All Chapters of SHADOWBORN: The Rise Of The Dragon Wolf : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Chapter 20"That's not possible," I said out loud to the empty room. My voice sounded too loud in the silence. "That's completely insane."But even as I said it, I knew insane didn't mean anything anymore. Not in a world where people turned into wolves. Not when I was holding a diary that had somehow appeared in my locked room while I was sleeping.I picked up the diary again and turned it over in my hands. The leather was warm like someone had just been holding it. I traced my fingers over the cover and tried to make sense of what was happening.Maybe someone had slipped it under the door? But no, the gap was too small. I would have heard something. I would have woken up.Maybe they came in while I was asleep? But the door had been locked from the outside. I'd heard Mara turn the lock when she left. And the room was tiny. Anyone coming in would have made noise. Would have woken me up.So how did it get here?I was still sitting there trying to figure it out when I heard footsteps in

Chapter 22Nyx"I missed you," I said again. "I was so scared something happened to you. I kept thinking about that day they took us. Kept thinking about how I didn't know if you were okay. If you were hurt. If they were doing something to you."My voice was shaking now and I couldn't stop it. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I got us into this. I'm sorry you're here because of me.""Nyx," Alex said. His voice was rough. "This isn't your fault.""Yes it is," I said. Tears were burning in my eyes and I blinked them back. "You could have left. When we found out about the werewolves. When things got dangerous. You could have run. But you stayed because of me.""I stayed because I wanted to," Alex said firmly. His hands moved from my arms to my face. He cupped my cheeks gently and made me look at him. "I stayed because I care about you. Because I'm not going to leave you alone to deal with this."A tear slipped down my cheek and he wiped it away with his thumb."We're going to get out of here," he

Chapter 24When I opened my eyes everything was exactly the same. The moon was still bright, the crowd was still watching. Lyra was still staring at me with that look of growing frustration."I can't," I said, tears were burning in my eyes and I blinked them back. "I don't know how, don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing."Lyra stood there for a long moment just looking at me, and then she turned away."This is a waste of time," she said to the woman standing next to her. "She's nothing. Just an ordinary human girl."Those words hit me like a slap. Nothing. Just ordinary.After everything she'd said about me being special and rare and valuable she'd decided I was nothing.My chest felt tight and my hands were shaking, I wanted to scream at her. Wanted to tell her that I'd told her I didn't know what I was. That I'd said from the beginning I couldn't do whatever it was she wanted me to do.But I didn't say anything, I just stood there feeling small and useless and stupid."So w

Chapter 26Nyx "And Nyx?" Finn said. "Don't let Lyra make you think you're nothing, she says things when she's angry that she doesn't mean. She's not as heartless as she pretends to be.""Could've fooled me," I muttered.Finn laughed. "Yeah well. She's good at that. Fooling people."He left and I heard the lock click into place.I sat on the bed and thought about everything I'd seen today, the fighters at the training grounds. The organized way the village ran, the people who all seemed to know exactly what they were doing.Alex could thrive here if he let himself, he could become strong and skilled and confident.And maybe I could too.Maybe this place wasn't a prison. Maybe it was an opportunity.I just had to figure out how to take it.So whenever who was after me should come, I'll be able to protect myself as I promised my mom.The next few days passed in a strange kind of routine, finn would come get me in the morning and we'd walk around the village. He'd show me new things an

Chapter 28"Hey no judgment," Jaden said. "We all have things that set us off. The important thing is learning to recognize it before you shift in front of a bunch of humans and start a panic."Marcus called us back and we spent the rest of the morning working on speed drills. Running, dodging and learning to move fast even when exhausted.By lunch time I could barely stand.Marcus dismissed everyone and I headed toward the food hall, my stomach was growling and I needed to eat something before the afternoon session started.I was halfway there when I heard her laugh.I stopped and turned and there she was, walking through the village with Finn. He was carrying something and she was gesturing animatedly while she talked.They looked comfortable together. Natural.Something in my chest twisted again.I turned and kept walking, I wasn't going to think about this. I had more important things to worry about, like learning to survive in this world. Like getting strong enough to protect N