CHAPTER TWO: THE AWAKENING

LEILA'S POV

The burning started at midnight.

I thought it was a fever at first. Kicked off the blankets, stumbled to the bathroom, turned the shower to cold. The water hit my skin and turned to steam.

That's when I knew something was wrong.

I gripped the sink, staring at my reflection. My skin was flushed, covered in a thin sheen of sweat. My eyes, normally violet-gray behind my brown contacts, looked strange. Brighter somehow.

Then the pain hit.

Not gradual. Not a slow build. It slammed into me like a freight train.

I collapsed, hitting the tile hard. My body convulsed. Every nerve ending felt like it was on fire. I tried to scream but couldn't get enough air.

What's happening to me?

My bones ached. My skin felt too tight. Something inside me was pushing, trying to get out.

"Finally."

The voice came from inside my head. Ancient. Furious. Female.

I gasped, curling into a ball. "Who..."

"I'm you. The real you. The part they buried before you could even know I existed."

Another wave of pain. The bathroom mirror cracked, not from impact, from heat radiating off my body.

"What are you?" I choked out.

"I'm your wolf. And I've been caged for eighteen years." Her voice turned savage. "But the cage is breaking. Your heat is burning through the suppression magic. And when I'm free, everyone will know what we are."

Heat.

The word triggered recognition. I'd heard the pack wolves talk about heats, a biological imperative that hit unmated females, making them vulnerable, desperate for a mate's bond.

But I was human. Humans didn't have heats.

"We were never human, little girl. That was just another lie they told you."

Before I could process that, before I could even begin to understand, my body began to change.

Bones shifted. Skin stretched. Something erupted from inside me, not violent like I'd expected, but like a door finally opening after being locked for years.

I tried to fight it. Tried to stay human.

But she was stronger.

"Too late. I'm free. And he's coming."

"Who's coming?"

She didn't answer. Because in that moment, power exploded from my body like a shockwave.

Every light in the house blew out simultaneously. Glass shattered—windows, mirrors, picture frames. The entire pack house shook on its foundation.

And then I heard it.

A howl. Raw. Desperate. Agonized.

Coming from inside the house.

Not from my wolf. From someone else.

Someone whose voice I recognized even in wolf form.

Maddox.

The transformation stopped halfway.

I knelt on the bathroom floor, gasping, my body caught between human and something else. My hands had claws. Silver-white fur sprouted along my arms. My teeth felt too sharp, too long.

But I was still mostly human. Still mostly me.

"What did you do?" I whispered to my wolf.

"I didn't do anything. He did." Her voice carried a strange mix of satisfaction and confusion. "The bond is trying to form. It's pulling us both toward the surface."

"What bond?"

Before she could answer, my bedroom door exploded.

Not opened. Not kicked in. Exploded. Wood splintered in every direction.

Maddox stood in the doorway.

His chest heaved. His clothes were torn. Blood dripped from his knuckles where he'd clearly punched through something, probably several somethings, to reach me.

But his eyes were what stopped my heart.

Completely black. No white. No iris. Just pure, fathomless darkness.

And they were locked on me with an intensity that made my skin prickle.

"Leila." My name came out barely human. His voice was layered, man and wolf speaking together. "What are you?"

I couldn't answer. My throat had closed up.

He took a step into the room. Then another. Moving like a predator stalking prey.

"You smell..." His eyes rolled back. He gripped the doorframe so hard the wood cracked under his fingers. Claws extended from his fingertips. "Fuck. You smell like mine."

The word hit me like a physical blow.

Mine.

Possessive. Primal. Absolute.

"Maddox, I don't understand what's…"

"Neither do I." He cut me off, his voice raw. "But my wolf is losing his mind. He's saying you're our mate. That you belong to us. That we need to mark you right now before anyone else can claim you."

"That's impossible. I'm your stepsister. I'm human…"

"You're not human." His nostrils flared. "I don't know what you are, but you're not human. Your scent..." He shuddered. "It's driving me insane."

I pressed back against the bathroom wall, my partial transformation making me feel exposed. Vulnerable.

"Maddox, you need to leave."

"I can't." The confession sounded like it was torn from him. "My wolf won't let me. He's demanding I stay. Demanding I protect you. Demanding I…" He cut himself off, jaw clenching. "You need to tell me what's happening. Right now."

"I don't know!" The words came out too loud, too desperate. "I woke up burning. My wolf, I have a wolf apparently, said something broke. Some kind of suppression. And then you..."

I trailed off because Maddox had gone completely still.

That predator stillness that meant a wolf was about to strike.

"Your wolf spoke to you," he said quietly. "For the first time tonight."

"Yes."

"And the suppression broke during your heat."

"I think so."

His eyes closed. "Oh fuck."

"What? What does that mean?"

"It means someone deliberately hid what you are. Powerful magic. The kind that would take a witch or…" He stopped. Opened his eyes. "Or another hybrid."

The word hung between us.

Hybrid.

"My mother said..." I struggled to remember through the haze of pain and confusion. "She said my biological father was special. That he died protecting me. But she never told me details."

"Because she was hiding you." Maddox's voice was carefully controlled now. Too controlled. "From what?"

"I don't know."

"Then we need to find out. Because if you're what I think you are…"

Footsteps pounded in the hallway.

Maddox spun, putting himself between me and the door. A warning growl rumbled in his chest.

"Maddox, stand down." The command came from the hallway.