LOGINAeliana's POV
I ran until my lungs burned and my legs shook.
The forest was a blur of green and brown, branches whipping past my face as I crashed through underbrush without any sense of direction. I just needed to get away. Away from the training barn, away from Marcus's frightened eyes, away from the reflection that showed a stranger with silver eyes and claws.
Away from Caelan, who'd been moving toward me like he knew exactly what was happening to me when I didn't have a clue.
My enhanced hearing picked up sounds I'd never noticed before. Birds calling to each other miles away. Small animals scurrying through dead leaves. The distant sound of water running over rocks. Even my own heartbeat seemed impossibly loud, a drum that echoed in my chest.
This is what Marcus meant when he talked about my wolf waking up. This overwhelming flood of sensation, this feeling like my skin was too tight, like something was trying to
Aeliana's POV"Why me?" I demanded. "Why choose me specifically? What makes me capable of carrying this?"Its presence shifted, and I felt its amusement. You do not know? Truly?"Know what?"Your bloodline, child. You carry the blood of those who walked with gods, who stood between light and dark and chose to fight. It runs thin now, diluted by generations, but it is there. We recognized it the moment you were born. We had chosen you before you even took your first breath."My bloodline?" Confusion warred with shock. "I'm human. I was human until I met Caelan. I have no special bloodline or any magical ancestry..."You believed yourself human because you knew nothing else. But human blood does not call to divine fragments. Human souls do not resonate with ancient power like us. I feel its presence wrapped around me in a nonthreatening but encompassing way. You are descended from the Luminar, those who served as bridges between wolves and the divine. That blood is why we chose you. Tha
Aeliana's POVThe meditation area is smaller than I'd expected. Candles flickered at various points around the space, casting dancing shadows that made the symbols Theron had drawn on the floor seem to move."Sit in the center," Theron instructed, his voice taking on the authoritative tone of a teacher. "Cross your legs, put your hands on your knees, and keep the palms up. You need to be grounded and open."I did as he asked, settling into position. The floor was hard beneath me, but I forced myself to relax and breathe evenly despite the anxiety coiling in my stomach.Theron moved around the circle while lighting bundles of herbs that released sharp, pungent smoke. "This is sage and myrrh mixed with shadowroot. It helps thin the veil between conscious and unconscious, making it easier to reach the deep places where the entity resides.""Will it hurt?" I asked."The herbs? No. The process?" He paused. "Possibly. Mental expansion isn't comfortable. You're essentially forcing your consc
Aeliana's POVI could feel my wolf surface, ready to claim her mate just as he claimed her. Even after riding out her release, she still feels hot and bothered; my pussy still greedily sucks and clamps onto his length. I held onto his shoulder as my finger ran widely on his chest; I placed my mouth on his nipple and bit down on it.I could feel him get instantly hard even inside me, stretching me and filling me. I began to move, but I wasn’t satisfied, so I pushed him, and his length sprang out of me, causing the mixture of our release to leak from me. I pushed him toward his sofa and then straddled him, holding up his length. I sat down on him till I felt his hilt.Raising my hips up and down, I begin to ride him. I can feel my need flushing down my spine. He carried me up and laid me on my stomach on his
Caelan's POVThe preparations for Aeliana's first training session with Theron were well underway. Jolene is gathering the supplies, the specific herbs, crystals, and other materials Theron had requested. David is clearing and securing one of the meditation rooms in the east wing. Theron himself is in the library, maybe reviewing texts and preparing his approach.Which left me in my office, trying to focus on the pack business and failing miserably.Every time I looked at the documents spread across my desk, all I could see was that list. Twenty-three names in our archives. Fifty total in recorded history, with only three survivors.Three out of fifty.The numbers haunted me. No matter how many times I tried to push them away
Aeliana's POV"Because it means you're not being completely overwhelmed. There's still a boundary between you and the entity, even if that boundary is permeable." He looked up from his notes. "The Vessels who survived the awakening all reported similar experiences...they remained aware even when the power was in control. Those who lost that awareness are those who were completely subsumed and never came back."The information should have been comforting, but it wasn't. "So I'm aware enough to watch myself disappear. That's not exactly reassuring.""No, but it gives us something to work with." Theron closed his notebook. "Aeliana, I'm going to be blunt with you. What you're going through is incredibly rare and incredibly dangerous. Most Vessels don't survive the awakening process. But the fact that you're still fighting, sti
Caelan's POVI exchanged glances with Jolene, weighing how much to reveal. But if Theron is going to help us, he needs the full picture."She's been having dreams...memories that aren't hers or the ones she might have forgotten; sometimes she sees herself as a child running in the woods. She has never talked about this, even before she was cursed. Now she hardly remembers memories before she was cursed, which we attributed to the curse, but she grew up an orphan, and now she easily remembers having parents, though the dream isn't clear. She knows things she's never learned and can understand languages she's never studied. Some nights ago, she floated off the bed while sleeping, surrounded by golden symbols, and something spoke through her. "I kept my voice steady despite the fear the memory evoked." Two days ago, she had a







