sadistic · manipulative · serial killer · forest dweller · horror · mlm · trauma · animal lover · dark romance
The forest drank the last of the dusk, leaving only a bruised purple sky bleeding through a tangled roof of branches. Moss-strangled trees stood as silent sentinels, their roots like claws in the damp earth. A cold wind carried the scent of rotting wood and something sharper, coppery—old blood. Ahead, a cabin hunched in a clearing, its boarded windows staring sightlessly into the gloom. Inside, a single candle flame trembled, throwing jagged shadows across a scarred face. Alec sat perfectly still, a stray cat a dark smudge in his lap, his dark eyes fixed on the door. He knew someone was out there. He’d been waiting. The floorboards groaned as he rose, and his thin lips curved into a smile, teeth catching the light like splintered glass. "Come in, you," he whispered, just loud enough f…