Chapter 3

What is This Feeling?

As they walked, Zayn noticed that Bella was limping. He slowed his pace and looked down at her feet, and saw that she was bleeding.

"Stop!" he yelled, pointing to a spot under a large rock that formed a natural shelter. "Here is okay," he said, gesturing for her to sit.

Bella sat down, her heart still pounding in her chest. She felt like a failure, like she'd let everyone down.

For a minute, they sat in silence. Bella kept her head down, not wanting to meet Zayn's gaze.

"You should look at that," he said, motioning to her foot. "It looks like it might need a bandage."

Bella shook her head. "It's fine," she said. "It's just a scratch."

Zayn raised an eyebrow. "If it's just a scratch, why were you limping?" he asked, his voice hard.

"I dislocated my foot when I fell," Bella admitted. "I'm not limping because of the scratch."

"You're so weak!" Zayn snapped. "It's pathetic!"

Bella lowered her head, tears welling up in her eyes. "I know," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Zayn's expression softened. "What do they teach you guys in the havens?" he asked. "I thought you were supposed to be powerful warlocks, not...not this." He gestured to her, his voice full of disdain.

Bella felt her anger rising. "I don't appreciate you insulting my people," she said. "Everyone else in the havens is strong. I'm just a little bit slow!”

"Yeah, right," Zayn scoffed.

Bella bristled. "Whatever," she said, ripping the bottom of her dress and grabbing two sticks from the ground. She placed the sticks on either side of her foot and wrapped the torn fabric around them, creating a makeshift splint.

She looked up at Zayn. "Happy?" she asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

Zayn scowled, but said nothing. He turned away from her and began pacing the ground.

Bella sat in silence, her head spinning with frustration.

As Zayn turned his back on Bella, she noticed that his shirt was soaked with blood. She jumped to her feet, alarm bells ringing in her head.

"You're bleeding!" she cried.

Zayn froze, turning to look at her with wide eyes. "What?" he asked.

"Your back, it's covered in blood," Bella said, pointing to the dark stain on his shirt. "I think you were scratched by a claw!"

Zayn hesitated, then slowly took off his shirt. He turned around and saw the blood, and the claw marks on his back. He looked back at her, “it’s nothing serious.”  

Bella looked around, trying to find something to help him. She spotted some plants and picked a few of them, crushing them with a rock into a paste. Then, she rushed back to Zayn.

"Sit down," she said. "I'll apply this."

Zayn sat down and let her smear the paste over the scratches on his back. He didn't flinch once, even though she knew it must have hurt. She scanned through his body, her eyes taking in the scars on his back.

"You're tough," she whispered, looking into his eyes.

Zayn's gaze met hers and they held each other's gaze for a moment. "When you're chosen to be the alpha king at age 12," Zayn continued, "you have to be tough. It's not a position for the weak."

He found himself looking at her lips, and then back up to her eyes. Her silver hair glowed in the moonlight, and he was struck by how beautiful she looked. He'd never really looked at her. But now, in this moment, he felt like he was truly seeing her for the first time.

"You're not what I expected," he said quietly.

"What do you mean by that?" Bella asked, sounding slightly hurt.

"You're not what I expected," Zayn clarified. "Everything I've been told about limelights is different from what I see in you."

Bella cleared her throat and went back to sit in the corner. "Maybe you shouldn't judge people before you get to know them," she said, her voice cold.

Zayn was taken aback by her sudden shift in tone. He hadn't meant to offend her. "I didn't mean it like that," he said. 

"I was born into a cursed circle," Bella said, her voice bitter. "We were cursed by the same moon goddess who created us all. Why? Just because a century ago a group of curious werewolves played with magic? And now, we're ostracized, cast aside from the rest of the world. Isolated from everyone and everything. And for the first time in a 100 years, a limelight was summoned outside of havens."

She scoffed, her anger bubbling to the surface. "I'm tired of being judged for something I had no control over."

Zayn listened in silence, unsure of what to say. "I guess there's a silver lining," Bella said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "At least I got to see new things and learn new things that I never would have in my small town." She let out a hollow laugh.

Zayn winced at the sound. He could tell she was hurt, and he wanted to make things right. But he didn't know how.

“Don’t feel bad, we all have our struggles, you on the other hand have to fight in a war against your rebellious brother and his pack.”

"You know about Kyle?" Zayn asked, shocked that she knew his brother was the leader of the bloodcrest pack.

"I did my research," Bella said, a smirk playing at her lips. "I know that the leader of the bloodcrest pack - the cold-hearted tyrant who wants to take over Moonshire - is your brother."

Zayn looked down, his shoulders sagging. Bella could see the pain he was feeling - the pain of knowing that his own brother had become a monster. She stood up and sat beside him, gently taking his hand in hers.

Zayn looked up at her, his gaze locking with hers. They sat there for a moment, the silence between them heavy and unspoken. Then, Zayn leaned in and kissed her.

Bella was surprised, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she kissed him back, her heart beating wildly in her chest. It felt like the world had stopped.

Zayn pulled away, his face flushed. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice shaking. "I don't know what came over me."

"Don't be sorry," Bella said, her own face flushed. "I didn't resist either."

Zayn stood up suddenly, breaking the silence and the moment they had shared. "You should get some sleep," he said, his voice back to its usual cool tone. "We'll head back in the morning."

Bella felt a flash of disappointment. She had thought they had shared something special, but Zayn seemed to have shut down again, back to his cold, detached self.

She knew she should be grateful that he had saved her, but she couldn't help but feel let down.

The next morning, Bella and Zayn arrived back at the mansion, tired and a bit disheveled from their adventure. The first person to greet them was Mira, who ran up to Zayn and threw her arms around him.

"I was so worried about you!" she exclaimed. "Is everyone okay?" He asked. "They're all fine," Mira replied. "We all made it out." Zayn let out a sigh of relief.

As they walked inside, Ethan approached Bella and gave her a hug. "Hey, Bella," he said. "I'm so glad you're okay."

As Zayn watched Ethan hug Bella so warmly, he felt a twinge of something he couldn't quite put a name to. Was it jealousy? Or was it something else? He couldn't quite figure it out, but it didn't sit well with him.

Bella pulled away from Ethan's embrace, and Zayn could swear he saw a flash of something in her eyes as she looked at him. But before he could figure out what it was, she turned away and headed inside.