Chapter 1

Cora's POV :

I sat on the bench outside the beta's house and tried not to listen.

Laughter spilled through the open windows, bright and careless, carrying with it the scrape of furniture being moved and the flutter of streamers being hung. Someone inside clapped their hands, calling out instructions, and my mother’s voice rose above the rest—warm, proud, busy. The house was alive with anticipation.

They were coming home tonight.

My sister and Cain.

The Alpha’s son.

Everyone in Lincoln Pack was celebrating, and I was exactly where I always seemed to be during moments like this—outside, watching from the edge.

The bench beneath me was cold, even through my jeans. I picked at a loose thread near my knee and stared out at the treeline beyond the yard, where the forest waited in quiet contrast to the noise behind me. The woods never judged. They never whispered. They never laughed when they thought I couldn’t hear.

I was the younger daughter of the Beta of Lincoln Pack, and at twenty years old, I was still wolfless.

In our pack, that wasn’t just unusual—it was a flaw.

Most shifted at sixteen. The late ones at seventeen or eighteen. By twenty, people stopped asking when and started wondering why. The looks changed first—sympathy curdling into something sharper. Then the jokes. The murmurs.

The careful distance, as if whatever was wrong with me might be contagious.

“Maybe she’s human,” someone had whispered once.

I’d heard it. Of course I had.

Inside the house, my parents were moving from room to room, decorating for the welcome-back party like this was the most important night our pack had seen in years. In a way, it was. The Alpha had sent his son and a handful of Beta heirs—including my sister—to a prestigious training center in another town. It was where future leaders were shaped, bonds were forged, and reputations were made.

Everyone knew what it meant to be chosen.

Everyone knew what it meant to come back stronger.

My sister had been glowing in every video call—confident, capable, already fitting into the future everyone expected of her. And Cain… Cain had been right beside her in every photo the Alpha shared. Tall. Controlled. Already carrying authority like it was stitched into his skin.

The future Alpha and his mate—at least, that’s what people liked to whisper.

I pressed my palms against the bench and stood, stretching the stiffness from my legs. My wolf should have been here by now. Should have risen when I needed her, should have silenced the doubts and the pity and the quiet disappointment in my father’s eyes when he thought I wasn’t looking.

Instead, there was only silence inside me.

“Need help?” my mother called from the doorway.

I shook my head before she could step outside. “I’m fine.”

She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “They’ll be here soon.”

I nodded, forcing my lips into something that resembled excitement.

Soon.

The word echoed in my chest as I sat back down, watching the sun sink lower behind the trees. I wondered, not for the first time, if tonight would change anything at all.

Or if I would still be the wolfless Beta’s daughter—watching everyone else come home to who they were meant to be.

I got up from the bench and headed toward the forest, away from the noise and the watchful eyes. I just needed a little space—a short walk to clear my head before going back inside to help with the cooking and last-minute preparations.

The trees welcomed me in quiet contrast, their shadows stretching long across the ground. Above, the moon hung full and bright, bathing the forest in silver light. I breathed deeper as I walked, letting the cool air settle my nerves.

I came to a sudden halt when I heard movement in the bushes to my left. My heart jumped, and I turned sharply, muscles tensing—

Only for two squirrels to burst out, chattering as they hopped away into the trees.

I let out a slow breath, shaking my head at myself, and continued deeper into the forest, unaware that this small escape was about to change everything.

It starts as an ache.

Not pain—not yet—but a deep, restless pressure beneath my skin, like my bones are remembering something my mind has forgotten. I pace the edge of the clearing, breath coming too fast, heart pounding hard enough to shake my ribs.

The night air feels thick in my lungs, every breath burning as heat coils along my spine.

Then I hear her.

Not a sound—a presence. Quiet. Patient.

Waiting.

My knees give out and I fall to the ground, palms scraping against dirt and leaves. The smell of earth floods my senses, rich and alive, and suddenly it’s too much—too sharp, too real. The world stretches, shadows deepening, colors bleeding into one another as my heartbeat stutters and something inside me shifts.

Let me in.

The thought curls through my mind like it has always lived there.

The pressure breaks.

Heat surges through me, fierce and unstoppable, my muscles burning as they tighten and rearrange. My bones feel too large for my skin, stretching, reshaping, but fear never fully takes hold.

Beneath the pain is something else—certainty. Power. A wild, breathless rightness that steadies me even as my body changes.

I’m not breaking.

I’m becoming.

She rises inside me, strong and sure, her presence wrapping around my panic and smoothing it away. I feel her paws press against the ground even as my hands tremble, her breath expanding my chest, her awareness sliding seamlessly into mine. Every sense snaps into focus—sound sharpening, scent blooming, the night suddenly loud with life.

Mine, she says—not claiming me, but joining me.

When the shift settles, I’m lower to the ground, heavier and lighter all at once.

The air tastes different now—cooler, layered with a thousand distinct smells: pine, damp soil, distant water, the faint trace of other creatures moving through the dark. My heartbeat slows, powerful and steady, thrumming through a body that feels right in a way mine never quite did before.

I take a cautious step forward.

Then another.

The ground feels solid beneath my paws, every pebble and root a familiar language I somehow understand. My tail flicks behind me, ears swiveling as sounds ripple through the forest—leaves rustling, insects humming, the far-off call of an owl. My wolf hums with quiet delight, a soft, wordless encouragement.

Run.

The word isn’t a command. It’s an invitation.

I push off the ground, tentative at first, then faster. The forest opens around me, trees blurring as my body finds its rhythm. Wind tears past my fur, cold and exhilarating, and I laugh—an unrestrained, breathless sound that bursts free from my chest. Every stride eats up the earth beneath me, powerful and effortless, my muscles working in perfect harmony.

I don’t think.

I feel.

Roots and rocks are nothing—I leap over them without slowing, instincts guiding my path as if I’ve run this forest a thousand times before. The night welcomes me, wraps around me, and for the first time in my life I am not contained. I am speed and breath and heartbeat. I am motion given form.

Freedom surges through me, sharp enough to sting. Tears blur my vision even as I run faster, grief and joy tangling together in my chest. All the fear I’ve carried, all the loneliness—it peels away with every pounding stride, left behind in the dark.

I throw my head back and howl.

The sound echoes through the trees, wild and unashamed, and the forest answers in rustles and distant calls. My wolf swells with pride, with belonging, and I know—deep in my bones—that this is only the beginning.

I will run again.

I will run farther.

And I will never be alone again.