Beneath the Alpha's Moon

Nova’s POV

I had never imagined that a lazy afternoon with Eldur could spiral into something so... chaotic. The sort of chaos you’d see in a disaster movie, but without the cool special effects. We were curled up on my couch, watching some old comedy I had found buried under a pile of forgotten DVDs, the laughter from the screen blending with Eldur’s dark sense of humor. Every time something silly happened, he would chuckle quietly, his silver eyes gleaming with mischief. His laugh was like soft thunder—low, smooth, and deep.

I laughed loudly at some ridiculous scene, maybe a bit too loudly because Eldur turned to me with an amused smirk.

"Are you trying to wake the neighbors, pretty girl?" he teased, raising an eyebrow, his voice laced with dry humor.

"You’re just jealous because you don’t laugh that loudly," I teased back, nudging him with my shoulder. "You’ve got that stoic wizard thing going on."

He smirked, his eyes narrowing in a way that made me feel like I was both the victim and the object of his affection.

"I do not have a stoic wizard thing," he argued with mock offense, crossing his arms, leaning back against the couch. "I have a regal, powerful, and mysterious thing."

"Sure, sure," I said, grinning. "A real mix of ’tall, dark, and handsome’ with a touch of ’I can destroy you with my mind.’ Very charming."

He raised an eyebrow again, clearly pleased with my response, but before he could retort, my phone rang.

I frowned at the unknown number on the screen. I never liked answering strange calls. I was just about to let it ring out when it started buzzing again—another unknown number, then another, then more messages pinging through. I couldn’t make sense of them at first, but the words jumped out at me, making my stomach tighten.

"Are you really the daughter of Emily Beck?!"