The awakening
665 Words
Chapter 6
Pain tore through Lena’s body as she collapsed in the grass near the riverbank. Her vision swam with silver light. Every nerve burned. Her bones ached as if they were trying to reshape themselves from the inside out.
Was this the shift?
She cried out, biting down on her fist to keep from screaming loud enough to draw attention. Her spine arched. Her limbs twisted.
Then—suddenly—it stopped.
She lay panting, eyes wide as the night sky loomed above her, too vast, too endless.
But she hadn’t shifted.
Not fully.
Her nails had elongated. Her senses sharpened—she could smell the pine in the forest, the faint blood on the air, even the leather of Kael’s gear far in the distance. Her pupils had narrowed to slits. Her breath came in short, sharp bursts.
It was as if something inside her had started to change—but refused to finish.
Then she heard them.
Growls in the dark. Not just wolves—rogues.
She didn’t have time to think.
Lena pushed to her feet and sprinted through the trees, following the sounds of the fight. She dodged roots and low branches, her body lighter, faster than ever before.
She burst into a clearing and stopped cold.
Kael and his wolves were outnumbered.
Six rogues—filthy, scarred, wild-eyed—circled the Shadowfang warriors. Two had already fallen. Kael was locked in combat with a massive gray wolf that towered over him, its jaws snapping inches from his throat.
A snarl escaped Lena before she realized it had come from her.
One of the rogues turned and saw her.
“There she is!” the man growled, half-shifted, his yellow eyes glowing. “The Moon Marked!”
He lunged at her.
Lena didn’t think.
Her hand shot forward—and suddenly the air shimmered.
A blast of silver light exploded from her palm, throwing the rogue backward into a tree with a sickening c***k.
The entire clearing froze.
Even Kael.
Lena stood in the center of the circle, her hand still glowing faintly, her heart pounding in her ears.
Kael, bloodied and panting, shifted back into human form. His golden eyes locked on her, stunned.
“Lena…” he breathed. “What did you do?”
“I—I don’t know.” She looked down at her hands. “I didn’t mean to—he was going to—”
Before she could finish, another rogue attacked.
Kael moved faster than thought, intercepting the wolf mid-air and slamming it to the ground. His claws sank deep. There was a scream—and then silence.
The others ran.
The rogues vanished into the night, yipping and snarling as they fled.
The clearing fell still again.
Kael turned to her, chest heaving. “That wasn’t a normal shift. That was magic.”
Lena swallowed. “I felt it burning inside me. Like something broke loose.”
Isla arrived moments later, with two healers and more guards. The injured were tended to. The dead were mourned.
But all eyes kept drifting to Lena.
Whispers followed her.
“Did you see that light?”
“She’s dangerous.”
“She’s not one of us.”
Kael approached her last. Blood streaked his arm and cheek. His voice was quiet but intense.
“You can’t stay in the village anymore.”
Lena’s heart sank. “You’re casting me out?”
“No,” he said. “I’m taking you to the Sanctum. It’s the only place strong enough to contain what’s waking up in you.”
She stared at him. “You think I’m cursed.”
“I think you’re something the world hasn’t seen in centuries,” he said. “And I won’t let you burn down this pack—or yourself.”
She didn’t argue.
She couldn’t.
Because deep down, she felt it too.
The shift hadn’t finished.
The prophecy hadn’t truly begun.
And whatever was inside her… was just waking up.
- Writer
