Beneath the Alpha's Moon
Chapter 272: A Stalker Hero

Chapter 272: A Stalker Hero

Eldur’s POV

There are moments when I think I’ve gone completely soft. Weak, even. Not in the way people fear—supernaturals and some humans who knew the real me still flinch when they say my name, still cross the street to avoid walking beside me, still whisper the word "monster" like I don’t hear it.

I do.

I just don’t care.

But lately... lately, it’s been different. And it started with Nova.

Nova, with her strange, infuriating kindness. Nova, who laughs like the world hasn’t earned it but she gives it anyway. Nova, who makes me feel like I’ve swallowed lightning every time she looks at me like I’m... good.

Whatever that means.

Tonight, she told me to go home. Told me she’d come over to mine after gathering her "girly things," as she called them, from the chaotic circus she calls a shared room with her crazy roommate Lara.

I pretended to agree.

I did go home.

For fourteen minutes.

Fourteen unbearable minutes of pacing, of imagining every possible thing that could go wrong. Of picturing her walking alone in the dark, her laugh still echoing in my ears. I told myself I was being stupid.

But I’ve never been the type to obey my better judgment.

So I left. Slipped through a portal just down the street from her building and watched from the shadows.

At first, I was mildly entertained. Lara was being her usual unhinged self, flinging clothing and scented chaos at Nova like she was preparing her for a seduction ritual. Nova giggled, rolled her eyes, argued, blushed.

I stood on the rooftop across from their hostel, arms folded, and let myself smile like an idiot.

I watched her leave the building, bag in hand, hair caught up in that lazy bun she always made when she was in a rush. I expected her to head straight to my apartment. But halfway there, she veered off.

Convenience store.

Harmless. Right?

Wrong.

So. Bloody. Wrong.

I should have gone in with her. Should have revealed myself. Should have done something.

But instead, I stayed outside. Watched through the grimy front window, thinking she’d be in and out.

Until I saw them.

Three of them. Male. Arrogant. The kind of men who smile like the world owes them everything—and like women are just debt waiting to be collected.

They moved toward her like shadows with teeth.

And my world narrowed into a single point of rage.

Inside me, Aethros—my new wolf—growled. Not a warning. A promise.

"They touched her. They. Touched. Her."

I don’t remember crossing the space between me and the store. One blink, I was on the sidewalk. The next, the glass of the front door shattered inward with a scream of metal and magic.

I didn’t walk in.

I stormed.

Every fluorescent bulb in the ceiling shattered—simultaneously. Like the building itself was flinching.

The air thickened. Buzzed. Then trembled, humming with something just on the edge of wrong.

And then—

"Let her go," I said.

No yelling. No threats. Just a voice like a still blade—quiet, but sharp enough to bleed.

The guy gripping her wrist turned his head, slow and careless, like I was nothing more than a gust of air brushing past.

Big mistake.

The second our eyes met, his expression changed. The color drained from his face like it was running from something. Like he wasn’t looking at a man—but at something older. Something hungry.

Nova ripped her arm free and stumbled back, chest heaving like her lungs had forgotten how to breathe.

She looked at me.

And just like that, everything inside me cracked.

The first guy blinked, confused. "Who the hell are—"

I moved before the words even left his mouth.

One hand on his collar, I yanked him clean off the floor and slammed him into the freezer door. Glass splintered behind him in a spiderweb of fractures.

His scream split the store wide open.

Nova gasped—but I didn’t turn to her. I couldn’t. If I saw the fear in her eyes, if I saw even a flicker of doubt, I might tear this entire place off the map.

The second guy came at me like a fool who hadn’t learned the lesson.

I turned just as his fist cut through the air—caught his wrist mid-swing. Then twisted.

Bone cracked. Loud.

He screamed.

I didn’t stop. Couldn’t. I felt the shift—the thing inside me waking up.

Aethros.

My voice dropped, warping into something darker. "You touched what is mine."

I hurled him into a cereal display. Boxes exploded. Shelves buckled and collapsed like they’d been made of cardboard soaked in rain.

The third guy tried to run.

Tried.

I raised two fingers—and a portal tore itself open in front of him. It howled like a void starving for sound, storming and shrieking with the fury of a thousand winds.

He didn’t even make it two steps before it spat him out across the store. He crashed into the counter, blood streaking down his forehead.

Then came the begging.

All of them, on the floor, sobbing, bleeding, begging like their lives had suddenly started meaning something.

I stepped through the wreckage—over broken bottles, crumpled chip bags, and a river of soda and glass.

I grabbed one of them by the shirt and dragged him up to his knees.

"Please," he cried. "We didn’t know—"

I leaned closer. My voice was a breath of ice. "You didn’t care. And now... neither do I."

I waved a hand.

Magic surged—a deep roar, like a storm collapsing in on itself.

Every camera in the store cracked. Screens fizzled out. Anything that could’ve recorded what happened melted from the inside.

No witnesses. No traces. Just ruin.

The floor quaked.

Another portal bloomed behind me, this one colder—howling, swirling with sleet and snow. Wind screamed like wolves lost in a blizzard, the air biting and ancient.

"Say hello to Mount Tharrak," I said, smiling for the first time tonight. "Where the wind strips skin like bark, and the sun hasn’t risen in over three hundred years."

I started dragging them toward it, one by one.

"Please! Don’t do this!"

"You’ll freeze us alive!"

I leaned in, voice like cracking frost. "If you’re lucky."

Then I threw them in.

Gone.

I snapped my fingers. The portal closed with a sound like the world holding its breath.

Silence.

A silence so deep it rang in my ears.

Then—

"Eldur...?"

Nova’s voice was small. Fragile.

I turned.

She was pale. Unsteady. Her eyes wide with something between awe and terror.

And then... she collapsed.

Right into me.

Her body folded like the strength had been yanked clean out of her, and she dropped into my arms, limp and trusting. Her head hit my chest with a soft thud—like a stone sinking into water—and just like that, the rage inside me... vanished.

The fire I’d been breathing, the storm I’d become—it all went still.

Gone. Like sunlight burning off the last of the morning fog.

I caught her like she was something priceless and fragile. Like if I held her too tight, she might break—or worse, disappear.

My hands started shaking.

Even Aethros stirred inside me, uneasy and quiet for once. A soft, low whimper. He felt it too.

She was safe.

That was the only thing that mattered now.

"Nova," I breathed, gently brushing strands of hair away from her face. "Nova... please."

That word didn’t belong to me. Not really. I’d never used it. Not with enemies. Not with gods.

But I said it to her.

Because this was different.

She didn’t respond.

Didn’t stir.

I let out a breath, slow and aching, and pressed my forehead against hers. "You’re okay," I whispered. "I’ve got you."

I wrapped my arms around her and blinked us out of the ruin—back to my apartment. My shelter. The one place left in the world where I could pretend to feel human again.

The second we arrived, I moved like glass—cautious, careful. I lowered her onto the couch, pulling a blanket around her like armor. My hands ran over her arms, her face, checking for bruises, damage, anything I might’ve missed.

There was a smudge of glass dust on her cheek. I wiped it away with my sleeve, like erasing the last trace of chaos.

Then I just stood there.

Frozen.

Staring at her like she might wake up and unravel me with a single look.

Because for the first time in a very long time... I was scared.

What if she opens her eyes and sees what I really am?

What if she backs away?

What if I’ve already lost her?

What if I’m exactly the monster she saw tonight?

And what if she’s right?

I sank down beside her, slow and heavy, and took her hand into mine. It was small and warm and barely curled around my fingers.

I didn’t deserve this moment.

Didn’t deserve her.

But I’d fight for her anyway.

I’d guard her even if she wanted nothing to do with me.

Even if her love turned to fear.

Even if protecting her... meant it would be the last thing I ever did.

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