CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

The moment Daniel frowned at me like I’d just asked him to solve a calculus equation, my stomach dropped.

“What rogue battles?” he asked slowly, head tilting in confusion.

The same rogue battles. The ones that happened last week. The ones where people screamed and ran and shifted and the air tasted like iron and death. 

Those rogue battles.

I opened my mouth, but suddenly felt stupid. “The ones that happened last week. When we were attacked? When everyone was screaming and running and the warriors and D—?”

Daniel stared. Blinked once. Then, he gave me a smile so polite it made me clamp my mouth shut instantly.

“Emily,” he said gently, “there were no rogue attacks last week.”

My heartbeat stuttered. “What? Yes, there were.”

“No,” he repeated, sounding amused, “there weren’t.”

I took a step back. “You’re joking.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do I look like I’m joking?”

Actually, yes. His face looked like the default expression of someone telling a knock-knock joke badly.

“I — I was there,” I insisted, pointing at the ground like the dirt would back me up. “I saw it. The howling. The fighting. The warriors fighting and people got injured —”

Daniel laughed.

He actually laughed.

“Oh, Emily. You must have had a nightmare.” He squeezed my shoulder like I was a child who woke up from a bad dream about monsters under the bed. 

“Maybe you’re still adjusting to time zones or, I don’t know, jet lag.”

“It’s been over a week!”

He shrugged. “Sometimes jet lag hits weird.”

What kind of jet lag makes you hallucinate a full-scale werewolf battle?

“I’m not imagining things,” I whispered, but he was already waving to someone behind me like I wasn’t even talking.

I stood there, frozen, feeling like the world tilted slightly to the left.

My wolf stirred under my skin, alert but, tense. She didn’t speak, but her presence pressed firmly against my chest as if to agree with me and reassure me of her presence.

Thank God at least one part of me wasn’t useless.

I took a shaky breath. “Okay,” I muttered to myself, “okay, fine. They’re pretending nothing happened. Great. Perfect. Love that for me.”

Daniel had already walked off, greeting someone like we hadn’t just had the world’s most disturbing conversation.

I turned in a slow circle taking in the village square.

Children played tag. Pack moms stretched laundry lines. Someone cooked something that smelled suspiciously like burnt potatoes. A few wolves in their animal form lounged under a tree with the energy of retirees.

Normal. Everything was irritatingly, offensively normal.

No broken fences. No claw marks. No destroyed market stalls. No warriors limping or bandaged.

Not even a stupid footprint out of place.

I rubbed my temples. “Did the entire pack swallow a memory-wipe potion or what?”

The breeze tugged on my cape again, annoying me. I tugged it off, rolled it into a sausage version and stuffed it under my arm before someone else made another Halloween comment.

I spotted Mrs. Hern chatting with Mrs. Falyne by the well. I marched over.

“Mrs. Hern,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “Quick question. Last week, do you remember hearing any howls? Fighting? People yelling?”

She blinked at me. “You mean training drills?”

“No,” I snapped. “I mean rogue attacks.”

Mrs. Falyne gasped dramatically. “Rogues? Here? Oh heavens, no.”

I stared at them. “There were rogues.”

Mrs. Hern placed a warm hand on my arm. “Honey… are you sure you’re feeling alright? You’ve been through a lot emotionally lately. Sometimes the mind plays tricks.”

“My mind is not playing tricks.”

She gave me the same soft, pitying smile Daniel did. “Of course not, dear.”

I clenched my jaw. “Did Bella tell you to say that?”

Mrs. Falyne frowned. “Why would Bella tell us anything? She’s been quiet all morning. Strange girl. Sweet, but strange.”

That didn’t help.

“Ok,” I muttered, stepping back. “Cool. Fantastic. I’m officially losing it.”

Nobody looked alarmed. Nobody paused. The world just kept spinning like I wasn’t spiraling internally.

I needed answers. Real answers.

So I tried someone else.

“Mr. Varo?” I flagged down an older man repairing a wooden stall. “You saw what happened last week, right? With the rogues?”

He wiped his brow. “Last week? I was helping Mira deliver twins last week.”

“That’s — that’s not possible,” I sputtered. “You were fighting with the others—”

“Dear,” he said with a gentle smile, “I’ve been on midwife duty for the past two weeks. Haven’t shifted once.”

My head spun.

“I’m not insane,” I said quietly, but he’d already gone back to hammering.

I staggered back, hand on a post for balance. My ears rang. Nausea crawled up my throat.

Everyone… every single person… was acting like the rogue battle never happened.

My wolf pressed stronger now, tense, alert, circling inside me like she was preparing to defend me from something I couldn’t see.

I know what I saw. I know what we lived. I know what happened.

Her presence radiated certainty, the kind I was badly missing in every human interaction I’d had in the last ten minutes.

I swallowed hard. “Why are they lying?”

My wolf didn’t answer, but I felt her push forward, almost urging me to leave the square. 

Run away.

Survive.

I took a shaky step away, only for two passing warriors to shoot me sympathetic looks.

“Oh Emily,” one whispered under his breath, “maybe you should go rest. You look tired.”

“I’m not tired!” I snapped.

They quickened their pace like I’d moved to bite them.

I threw my hands up. “Are you kidding me?”

A baby cried somewhere. Someone else laughed. Children played in the dirt.

Life continued while I stood in the middle of the pack territory looking like the lead character in Teen wolf.

“What is happening?” I whispered. “Why is everyone pretending nothing happened?”

A stronger breeze swept through the square, carrying the smell of pine and warm bread. My wolf’s tension heightened again.

“Emily!”

I nearly jumped out of my actual skin. I spun around, my heart slamming into my throat, claws threatening to burst out again.

Only to find Noirse standing behind me with her bright eyes and breathless excitement.

“Why are you sneaking up on me like a horror movie extra!?” I clutched my chest. “Are you trying to kill me?”

She giggled. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Well,” I muttered, “congratulations, you succeeded.”

Noirse’s smile faltered as she looked down at her hands. “I left your room. I didn't understand what you were saying but I came because someone told me to get you.”

My pulse stilled. “Told you? Who told you?”

She shook her head. “ The Luna. She said I should bring you to the town hall. The big one in the center square. You don't know it, do you?.”

My stomach dropped.

“Why?” I asked.

Noirse shifted nervously. “I… don’t know. But she said… the meeting is starting, and everyone’s waiting for you.”

The meeting?

Everyone?

Waiting for me?

Before I could ask another question, Noirse took my hand with trembling fingers and tugged.

“Emily,” she whispered, “they said you have to come. Now.”

Her words sank in slowly.

Then my wolf inside me steady all morning, suddenly went still.

Dead still.

They? Not just grandma?

A cold warning pulsed through me so sharply I almost gasped.

Something was wrong.

I swallowed, heart hammering

as Noirse pulled me toward the center square.

“Emily…” she whispered with a bright smile, bouncing on her heels, “they’re waiting inside.”

Slowly, the town hall doors creaked open on their own.