Something Wakes Inside Me

The rogue Alpha stepped closer, and everything inside me screamed danger.

Justin  moved the same second, standing in front of me so fast it felt like the air shifted with him.

“Touch her,” Justin said quietly, “and I’ll end you where you stand.”

The rogue smiled, but there was nothing friendly about it. “You think you can protect her forever? You can’t even explain what she is.”

Justin stiffened.

My heart thudded. “What… I am?” I whispered.

The rogue’s eyes slid to me, slow and greedy. “You don’t know, do you?”

He chuckled darkly. “Of course you don’t. They kept you hidden.”

Justin growled. “Shut up.”

But I stepped forward before he could pull me back.

“What do you mean hidden?” I asked.

Justin  grabbed my arm gently but firmly. “Aria, don’t listen to him.”

But the rogue kept talking, his gaze locked onto me like I was a prize he had waited years to claim.

“You’re not human,” he said. “Not fully. Wolves can smell it. It’s faint, but it’s there. Something rare. Something old.”

My stomach twisted. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not,” he said simply. “Your blood is valuable. Powerful. Enough to change everything.”

Justin snapped. His body shook with fury. “I said shut up!”

He shoved me back gently behind him, just as the rogue shifted his weight like he was preparing to attack.

The air grew heavier.

The forest grew silent.

I could barely breathe.

“Justin,” I whispered, gripping the back of his shirt, “please don’t fight him alone.”

He turned his head slightly, just enough for me to see his eyes.

“I’d fight an army for you,” he said. “This is nothing.”

But it wasn’t nothing.

I felt it.

Something strange was happening in my chest. A warm pressure spread through me, like a soft fire waking from sleep. It scared me, but it also made my legs stop shaking.

The rogue Alpha stepped forward.

Justin pushed me back farther. “Run into the trees. Stay low. Don’t look back.”

“No,” I said immediately. “I’m not leaving you.”

His eyes softened for half a second. “Aria… please.”

I shook my head. “I won’t leave you.”

He took one step closer to me, close enough that his breath brushed my forehead.

“I don’t want you to see what I become when I fight.”

“I don’t care,” I whispered.

Our eyes held each other’s for one still moment.

Then the rogue Alpha leaped.

Justin moved faster, slamming into him with a sound that echoed through the forest. They hit the ground hard, rolling across leaves and dirt. Snarls and growls filled the air. Claws scraped. Fists connected. The sound of teeth snapping made my heart jump.

I should have run.

I should have hidden.

But something in me held me in place.

A sudden wave of heat pulsed through my veins warm, strong, strange. My vision blurred. My hearing sharpened. I could hear every breath, every heartbeat, every sound in the forest.

I stumbled back, grabbing a tree to steady myself.

“What… what’s happening to me?” I whispered.

The rogue Alpha broke away from Justin for a second and looked at me. His eyes widened, surprised.

“There it is,” he breathed. “Her power.”

Justin growled and threw him into a tree, but the rogue was right.

I felt different.

My heart beat too fast. My skin prickled. My blood felt alive.

Justin turned toward me, eyes widening in shock. “Aria?”

The rogue Alpha wiped blood from his mouth and laughed.

“So it’s true. She’s waking up.”

“What does that mean?” I cried.

Neither of them answered.

The rogue lunged again, and Justin met him halfway. They clashed with a brutal force that shook the ground. Justin got the upper hand, pinning the rogue to the ground, hand closing around his throat.

“Stay away from her,” Justin snarled. “She’s mine.”

The rogue choked out a laugh. “Not for long.”

Justin roared and threw him aside, but the rogue scrambled up and disappeared into the trees with unbelievable speed.

Justin didn’t chase him.

Instead, he turned to me slowly, carefully, as if I might break.

“Aria,” he said, voice shaking, “look at your eyes.”

I frowned. “My eyes?”

He stepped closer and gently held my face, forcing me to meet his gaze.

“They’re glowing,” he whispered.

I froze.

“No,” I breathed. “That’s not possible”

“It is,” he said softly. “It’s starting.”

“What’s starting?” My voice cracked. “Justin what’s wrong with me?”

He swallowed hard. His thumb stroked my cheek gently, almost painfully tender.

“You’re not wrong,” he said. “You’re awakening.”

I stared at him, confused and terrified. “Awakening into what?”

His expression softened, but his voice was full of fear and longing.

“Into what you truly are.”

He leaned closer, forehead touching mine for a quiet second.

“And whatever it is,” he whispered, “I’m not letting you face it alone.”

A single tear slipped down my cheek.

Justin caught it with his thumb.

“Aria,” he murmured, “I’m already too deep. I can’t pull back anymore.”

He looked at me like I was the entire world he’d been waiting for.

And for the first time, I didn’t look away.