Page 3 of Caught

Could he make it?

Could he slip through the trees, quiet as a ghost, dodge the hunters in pursuit of his body? Could he find the narrow caves in the rock face, climb the steep cliffs near the old quarry, use the land the way only he could?

Would he be fast enough?

Or would still he be caught, despite everything?

Evan swallowed hard, flexing his hands against the cool air of his cottage. He knew the answer. Of course he did.

He’d seen it firsthand—how werewolves hunted, how they took what they wanted.

Every year, from just beyond his locked door, he heard it. The cries that rang out through the trees, sharp with pain, thick with pleasure. The gasps, the ragged moans, the desperate, needy sounds of humans who should have been running, fighting—but weren’t.

And every year, Evan told himself he would not listen.

He failed.

Always.

Because it wasn’t just curiosity that kept his ears straining into the night.

It was something darker.

Somethingwrong with him.

Evan gritted his teeth. He didn’t want this. Didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to feel it, didn’t want the heat pooling low in his gut, twisting through his veins like some shameful sickness.

He was better than this. He’d spent his whole life burying this part of himself, forcing it deeper, pretending it wasn’t there. Asfar as the world was concerned, he was just a normal, average straight guy—and he wanted to keep it that way.

He wouldn’t let one damned night unravel him.

A slamming knock jolted Evan from his thoughts. The sound echoed through his small living room, urgent and desperate.

"Please, help!" a voice cried out through the door.

Afamiliarvoice. Evan's stomach lurched.

Chapter two

Evan

The instant he unlocked the door, Lila stumbled inside, mascara streaking down her flushed cheeks. Her hair was wild, her cheeks stained with tears.

"What happened?" Evan guided his oldest childhood friend to the couch. "Lila, you shouldn't be outside tonight!"

Evan’s pulse pounded in his ears, but not just from fear. Lila wasn’t just his oldest friend—she was the one person in the world he couldn’t afford to lose.

She had always been there, since childhood, since the first time he’d come home crying because the other boys at school thought a quiet, nature-obsessed guy was the perfect target. When the worst of them started whispering slurs, pushing him into lockers, trying to goad him into a fight, Lila had stepped in without hesitation.

“Leave my boyfriend alone!” she’d announced, loud enough for the entire hallway to hear.

And just like that, the bullying stopped. The jocks still sneered at him, but they didn’t touch him anymore. Lila had made herself a shield, pretending to date him all through high school, even when it cost her her own chances to date. When he’d apologized—again and again—she’d just rolled her eyes, flipping her curls over her shoulder.

None of those losers are dating material anyway, she’d said with a smirk.

Even now, in their early twenties, that hadn’t changed. Life had pulled them in different directions—jobs, responsibilities, the weight of adulthood—but somehow, they were still there for each other. Lila still called him when she needed to rant about work, and he still showed up at her door with takeout when she had a bad day. She was the one who dragged him out of his house when he got too lost in his own head, and he was the one who made sure she didn’t self-destruct when she got restless and reckless.

But now, he knew he'd missed something. For her to be out heretonight, something had to be truly wrong.

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