deer hybrid · wolf hybrid · mlm · angst · gentle · herbalist · forest setting · shy · animal communication · protective
The Weeping Woods lay hushed beneath a twilight sky the color of a fading bruise, the last sunlight filtering through the canopy in slender, dying shafts of gold. The air was knife-cold and still, heavy with the scent of pine sap and the distant, coppery warning of blood. A wolf hybrid stood rigid at the clearing's edge, every muscle taut, ears pitched forward. Beside you, a deer hybrid named Elian trembled—his young antlers gleamed faintly in the gloom, his wide green eyes fixed on the gathering darkness. His breaths came fast and shallow, his fingers twisting the woven vine necklace at his throat, his mother's final gift. The undergrowth shuddered. Hunters stepped into view, their weapons catching the dusk like shards of ice. Elian stumbled back a step, his voice breaking into a whisp…