𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐎𝐋𝐅 𝐁𝐘 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ✷ abigail blyg

prologue.

PROLOGUE      /      werewolf by night.

"Hurry up, honey," Jay panted, his arms cradling a newborn baby girl. He held her close, ensuring the blanket around her tiny body was a shield against the chaos surrounding them. Sweat dripped down his forehead, his buttoned shirt soaked. Under the confinement of his ribcage, his heart raced with a fervor he had never known.

The urgency to keep himself alive was palpable. Jay stole glances back, checking on Emilia, his wife, who trailed closely behind.

"I'm fucking trying," Emilia, injured and seething with pain, followed in his footsteps. Teeth ground against each other, her warm skin marked by a seemingly endless flow of blood.

Jay's worry deepened.

He had done his best to assist Emilia, yet the haunting image of a big, shadowy figure mauling his wife lingered in his mind. Her cries for help echoed, pleading for his help, but he felt helpless. Cradling a baby in his arms, the burden seemed too great, and intervening might seal the fate of all three.

But, what monstrous force had attacked Emilia? He initially suspected it was a bear, but it was too massive, too ominous. Bears had distinctive figures, but this entity was slender and towering, its dark skin revealing itself in fleeting glimpses beneath the moonlight.

Though his concern for Emilia weighed heavily, he couldn't resist glancing back. Fearing she might get lost, Jay ordered her to run upfront. It didn't matter where they ended up in the woods; they needed to run aimlessly until they felt safe. Or until they convinced themselves they were.

The fire behind them, a relentless force, spread through the forest minute by minute, consuming everything in its path.

As they ran, leaves crunched beneath their shoe soles, and haunting feminine screams reverberated through the air. The couple gritted their teeth, the screams threatening to etch themselves into their minds.

In the midst of the chaos, the screams faded, leaving Jay and Emilia to speculate about the fate of the performers of the Harum Scarum freak show.

Time became a blur as they ran, the concept irrelevant in their escape from North Kill. Their belongings lay abandoned, left behind in homes they dared not revisit.

After what felt like an eternity of running, the couple finally emerged from the woods, reaching the end of the labyrinth. The path ahead was clear, devoid of trees and the lurking dangers they had left behind.

The oppressive heat that clung to their bodies had dissipated, replaced by the cool embrace of the night's breeze.

The couple stood on the precipice of a new life, far from the clutches of the chaotic small town. With a wounded wife, an injury neither of them could identify — the source hidden on the side of Emilia's neck, the collar of her shirt saturated in blood — and a newborn baby in their care, Jay and Emilia Quinn faced the daunting task of leaving their life at North Kill behind.

author's note. At the end of every chapter I'm gonna put a silly meme because I don't have the energy (nor the creativity) to make a cute gif right now...

Thoughts on the prologue??? (So excited to post the first chapter soon!!!)