The prayer

The lake was still.

Unmoving.

A dark mirror beneath a starless sky, swallowing every whisper of light. The world felt suspended, as if holding its breath. Nothing stirred. Nothing dared.

Then, somewhere at the water’s edge, a single finger twitched.

Raya’s body shuddered. Her chest lifted in a shallow, broken inhale. A whimper escaped her cracked lips. The pain was unspeakable, every nerve screaming, every bone vibrating with hollow agony. Her limbs felt carved from ice. Her veins felt empty. Her soul felt torn open.

Her wolf was gone. Her anchor, her strength, her other half was ripped from her.

But somewhere deep inside the hollow pit of her being, a tiny ember still clung to life.

There was a flicker of spark.

A dying flame refusing to surrender to the darkness.

Her throat tightened around a sob. Her lips trembled.

“Please…” she whispered, voice barely a breath. “Let me come back… please…”

Her plea dissolved into the night.

The wind stirred.

The lake rippled once, as if something beneath its surface had heard her.

Raya’s fingers curled, dragging weakly through the wet earth. Her vision flickered in and out. Her mind drifted… floating… falling. She wasn’t moving through space; she was sliding through memory.

Fragments of her life flickered like shattered glass.

‘A girl in a red dress laughed as she spun in a field of autumn leaves.’

‘A boy taller than the stars, smiling at her like she was the whole world.’

‘His voice promising, “I’ll never let anything hurt you.”

There was blood. There were those heartless pairs of eyes. The cold stare of betrayal. Her breath hitched.

Her chest tightened.

“No…” she whimpered. “Not again… don’t show me again…”

But the memories didn’t stop.

‘The night the little boy pulled her from the river, soaked and shivering.’

‘Her small hands clutching his shirt, believing he was her savior.’

Years of devotion twisted into chains.

Years of being useful, never loved.

Her voice cracked. “I don’t want to die here… not like this… not alone. I don't deservethis…”

A soft hum vibrated through the ground beneath her. The air thickened. The moon broke through the clouds and cast a silver beam onto her broken body, bathing her in pale, celestial light.

A heartbeat echoed through the earth.

Not her own.

It was older and ancient. Something not from here.

“You are not done.”

The voice vibrated in her bones, shaking through her lungs, her spine, her skull. It wasn’t human. It wasn’t mortal. It felt like it came from the center of the moon itself.

Raya gasped, arching slightly as warmth spread through her chest. Another heartbeat. Then another.

“Who… who’s there…?” her voice trembled.

But no answer came…only a presence, watching her, listening, waiting.

She inhaled. Then again. Each breath dragged her closer to consciousness, closer to something awakening inside her.

But across the lake…

On the opposite shore, another body lay curled in the grass.

Riley’s shoulders shook violently as she sobbed into the dirt. Her chest felt like it was being clawed open from the inside. The mate bond she had cherished, believed in, now shredded her, tearing her soul apart with jagged teeth.

“No…” she choked. “It hurts… it hurts so much… please…”

Her fingers clawed at her chest. The pain wasn’t just emotional, it was physical, tearing through her ribs like fire. Her breath came in short, panicked gasps.

“Make it stop… please… someone…”

No one came.

Her voice cracked as she whispered into the empty night.

“I never had a wolf… I was never enough… I tried so hard… just wanted someone to love me…”

Fresh sobs ripped through her.

“Please… please… let it end… I can’t do this anymore… just let me die…”

Her plea floated across the water, heartbreaking, hollow, desperate.

~~~~~

Raya whimpered from the other shore.

“Give me another chance… let me come back…”

Riley’s broken whisper trembled into the sky.

“Take me away… I don’t want to suffer anymore…”

The lake rippled again.

A single breeze swept across the water, picking up both girls’ cries and carrying them, soft and sorrowful, to the same moonlit sky.

The ancient heartbeat pulsed louder.

Raya felt it. Riley felt it.

Two souls.

Two shattered hearts.

Two opposite prayers.

One moment.

The air shimmered, silver threads weaving between the two shores like invisible strings being pulled tight. The moonlight thickened, glowing brighter around the lake, encircling both bodies in a soft halo.

Raya’s eyelids fluttered.

Riley’s breath stuttered.

The world seemed to tilt, pulling them toward each other, binding their pleas into a single unseen force. The presence grew stronger, surrounding them both, echoing every word in a language older than pack law, older than kings, older than wolves.

Raya felt warmth pooling in her stomach, slowly, then faster, spreading to her chest, her arms, her legs.

“What’s… happening…” she whispered, voice trembling with fear and awe.

Several visions burst behind her eyes like lightning.

A black wolf standing guard over a burning village.

A silver wolf howling at the moon, tears in its eyes.

A girl with golden hair drowning in a sea of loneliness.

Then came the vision of a girl. A girl with wounded eyes begging for peace. A girl seeing her mate having sex with another woman while looking into her eyes. She could feel the same pain of the rejection and betrayal, making her scream in pain.

Two threads of light intertwining, spinning together, merging.

Raya gasped, arching off the ground as the visions intensified.

“Stop… please… slow down… I can’t…what are these visions…”

But it didn’t stop.

The force pressed harder, deeper, pulling at her soul. Not to take anything… but to bind. To merge. To heal something that was shattered far beyond flesh.

Riley, across the lake, cried out, clutching her chest as her soul began to unravel.

“I just want the pain to stop… please… please…”

Their voices overlapped.

The presence answered them both.

“One seeks return. One seeks release. Both shall be granted… but not as they expect.”

Raya’s breathing hitched.

Riley’s heartbeat faded.

The two forces collided.

Light flashed across the lake, blinding and silent. Wind tore through the forest, bending trees, sending leaves spiraling into the night sky.

Raya convulsed as the force rushed into her… powerful, ancient, overwhelming. It filled the hollow left by her stolen wolf, filling it with something she had never known.

Strength.

Purity.

Fury.

Destiny.

Her spine arched off the ground. Her hair lifted with the surge of energy. The soil cracked beneath her palms as light poured into her.

Riley’s last breath drifted gently from her lips.

“Thank you…”

The light faded.

The wind stilled.

And the lake went silent once more.

While Raya lay motionless for a moment. Then her fingers twitched. Her chest rose, steady, full of life.

Her eyes snapped open.

They glowed brilliant white.

A soft, sacred howl echoed faintly inside her mind, her new wolf, powerful and ancient, awakening with her.

Raya gasped, pressing a shaking hand to her heart as warmth flooded her veins.

“It’s time for them to fear what they tried to destroy.”

Her glowing eyes lifted, reflecting the silver moon.

“Because I’m coming back.”