The Awakening

Ava's POV"Luna Ava," I opened my eyes and gasped for air.I turned to see my aide, River, beside me. I looked at her in confusion. Is she also dead?"Luna Ava it's time to see your betrothed, Alpha Sage. He is with your parents, they are already waiting for you downstairs. Your presence is needed," She bowed.This happened two years ago, why is it repeating itself over again?"Uhm… What's today's date?" I looked around my room. It was painted dark blue just the way I remembered, with my table and chair at the side of my queen-size bed that had blue covers on it. This was my room before I got married.My favorite color is blue so I decided to use different shades of it in different parts of my room. "It's February 2nd, 2016," she replied.It's 2016 not 2018 any more. It was two years before the day I died. I'm not dead anymore. How'd this happen? The Lady in Gold?"Where are they?" I removed my duvet from my body and went to pick a dress from my walk-in closet.She followed me, "The

Ava's POVThe knock on my door jerked me out of my thoughts. "Come in," I said. I sat up and faced the door. Sage walked in with red roses, my favorite flowers. He handed them to me, giving me a kiss on my forehead. "Why aren't you ready yet? It's after twelve already." He held my hand in his, caressing it softly. "I'm sorry. It must have slipped my mind. Just give me thirty minutes to get ready." I smiled lazily. "I know you have been preparing for the impromptu meeting that the Alpha King ordered to have with your pack, but you can sit this one out. Alvin and I can fill in for you. I already told your parents, they had no problem with it." He placed his hand on my shoulder. I remembered how he insisted that I didn't go, I didn't think much of it then. But I want to meet the Alpha King now. "I want to attend the meeting. It concerns my pack and I don't think I should be absent. I'm their Alpha after all." I stood up, and walked into my closet, leaving no time for more discus

Ava’s POVThe air between us was heavy. Sage's eyes, still glowing faintly with that threatening golden hue, bore into mine as silence stretched long and sharp between us. I stood pinned to the wall, my chest heaving, every nerve in my body strung tight like a bowstring.His earlier accusation hung in the air like a curse.“You don't get to accuse me of what you’re guilty of,” I had said. The words echoed in my ears, venomous and reckless.Sage’s lips parted slightly, his brows furrowing with confusion and something else—fear, maybe.“What do you mean by that?” he asked, voice barely above a whisper.I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat dried up instantly. The implication of what I had said settled over me like a stone. I hadn’t meant to say it. Not yet. Not like that.I swallowed hard, breaking our stare.“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said quickly. “I was upset. That’s all.” My tone was clipped, defensive.He tilted his head, his gaze narrowing. “Then what did you mean, Ava?”

Ava’s POVThe air in the hallway had shifted—heavier, denser, like the weight of a storm pressing in before it broke. Sage stood at the far end, blocking Diego’s path, his shoulders squared in the way that meant he wasn’t moving until he’d said his piece.Diego didn’t seem bothered. In fact, the way he leaned slightly to one side, his hands loose at his sides, looked almost… amused.I was halfway tucked behind a column, the thin carved wood doing little to conceal me, but I didn’t dare step out just yet. Something in Sage’s expression told me this wasn’t going to be the usual stiff pleasantries.“I know you’re a powerful man,” Sage began, his tone calm, respectful, but laced with steel, “and I mean no disrespect. But I’m going to be direct.”Diego tilted his head, almost like he was indulging a child who’d just announced they were ready to lecture him.“Ava isn’t someone you should get close to,” Sage continued. “She’s not part of your world, and whatever games you play—they won’t end

Ava’s POVThe manor had been unusually quiet all morning, as if even the walls sensed that something weighty had shifted. I could still smell the faint hint of burning cedar in the air — the scent that always clung to my father after he’d attended a council meeting.I had been avoiding him all day.Not because I feared him — though he was a man capable of inspiring it — but because I’d grown used to the way his words cut deeper when he’d just returned from those gatherings. Meetings with alphas and leaders always put him in a mood: sharper, more calculating.When I finally heard the heavy sound of his boots in the corridor, I slipped into the nearest drawing room, pressing myself to the shadowed alcove behind the curtain. I didn’t mean to listen. Not at first.But I heard his voice. And another.Sage.“…you will hold to the agreement,” my father said, his tone carrying that same unshakable weight.“I am not the one in question,” Sage replied, his voice cool and deliberate. “But Diego—