Chapter 2: The Awakening

Morning came with no mercy.
Alex woke to shouting, Sharp, angry voices echoing down the basement stairs. Her eyes snapped open, heart pounding before she even understood why.
“ALEX!” Helen’s voice. Cold. Irritated. “Get up here now!”
Alex scrambled upright, pain shooting through her side. Last night’s warmth, Sibyl’s soft words, the moonstone she now wore hidden beneath her shirt, it all felt like a dream.
Reality was louder.
She hurried up the stairs keeping her limp small, her breaths quiet.
The kitchen was full. The Alpha family. The Betas. The Gammas. Everyone.
And Rex stood at the center of them, arms folded, jaw clenched.
His eyes locked on Alex the moment she stepped into the room.
“There she is,” he said, voice dripping disdain. “The stray.”
A ripple of amusement spread through the room.
Alex bowed her head. “How may I help, Alpha R—”
“Don’t call me that,” Rex snapped. “You don’t get to say my title. You don’t deserve to speak it.”
Alex swallowed hard. Silence.
Rex took a step forward. “Today’s your sixteenth birthday, isn’t it?”
She froze.
The room went still. Everyone listened.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Rex smiled—but not kindly.
“Then today is the day.”
Alex’s stomach dropped. “The day for… what?”
Rex’s voice rose—loud enough for every wolf in the house to hear.
“Today is the day I reject you.”
Gasps echoed. Even Sibyl, standing in a corner with flour-covered hands, paled.
Rex stepped closer, towering over Alex.
“I, Rex Silver, future Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack, reject you, Alex Morello, as my mate.”
The words hit like claws—ripping something inside her that she didn’t even know was whole.
Alex’s knees buckled.
Her breath vanished.
Her heart—her wolf—howled.
A sound tore through her mind. A cry. A scream. A roar.
She collapsed to the floor.
Sibyl rushed forward—but Jayson blocked her path with a smirk.
“She can’t even stand,” he laughed. “Pathet—”
Alex screamed.
Her back arched. Her fingers curled like claws. Her vision blurred, colors bleeding together. Something inside her shattered—and then surged forward like a tidal wave.
Her wolf.
Awake.
Finally,
I am here.
The voice echoed inside her skull—fierce, furious, ancient.
They will not break us again.
Alex’s breath came in ragged bursts. Her bones felt like they were stretching, reshaping—but not into a shift. Not yet. This was something deeper. A reclaiming.
But the others didn’t see awakening.
They saw defiance.
Rex’s expression twisted with disgust.
“She’s dangerous,” Mila hissed. “She shouldn’t have a wolf.”
“She doesn’t,” Ashen Starling growled. “This is a trick.”
Rachel Whitlock stepped forward and grabbed Alex by the hair, yanking her upright.
“Get her out of here,” she said, voice cold. “If she thinks she’s something now, we will remind her exactly where she belongs.”
Alex struggled—weak, shaking.
Sibyl screamed, trying to push forward—but was shoved aside hard enough to hit the counter.
And then the beating began.
Kicks. Fists. A blow to the ribs. A strike to the face.
Alex didn’t scream.
Her wolf burned inside her, furious but caged.
Not yet, the voice whispered.
Wait.
Alex’s vision dimmed. Pain blurred into sound. Her body curled inward.
Until—
something snapped.
Her hand shot up—faster than she’d ever moved—grabbing the wrist raised to strike her again. The Beta’s wife froze, eyes wide.
Rex stared at her. Not with disgust.
With fear.
“Let go,” he tried to command.
Alex looked up, and for the first time—
her eyes glowed.
Not omega gold.
Alpha silver.
The room fell silent.
Sibyl, bleeding at the lip, whispered one word:
“…Oh, Moonlight.”
Alex didn’t understand.
But Rex did.
And his voice was a hiss of panic:
“She’s not an omega—she’s Blood Moon.”
The room exploded into chaos.
Alex didn’t stay to see who moved first.
She ran.
Through the kitchen. Down the hall. Out the back door. Into the freezing morning air.
Barefoot. Bruised. Half-broken.
But for the first time in her life—
not alone.
Run, her wolf breathed.
I will guide you.
And Alex ran.
Into the trees.
Into the unknown.
Into her destiny.