.
As I got into my own car, I knew one thing with absolute certainty: this wasn't over. I might be leaving now, but I would be back. The scientist in me couldn't walk away from such a discovery, and something else—something I wasn't ready to examine too closely—wouldn't let me walk away from Liam.
A week passed before I returned to Silver Creek Forest. I'd spent the time researching everything I could find about werewolf legends, comparing them with what I'd witnessed in Liam's cabin. Most of the folklore seemed like nonsense now that I'd seen the real thing, but some elements rang true—the connection to the moon, the physical transformation, the pack structure.
I'd also analyzed the moss samples I'd collected before the storm. They contained compounds I'd never seen before, with properties that might indeed help with the kind of transformation I'd witnessed the young werewolf experiencing.
