Eyes Like Stars

Eyes Like Stars
Lyra's POV

The silver wolf's eyes were getting brighter.
I blinked hard, thinking I was seeing things because of all the blood I'd lost. But no - his eyes really were sparkling like blue stars in the darkness.
"You're not supposed to be here," I whispered.
Darius tilted his head. "Neither are you, little star. The Shadowlands are dangerous for someone so young."
"But you're here," I said, confused. "And you're not dead."
"I'm not most wolves." His voice was gentle, but there was something strong underneath it. Something that made the air around us feel charged with electricity.
That's when I heard them.
Howls. Coming from the direction I'd run from.
Darius's head snapped up, his eyes sharpening. "They followed you."
"No," I said quickly. "They were too scared to enter the Shadowlands. Marcus said they'd wait for the ghosts to kill me."
"Then they've changed their minds." Darius stood up, his muscles tensing. "Someone very important must want you back."
The howls were getting closer. I could hear twigs breaking as heavy bodies crashed through the underbrush.
"We have to run," I said, trying to sit up. But my head spun and I fell back down.
"You're too weak to run," Darius said. "And I'm tired of running anyway."
"What do you mean?"
Before he could answer, six dogs burst through the trees. They were all huge - Alpha-sized - and their eyes glowed red in the darkness. These weren't normal pack dogs. They moved wrong, like they were being controlled by something else.
"Found her!" one of them growled as he shifted back to human form. It was Jake, but his face looked different. Meaner. "The little slave can't hide from us."
"She's with someone," another wolf warned, moving as well. "A male."
They all turned to look at Darius, and I saw something I'd never seen before. Fear. These tough, scary wolves were actually afraid of him.
"You don't belong here," Jake said, but his voice was shaking. "This is pack business."
Darius smiled, and it wasn't a nice smile. It was the kind of smile that made me think of lightning before thunder.
"Everything in the Shadowlands is my business," he said quietly.
"Who are you?" another wolf asked.
"I'm the reason your kind tell scary stories to their children."
Before anyone could respond, Darius shifted.
But this wasn't like any shift I'd ever seen. Normal wolves took a few seconds to change, their bodies stretching and reshaping. Darius changed in the blink of an eye, like he'd been both human and dog at the same time.
His wolf form was huge - bigger than any Alpha I'd ever seen. His silver fur seemed to glow with its own light, and his eyes burned like blue fire. When he opened his mouth, his teeth looked like they could bite through steel.
The pack wolves took a step back.
"Phantom Alpha," Jake whispered.
Darius growled, and the sound made the ground shake under my feet. It was like hearing thunder from inside a cave.
"You came into my territory," Darius said, and somehow I could understand him even though he was in wolf form. "You threatened someone under my protection. That was a mistake."
"We just want the girl," Jake said quickly. "Give her to us and we'll leave."
"No."
The word came out like a roar. Darius jumped forward so fast he was just a blur of silver light.
What happened next was incredible and scary at the same time.
Darius didn't just fight the six dogs. He destroyed them. He moved like he was dancing, but every move sent one of his enemies flying. His claws left bright trails in the air. When he bit down on one wolf's leg, the wolf screamed and his leg turned to ice.
The pack wolves tried to surround him, but Darius was everywhere at once. He'd be on one side of the area, then suddenly appear on the other side. It was like he could move through darkness.
Within minutes, all six wolves were on the ground, whining.
"Go back to your Alpha," Darius ordered, shifting back to human form. "Tell him the girl is under my protection now. If he wants her, he'll have to come through me."
"Marcus won't like this," Jake gasped, holding his broken arm.
"I'm counting on it."
The pack wolves limped away, disappearing into the dark trees. But I could tell from their looks that they'd be back. And they'd bring more dogs next time.
Darius knelt beside me again. "Are you hurt?"
"I don't think so." I looked down at my hands. "But I'm bleeding a lot."
"I can fix that." Darius put his palm over the cut on my hand. His skin was warm, and I felt a strange tingling feeling. "You're lucky you found me when you did. A few more minutes and you would have bled out."
"Why did you help me?" I asked. "You don't even know me."
Darius's eyes met mine, and for a moment I forgot how to breathe. Up close, his eyes weren't just blue. They had gold flecks in them that moved like tiny stars.
"I know more about you than you think, Lyra Ashworth."
My heart stopped. "How do you know my name?"
"I know your real name too. Princess Lyra of the StarBlood line."
I looked at him. "Elder Thorne told you?"
"Elder Thorne has been sending me texts for years. He's been keeping me updated on your... problem." Darius's face darkened. "I wanted to rescue you sooner, but he claimed you weren't ready. That you needed to find your heritage on your own."
"But I still don't understand any of this," I said. "I'm just a slave. I can't even shift properly."
"That's because they've been poisoning you." Darius lifted my chin so I had to look at him. "But the poison is going off now. Can't you feel it?"
Now that he mentioned it, I could feel something. A feeling spreading through my chest. A strength I'd never had before.
"What's happening to me?"
"You're becoming who you were always meant to be." Darius stood up and held out his hand. "Come with me. I have a place where you'll be safe."
I looked at his hand, then at his face. He was the most beautiful man I'd ever seen, but there was something dangerous about him too. Like he could protect me from anything, but he could also kill me if he wanted to.
"How do I know I can trust you?" I asked.
"Because I'm the only one who knows the truth about what Marcus and his friends are really planning."
"What do you mean?"
Darius's face grew serious. "They're not just trying to kill you, Lyra. They're trying to wake up something that's been sleeping for a thousand years. Something that could destroy every living thing on this world."
My blood went cold. "What kind of something?"
"The kind that feeds on StarBlood." Darius's eyes were grim. "And you're the key to either stopping it... or setting it free."