Chapter: Finding Closure Chapter 7I looked at the window before I continued. "Three years ago. The traditional ceremony when I turned nineteen." I wrap my arms around myself, suddenly cold despite the morning warmth. "I'd been preparing for months. Meditation, physical training, and studying the shift process. I knew the theory backwards and forwards.""But theory and practice are different things," Elena says gently."I know that,” I blurted out before I continued.“I stood in the ceremony circle and called for my wolf like I'd been taught. Reached for that place inside where the wolf should be." I close my eyes, remembering. "And there was nothing. Just... emptiness. This vast, cold space where something should exist but doesn't.""And the subsequent attempts?""Same thing. Except—" I hesitate."Except what?""Except the emptiness felt less empty. The second time, I could swear I felt something in that space. Not a wolf, but... a presence. Something watching and waiting." I open my eyes to find Elena stu
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-10-22
Chapter: The HealerCHAPTER 6The thing about being locked in a room is that you have nothing to do but think. And thinking, as I'm discovering, is the last thing I want to do right now.I don't sleep. How could I? Every time I close my eyes, I see Marcus's face—the confusion, the terror, the moment he realized his wolf was gone. I hear that inhuman sound he made, the howl that died halfway out because there was no wolf to give it voice.The chains around my wrists have grown warm from my body heat, the wolfsbane's tingle fading to a dull numbness. I've tried everything to make sense of what happened. Replayed the moment over and over in my mind, searching for some clue, some explanation, but there's nothing. Just the memory of that weirdness inside me surging toward Marcus like it was hungry, like it wanted something.What if it's not absence they're sensing? What if it's present? Kade's words circle in my mind like vultures. What if he's right? What if there's something inside me that shouldn't be t
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-10-22
Chapter: Claim of ShameChapter 5The single word cracks across the clearing like thunder. Every head turns toward the tree line on the western edge of the ceremony grounds. The border between Nightshade and Shadowcrest territories runs through that forest—marked by the ancient stones placed by the first alphas, back when packs were still forming alliances and drawing boundaries.A figure steps out of the shadows between the trees. Alpha Kade Blackthorn of the Shadowcrest Pack.Even from a distance, his presence is unmistakable. He moves with that predator's grace all alphas possess, but there's something else about him—a coiled danger, like a blade waiting to be drawn. He's dressed in black, practical fighting leathers, and even though he's technically on neutral ground, his hand rests casually on the knife at his hip.Behind him, eleven more figures emerge from the forest. His warriors, also in black, fanning out in a loose formation that somehow manages to be both non-threatening and absolutely intimida
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-10-15
Chapter: Three Hours Earlier CHAPTER 4"Three times you have stood beneath the moon. Three times you have called for your wolf. Three times you have failed."The words echo across the Nightshade ceremonial grounds like a death sentence.Alpha Thorne—my alpha, though after tonight that will no longer be true—stands at the center of the ancient stone circle. His voice carries the weight of judgment, amplified by the alpha command that makes every wolf present stand at attention whether they want to or not.I kneel in the middle of the circle, dirt biting into my bare knees. The ceremonial robe they dressed me in this morning is white—the color of potential, of wolves about to be born. By rights, I should have shed it hours ago, replaced it with the midnight blue of a fully shifted pack member. Instead, the white feels like a shroud.Around me, the Nightshade Pack watches in a silence more damning than any accusation. Two hundred wolves, arranged in concentric rings around the ceremony space. I can feel their eye
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-10-15
Chapter: Don't Touch Me Chapter 3I sink onto the edge of the bed, chains clinking softly. My hands are shaking again. I can't make them stop.Kade's question echoes in my mind. The problem is, I genuinely don't know. I've been touched before—briefly, sometimes accidentally—and nothing happened. Pack members would bump into me and flinch away, but their wolves remained intact, but with Marcus, it was different; he grabbed me, skin-to-skin contact for several seconds.I close my eyes and try to remember the moment. That surge of abnormal inside me. The way it reached toward Marcus like it was hungry and wanted something. “That's impossible,” I said to the empty room, shaking my head. That doesn't make sense, although in my defense, nothing about me makes sense. That's been true since my first failed shift. The window shows the moon—full and bright, mocking me with its perfection. Somewhere out there, Marcus is learning what it means to be human in a wolf's world. Learning to live with the hollow space wh
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-10-15
Chapter: Cast away Chapter 2 The physician looks up at Kade, and the horror in his expression makes my stomach drop. "His wolf... it's not suppressed. It's not blocked. It's—" He stops, like the words refuse to come out. "It's..." Silence crashes over the clearing like a physical weight. Then someone screams. "She has extended her bad luck to them!" "The wolf less one is a defect that needs to go!" "Kill her!" someone screamed "Kill her before she destroys us all!"I covered my ears, trying to tone that the ringing in my ear. The crowd surges forward—both packs now, united in their terror. Wolves I've known my entire life to bare their teeth at me. Shadowcrest warriors reach for weapons. In the torchlight, they look like demons, all flashing eyes and snarling mouths. My father's voice rises above the rest, cold and commanding. "She is an abomination! She must be destroyed immediately, before she can harm anyone else!" I stand terrified; I can't move nor think. I tried to process what just
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-10-15