NOVEL WEB Chapter 8: Chapter 7 Chill of the Unknown
The night deepened, draping the city in an icy shroud. Luna sat outside the hotel, the cold air biting through her thin pants and sweatshirt, her breath rising in visible puffs as she shivered.
She had thought the outfit would suffice for a brief outing, but now she regretted not packing warmer clothes. A sleeping bag and thick wool blanket would have made the chill more bearable, but all she had was the bone-deep cold that seeped into her bones.
She glanced down at her hands, now red from the frost, and rubbed them together in a futile attempt to generate warmth. Her gaze traveled to her thigh, which had healed from earlier injuries but now throbbed painfully, the cold exacerbating the discomfort. She winced, shifting her weight in an attempt to find a position that relieved the pressure. It felt like the night was conspiring against her.
Across the entrance, two guards stationed at the door watched her, their expressions a mix of concern and confusion. She smiled brightly at them, a defiant beacon of warmth amidst the biting air. The older guard, a mid-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair, whispered something to his partner, but she couldn't catch the words through the heavy glass door.
Suddenly, he vanished into the hotel, and before she could wonder at his absence, he returned, holding a steaming cup of coffee. As he stepped outside, he shivered, the cold air striking him with a vengeance. He approached her, curiosity etched on his face.
"How on earth are you still sitting out here?" he asked, handing her the warm cup. "It's freezing!"
Luna accepted it gratefully, the warmth radiating from the mug almost magical against her numb fingers. "It's okay," she said, forcing a cheerful tone despite her chattering teeth. "It's bearable. My husband will come back for me."
"Husband?" He raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical. "The guy you were with earlier? He's left you out here alone?"
She nodded, the warmth of the coffee soothing her. "He's not ruthless! He just... he's upset with me right now . I did something wrong, and he needs time to cool off. So he left home to live in hotel in anger - We live nearby "
The guard crossed his arms. "What kind of misunderstanding leads to him leaving you outside like this?"
Luna bit her lip, thinking fast. "Well, it's... complicated. I might have, um, accidentally wrecked something important to him."
"Important?" The guard leaned in, intrigued.
"Yeah, his car." She winced, hamming it up. "I mean, who knew that trying to back it out of the garage without checking for obstacles would lead to... well, crashing it into a tree. It's just a tree! But his mother—" she rolled her eyes dramatically, "—oh, she's already on my case, telling him I'm 'irresponsible' and 'bad news.' You know how mothers are." She paused, leaning in like they were co-conspirators. "So, he's mad, she's feeding the fire, and now I'm just here trying to make sure he doesn't file for divorce or something."
The guard's expression softened as he scratched his chin. "Divorce? Just because of a car accident?"
"Well, it wasn't just the car. I might have also... misplaced his mother's jewelry. It wasn't my fault! The cat knocked it over, and then the vacuum..." She trailed off, looking sheepish. "You see where this is going, right?"
The guard chuckled, shaking his head. "That's rough. Still, he shouldn't leave you out here. It's too cold for this. You should head inside or go home and come back in the morning."
Luna waved it off, flashing a bright smile. "Oh, no! I have to wait. If I don't stay, he'll think I'm not taking this seriously. His mother's already convinced I'm a menace—if I disappear now, she'll make sure he's even angrier by sunrise."
The guard looked down at her, his expression somewhere between amusement and sympathy. "Sounds like he's got his hands full."
"Oh, trust me, he does," Luna replied, laughing lightly. "But he'll come around in an hour . He's not ruthless. He's just... upset. I did crash the car and lose his mother's favorite necklace. I'll win him over, though. Eventually."
The guard hesitated, looking back toward the warm hotel lobby before sighing. "Well, I can't leave you like this. Take this." He removed his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. "You remind me of my daughter, and she's just as stubborn. It's not right to let you freeze out here—even if you did crash his car."
Luna blinked, surprised at the kindness. "Thank you. But really, I'll be okay."
He patted her shoulder gently. "Just be careful. I know you think waiting's the best option, but no man is worth freezing for. Come back inside or go back home if it gets too cold - There is curfew in the town because of extreme weather ."
"I will," Luna promised, wrapping the jacket tighter around herself. "And thank you, really. But if I don't fix this, his mother will have him serving divorce papers faster than you can say 'insurance claim.'"
The guard chuckled, shaking his head as he walked back toward the door. "Good luck with that one. He'll need to cool off—no pun intended."
Luna smiled warmly at him. "He'll come around. I know he will."
As he returned to his post, she took a deep breath, the warmth of the coffee and jacket giving her a moment of solace against the chilling night.
The guards had been kind, but her heart remained focused on Alexander. She just had to wait a little longer; she had faith that he would return, she wondered even if he doesn't then how difficult it can be to pass few hours here before the dark night passed away
Luna settled back against the cold stone of the hotel, cradling the warm coffee in her hands, the steam rising in gentle tendrils that momentarily chased away the chill. But with each passing moment, the temperature continued to plummet, creeping into her bones and tightening around her heart.
She thought she might have miscalculated this time; it was becoming difficult to bear even a minute longer in this biting cold.
As she glanced around the empty street, unease began to unfurl in her gut. A primal instinct tugged at her, a deep-seated fear that something was lurking in the shadows.
Her body, despite the freezing temperatures, began to sweat from anxiety, a visceral response that set her on edge. She felt as if she were being watched, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling as she scanned the dimly lit road they had come from.
And there he was—a shadowed figure lingering where the narrow alley met the street, just at the edge of her vision. Darkness cloaked him, but the silhouette was unmistakable, aligning with a memory she had buried—a figure from that night, his presence etched into her mind like a whisper in the dark. The wedding, the stranger's voice, still echoed faintly in her memory, a cryptic warning she had never fully grasped.
Was she foolish to even consider approaching him now, in the dead of night, when every instinct urged her to turn back? Yet hadn't this been her plan all along? To draw the shadows into the light while hiding under the supposed protection of the Alpha King. But where was the mighty Alpha now, when the threat loomed just steps away? She could flee, lose herself in the crowd inside and abandon the chance to unravel the truth. Or she could seize this moment, face the stranger herself, and discover who—or what—he truly was.
She hesitated, her breath coming in shaky bursts as she weighed her options. Her instincts screamed at her to stay put, to retreat to the warmth of the hotel. But curiosity, mixed with dread, pushed her forward. With every step, the uncertainty clawed at her, but she moved closer, drawn by an invisible thread.
As she approached, the man didn't flinch or turn away. He stood there, seemingly waiting for her, an unsettling stillness in the night. The streetlights flickered, casting elongated shadows that danced across the ground, closing in on her like a shroud. When she entered the dark entrance of the alley, he vanished into thin air, leaving only an echo of fear in his wake.
Witches ? A Warlock ? but it felt so dark yet sinister.
Panic surged through her, pulsing in her veins. The alley felt like a mouth opening wide, ready to swallow her whole. She turned on her heel, heart racing, and fled back toward the hotel, every instinct screaming at her to move faster. But with each hurried step, she felt an uncanny presence behind her—something was stalking her. She dared not look back, terrified of what she might see, yet equally terrified of the unknown that lingered just out of sight.
Reaching the hotel entrance, her heart sank; the guards were gone. The unsettling feeling that had clung to her earlier morphed into something more profound, an icy weight that settled in her chest. Had they locked the door? Resigned to their inner rooms after realizing she might have left? The chilling breeze intensified, slicing through her layers of clothing. She turned her back to the alley corner, refusing to look at the darkness that now seemed even more oppressive.
But the cold wasn't the only enemy she faced. It seeped into her body, numbing her limbs one by one. First, her injured thigh, then her legs, until she could barely feel the ground beneath her feet. Her mind, too, began to freeze, thoughts muddling together in a haze. The world around her started to blur, and her eyelids grew heavy, as if weighted down by an unseen force.
She staggered, realizing with horror that she was losing the battle against the cold. The biting air dulled her senses, and the shadows seemed to dance closer, whispering secrets she couldn't understand. A shiver wracked her body, and in that moment, she became a victim of the night—exhausted, lost, and alone.
As the weight of fatigue bore down on her, Luna drifted into an uneasy slumber, her last thoughts swirling in a fog of fear and regret. The world faded away, replaced by a darkness that felt all too familiar, as if it had been waiting for her all along.