The Blessed Reborn Lycan

Chapter Ten

For the first time in a year, Asha stirs.

Her eyelids flutter open and she lets out a slow, pained inhale.

Amy gasps, then stands so fast her chair screeches backward.

“Asha?” Her voice cracks. “Baby, look at me. Can you hear me?”

Asha tries again to open her eyes slowly, pupils dilated as she blinks against the light. Her lips part, dry and unsure.

“Mom…?”

Amy drops to her knees beside the bed, clutching her daughter’s hand like a lifeline, her tears falling freely down her cheeks.

“You’re awake. Goddess, you’re awake.”

Asha frowns slightly, then it clicks. She stills and says, voice hoarse.

“How long?”

“A year,” Amy whispers, voice thick. “You’ve been gone a whole year.”

Asha blinks again. Flashes start to hit her. The dream, the forest, the cliff. The Moon Goddess. The howl. She swallows hard.

“She told me to come back. She said my time is coming.”

Amy’s breath catches, but she nods. She doesn't question it. Not anymore.

Then Asha's brows furrow.

“Where’s… everyone?”

“George is out on patrol,” Amy says softly, brushing stray hair from Asha’s face. “Farah’s with him. Jason is also on patrol, he came to visit before he reported for duty, he does everyday.”

Asha closes her eyes briefly. Relief. “And Rowan?”

Amy tenses. Her grip on Asha’s hand loosens, then tightens again.

“He… he isn’t here.”

Asha’s eyes meet hers. Sharp. Calm.

“Why not?”

Amy hesitates. Swallows.

“Because a week ago, he stopped waiting.”

Asha blinks.

“Word got out that, he slept with someone.”

Silence.

Asha stares at the ceiling, emotionless at first. Then a deep sigh escapes her lips, not heartbreak, but resignation.

“Of course he did.”

Amy leans forward, cupping Asha’s face. “It wasn’t your fault. He made a choice. A stupid, selfish choice.”

Asha nods slowly, as if processing the weight of it. Her voice is steady, but distant.

“He spent years pushing me… begging for the bond to mean something. I fall, in a coma for a year after being near death, and he couldn’t wait just a little longer.”

“I’m not mad,” she murmurs. “Just... tired, and strangely relieved.”

Amy’s brows furrow.

“Relieved?”

Asha’s lips quirk, bittersweet.

“Because now I know. It was never what I thought it was. And I don’t have to feel guilty about outgrowing him.”

Amy wraps her arms around her daughter carefully, as if afraid she’ll vanish again.

Asha leans back against her pillow, her body heavy with exhaustion. The machines hum quietly, but her mind is still catching up, fragments of the dream, the howl, her mother's words.

“Sleep, baby,” Amy whispers, brushing a hand over her daughter’s forehead. “You need your strength.”

Asha’s eyes flutter closed, her breathing evens out as she slips into sleep. Not into dreams this time, but into deep, healing rest, the kind she hasn't had since before the cliff, before the prophecy stirred in her bones.

The next morning, the door swings open, and the thundering footsteps of Jason and George echo down the hall.

George nearly sends a nurse flying when Jason catches her, moving her out of the way. They lock eyes, and he stares at her for a moment. It’s the pack doctors daughter, and he thinks, has she always been so, beautiful?

George screams, “She’s really awake?!” Jason snaps out of it, lets go of the girl, and runs in the room alongside George.

“Move, I need to see her!”

Mom turns just in time to see both boys rushing in, older, broader, stronger, nearly men now. George stands tall, power practically rolling off him. Jason’s frame has filled out too, his usual easy grin now mixed with raw emotion.

“What the…?”

Jason’s grin is instant.

“Oh my goddess, Ash! You’re awake!”

He’s beside her in a second, taking her hand gently but not letting go, tears pooling in his eyes.

“You scared the s**t out of us.”

George moves slower, but his gaze is bright with relief and something more, joy. He pulls up a chair, glancing at Jason.

“Give her room, or she’ll pass out just looking at your ugly face.”

Jason snorts, wiping his cheek with the back of his hand.

Asha manages to let out a weak laugh, voice soft.

“You guys… got big.”

“We had to,” Jason says proudly. “You’ve been asleep forever.”

George and Jason sit forward, Jason rolling up his sleeve, George pulling down his shirt.

“And things changed.”

Jason turns his arm revealing a mark, a branch full of leaves. And on George's chest, once a bare tree, is now in full bloom, leaves in shades of burnished gold and deep green.

Her eyes go wide.

“You're the Gamma now?! How did that happen? And George, your mark…”

George grins, not even trying to hide the pride in his voice.

“Fully grown. The pack’s preparing the ceremony.”

“In three days, Ned steps down. I become Alpha.”

Jason elbows him.

“Tell her the best part.”

George’s eyes gleam.

“The Lycan King is coming.”

A shiver crawls up her spine, she hides it by adjusting her sheets and just blinks. “You said what?”

George nods.

“He’s blessing the transition. That never happens for smaller packs, he usually only appears for the major northern or coastal territories. But we were chosen.”

“He’s coming to Miravael,” Jason adds.

This time, she feels a warmth pulse from within her. Asha’s body reacting to the news of the Lycan Kings pending arrival.

“That means something. Alphas are already traveling here from the borderlands with some of their packs. Everyone wants to witness it.”

George leans back, gaze steady on Asha.

“When the king blesses a new Alpha, the bond between the pack and the realm strengthens. Our territory, our power, our protections, they all strengthen, grow.”

“We offer blood to the moon: me, Ned, and the Lycan King. When they light it, the smoke rises to the moon, carrying our vow. When it’s done, my reign begins.”

There’s no fear in George’s voice, no hesitation. Just reverence, excitement, and awe.

She tries to take it all in, Jason’s glowing face, George’s confident calm, the weight of all that has changed while she slept.

“You’re ready,” she says in a low tone.

George nods once.

While George and Jason talk loud and fast, overlapping each other with excitement, Asha leans back against my pillow, letting their voices blur slightly into the background.

“Farah doesn’t play. She had George running drills at dawn even before her wolf surfaced.”

“I’m telling you, she made Ned apologize to the training squad for letting George slack off before.”

Their laughter echoes, full and easy, but her chest feels tight at the sight.

They’ve changed, grown.

Jason’s broader, sharper at the edges now, more sure of himself. George’s posture carries himself in a way she’d never seen before. The command, the aura of leaders of a pack, earned and worn like a second skin. Even the way they speak feels… different.

They moved forward while she stayed frozen.

Her gaze drifts to George’s mark, still visible beneath curve of his collar. The leaves shimmer faintly in the light, as if alive.

You’re ready.

She had meant it when she said it, but it didn’t stop the ache. Time had gone on without her, the pack had grown, wolves had shifted for the first time. Farah had come and left her mark on George, on their circle, on everything.

Then there was Rowan…

The thought of him twists in her gut, but not the way she expected. There’s pain yes but, deeper than that is a strange, almost weightless feeling.

He pushed so hard, always there waiting, wanting, and when she couldn’t give it… he gave up.

Her throat tightens, not with heartbreak, but with the bittersweet sting of relief.

It’s not her fault. It never had been.

She turns her head to look at the window. A breeze stirs the curtains slightly, carrying the scent of pine and fresh dew.

The woods are still out there, the cliffs, the sea, and her. The goddess.

Her time is just beginning.

She closes her eyes briefly, just breathing.

When she opens them again, George is mock-pouting as Jason teases him about getting “alpha-dragged” by Farah.

And for the first time since she woke up, Asha smiles.

George finally groans and stretches, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I have to meet Ned and Farah for a briefing before the next drill. You good here?” He eyes Jason and Asha meaningfully.

Jason nods. “I’ve got her.”

George’s hand lingers briefly on Asha’s shoulder before he turns to leave. “I’ll be back later. Try not to stress her out, Jace.”

The door shuts behind him, and for a moment the room settles again, quiet but not heavy. Just… still.

Asha glances at Jason, he’s watching her in that quiet way he’s always done. Thoughtful, like he’s weighing what to say next. His size and strength may have changed, but the gentleness in his eyes hasn’t.

“What is it Jason?”

Jason shifts on the edge of the bed, fingers tapping lightly against his thigh. “There’s one more thing.”

That tone, that hesitant Jason tone, sets her on edge more than anything.

He exhales and finally says, “George’s coronation… it’s happening on the full moon. Next full moon.”

She nods slowly. “Makes sense, symbolic.”

Jason gives a small smile. “Yeah, big deal and all that.” He hesitates again, then meets her gaze. “That’s also… your birthday.”

A single chill runs up her spine.

My eighteenth.

The day she has been waiting for all her life. To see if she finally has a wolf, and becomes a normal member of this pack.

“But Jason, what if I don't shift? What if I really am human? And what if I don't feel the bond with Rowan?”

Jason looks at her sternly and says “Then nothing changes, you will still be one of the best soldiers and my best friend, nothing is going to change that. And screw Rowan, he let one of the loosest girls in the pack have him, I say good riddance, and that just proves it wasn’t a real bond.”

Asha winces at his words, they’re true, but it still stings. He hugs her and rubs her back, soothing her ever swirling emotions.

“Look Ash, you will be able to go home the night before your birthday and we will all be there for you, just keep resting. I will have Farah visit and bring you your dress for coronation night, she had a feeling you would wake up before then and got it same day it was announced.”

He gives her a quick peck on her forehead and walks out of the room. Leaving her with her thoughts on what in the world she just woke up to.

Days later, the air in Asha’s room was thick with anticipation, warm lamplight flickering over pale walls and hopeful faces. Farah sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed, braiding strands of Asha’s dark hair out of habit, while Jason paced back and forth with restless energy. George leaned against the dresser, arms crossed, casting glances toward the clock on the wall.

“Twenty minutes,” Jason said, his voice low, like speaking louder might scare off fate itself.

Asha sat on the edge of her bed, staring down at her bare toes brushing the rug, nerves coiling in her gut. “It’s stupid, isn’t it?” she murmured. “Waiting around like the moon’s gonna suddenly decide I’m worthy.”

“It’s not stupid,” George said firmly. “If there’s even a chance your wolf appears tonight, we’re staying up.”

“And we’ll be there if it does, or doesn’t happen,” Farah added softly, giving her a reassuring squeeze on the knee.

They talked to fill the silence, about the coronation tomorrow, about the out-of-town Alphas and elders arriving in waves, about how George and Farah were already being referred to as Alpha and Luna even though it hadn’t been made official yet. When talk of the Lycan King attending began, it made the room buzz with nerves again.

Then, a few minutes before midnight, George looked at the clock and straightened. “Let’s go outside, just in case.”

They made their way to the yard, the moonlight diffused by clouds, casting a gray sheen across the grass. The pack house was quiet except for the distant murmurs of guards rotating shifts. They all look up and there was the last person she thought would show.

He was standing near the edge of the patio, his hands shoved into his coat pockets, back straight but tense. His dark hair was slightly windswept, like he’d been pacing or debating whether to even show up. When he saw her, a flicker of something crossed his face, hope, guilt, maybe desperation.

Rowan.