Chapter Two

⸻

Chapter Two

The sun cracks through the window, I look to the side and I see 4:54am, not bad my alarm goes off at 5am.

I turn the Alarm off and Start my day, I grab my clothes and head into the bathroom before everyone else wakes up.

I get ready for work and head down stairs to see Martha, who has already made breakfast for us all, I grab something and head out the door shouting my goodbyes.

My journey to the bakery isn’t close, so I often daydream on my way through the forest into the village.

——

Seven Days

One week.

Seven days.

That was all that stood between Ivy and the answer she had spent her entire life dreading.

Would her wolf finally awaken…

Or would she become the first person in pack history to reach eighteen without one?

The question followed her everywhere.

She heard it in the lowered voices outside the bakery.

Saw it in the sympathetic smiles from elderly pack members.

Felt it in the curious stares of children who had learned to shift years before.

She hated pity more than cruelty.

At least cruelty was honest.

Pity made her feel invisible.

⸻

The Afternoon training grounds echoed with the sounds of clashing weapons and barking orders.

After finishing up at the Bakery, Ivy headed towards the Infirmary as Martha had volunteered her to help the pack healer for the week, insisting it would “keep her mind occupied.”

Ivy balanced a basket of fresh bandages against her hip as she made her way toward the infirmary.

It wasn’t working.

Every conversation somehow circled back to birthdays, wolves, or mates.

“…my son’s wolf came through at sixteen…”

“…the Moon Goddess always has a plan…”

“…perhaps she’ll simply be a late bloomer…”

Late bloomer.

That had become everyone’s favourite phrase.

No one believed it.

Not really.

⸻

Across the training field, Alpha Kael watched his warriors spar.

“Again,” he barked.

Two large wolves collided in their human forms, wooden swords cracking together before one was thrown onto his back.

“Too slow.”

The fallen warrior groaned.

“I’m trying, Alpha.”

“Try harder.”

His Beta, Rowan, folded his arms beside him.

“You’re in a mood.”

“I’m always in a mood.”

“No.”

Rowan smirked.

“You’re distracted.”

Kael’s jaw tightened.

“I am not.”

“You’ve been staring toward the infirmary for the last five minutes.”

“I’ve been assessing the camp.”

“Mhm.”

Kael shot him a look.

Rowan laughed.

“I’ve known you since we were pups. Don’t bother pretending.”

“I don’t know what you’re implying.”

“You keep looking for the orphan.”

Kael didn’t answer.

Because Rowan wasn’t entirely wrong.

Ever since the marketplace yesterday, something about Ivy lingered in his thoughts.

Not attraction.

Not the mate bond.

Just…

Concern.

There had been something in her eyes.

A loneliness he recognised all too well.

⸻

The infirmary was unusually quiet.

Healer Nora smiled as Ivy sorted herbs into glass jars.

“You’ve got quick hands.”

“I’ve had practice.”

“You’ve worked here before?”

“No.”

Nora raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve just spent eighteen years fixing everything I break.”

The healer chuckled.

“Self-sufficient.”

“More like accident-prone.”

As Ivy reached for another bundle of herbs, a sharp pain shot through her chest.

She gasped.

The jars slipped from her hands.

Glass shattered across the floor.

“Ivy?”

“I’m…”

The pain disappeared as suddenly as it had come.

“…fine.”

Nora frowned.

“You don’t look fine.”

“It was nothing.”

But it hadn’t felt like nothing.

For one brief second…

She had heard something.

A heartbeat.

Not hers.

Another’s.

Strong.

Ancient.

Waiting.

Then silence.

⸻

That evening, Ivy wandered beyond the village toward the edge of the forest.

It was the only place where the whispers couldn’t reach her.

The trees welcomed her with familiar silence.

She found her favourite fallen log beside the stream and sat, watching the water dance over smooth stones.

“I wondered where you’d disappeared to.”

She startled.

Kael stepped from between the trees.

Without his Alpha jacket and surrounded by the quiet forest instead of the pack, he looked…

Less intimidating.

More human.

“Am I trespassing?” Ivy asked.

A corner of his mouth lifted.

“On my own land? Technically.”

She stood.

“I can leave.”

“I didn’t ask you to.”

She hesitated before sitting again.

After a moment, Kael lowered himself onto the opposite end of the log.

Neither spoke.

The silence wasn’t awkward.

It was… peaceful.

“I used to come here as a boy,” Kael finally said.

“You did?”

“When being Alpha felt impossible.”

“You always knew you’d become Alpha?”

“My father made sure of it.”

She glanced at him.

“Were you scared?”

“Terrified.”

She smiled faintly.

“I can’t imagine you being scared.”

“I was.”

He looked toward the stream.

“The difference is I had people reminding me I could do it.”

His words lingered between them.

“You don’t have that,” he said quietly.

She shook her head.

“No.”

“You should.”

A lump formed in her throat.

No one had ever said something like that to her.

Not because they had to.

Not out of pity.

Simply because they believed it.

“You don’t even know me,” she whispered.

Kael met her eyes.

“I know enough.”

The air between them shifted.

Neither noticed the breeze suddenly carrying the scent of moonflowers.

Neither noticed the forest growing strangely still.

Far beyond the trees…

Something watched.

Waiting.

⸻

Deep beneath the mountains, hidden from both wolves and humans, the Crystal Palace stood untouched by time.

In its highest tower, the Lycan Queen awoke from another restless sleep.

She pressed a hand against her chest.

“It’s stronger,” she whispered.

Across the room, the Lycan King looked up from an ancient map.

“You felt it too.”

She nodded, tears already filling her silver eyes.

“For eighteen years…”

Hope trembled in her voice.

“I think our daughter is finally waking.”

The King closed his eyes.

Every year they had hoped.

Every year they had been disappointed.

But this…

This felt different.

The ancient bond between Lycan royals had never truly been broken.

Only…

Sleeping.

He walked to the balcony overlooking the hidden kingdom.

“Prepare the palace.”

The Queen looked at him.

“You believe it?”

“I do.”

“What if we’re wrong?”

He smiled softly.

“We’ve waited eighteen years.”

His gaze drifted toward the distant mountains separating their kingdom from the werewolf territories.

“We can wait one more week.”

Above them, the full moon emerged from behind the clouds.

Its silver light bathed both kingdoms equally.

As if the Moon Goddess herself were reminding the world…

What had once been divided…

Would soon become one.