Chapter-2 The truth Nana never told me

Aurelia did not sleep that night.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw emerald eyes glowing in the dark. She felt fur brushing past her ankles. Heard the low, protective growl that had shaken her bones.

And worse—

She felt the mark.

It burned now.

Not painfully—but insistently. Like something inside her had woken up and was stretching for the first time.

The house smelled of smoke, herbs, and broken glass. Eren had boarded up the windows before dawn, muttering curses under his breath. Her grandmother sat at the kitchen table, hands wrapped tightly around a cup of untouched tea.

She looked… smaller than usual.

Older.

Aurelia hovered in the doorway, heart pounding.

“Nana,” she said quietly.

Her grandmother didn’t look up. “Sit.”

That single word carried weight. Finality.

Aurelia obeyed.

Eren lingered by the door, arms crossed, jaw tense. “You’re going to explain. All of it. Now.”

Her grandmother closed her eyes.

“For generations,” she began, voice low, “we prayed this day would never come.”

Aurelia swallowed. “The mark… what is it?”

Her grandmother’s gaze lifted slowly—and landed on Aurelia’s wrist.

Her face crumpled.

“It is a calling,” she whispered. “And a curse.”

The word settled into Aurelia’s chest like a stone.

Eren scoffed. “That’s not an answer.”

“It is the only one that matters,” Nana snapped, sudden steel in her voice. “Our bloodline does not create power. It attracts it.”

Aurelia’s fingers curled. “Attracts… what?”

“Beings,” her grandmother said. “Ancient ones. Broken ones. Those hunted for what they are.”

Aurelia’s throat went dry.

The boy.

The wolf.

Him.

“When you healed the cat,” Nana continued, “you sealed something that should never have been sealed again.”

Eren stiffened. “What cat?”

Aurelia whispered, “The one I saved in the woods. Years ago.”

Her grandmother nodded. “He was never a cat.”

The room felt suddenly too small.

Aurelia’s breath came shallow. “Who is he?”

Her grandmother hesitated.

“Someone powerful enough to ruin kingdoms,” she said finally. “And gentle enough to choose not to.”

Eren cursed under his breath.

Aurelia’s heart twisted painfully at the words.

Gentle.

That was exactly what she had felt.

A knock echoed through the house.

Sharp. Urgent.

Eren drew his sword immediately. “Who is it?”

A familiar voice followed, breathless and worried.

“Eren! Aurelia! Are you alive in there?!”

Aurelia surged to her feet. “Phil!”

Eren opened the door just as a young man rushed inside—tall, broad-shouldered, dark-haired, wearing travel-worn leather and concern etched deeply into his face.

Phil.

Her fiancé.

He took one look at the broken windows, the boarded door, the tension—and his face darkened.

“I heard shouting,” he said. “And rumors. People are talking.”

His eyes found Aurelia instantly, scanning her for injuries. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” she said quickly. “I’m okay.”

Relief flooded his features. He pulled her into a hug before she could react.

Aurelia stiffened—then slowly relaxed.

This was familiar. Safe.

Phil had always been safe.

“I was going mad,” he murmured into her hair. “I thought—”

“I’m here,” she said softly.

But even as she spoke, her eyes drifted—unconsciously—to the window.

To the shadows beyond it.

Phil pulled back, frowning. “What happened?”

Eren answered for her. “Hunters. Looking for her.”

Phil’s jaw tightened. “For Aurelia? Why?”

Silence.

Her grandmother stood. “Because the world remembers our sins.”

Phil looked between them. “You’re not making sense.”

Aurelia hesitated—then pushed her sleeve up.

Phil froze.

The mark glowed faintly, intricate and beautiful and terrifying.

“What is that?” he whispered.

Aurelia met his eyes. “I don’t know.”

Phil reached out instinctively—then stopped himself.

Fear flickered across his face.

Not of her.

Of what she might become.

“I’ll protect you,” he said immediately, voice firm. “Whatever this is, I won’t let anyone touch you.”

Her chest warmed at his words.

But her heart—

Her heart ached in a way she didn’t understand.

Because somewhere in the woods…

Someone already had.

That night, Aurelia stood at her window again.

The moon was full.

The forest quiet.

“Why me?” she whispered.

The shadows shifted.

A voice—not loud, not close—answered anyway.

“Because you chose mercy.”

Aurelia’s breath hitched.

“You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered. “They’re hunting you.”

“I know.”

Her fingers curled against the window frame. “Then why stay?”

Silence stretched.

Then—

“Because leaving you unguarded would be a lie.”

Her heart stumbled.

A shape detached from the darkness—not fully visible, not fully gone.

“I won’t touch your world,” the voice said softly. “Unless you ask.”

Aurelia swallowed hard.

“And if I don’t?”

A pause.

“Then I will watch,” he said. “From the shadows.”

The mark on her wrist pulsed.

And Aurelia realized, with a mix of fear and longing—

her life had already crossed a line it could never uncross.

—

Aurelia closed her eyes—

—and did not see Phil’s face.

She saw emerald eyes in the dark.

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