جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 20

When Elisa made the sharp turn, the car skidded slightly on the dirt road, raising a small cloud of dust that dispersed into the warm morning air. Mia, who was leaning against the window glass, straightened up abruptly in her seat, her heart racing in her chest. But before she could protest at the sudden maneuver, her eyes widened.In front of them, as if it had emerged from the very heart of the forest, a charmingly strange little town appeared. It was as if someone had watched all the old movies about the American countryside and decided to build a perfect setting based on them. The houses were small, painted in pastel colors, and practically identical to each other, varying only in the smallest details - a longer porch, a door with an arched window, a taller white picket fence.The streets were perfectly paved, flanked by trees whose branches swayed gently in the wind, as if discreetly greeting the newcomers. The lawns of each house looked carefully trimmed, a vibrant green that con

Mia looked out the car window, her hands sweaty and her stomach churning. A small voice whispered in her mind, almost inaudible but persistent: “What if it's all true?” That place lost on the map, that hostile woman who seemed to sniff out secrets, the way everyone obeyed in silence—it all seemed like something out of a nightmare, or worse, a fantasy story that had decided to take on a life of its own.Frightened, she turned and grabbed her backpack from the back seat. She opened it with trembling hands and rummaged around until she found a small silver tube. It was the pepper spray her grandfather had given her before a school trip. At the time, Mia had thought it was overkill, but now... now she swore she would empty the entire contents into the eyes of the first person who came too close to her neck. None of this made any sense, and the less sense it made, the more dangerous it seemed.Elisa drove silently along the small road surrounded by tall pine trees, following the instruction

The silence between father and daughter still hung thick in the air, even after the hug. It was as if they were both digesting something sacred, almost unreal. Owen kept his arms around Mia, as if the simple act of letting her go would make her disappear. Mia, in turn, rested her face against his chest, listening to the sound of her father's heart—a sound that somehow now seemed familiar.It was at that moment that Elisa took a step forward.Her throat tightened. Her eyes glistened with contained emotion, and her hand rested gently on her chest as if to prevent her heart from exploding.“Owen, I...”She stopped. The name came out hesitant, broken by the weight of the past. By everything that was still left unsaid. Her eyes then slid from Owen to Mia. Mia now watched her with a mixture of curiosity and alertness. Elisa took a deep breath and decided to speak directly to her daughter.“Mia, I want you to know that I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I know you matter. You always have. And your fath

Mia shuddered. Her eyes were still fixed on the spot where, seconds before, her father had been standing, talking to her in a calm, firm voice. Now, in the same place, there was a huge black wolf with golden eyes. On the floor, Owen's clothes were torn to shreds, as if they had been ripped from his body by the transformation. There was no blood. Nothing violent. And, strangely, she hadn't even blinked.Her mind was spinning frantically.“It's not possible,” she thought. ”I didn't blink. I didn't close my eyes. He... he just turned into a wolf.”The wolf let out a low moan, almost a sound of pain, but not of suffering - it was more like a plea for calm, for understanding. Then he lay down on the ground, his chest rising and falling slowly, his eyes fixed on her. There was so much emotion in that look that Mia found it hard to breathe.Her reason told her that she should scream, run out of there as fast as possible, go back into the house and lock all the doors. But instead, Mia stood th

From Nolan's point of view...Earlier that same day, the sun had not yet reached the highest point in the sky when Nolan ran through the forest, the paws of his lupine form touching the soft earth with lethal precision. The wind nipped at his muzzle, carrying with it the scents of the dense, damp forest, but he wasn't running alone. His most loyal friends accompanied him closely: Tiago, his future beta, Fredi, who would take on the role of gamma, and Diana, Fredi's sister, the brown-haired she-wolf with rare white spots that caught everyone's eye.Diana was always with them. It was natural, almost expected. Ever since they were teenagers, she had run alongside Nolan, not just because she was strong - and indeed, she was one of the most powerful wolves the pack had ever seen - but because she dreamed of a future alongside him. She couldn't hide from anyone that she wanted to be mated to Nolan, the future alpha, the direct heir of royal blood.And Nolan? He didn't discourage her. On the