Chapter 2 : Wolf King''s Domain

The forest grew darker as they walked. Or maybe it was just the trees getting thicker. Alex couldn''t tell. Everything here felt wrong. Too quiet. Too still.

Silver moved ahead without looking back. Confident. Like he owned every inch of this place.

"Where are we going?" Alex asked.

"My territory." Silver''s voice was flat. "You''ll stay there until I decide what to do with you."

"Decide what? I told you, I just appeared here. I don''t know how."

"You''re human. Humans lie."

"I''m not lying!"

Silver stopped. Turned. Those emerald eyes pinned Alex in place. "Prove it."

"How?"

"Show me your magic."

"I don''t have magic!"

Silver stepped closer. Too close. Alex could feel the heat coming off his bare chest. Smell the forest on his skin—pine, moonlight, something wild.

"Everyone has magic here," Silver said. "Even humans. Especially humans who appear from nowhere."

He reached out. Alex flinched, but Silver''s hand didn''t touch him. Instead, it hovered over Alex''s chest. Silver''s palm glowed with soft silver light.

Alex felt a pull. A tug deep in his chest. Like something waking up.

"What are you doing?"

"Seeing what you are." Silver''s eyes narrowed. "Interesting."

"What?"

"You have power. Dormant. Buried deep." Silver lowered his hand. The glow faded. "But you don''t know how to use it."

"Because I''m not from here! I''m from Earth. Oxford. England."

Silver stared at him for a long moment. Then he turned and kept walking. "Come."

They reached a clearing. Moonlight poured down, turning the grass silver. In the center stood a massive tree, its trunk hollowed out into a natural shelter.

"This is where you''ll stay tonight," Silver said.

Alex peered inside. The hollow was lined with soft furs. It smelled of pine and clean earth. Cozy, in a primitive way.

"Thanks," Alex said.

Silver didn''t respond. He stood at the edge of the clearing, looking up at the moon. The light caught his silver hair, his bare shoulders, the curve of his back.

Alex''s throat went dry. He''d never seen anyone so... perfect. Like a statue come to life.

"Tomorrow," Silver said without turning, "I''ll decide what to do with you. Sleep."

He melted into the shadows. Gone.

Alex crawled into the hollow. The furs were surprisingly soft. He lay down, staring up at the patch of sky visible through the tree''s opening.

The moon was full. Huge. Brighter than any moon he''d ever seen.

He thought of Silver standing in that moonlight. The way his muscles had moved. The intensity in those green eyes.

His heart beat faster again.

Not good. Not good at all.

***

Morning came with howls.

Alex jerked awake. The forest was alive with sound—howls, barks, the rustle of many bodies moving.

He crawled out of the hollow. Dozens of wolves filled the clearing. Some in wolf form. Some in human form. All silver-haired. All watching him.

Silver stood in the center. He''d put on a leather vest. His hair was tied back. He looked even more commanding in the daylight.

"Report," Silver said.

A gray-haired wolf in human form stepped forward. "The rift has widened, my king. Shadow creatures are coming through."

Silver''s expression hardened. "How many?"

"More than yesterday. And stronger."

"Gather the warriors. Prepare for battle. Send word to our allies—the elves, the orcs, the humans. The Shadow invasion has begun."

The wolf bowed and hurried away.

Alex approached cautiously. "What''s happening?"

Silver glanced at him. "War."

"War with who?"

"The Shadow Realm." Silver started walking toward the forest edge. "Come. I''ll show you."

Alex followed. The other wolves fell in behind them. A silent, deadly procession.

They reached the edge of the forest. Where the trees ended, a plain began. And floating in the air above the plain...

A tear.

A black, jagged rip in the sky. Dark mist poured from it. Shapes moved in the mist. Twisted. Wrong.

"The Shadow Rift," Silver said. "A gateway between our world and theirs. Every five hundred years, it opens. Shadow creatures invade. We fight them back. It closes. Until next time."

"But this time is different," Alex said.

Silver looked at him sharply. "How do you know?"

"The rift. It''s... pulsing. Growing. And the creatures coming through—they''re not just mindless beasts, are they? They''re organized."

For the first time, something like respect flickered in Silver''s eyes. "You see more than most humans."

"I study history. Patterns. This doesn''t look like a natural cycle. It looks like... an attack."

Before Silver could respond, black shapes erupted from the rift.

Shadow creatures. Dozens of them. Humanoid but twisted. Claws. Red eyes. They moved fast. Too fast.

Silver growled. A deep, animal sound.

His body began to change.

Silver fur sprouted. Bones cracked. Within seconds, a massive silver wolf stood where the man had been.

The wolf—Silver—let out a roar that shook the ground. Then he charged.

The battle began.