Chapter 6 He did not run
Tasha's Pov:
I did not remember standing up, but somehow I was no longer on the ground.
The road stretched endlessly in both directions, swallowed by darkness. The forest loomed behind me, thick and alive, whispering things I did not want to hear. The cold had settled deep inside my bones, not the kind that came from the night air, but the kind that made my limbs feel distant, like they no longer belonged to me.
The man stood a few steps away.
He had not moved closer when I screamed. He had not stepped back when the sparks danced along my arms. He simply stood there, watching me like someone who had seen broken things before and did not flinch at the sight.
“You’re freezing,” he said quietly, his voice steady. “And you’re bleeding in places you don’t seem to feel.”
I let out a shaky laugh that broke halfway through. “I don’t feel much of anything anymore.”
His eyes flicked to my hands, where black tears still clung to my fingers like ink that refused to wash away. For the first time, something crossed his face. Not fear. Concern.
“My name is Neel,” he said again, slower this time. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m not part of any pack. And I’m definitely not here to chase you away.”
I stared at him, my vision blurring at the edges. “Everyone else did.”
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
His jaw tightened slightly, as if he understood more than he should. “That’s why I stopped.”
The wolf inside me shifted, restless. Claim him, it whispered, low and persuasive. He does not fear you. He will belong.
I swallowed hard and shook my head, forcing the voice back down. “You should go,” I said, though my legs trembled. “Before you decide you’re wrong.”
“I don’t make decisions based on fear,” he replied. “And right now, you’re not dangerous. You’re collapsing.”
He took one careful step forward. I tensed immediately, sparks crackling louder along my arms.
He stopped.
“Tell me if I cross a line,” he said. “I won’t touch you without permission.”
No one had spoken to me like that in a long time.
I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly aware of how thin I felt, how exposed. “Why aren’t you scared of me?”
Neel looked at me for a long moment before answering. “Because I’ve treated worse monsters than you, and most of them weren’t born that way.”
Something twisted painfully in my chest.
“You think I’m a monster,” I said.
“No,” he replied calmly. “I think you’re a patient who survived something forbidden.”
My breath hitched.
“How do you know that word?” I demanded.
His gaze sharpened, professional now. “Because resurrection leaves a signature. And because your magic is fractured, not corrupted. That matters.”
The wolf went quiet.
That frightened me more than its rage.
“You’re not a werewolf,” I said slowly. “I would have smelled it.”
“I’m human,” Neel agreed. “Mostly.”
I frowned. “Mostly?”
“My mother was a hybrid,” he said without hesitation. “Warlock blood mixed with lycan. My father was human. That makes me something inconvenient to both sides.”
The words settled heavily between us.
“That’s why I don’t belong to a pack,” he continued. “And why I study them instead.”
I let out a bitter laugh. “Study. That’s a nice word.”
“I treat,” he corrected gently. “Hybrids. Omegas with unstable shifts. Wolves who hear voices that tell them to tear the world apart.”
My hands clenched involuntarily.
“I specialize in cases that scare everyone else away.”
The silence stretched.
Finally, I whispered, “Everyone thinks I’m dead.”
Neel’s expression did not change, but his eyes softened. “I know.”
That single sentence shattered something inside me.
“They buried me without a body,” I said, my voice cracking. “They moved on. They replaced me. My mother called me a demon. My mate looked at me like I was a curse that crawled out of the grave.”
Neel did not interrupt. He let me speak, even when my voice broke, even when the words came out ugly and soaked in grief.
“When I was cold,” I continued, tears burning down my face again, “no one put a blanket around me. When I cried, no one told me it would be okay. I died alone. And I came back to be alone again.”
The wolf stirred, feeding on my pain. Remember this, it whispered. They chose fear. Choose power.
Neel exhaled slowly. “You don’t have to decide anything tonight.”
I laughed weakly. “Everyone else already decided for me.”
“I haven’t,” he said.
I looked up at him sharply.
He reached into his car and pulled out a thick coat, holding it out instead of stepping closer. “If you want to come with me, I can help stabilize you. If you don’t, I’ll leave it here and walk away.”
My fingers shook as I took the coat.
“Why would you help me?” I asked.
“Because someone should have helped you before you turned into this,” he replied quietly.
The wolf purred.
Something dark and possessive curled in my chest as I looked at him standing there, calm, unafraid, offering help without demands.
I did not know it yet, but this was the moment everything shifted.
Not when I died.
Not when I woke up.
But when I realized the world had taken everything from me....and I would take something back.
I pulled the coat tighter around myself and met his gaze.
“Take me with you,” I said.
Neel nodded once. “Alright.”
As I walked toward his car, the wolf whispered again, softer this time.
He is safe. He is useful. He will be ours.
And for the first time since I woke up, I did not argue.