Chapter 7: An Invitation They Didn't Refuse

Bella POV

Something was wrong the moment I woke up.

Not the obvious kind of wrong. Not screaming pain or blood or panic. This was quieter than that. My body felt heavy, like it didn’t fully belong to me anymore. When I shifted on the bed, my lower back ached sharply, and I had to stop and breathe through it.

I lay there for a while, staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out if this was normal after what happened in the arena.

It wasn’t.

I knew that in my gut.

The healers had said I needed rest. They’d given me bitter herbs and told me the pain would fade. But the pain hadn’t faded. It had changed. It stayed low and constant, like something sitting inside me, pressing outward.

I pushed myself up slowly. My hands were shaking, and that scared me more than the pain. I’d trained through injuries before. Bruises, cracked ribs, exhaustion. This felt different. This felt like my body was arguing with itself.

I swung my legs off the bed and stood.

The room tilted for a second.

I grabbed the wall and waited until it passed.

“Get it together,” I muttered.

I wasn’t weak. I refused to start thinking like that again.

A knock came at the door.

Before I could answer, it opened.

Three elders walked in.

Just like that. No warning. No courtesy.

My stomach tightened.

They didn’t look surprised to see me standing. That told me they’d expected it. That they’d already decided how this conversation would go.

“Sit,” Elder Morren said.

I didn’t.

“I’m fine where I am.”

His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t argue. That alone made my chest feel tight.

“We’re here to discuss what happened after the Trials,” he said.

I crossed my arms, ignoring the ache it caused. “You mean after I won?”

Elder Kael shifted uncomfortably. “After you collapsed.”

“I didn’t collapse,” I said. “I passed out.”

“That distinction doesn’t matter,” Morren replied.

“It matters to me.”

Silence filled the room. Thick and uncomfortable.

Elder Selene finally spoke. “You experienced a reaction. One we didn’t anticipate.”

I laughed, sharp and humorless. “Funny. You elders anticipate everything.”

Her gaze dropped for half a second before lifting again.

That was all I needed.

“You knew something might happen,” I said. “Didn’t you?”

No one answered.

The pain in my back flared suddenly, strong enough that I had to shift my weight. I hated that they could see it. Hated that my body was betraying me in front of them.

“You’re still going to the Alpha Academy,” Kael said quickly, like he wanted to get that part out.

My heart jumped. “So that’s it? I win, I suffer, and you send me off like nothing happened?”

“It’s not like nothing happened,” Morren said. “That’s exactly why you’re going.”

The words settled heavy in my chest.

“You’re not sending me to train,” I said slowly. “You’re sending me to be watched.”

Selene didn’t deny it. “You’ll be monitored.”

There it was.

“I’m not a threat,” I said.

Morren’s expression hardened. “That remains to be seen.”

Anger burned through me, sharp and familiar. “I followed your rules. I fought your champions. I won fairly. And now you’re acting like I committed a crime.”

“You disrupted balance,” Kael said.

“Because I didn’t lose?” I snapped.

“Because you weren’t meant to win,” Morren replied.

The room went silent.

That hurt more than anything else they’d said.

“So what now?” I asked. “You cage me politely? Pretend this is an honor?”

Selene met my eyes. “Prepare for departure. You leave in three days.”

They turned and walked out like the conversation was over.

Like I was done.

I sank back onto the bed once the door closed, my hands clenched tight in the blanket. My chest felt hollow. Not broken. Not shattered.

Just empty.

They weren’t afraid I’d fail.

They were afraid I’d succeed again.

I didn’t mean to find Jake.

I just needed air.

The training grounds were quiet when I arrived, the sun low and red near the horizon. Jake was there, alone, hitting a post over and over like he was trying to destroy it.

He stopped the moment I stepped closer.

He always did.

The bond pulled at me immediately, sharp and uncomfortable. My stomach twisted, and the pain flared hard enough that I had to stop walking.

Jake noticed.

“You’re hurting,” he said.

I nodded. “Don’t come closer.”

He froze mid-step, jaw tight. “It’s worse when I’m near.”

“Yes.”

He swore under his breath and turned away, dragging a hand through his hair. “This shouldn’t be happening.”

“I know.”

“They spoke to you.”

“Yes.”

“They didn’t tell me anything,” he said. “Not what’s wrong. Not why you reacted like that.”

“Because they don’t know,” I said. “Or they know and don’t want to say.”

He looked at me then. Really looked.

Fear flickered across his face before he buried it.

“You’re still going to the Academy,” he said.

“They made sure of that.”

Jake exhaled slowly. “Bella… if something happens to you”

I cut him off. “It already is.”

The bond pulsed between us, tight and uncomfortable, like it agreed.

His eyes darkened. “Whatever this is, it reacts to me.”

“Yes,” I said. “So maybe stay away.”

The words hurt to say. They hurt to hear.

But they were true.

That night, the pain came back harder.

I curled on my side, biting my lip to keep quiet. My body felt wrong. Like something inside me was waking up without my permission.

I didn’t know what it was.

I just knew it wasn’t done with me.

When morning came, I was exhausted, sore, and more afraid than I’d been in the arena.

As the transport doors closed and the Academy loomed in the distance, one thought wouldn’t leave my mind:

Winning the Trials wasn’t the end.

It was the beginning of something I wasn’t ready for.

And whatever was inside me?

It was coming with me.