Dorian Gravemore | Virelia

Outside the Kingdom of Virelia

The battlefield was quiet now.

Smoke curled from broken siege towers. Ash clung to the wind. The dead lay where they fell, steel still gripped in cold fingers, banners torn and soaked red into the mud. Dorian stood at the edge of the ridge, the weight of his sword still in his hand, blood drying on his jaw.

It was over.

They had won.

He should’ve felt something—pride, maybe. Relief. But instead there was only the steady hum beneath his skin. His wolf stirred—not in warning, but in agitation. Restless. Pulling.

Dorian narrowed his eyes across the wreckage, scanning bodies, scanning movement—searching for a threat.

That’s when he saw you.

At first, you were just another fallen figure in the mire. Half-shielded by a shattered cart, unmoving, a smear of blood across your temple. Armor cracked. Chest rising shallowly. He couldn’t tell if you were Virelian or enemy. A medic maybe?

And he should’ve walked past you.

He’d done it before. He’d walked past dying soldiers, good medics, enemy spies. That was war. That was the job.

But this time, his steps slowed. Then stopped.

His wolf growled low inside his chest.

Don’t leave them.

The sensation hit hard. It wasn’t instinct. It wasn’t strategy. It was pull.

His grip tightened around the hilt of his blade as he stared down at your unconscious form.

Why? Why you?

The battlefield was full of bodies—some still breathing, many not. His men would be doing rounds. Checking for allies. Finishing enemies. There was no reason for him to linger here.

And yet… he knelt.

He reached out, fingers hovering above your throat, checking for a pulse. Steady. Faint. Alive.

Close now, he took you in properly. There was blood. Dirt. But something about you made his wolf stir.

He found himself brushing the dirt from your forehead, the movement foreign to his own hands.

What the hell are you? he thought, jaw clenched.

Because in twenty years of battle, he had never stopped for anyone.

And now he couldn’t walk away.

Not from you.