The news of my bloodline didn’t stay secret long.By the next dawn, whispers crawled through the Hollow like wildfire.Some wolves looked at me with new respect, others with suspicion sharp as knives.Kade stayed close, but even he couldn’t shield me from the weight of their stares.At the council meeting, voices rose. Old pack members questioned if I was truly one of them.“They call me outsider,” I told Kade later, voice tight. “But I’ve earned every step.”He squeezed my hand. “You’re more than that.”But the truth was clear: the pack was divided.And Luna Marisol’s defeat only fueled the fire.“Not everyone wants a human-born Alpha,” Kade warned.I clenched my jaw. “Then they’ll have to face what I am.”The fight wasn’t over.It had only just begun.The moon was just a sliver when I slipped through the forest, heart pounding like a drum.Kade had warned me: not everyone accepted what I was. Not everyone would stand quietly while the pack shifted beneath us.I wasn’t about to let f
The dust hadn’t even settled when the Elders stepped forward.Marisol lay on the edge of the circle, heaving, fury in her eyes but defeat in her body. She didn’t speak. She didn’t rise. Her pride bled more than her skin.Kade rushed to me first, hands on my shoulders, eyes scanning me for bruises, cuts, breaks.“I’m okay,” I said, though my ribs ached and my hands trembled. “I didn’t shift. I didn’t even come close.”He looked both proud and terrified. “You could’ve killed her.”“I didn’t.”“That’s what makes you stronger,” he murmured.The oldest Elder, his silver beard glowing pale in the moonlight, stepped between us. His voice rang out like thunder in a storm.“Shea Carter has completed all three Trials: Instinct, Control, and Past.”The pack fell into absolute silence.“She has survived the fire. She has resisted the shift. She has faced the blood of the Old Law and stood her ground.”Another Elder added, “And shown mercy in victory.”They always said the Trials were tests of wor
They gave me until moonrise.That was it.One full turn of the sun to rest, to prepare, to decide if I was willing to bleed for this bond.I stood by the river with my boots off and my toes in the cold water, trying to stop the panic rising in my throat. The trees whispered around me like they knew something I didn’t. Like they’d seen girls like me walk into this kind of challenge and never walk out again.Kade stood behind me, his shadow tall and quiet.“You don’t have to do this,” he said softly, like he already knew it wouldn’t matter.“I do.”“Shea, this isn’t a sparring match. Marisol isn’t just fast. She’s trained. She kills.”I turned slowly. “And I’ve survived things I never trained for.”That made him pause. His jaw tightened like he was holding in a hundred things at once, fear, pride, frustration.“She’s not doing this to prove anything to the pack,” he said. “She wants to kill you. She’s jealous. She’s angry. And she’s cornered.”“Then maybe it’s time someone reminded her
I barely had time to breathe after the third trial before the whispering started.It began with a single voice, one of the younger Elders, tall and sharp-featured, his silver hair pulled tight at the nape of his neck. I didn’t know his name, but I didn’t need to.The way the others turned to listen told me everything.“She’s too calm,” he said, voice just loud enough to carry. “Too controlled. No one touches the fire without shifting, without pain. And yet she walks out… stronger?”One of the older women narrowed her eyes. “You suggest she’s something else?”“I suggest she’s not just a mate,” he said coldly. “She could be a potential Alpha.”That hit the Hollow like a lightning bolt.Even Kade flinched beside me.“She’s human-born,” another Elder hissed. “That’s not possible.”“But her wolf came late,” the first one argued. “And look at how she endures. How she chooses not to shift, even when everything in her body demands it. That’s not human stubbornness. That’s Alpha discipline.”I
The Hollow was quieter that evening.Too quiet.Even the wolves in the distance weren’t howling. It was like the whole forest was holding its breath, waiting to see what the Council would demand next.I sat on a rock near the firepit, my knees drawn up, fingers twitching from the memory of the flames. My skin still felt tight, like I’d been scorched from the inside. But I was still here. Still standing.Kade knelt in front of me, a damp cloth in his hand. He wiped soot from my cheek without speaking.“You don’t have to baby me,” I murmured.He didn’t smile. “That wasn’t fire. That was punishment.”“They wanted me to shift.”“They wanted you to break.”I met his eyes. “I didn’t.”He brushed hair from my face and nodded. “No. You didn’t.”Before he could say more, the Council returned, this time with a very different kind of tension in the air.The lead Elder stepped forward, voice colder than before.“You’ve proven control. You’ve proven instinct. Now we test your bond to the past.”I
The night was thick with tension, the full Blood Moon hanging heavy over the Hollow. The air buzzed like electricity, every breath tasting sharp with anticipation.The Elders formed a circle around me, their eyes unreadable. Kade stood just behind, silent but unwavering.The first trial was clear: a test of tracking, a Silent Hunt. No shifting allowed. Just raw skill, instincts, and will.I swallowed down the tremble in my throat.“Begin,” the eldest commanded.I stepped forward, senses flaring. The forest around me seemed to blur and sharpen at once. The scent of earth, leaves, and hidden creatures flooded my nose.Every step was calculated, every breath measured.The pack watched, but I was alone in the wild.The scent trail was faint, an injured deer that had passed through hours before. The test was to track it without shifting, without letting the wolf take over.My muscles ached, my skin tingled, but I stayed steady.And then, from nowhere, a shadow moved, quick and silent.A rog