Chapter 3 - THE MONSTER I WAS ABOUT TO MARRYMATLA
I had spent most of my adult life believing I could protect everyone I loved through rules.
Don't change in public.
Don't hunt near populated areas.
Never reveal your true nature.
Never trust strangers with family secrets.
And, above everything else, never let the past threaten the people who depended on you.
Then Hlengiwe called me in the middle of the night, and every rule I had ever created suddenly seemed useless.
"Don't open that door," I told her.
"I won't."
"Move away from the windows."
"Matla, someone out there sounds exactly like you!"
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.
"He's using my voice. That doesn't mean he's me."
"Who is he?"
"I don't know yet."
Another voice emerged through the phone.
Her mother.
"Hlengiwe, get away from there!"
Something crashed.
My blood turned cold.
"Princess!"
"I'm here!"
"What's happening?"
"The window!"
I accelerated.
The road disappeared beneath my headlights.
Every instinct inside me screamed to shift.
My wolf was already pushing against my skin.
But I couldn't abandon the vehicle in the middle of a public road.
"Get into the bathroom," I ordered. "Lock the door. Stay low."
A loud thud came through the phone.
Then I heard Hlengiwe shout.
"Get away from my mother!"
I pressed the accelerator harder.
For eighteen years, I had lived with the memory of losing people I loved.
I would not lose her too.
By the time I reached her street, a black SUV was disappearing around the corner.
I memorized its registration number before charging toward the house.
The front window was shattered.
The door hung partly open.
"Hlengiwe!"
She emerged from the hallway holding a heavy wooden stool.
Her mother stood behind her with a bleeding cut across her forearm.
When Hlengiwe saw me, the stool fell from her hands.
She ran straight into my arms.
I held her so tightly that she gasped.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Matla, I'm okay."
I cupped her face.
Her eyes were filled with tears, but she was standing.
Breathing.
Alive.
Only then did my lungs remember how to work.
"I thought I was going to lose you."
She pressed her forehead against mine.
"You didn't."
A movement outside caught my attention.
I looked toward the broken window.
Something stood beyond the garden wall.
A pair of pale eyes reflected the moonlight.
My entire body stiffened.
"Stay behind me."
The creature disappeared.
I knew that smell.
Wet earth.
Metal.
And the unmistakable scent of someone who carried the same ancient blood as my family.
This wasn't an ordinary burglar.
Someone had sent one of our own kind.
I escorted Hlengiwe and her mother to the vehicle.
Then I called the authorities and arranged for the house to be secured.
On the drive back to the ranch, Hlengiwe barely spoke.
I knew why.
She had questions that could no longer be avoided.
When we reached a quiet stretch of private road, she finally turned toward me.
"Tell me what you are."
I pulled over.
For a long moment, I stared ahead.
Then I switched off the engine.
"My family is different."
"That's obvious."
I glanced at her.
She wasn't smiling.
"We can change our physical form."
She blinked.
"Into what?"
"Wolves."
Silence.
Then she laughed once.
It wasn't a happy sound.
"Matla, please tell me you're joking."
"I'm not."
She searched my face.
"Actual wolves?"
"Yes."
"Four legs? Fur? Teeth?"
"Yes."
She opened the car door.
"Okay. I need some air."
I stepped out after her.
She stood beside the road, staring at the trees.
"So you were planning to marry me without mentioning that you occasionally become an animal?"
I winced.
"When you put it like that—"
"How else should I put it?"
I had no answer.
She folded her arms.
"Show me."
"Princess—"
"Show me, Matla."
I stepped back.
My body changed.
Bones shifted beneath my skin. My hands became paws, my senses sharpened, and the night transformed into a world of scents and distant sounds.
Seconds later, a massive black wolf stood before her.
Hlengiwe stumbled backward.
"Oh, my God."
I lowered my head.
She stared for what felt like an eternity.
Then she whispered, "Matla?"
I gently moved one paw forward.
She covered her mouth.
"You're actually a wolf."
I shifted back.
She turned away, breathing rapidly.
I waited.
Eventually, she faced me.
"Does this mean I have to become one too?"
"No."
"Will your family expect me to?"
"No."
"Does marrying you give you some supernatural claim over my life?"
"Absolutely not."
She studied me carefully.
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
I looked down.
"Because I was afraid."
"Of what?"
"That you'd leave."
Her expression softened, but she didn't move closer.
"Matla, I can deal with something frightening if I understand it. What I cannot deal with is someone deciding that I don't deserve the truth."
The words hit harder than any accusation.
She was right.
"I owe you an apology."
"Yes, you do."
"And an explanation."
"Several."
I nodded.
"The spray I gave you contains a scent-masking extract from plants grown on our land. It makes it harder for certain people like us to identify you by your connection to me. It doesn't change you or control you."
"Then why not tell me that?"
"Because explaining the spray would mean explaining everything."
She shook her head.
"Love without honesty isn't protection, Matla. It's just another kind of control."
I reached for her hand.
She let me take it.
But she didn't forgive me immediately.
And I respected that.
When we finally continued toward the ranch, my phone vibrated.
An unknown number had sent me a video.
I opened it.
The footage was old and grainy.
A vehicle traveled along a dark country road.
Then a truck appeared.
The recording ended moments before a terrible collision.
I recognized the vehicle.
My parents' car.
May you like
A second message appeared.
ASK YOUR AUNT LISEBO WHY SHE WASN'T IN THE CAR THAT NIGHT.
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