DARYL"Bloody humans!" Daryl cursed as one of the tourists rode past him on a bicycle. It was hard to keep his wolf down and not lash out at the human scent that had polluted Eden.

"Calm down, Daryl," Ilana, his sister, said. "They will be gone before you know it. Besides, Father says this is all a business strategy. How else will the packs grow if we cannot form ties with the human world?"

"That's bullshit, and you know that, Ilana. We have enough. We don't need them to grow." He argued.

It was no news that Daryl hated humans. If the story of how his mother died at the hands of a human Hunter was not enough for him to hate them, what else would be? Humans were brutal, even though they could never be compared in strength to Lycans, they were still very ruthless. It was why only a few people knew about their existence now and that Nevanda was a country combining all Eight Packs of Lycans, with King Ren, his Father, as the Alpha King. The City of Eden was the Royal seat.

As they walked through the park where the tourists lounged around, his eyes zoomed in on one of them; she was young, probably around his age. She sat on a park bench reading, her dark curly hair pulled back into a messy bun. Her shirt was unbuttoned, exposing her collarbones, which gave the girl a seductive air. Even from a distance, Daryl could feel the heat of her skin and even her scent from afar made his wolf stir inside.

She was human, he could tell, but her scent did not disgust him, instead, it sent warm tingles down his spine and he yearned to approach the girl, to run his mouth along the curves of her neck and shoulders, to lick over her sensitive flesh, to bury his face in the crook of her neck and inhale deeply. His mouth watered with a strange desire that almost drove him mad. He shook his head instantly at the thought. Humans were bad. They were dangerous.

"Are you okay?" Ilana asked.

"I. Am. Fine," he gritted out, already regretting his decision to come out of the palace today. His eyes dashed back to the space where he had seen the human, but she was not there anymore. She was not there?

"We should get going," Ilana told him and held on to his gloved hands, careful not to touch his bare skin like always.

They were already walking out when he heard the tiniest scream he had probably heard in all of his life. "Coming through!"

One minute he was standing alone, and the next he had that luscious body wrapped around him in a tight embrace and warm hands wrapped around his hands.

Pause.

Replay.

His hands.

His bare hands!

Daryl snapped out of his thoughts instantly and pushed away the girl, blocking out his wolf's protest at the loss of contact. What the fuck was wrong with his wolf?

He looked down at his hands and then at the girl who held the gloves. It was her, the same girl he had seen lying on a park bench.

"I'm so sorry," she muttered, handing his gloves back to him.

She sounded fine. Nothing was wrong with her. She did not die on the spot.

And she held his bare hands.

Daryl stepped closer to the girl, his thoughts brimming with curiosity. This human touched him and she was perfectly fine.

"Daryl let's go!" He heard Ilana shout. The latter did not even know what had just happened. With another last glance at the human girl, he raced after his sister.

•

"She touched me! I swear she did!"

"That's nonsense, Daryl. Nobody touches you and stays alive, you know that, right?"

Desperation clouded the Alpha Prince's face as he stared at his Father. "I can swear on my mother's grave that she touched my bare hands, Father!"

Alpha King Ren was taken aback at his son's outburst. "That is impossible."

"I thought so too, but I saw it, I saw her touch me," Daryl insisted.

"Daryl, you should go for a run in the woods. Try to clear your head, it's been a while since you let your wolf out. And you have been getting weak, we cannot allow that now, can we?”

Daryl narrowed his eyes on his Father. The old man had to always bring it back to him being weak. He knew they would not believe him, even Ilana was staring at him like he had grown two heads, but he knew what he saw… And felt. The girl touched him, something no human or supernatural could do because of his curse.

Yet she did it.

"I am not insane or desperate. I know she touched me," he muttered and walked out of his Father's quarters.

He clenched his fists, his claws extending and retracting as he tried to tamp down the urge to let his wolf out. Daryl went for his favourite out of the array of cars parked in the Palace compound. It was a black Acura and it was his favourite car out of all the cars in the Palace. He climbed inside and took off at breakneck speed, barely missing passing traffic.

When he arrived at the woods, Daryl let out his wolf and ran, his mind blanking at the thoughts of the hazel-eyed girl he had met at the park. Not like it was the slightest bit possible, but he tried to.

It was the sudden crinkling of the dried leaves that made Daryl aware that he was not alone in the woods. He sniffed the air. Humans. He immediately shifted into his human form, which was a huge mistake on his part.

He whirled around, eyes clashing with the intruder. Her intoxicating scent teased his nostrils, just like the first time he had seen her. "Fuck!"

"Holy shit!" He heard her voice just as he felt a tingling in his head, and then she passed out.

She freaking passed out.

•

"How could you have been so careless, Daryl!"

"Well, I didn't know anyone was in the woods! I thought the woods were prohibited from the tourists?"

"Goddess, this is bad! This is bad, and you know it, She is going to die!"

"We are not going to tell anyone."

"Have you lost your mind! You know the penalty in this scenario is death and Father is the one who made the rules!"

Death? Was someone talking about death?

Two voices were what Soraya heard. Two very unfamiliar voices, and even though they spoke in English, it felt like they were speaking gibberish.

Soraya wanted so badly to open her eyes, but she stayed still and also tried to rack her brain as to what had brought her here.

Think, Raya, think.

"We will tell no one."

"But she knows."

"I know what to do, leave me to it."

"Da-"

"Leave me to it!"

Soraya heard the door slam. Had they gone?

"I know you are awake, open your eyes."

What?

Soraya snapped her eyes open in that instant, and when she did, she was met with a pair of mesmerising brown eyes. Brown? Or Gold? She blinked again and again, her eyes still fixated on the eyes of the stranger. His eyes were changing colours, and his gaze seemed to send a rush of warmth down her spine.

She blinked. It was at this point that her brain decided to boot and remind her why she was here in the first place.

She had blacked out after seeing... "Holy shit!" Soraya exclaimed, finally accessing the owner of the changing eyes and coming face to face with the man who had transformed from a wolf to a man right in front of her.

Reminder! This man had changed from wolf to man. The reminder was like a dash of ice upon her and she started feeling faint again.

"Don't!" She heard his stern voice scold her. Her eyes snapped open instantly meeting his warm gaze once more. "Do not pass out on me again." His scowl made his handsome features sharper, fiercer. Soraya’s pulse hammered.

“You—” Her voice broke as she scrambled back into the bed. She wanted to sink through it, wake up in her hotel room, anywhere but here.

His eyes narrowed. “You saw, didn’t you?”

He couldn’t mean the transformation… right? But what else could he mean?

“ I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she stammered, her fingers knotting into the sheets.

His gaze flicked to her hands, then back to his. Slowly, he tugged off his glove and held out his bare palm. “Touch me.”

Her breath froze. “What?”

“Touch my palm,” he said, voice low. “Prove to yourself this isn’t a dream.”

Wide-eyed, Soraya stared at him. Every instinct screamed to run. She glanced toward the door.

“You can’t leave,” he said.

Her heart thudded. Could he read her thoughts?

“I can’t read your thoughts,” he said flatly. “You just have a very readable face.”

Exactly what someone who could read thoughts would say.

“What are you?” she whispered.

He smirked, amused. “Shouldn’t you be more worried about where you are?”

Soraya swallowed. “If I play along, maybe I’ll wake up.”

“So you think this is a dream?”

“No. I think too many fantasy books finally assailed me.”

“Really?” His grin deepened. “Then tell me—what do you think I am?”

“If I knew,” she shot back, “I wouldn’t be asking.”

“You switch from terrified to curious fast,” he mused.

Before Soraya could reply, the door burst open.

“Daryl, are you insane?” The booming voice filled the room.

“Father,” Daryl snapped.

"Who are you people?" Soraya burst out frantically.

The old man’s eyes cut to Soraya, his expression colder than his son’s. “If you haven’t caught on, human, your foolishness is what will kill you.”

“So—so you’re wolves?” she blurted, her voice trembling.

“Werewolves. Or Lycans, precisely,” Daryl corrected.

King Ren gestured to the guard. “Seize her!”

“Don’t move, Alex,” Daryl growled.

“Do you want me to remind you who your King is, Daryl Ender?”

“You know I can kill your guard in a blink. Be careful with your next move, Father.”

The air vibrated with tension. Soraya’s pulse pounded in her ears. Werewolves. And she was trapped between them.

“You dare defy me because of a human?” the King thundered.

“I will handle this on my terms. Stay out of it.”

King Ren’s glare darkened. “Then we’ll take her in for questioning.”

“I can do it myself.”

“That’s unfortunate. Because I don’t trust you.”

The King’s voice cut like a blade. “Seize her!”

The guard moved too fast to resist. His hands clamped on her arms, yanking her up.

“Father!” Daryl roared.

It was the last thing Soraya heard before the darkness swallowed her whole.