A Pheonix Wolf Rising

The fight begins

Zara POV

We step onto the training mat, circling each other carefully.

Lyra’s always been a strike-first kind of girl, something she never lets me forget. Why wait for them to hit you? That’s her motto. Sure enough, she swings at me, aiming for a quick punch.

I manage to block it, ducking just in time before she follows up with another jab. But I don’t recover fast enough, and the next one lands right in my eye.

“Ow!” I stumble back, blinking away the sting.

“Keep up, Z!” Lyra says, her grin wide and challenging.

We reset, circling again, the familiar rhythm of our sparring taking over. As much as I dread training, fighting alongside Lyra always feels… right. Even without my wolf, I’m not weak.

And for a moment, I forget about everything else—the whispers, the humiliation, the nagging fear deep inside me. It’s just me and Lyra, moving in sync, throwing punches, dodging, blocking.Then something happens.

It starts deep in my chest, a strange hum building inside me, spreading through my limbs like wildfire. My pulse quickens, my vision narrows, and suddenly, the world feels… sharper.

Lyra moves in again, throwing a fast right hook toward my ribs—but before I can think, my body reacts on its own.

I duck low, spinning to the side with unnatural speed, and sweep my leg out to knock her off balance. But just as my foot connects with the mat, the strange hum inside me surges forward—exploding.

Everything slows.

I watch, detached, as a force pulses out of me. Lyra isn’t even close enough to touch, but she stumbles backward, her body propelled away from me as if an invisible wave has hit her.

She lands hard on the mat with a sharp gasp.

A stunned silence falls over the training field.

I blink rapidly, disoriented, feeling the residual energy still crackling in my veins. “Did I…?”

Lyra groans from where she’s sprawled on the ground. “What the hell was that?” she wheezes, her eyes wide with shock and something else—fear?

I stare down at my hands, my breath coming in shallow gasps. “I… I don’t know.”

From across the field, Cara Blackthorn, Kian’s younger sister, watches me with narrowed eyes. Unlike the others, who dismiss it as a freak accident, I can see the gears turning in her head. She saw it.

She knows something happened.

Whispers ripple through the crowd, students murmuring among themselves.

“What was that?”

“Did she just… push her without touching her?”

“I thought she didn’t have a wolf?”

I can feel their eyes drilling into me, but it’s Kian’s gaze that makes my chest tighten the most. He’s watching me carefully, a flicker of something dark and unreadable in his expression.

Lucian clears his throat, snapping everyone’s attention back to him. “Alright, let’s keep moving,” he says, his voice steady, but I can tell he’s rattled too. “Training’s not over yet.”

People slowly return to their own sparring, but the occasional glance in my direction reminds me that no one’s forgetting what just happened.

Lyra climbs to her feet, brushing herself off with a frown. “Seriously, Z… that was weird.”

I swallow hard. “I didn’t mean to do that,” I murmur, my hands still trembling slightly. “I just… moved.”

Lyra eyes me carefully before offering a weak smile. “Well, whatever it was… remind me not to piss you off.”

I force a laugh, but my mind is racing. What was that? Was it my wolf? Some hidden strength I didn’t know I had?

Or… was it something else entirely?

As the session ends, I sit on the sidelines, towel draped around my neck, staring at my hands. They look the same. But I don’t feel the same.

Lucian pats my shoulder as he passes. “Nice reflexes out there, Z.” His words are casual, but I catch the concern in his voice.

Kian stops in front of me next, his gray eyes scanning my face like he’s searching for answers. “Nice move,” he says, his voice unreadable.

I try to play it off. “Guess I’m full of surprises.”

He smirks slightly, but there’s something cautious about it, like he doesn’t quite believe me. “Guess so.”

As he walks off, Cara lingers behind him. She hesitates, then kneels beside me. “That wasn’t normal,” she says quietly.

I glance at her, surprised by her bluntness. “I know.”

She tilts her head, studying me with those sharp blue-gray eyes. “Zara… what if your wolf isn’t coming because she’s different?”

Her words send a shiver down my spine. “Different how?”

Cara shrugs. “I don’t know. But I think you should find out.”

As Cara walks away, her words echo in my head.

What if my wolf isn’t coming because she’s different?

I stare down at my hands again, the memory of that forceful pulse still fresh in my mind.

Something inside me is waking up.

And whatever it is… it’s not normal.