We were halfway to the Deadlands when it happened.
The moon was low, dragging its silver belly across the horizon, and The big bad…I mean Axe had been walking behind us most of the way, hood up, cloak ragged. The wolf still clung to his features, claws, fur-lined skin, those silver predator eyes. He’d only half-shifted since we found him. Like something in him was scared to finish it.
But then the air cracked.
It wasn’t loud, it was quiet. Like the sound the world makes right before lightning strikes.
Axe staggered, hand bracing against a dead tree. His breathing hitched, eyes squeezed shut.
Nyx turned. “Yo, he good?”
Before I could answer, his body started to glow, not golden, not bright, but that low, haunted glow of the in-between. Like moonlight bleeding through water.
And then it happened.
The fur peeled back like mist. The claws retracted. His frame reshaped, broad shoulders, lean muscle, sharp jaw cut from stone and shadow. His eyes stayed silver, glowing even more in his fully human form. A long scar trailed from his cheek to his jawline, faint but fierce. His hair, jet-black, was tied into a loose with a few strands hanging wild across his brow.
He looked…
“Damn,” Aya muttered. Then she blinked and crossed her arms quick. “I mean, damn, like… he still look like he got fleas or whatever.”
Nyx burst out laughing. “Nah, girl, you said that with your chest. Don’t backtrack now!”
Axe stood there, still breathing heavy, as if the shift took everything in him.
“…This me?” he asked.
Cindy stared like she was watching the villain from a romance novel crawl off the page. “Yeah. That’s you.”
He looked down at his hands. Touched his face. “I feel… clearer.”
I didn’t say anything. I was too busy seeing the ghost of a threat and the makings of a brother at the same time.
“Shows over can we move on please,” I muttered.
Axe looked at me as he walked faster to catch up. “You ok?”
Nyx rolled his eyes. “Man, if this turns into a boyband I’m out.”
He had this cool, effortless aura about him now. Wolfish, yeah, but not the snarling nightmare from before. This was more… James Dean with a growl. Hair slicked back. Cloak hanging off one shoulder. The kind of guy who could rob a bank and flirt with the teller at the same time.
Aya didn’t trust him. But she was curious. Which was worse.
Cindy kept side-eyeing him like she was trying not to blush.
And me?
I didn’t know what to feel.
Part of me wanted to rip out his throat just to finish what I started. But another part kept looking at the scar on his face, the one I gave him which reminded me of his amnesia.
We made camp just outside the Ridge, a jagged line of stone that marked the edge of the known world. Beyond it? The Deadlands. Place where bones whispered and shadows learned your name. We weren’t ready yet. Not tonight.
Nyx sparked the fire with a lazy flick of his hand, the flames catching like they knew better than to argue. Cindy gathered bark and dry twigs without a word, while Aya summoned glowing mushroom stools and softly pulsing fungi lights to circle us in a warm hush.
Axe sat near the edge of the firelight, quiet.
Watching her.
Cindy.
She stayed on the other side, arms crossed, pretending not to feel the heat of his eyes. But I saw the twitch in her jaw. The way her body stayed half-turned, like instinct told her not to show her back.
Axe finally broke the silence. His voice low. Careful.
“…Did I… do something to her?”
The words dropped like iron.
Everyone froze. Even the fire seemed to shrink a little.
“I can smell it,” Axe went on, eyes locked on Cindy. “Her fear. Her heartbeat changes when I move too close. It’s like I… left something in her. A wound.”
I looked at him, jaw tight. Yes the question was freaking annoying, but also sad. Sad because I felt bad that he couldn’t remember.
“You did,” I said. “You weren’t just a wolf back then, Axe. You were a monster. You tried to kill her.”
He flinched. Pain flickered in those silver eyes. “And you?”
“I stopped you,” I said. “Put you under , left you to bleed.”
Silence stretched.
Cindy’s voice broke it, soft but sharp. “You didn’t just try to kill me. You hunted me.”
Axe looked down slowly, hands out, not threatening, just exposed. Vulnerable.
“I don’t remember it. But I believe you,” he said, looking at her. “And I’m sorry.”
Cindy didn’t say anything at first. She looked at him like she wanted to hate him. Like she should.
But his voice was so damn honest.
“I don’t know who I used to be,” Axe said. “But I know who I don’t want to be now. If you let me… I’ll prove it.”
Cindy stared hard at him. Then sighed and looked away. “I’m not forgiving you just ‘cause you look sad in firelight.”
“I’m sorry, Cindy. For everything. If I could take it back…”
“You can’t,” she said flatly.
A beat passed.
He nodded. “Then I’ll carry it. However you need me to.”
She looked at him.
“I believe you mean that,” she said. “And that’s enough… for now.”
Axe blinked. “You forgive me?”
“I forgive the you standing here,” she said softly. “Not the one from that night. I don’t know if that version is still in you. But I’ll give this one a chance.”
A breath left him like someone cut a chain from his chest.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
“Don’t make me regret it,” she added, pointing a stick at him and half smiling.
He gave a half-smile. “Scouts honor.”
“Homeboy said scout's honor,” Nyx said aloud, but the tension finally broke.
Aya let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding as she said. “So everybody is cool so we could move on cause yall given’ me a neck ache.”
We all nodded in silence.
The fire crackled low as the last of the tension finally broke and scattered into the night like ash. Axe sat back slowly, the flicker of the flames painting gold across the scar on his cheek.
Nyx leaned back on his elbows with a lazy sigh. “Well, that wasn’t dramatic or anything.”
Aya snorted. “I swear, if another deep life confession pops off tonight, I’m sleeping in a tree.”
“You’d fall in five seconds,” Nyx muttered.
Aya glared. “Bet.”
Axe chuckled quietly. Even that felt weird, he had the kind of laugh that made you think he hadn’t used it in a while, like it was a rusted tool finally working again.
He looked at me, eyes clearer now. “Thanks for not leaving me in that bar.”
I didn’t answer right away. Just nodded. Truth was, I still didn’t know why I didn’t. Maybe because I saw something in him that night, something even he didn’t understand yet. Or maybe I just didn’t want to bury the past without knowing if it could change. Or leave another brother lost and alone.
The night air settled cool around us. The stars above were quiet, distant watchers.
But our circle was whole.
For now.
Aya yawned and flopped backward onto her bedroll. “Wake me when it’s time to fight demons or get possessed or whatever.”
“Deal,” I muttered.
Cindy stretched and laid down too.
Nyx was already halfway asleep, mumbling something about hot springs and pretty flowers.
Axe sat quiet for a long moment before laying down last, arms behind his head, staring up at the sky.
I looked up at the stars too.
And just like that… we rested.
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