Chapter 167: THE GOLDEN EYE
KEISHA’S POV
The chandelier came down before I had enough time to move.
One second, I was standing beside the table with my eyes fixed on the ceiling, and the next, my entire body reacted before my mind could catch up. Something inside me snapped awake, and the world seemed to blur around me as my body shifted. I barely understood what was happening until I felt myself hit the floor, no longer standing on human legs.
The chandelier crashed down directly where I had been and the impact shook the entire hall. Crystal shattered across the floor, and the music stopped so abruptly that the sudden silence seemed louder than the crash itself.
For a moment, nobody moved. Hundreds of eyes were fixed on the wolf lying beneath the fallen chandelier, and I could feel the full weight of their attention even through the confusion clouding my mind.
I tried to move, but pain immediately shot through my back.
A low sound escaped my throat as I pushed against the floor, struggling to get myself upright. My body felt heavy, and my back throbbed beneath the pressure of the chandelier that had landed partly across me. I could hear people beginning to speak around me, but their voices seemed distant.
Then someone screamed my name.
Nadia.
She rushed toward me despite the guards trying to hold people back, dropping beside me with tears already gathering in her eyes. She reached toward me but stopped herself before touching me, clearly terrified that she might make whatever injury I had worse. "Keisha, are you alright?"
I couldn’t answer her properly. All I managed was a strained grunt as I tried to move again.
That was enough to convince her I was conscious.
The whispers around us grew louder.. People weren’t only shocked because the chandelier had nearly killed me. They were staring because of what had happened immediately before it fell. I had shifted.
And according to the voices surrounding me, that shouldn’t have been possible.
Someone mentioned that it wasn’t a full moon. Another person questioned whether I had somehow lost control of my wolf. Someone else whispered that pregnant wolves weren’t supposed to shift without reason, while another voice sounded genuinely frightened as they wondered what they had just witnessed.
I didn’t stay long enough to hear everything because the attention was becoming unbearable.
I could feel something different about my wolf, and I didn’t want hundreds of people staring at me while I tried to understand it. I pushed myself away from the wreckage, ignoring the pain running through my back and legs, and hurried toward the nearest exit.
"Keisha!" I heard Callum behind me but I kept going.
The doors swung open and I disappeared into the night outside, moving toward the woods without looking back. I could hear Callum following, his footsteps getting closer, but I didn’t stop until the noise of the celebration had faded behind us.
Only then did the exhaustion finally settle in.
My legs weakened beneath me, forcing me to slow down until I finally collapsed against the ground. The pain in my back had become much worse, and I could barely keep myself upright. I tried to shift back, and after several painful seconds my body returned to its human form and I immediately curled in on myself.
I was shaking, partly from the cold and partly from the shock of what had just happened.
Callum reached me moments later and his expression changed completely when he saw me lying there.
He removed his outer clothing and covered me before crouching beside me, his eyes moving over me carefully as he tried to determine where I was hurt. "We need to get you treated."
"Okay." My voice came out weak.
He helped me sit up, then quickly disappeared farther into the woods when he realized there was nothing nearby he could use to treat the injury. I remained where he had left me, wrapped in his clothes and trying not to move more than necessary.
Dane arrived shortly afterward and he looked as though he’d run all the way from the hall.
The moment he saw me, his expression tightened.
He immediately removed his jacket and wrapped it securely around me, making sure I was covered before helping me into a more comfortable position. "What happened?"
"I don’t know." It was the only honest answer I had.
I didn’t know why I’d shifted, nor did I know why I’d been able to shift without the moon. And I certainly didn’t know why my wolf had looked different.
Dane stayed beside me until Callum returned with something he could use to clean and dress the injury. Between the two of them, they managed to stabilize me enough to move me back toward the mansion, and by the time we reached my room, the worst of the pain had begun to settle.
The celebration was over and nobody was talking about the birthday anymore.
Nadia came into the room not long afterward, still wearing the dress she’d chosen for her birthday. The happiness that had been on her face earlier was gone, replaced by obvious concern.
I looked at her and immediately felt guilty. "I’m sorry."
She frowned, immediately reaching to pull me into a hug. "For what?" She came closer and sat beside me. "You almost got crushed by a chandelier. I don’t care about the party."
I sighed. "But tonight was supposed to be about you."
"And it still is." She gave me a small smile. "I got my presents, I got my car. But I don’t want to lose my best friend."
I lowered my eyes and she squeezed my hand carefully.. "I’m just glad you’re here."
That nearly broke me.
Before I could respond, Vera entered the room.
She looked completely different from the cheerful woman who had spent the evening organizing Nadia’s celebration. Her face was pale, and she kept glancing toward me as though she still couldn’t believe what had happened. "I should never have let that happen." Her voice trembled. "I should have had the entire hall inspected again before everyone arrived. I thought everything had been secured."
Callum, who had been standing near the window, turned toward her and his expression immediately hardened. "You thought?"
Vera fell silent as Callum stepped away from the window, his anger becoming impossible to hide. "She could have died tonight."
"I know, okay?"
"No, you don’t." His voice rose. "If Keisha hadn’t shifted when she did, that chandelier would have landed directly on her. We wouldn’t be sitting here discussing whether she was injured. We’d be dealing with something far worse."
Vera’s face tightened with guilt. "I know I made a mistake."
"You made a mistake that could have killed her!" He snapped.
Nadia quickly stood. "Father, please."
He barely seemed to hear her.. "I trusted you to organize this properly. You knew exactly who was attending, how many guards were supposed to be there and where everyone would be positioned. How did something that large get to the point where it could simply fall?"
"I don’t know." Vera looked guilty.
"That’s the problem."
The room became tense and I could see that Callum was barely holding himself back, and while I understood his anger, I didn’t want the entire situation to become another confrontation. "Callum."
He looked at me and I held his gaze.. "I’m fine."
His jaw tightened. "You shouldn’t have to be fine after something like that. It’s a hazard."
He remained silent so I reached toward him and rested my hand against his arm.. "Please. Nadia’s birthday has already been ruined enough. Don’t turn this into another fight."
He looked at Nadia, then at Vera, and finally back at me and his shoulders gradually relaxed. "Fine." He didn’t sound happy about it, but he stepped away.
Vera apologized once more before leaving with Nadia, and the room finally became quiet.
Callum remained beside me and for several moments, neither of us spoke.
Then he pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down. "I need to ask you something."
I already knew what it was and my stomach tightened. "About my wolf."
"Yes." His eyes remained fixed on me. "I’ve seen you shift before, but what happened tonight was different. You weren’t supposed to shift, and when you did, your wolf had something I’ve never seen before."
I looked down at my hands.
"The golden eye." Callum leaned forward slightly. "I’ve heard stories about wolves with unusual traits, but I’ve never seen anything like that. Neither has Dane, and apparently half the people at that party were just as shocked."
I didn’t know what to say because he looked genuinely concerned. "Keisha, do you know why that happened?"
I swallowed and my mind returned to the moment before the chandelier fell, to the sudden feeling that had taken over my body and the unfamiliar strength that had surged through me without warning. I remembered the brief glimpse I’d caught of my reflection in one of the broken pieces of crystal after shifting, and the strange golden eye staring back at me.
I had no explanation for it. At least none that I was willing to give.
Callum waited but I remained silent.
He watched me for several seconds before leaning back in his chair, realizing that whatever answer he wanted wasn’t coming anytime soon.
The truth was that I was just as frightened of my wolf as everyone else had been.
And I didn’t know what that golden eye meant.