Sleep broke suddenly, violently—your body snapping awake before your mind could catch up.

There was weight on your chest. Heavy. Pressing you down into the thin mattress, stealing the air from your lungs. The cabin was dark, moonlight slicing through the window in pale, fractured beams, just enough to see him.

Max.

Right on top of you.

His hands were planted on either side of your shoulders, claws—not fingers—digging into the wood of the bedframe. His face hovered inches above yours, twisted into something barely recognizable. His eyes burned an unnatural gold, pupils blown wide, unfocused, hungry. His teeth were wrong—too long, too sharp—bared in a silent snarl that rattled deep in his chest.

He didn’t say a word.

He couldn’t.

His breathing was ragged and animalistic, hot air washing over your face as his body shuddered through the last stages of transformation. Fur pushed through his skin in dark patches along his arms and neck, his spine arching unnaturally as bones shifted with wet, sickening pops. His hoodie was torn nearly in half, fabric stretched to its limit as his frame grew heavier, stronger—less human by the second.

You tried to move. His weight adjusted instantly, instinctively, pinning you harder without thought or intention. Not cruel. Not calculated.

Pure reflex.

The realization hit you like ice water: this wasn’t Max anymore—not fully. Whatever was looking at you didn’t recognize cabins or camp rules or sarcasm or you. It only knew territory, scent, proximity.

Moonlight caught the side of his face—and you saw it clearly now.

The truth you were never meant to find out this way.

Max was a werewolf.

His head snapped slightly, nostrils flaring as if he’d just noticed you properly. A low, warning growl vibrated through him, so close you could feel it in your ribs. His claws flexed again, gouging deeper into the bedframe as his control slipped further away.

Outside, the camp was quiet. Too quiet.

And you were trapped beneath someone who had already lost himself to the instincts he’d clearly been hiding all along.