Moonlit Bound

The Stranger's Shadow

The morning sunlight streamed through the blinds of Emily's dorm room, casting golden stripes across her bed. She lay motionless, staring at the ceiling as the events of the previous night replayed in her mind.

  A shadow beast. A mysterious stranger named Liam. Powers she never knew she had.

  The words felt foreign, like fragments of someone else's life, yet the bruises on her arms and the ache in her legs from running told her they were real. She was part of this now—whatever this was.

  Her phone buzzed on the nightstand, jolting her back to the present. She reached for it and saw a message from Claire.

  Claire: Don't forget Carlson's lecture today. Don't want a repeat of last week, do we?

  Emily groaned, the memory of showing up late to class and enduring Professor Carlson's scathing remarks fresh in her mind. Still, the thought of facing a normal, everyday routine felt almost laughable after what she'd been through.

  "One step at a time," she muttered, forcing herself to sit up.

  Claire wasn't in the room, her headphones and laptop abandoned on the desk. Emily quickly dressed, grabbed her bag, and hurried out

  The campus was alive with its usual bustle of students, but Emily couldn't help noticing how the shadows seemed longer, darker. She shook her head, trying to banish the paranoia creeping in.

  "Focus," she told herself as she entered the lecture hall.

  The room was already buzzing with chatter, and she slipped into her usual seat near the back. She barely had time to pull out her notebook before Professor Carlson began his lecture.

  But as he spoke about ancient folklore and supernatural myths, Emily's mind wandered. The events of the previous night played on a loop in her head—the growl of the beast, Liam's cryptic warnings, and the shocking revelation about her powers.

  "Miss Monroe," Professor Carlson's voice cut through her thoughts like a whip.

  Emily froze. "Yes?"

  "I asked," he said, his tone dripping with impatience, "if you could explain the significance of the Moonlight Pact in 16th-century folklore."

  She wracked her brain, vaguely recalling something she'd read late one night. "It was... um, an agreement between supernatural beings and humans to maintain peace," she said hesitantly. "But it fell apart, leading to conflict."

  Carlson raised an eyebrow but nodded. "Correct. And what does that tell us about the intersection of myth and historical reality?"

  Emily opened her mouth, but before she could form a coherent answer, a deep, unfamiliar voice cut in.

  "It tells us that myths often hold a kernel of truth, buried beneath centuries of embellishment and fear."

  Every head in the room turned toward the doorway. Emily's breath hitched as Liam stepped inside, his presence commanding and utterly out of place in the lecture hall.

  What was he doing here?

  Professor Carlson frowned. "And you are?"

  "Liam Cross," he said smoothly, striding down the aisle with a confidence that made the students whisper. "I'm new. Transferred from Brighton University."

  Emily stared in disbelief as he took the empty seat beside her, his piercing blue eyes flicking to hers briefly.

  "What are you doing here?" she hissed under her breath.