Page 12 of Alpha's Heir

“A what?” Cora almost looked like she was going to laugh, and I couldn’t blame her. I would too if she’d said that to me.

“At first, it looked like a rabbit, but it wasn't right.”

Cora shifted closer, her brows furrowing. “What do you mean?"

I took a deep breath, trying to paint the picture in words. “Its fur was matted and its eyes were off – too large and too bright. But the weirdest part was its tail. It was freakishly long, not at all like a bunny's puff. More like... a snake.”

Cora’s face contorted with confusion and disgust. “A snake tail?”

I nodded, shuddering. “We watched as it moved, the tail slithering behind. And then, before we could even react, another rabbit, just a normal one, hopped into view. This... monster-rabbit rushed it. Its tail shot out, wrapping around the smaller rabbit like some kind of constrictor.”

She gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. “That’s… that's horrifying.”

“It gets worse,” I murmured, my voice barely audible. “When it had the smaller bunny trapped, it opened its mouth, and... Cora, it had fangs. Not bunny teeth, but actual, long, snake-like fangs. And it bit the other rabbit, right there, in front of us.”

Cora paled, her eyes wide with horror. “Oh my god...”

There was a heavy pause, both of us grappling with the grotesque image.

"We've seen strange and terrifying things since the shadow wolves started appearing," I whispered, "but this... this is a new kind of nightmare. And that’s not all. Winnifred thinks Luke might've been… turned."

“Turned?”

“Into a shadow.”

A shiver visibly ran down her spine, her face paling. “Do you mean being attacked by the Unseen Pack could... turn us into them?"

“I don’t know,” I replied, my voice shaky. “But the thought is fucking terrifying.”

We both sat in silence, the gravity of the situation sinking in. The realization that the enemy wasn’t just external, that the danger lurked within, threatened to overwhelm me.

"What do we do now?" Cora's voice was a mere whisper, her eyes filled with dread.

“We prepare," I said, feeling a determination burning inside me. "We arm ourselves, protect our pack, and find Luke. We need answers."

She nodded, her gaze firming. “And we stop these shadow creatures before they tear us apart.”

The night outside seemed darker than ever, the silence deafening, as the threat of the Unseen loomed over us. But amid the uncertainty and fear, one thing was clear – we would stand together, ready to face whatever was thrown our way.

Chapter seven

Cora

Theweeksthatfollowedwere a haze of paranoia and unease. The compound was buzzing with whispers and theories about the forest’s magic going haywire. Everyone was on edge.

One evening, after a long day of searching the woods for any signs of the shadow wolves, Weston and I were approached by Tilda, one of the pack’s scouts.

“Cora, Weston,” she panted, clearly shaken. “There's something you need to see. It's... it’s not right.”

We followed her lead, and what greeted us was beyond belief. A deer stood before us, but it wasn't a deer. Its legs were too long, its antlers twisted in ways that made me cringe, and its eyes – twin moons glowing in the failing light.

Weston muttered a soft, "Holy shit..." I could only nod, the weight in my stomach pulling me down as my heart raced.

And that wasn’t the end of it.

Just days later, Nina, a hunter, approached us with an odd-looking feather. “Found this near the clearing,” she said. The feather was black as night, but shimmered like an oil spill. The colors shifted as you moved it, hypnotic and unsettling.

People were seeing things—shapes moving in the forest's periphery, creatures half-seen that shouldn’t exist.

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