*~Aurora’s POV~*
I looked at Leon and blinked hard, my stomach howling loud enough to echo in my ears. My heart was hamring so fast it felt like it would burst. I mouthed one word to him—run. And then my legs took off before my mind caught up, sprinting faster than my small body should ever be able to move. Leon cursed and took off after , his footsteps pounding behind mine while the people around us simply watched, stunned, as if this was a show.
That was when I noticed them—the cute forest creatures from the other day. Except now, up close, they didn’t look cute at all. Their eyes were glowing. Their claws were out. And they were chasing us.
My foot caught on a stone and I went down hard. Pain shot up my shin as my knee scraped the ground, and I tried to stand but my body would not obey. "Eric—!" I gasped before correcting myself. "Leon!"
He was already there, scooping off the ground without slowing. But I felt it. He wasn’t fast enough. He knew it too.
"Why are you not fast enough?" I whispered, panic strangling my voice.
"Because I need to shift if I want real speed," he snapped. "And I can’t shift while carrying you!"
"Damn it," he muttered under his breath. "They’ll catch us in seconds."
I could see the white-haired figures closing in—swift, silent, terrifying. My chest squeezed tight. Is this how I’m going to die? I haven’t even lived yet. I’m only seven! Leon shot a look like I’d lost my mind.
"You are nineteen," he groaned.
"I know, but emotionally I haven’t lived!" I cried. That didn’t make sense, but fear never does.
"If you had stayed ho like I told you, we wouldn’t be in this ss," he growled.
"I’m sorry, husband."
"It’s a little late for that, Aurora."
The white-haired demons surrounded us—two in front, one right behind. Leon set down gently and stepped in front of with a low growl rumbling in his chest.
"So we’ve finally caught you, Leon," the closest one said, his voice sharp like cracked ice.
"Surprising, isn’t it?" Leon replied with a smirk that didn’t match the fear in his eyes.
"Where is Aurora?" another demanded.
"I don’t know." Leon’s voice was too even—too smooth. I wasn’t sure if he ant ... or the other Aurora.
The demon’s eyes narrowed. "So you left Aurora just to be running around with a man now? Wolves from New Orleans are really sothing else."
Leon shrugged, almost bored. "Like I said, I don’t know where she is. Now can you let us go?"
The leader stepped closer, lips peeling back into a sharp-toothed smile. "She escaped with you the night you barged into the wedding. So tell where she is—before I tear off both your head and your husband’s."
I said it with a laugh creeping onto my lips. I was about to speak again when Leon suddenly slapped his hand over my mouth. He turned to them quickly.
"I don’t know why he—why she—rose," he said. "If I knew, I wouldn’t still be hiding her."
"Well, you would," one demon hissed. "Or perhaps it’s her disguising herself as this man."
He looked at closely, too closely. His eyes narrowed. "They both have red hair... and the sa color of eyes." His expression shifted. "It seems this is Aurora."
They finally realized.
I instinctively stepped back, but strangely, I wasn’t as terrified anymore. Leon cracked his knuckles—long and loud enough to echo. They were both about to pounce when Kovu leaped out of nowhere, a sudden blur of movent. As he landed with a growl, I scread, the force of the clash brushing past like a gust of violent wind.
Kovu planted himself in front of protectively while Leon stood at my side, nearly shifting into his wolfhound form.
"Oh, so you call a lion to help you?" the demon mocked. He snarled and barked orders to the others. "Kill Leon. Kill the damn lion. Bring Aurora with us."
They charged.
Leon tensed, ready to leap, but he hesitated—because he didn’t need to.
Kovu dissolved into a huge cloud of dark smoke, swirling violently around the demons. The air sizzled with heat. When the smoke finally gathered itself and ford back into Kovu’s body, the two demons were already on the ground, their bodies lting as if the smoke had burned them alive.
The last demon stumbled back, shock twisting his features.
My heart swelled with pride. I always knew Kovu wasn’t ordinary—but even I didn’t know this.
The demon kept retreating, panic shaking his voice. "What happened? What did you do?" he barked at , as if I had summoned the attack myself.
Leon shifted fully into his wolfhound and leapt. In one brutal strike, he tore the demon’s head off, then shifted back into human form as calmly as if he’d done nothing unusual.
"Well," he said, turning to with a smirk, "I’m guessing your pet is useful after all."
"Oh my God, Kovu!" I threw my arms around him imdiately, kissing his head and petting him as he wiggled happily beneath . Leon stepped toward us, but Kovu instantly lowered his head and growled—not at , but at Leon—warning him to stay back.
"Hey, hey, I just want to thank you," Leon said, lifting his hands. "I can’t believe what he just did. This lion... he’s not ordinary."
I turned back to Kovu, my heart racing with confusion. "Kovu, what are you?"
He just rolled over like a normal lion, paws sticking in the air as if nothing had happened. But I had just watched this sa lion turn into smoke and lt demons alive. My brain could not connect the pieces.
Leon crouched beside , his expression serious. "Kovu is not ordinary. He’s here for a reason. Maybe he’s one of Aurora’s beasts—or guardians—that she kept hidden. And he’s probably mad you don’t rember him."
My heart squeezed painfully. He was right. I might have known Kovu. I might even have trained him. Maybe I was the one who filled him with whatever power he used out there. But with my mories gone, all I felt was a cruel emptiness.
I shook the thoughts away and faced Leon. "We need to leave now. We can’t go back ho—it’s not safe. Let’s go to the High House."
Leon shook his head imdiately. "No. Bad idea. We need to stay as far away from the public eye as possible. As far as everyone knows, we’re just two gay n running around, Aurora." He pointed at . "We can’t reveal you’re a woman. They’ll figure out you’re a witch instantly."
I sighed because he wasn’t wrong. I couldn’t reveal myself—not after seeing those demons show up out of nowhere. If two had found , that ant there were more. And they wanted for sothing.
Why?
What made so important?
And what was this story about Leon barging into a wedding to save ? What wedding? Why was I even at a wedding? With who? And why did they think I escaped with him? My husband to make matters worse.
My mind spun with questions I couldn’t answer.
The silence stretched between us until Leon finally asked, quietly but firmly, "So... what are you going to do?"
"Or do you an what do you want us to do?" I asked, sinking down onto the floor. My stomach churned loudly—I was getting hungry again, and the ache made everything feel worse.
"Probably go back to the High House..." I muttered, but the mont the words left my mouth, I snapped my head up. "Wait—go back to the High House? Do you even hear yourself?"
Leon turned around slowly. "You’re the one who suggested it."
"And now you’re agreeing with it?" I shot back. "You literally just corrected —’You’re a witch, you shouldn’t reveal yourself.’ And now you want us to walk straight back into the biggest political nest in this region? Are you serious?"
"Yes," Leon said without hesitation. "Because tightened security is better than no security. The High House has guards, wards, and actual structure. If we go back, demons won’t be able to get to you easily. But—" he pointed a finger at , "—the risk is your identity. Soone could discover the truth."
He lifted one shoulder in a tired shrug. "We have to pick our fight, Aurora. Either we stay out here in the wild, keep running, keep fighting demons, and pray they don’t kill us one night... or we go back to the High House and deal with the danger of soone finding out who you really are."
I opened my mouth, but he continued, voice low.
"Or..." He looked away. "I go back to New Orleans."
My face darkened instantly. I didn’t know where that was. I didn’t rember ever being there. But the na—New Orleans—hit like a cold blade pressed to my spine.
"New Orleans?" I whispered.
"Yes. I’m considering it," he replied, though his tone made it very clear he hated even saying the na. "It’s either we go back there, or—"
"No." The word slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it. My body reacted faster than my thoughts, recoiling as if he’d suggested walking into a fire. I didn’t know why. I had no mories of that place. But sothing in rembered the na—sothing old and cold and buried—and a shiver slid down my back.
Leon noticed.
"You don’t want to go back," he said quietly. "Do you?"
I shook my head hard. "I would rather keep running in the forest forever," I whispered, "than go back to a place I don’t even rember... but sohow still haunts ."
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