With Wolves

Silver and Shadow

The forest stretched endlessly in every direction, nothing but towering pines and darkness. Rain hammered down, turning the ground to mud and limiting visibility to maybe twenty feet. Lightning cracked overhead, briefly illuminating everything in harsh white light before plunging it all back into shadow. She stood in the middle of a small clearing, a silver-grey wolf with eyes like molten gold. Blood ran down her left hind leg—from thigh to paw—leaving a dark trail in the mud behind her. Her fangs were bared, a low growl rumbling from her chest as she stared into the trees ahead. She knew they'd been following her blood. Knew her healing wasn't working the way it should, slowed by what she was carrying. But that was the point. She had to lead them away from it. Had to keep them focused on her. For just a moment, she glanced back the way she'd come. The look in her golden eyes was pure grief—the kind that comes from losing everything that mattered. Then she turned forward again, and grief became rage. The sound of paws hitting wet earth echoed through the rain. One set. Four. Seven. Fifteen. She closed her eyes and counted. Thirty. Fifty. More. Over a hundred wolves emerged from the darkness, forming a semicircle around her. They stopped just outside striking range, hackles raised, watching the lone wolf who stood growling and bleeding but refusing to back down. One of them broke ranks—a young male who thought a wounded wolf would be easy prey and he leaped, she met him in midair, jaws closing above his neck with a sickening crack, his body went limp as she released him with a twist of her head, sending him crashing into a tree trunk. The others hesitated, but only for a moment, they knew what she was knew how dangerous she was but they also knew that a lone alpha, no matter how strong, was nothing without a pack. The crowd of wolves parted as a black wolf emerged from the back, and everything changed. He didn't hurry, each step was deliberate, heavy, carrying a presence that made the air itself feel thicker. The other wolves lowered their heads as he passed, clearing a path even from a distance, the pressure radiating off him was crushing—the kind that would drop a normal wolf to its belly without him having to do a thing. Thunder rolled across the sky, lightning flashed, catching both wolves in stark relief—silver-grey and black, staring each other down in the rain. They stood there for a long moment, perfectly still it almost looked like they were communicating, though no sound passed between them. The silver-grey wolf looked away first, her gaze drifting to something in the distance, then she lifted her head and howled. It was a sound that carried everything—strength and sorrow, command and apology, the dying call of an alpha who knew what came next. The black wolf gave the signal, and they came at her all at once. She fought back with everything she had, teeth and claws tearing through fur and flesh as wolves fell, others took their place as she kept fighting. Then the scene began to pull away, like Nero was being dragged backward into darkness as the forest faded, the sounds of battle grew distant and what remained were tears on his face.

Nero opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, feeling tears cool on the sides of his face as he lay there for a moment, letting his breathing settle. "Not again," he muttered, reaching for his phone on the nightstand. 3:59 AM. He watched the numbers flip. 4:00 AM. "Same dream. Same damn time." as he sat up, running a hand over his face. The room around him came into focus—his desk cluttered with sketch paper, the narrow closet he'd somehow managed to fit all his clothes into, the single window overlooking the streets. It wasn't much, but it was more than he'd had before. The scholarship to HavenClaw had come out of nowhere, complete with free housing he still didn't understand why they'd picked him when he'd never even applied, but he wasn't about to question it. At that moment something felt off as he look round his room he could see everything. The texture of the poster on his wall, The individual books on his shelf, the dust on his lampshade all these at four in the morning and in the dark. "s**t," he breathed. "Now I can see in the dark." he stood up and flipped the light switch and his eyes adjusted instantly—no squinting, and no discomfort. He smiled despite himself, a little crooked, a little unsettled then he turned the lights back off and walked to the window. The street stretched out below him in perfect clarity every detail sharp and visible like it was mid-afternoon instead of the middle of the night, trees, pathways, the campus in the distance—all of it clear as day. It had been happening like this since he turned fifteen. The first time, he'd woken up from the dream and found himself inexplicably strong—able to lift his entire dresser with one hand like it was made of cardboard, after that, the dreams came randomly sometimes weeks apart, sometimes months and each time they got a little longer, and each time he woke up with something new or something enhanced. "Let's just hope I can control this one," he said quietly to the empty room it sounded like he was trying to convince himself or maybe bargaining with whatever force kept giving him these abilities. He was about to close the window when movement caught his eye something in the distance where the woods began. A wolf? A person? The figure was too far to make out clearly, even with his new vision. Then it spread wings and lifted off into the sky "must be a bird," he decided, pulling the window shut. He turned the light back on and headed to his drawing table, he'd been working on the same project for six years now—ever since the dreams started trying to capture what he saw, trying to make sense of it. He pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and started sketching the wolf from his dream. The silver-grey fur, the powerful stance, the way she'd looked both beautiful and terrifying. But when he got to her face—to that expression of absolute sorrow—his hand froze and the voices hit him like a wave as images flashed through his mind, images of wolves tearing into each other, blood in the rain, thunder and lightning and teeth and then an intense pain split through his skull, he couldn't focus on any single image, couldn't make sense of what he was seeing as everything was fragments, pieces of something bigger that wouldn't come together. "Nero." the voice was gentle at first, warm, kind "Nero!" sharper now, urgent "NERO!" A hand landed on his shoulder and he jerked back to reality his heart was racing, and there was a pencil on the floor where he'd apparently dropped it "Nero! Dude, I've been calling you for over a minute." Kiran stood beside him, one hand still on his shoulder, looking concerned, his hair was wet from the shower and he was wearing a HavenClaw hoodie that had definitely seen better days "it's almost 9 AM," Kiran continued "we've got Professor Brown today, and please—I'm begging you—I don't want to be late for his lectures." Nero took a breath, willing his pulse to slow down "Yeah. Sorry. I'm good." Kiran's eyes shifted to the drawing table, taking in the scattered sketches when his expression changed almost instantly—concern melting into something that looked like a kid on Christmas morning "same dream?" "yes, and a bit longer this time," Nero replied, deliberately looking away "And...?" ‘here we go’ Nero knew this wouldn't end until he gave up the information "night vision, Yay! you happy now?" Kiran practically exploded. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" He pumped his fist in the air like his team had just scored the winning goal. Nero stared at him "I got the powers and you're the one celebrating, you know you're weird, right?" Kiran burst out laughing, and despite himself, Nero joined in "It's weird, right?" Kiran said between laughs "but I feel like you should be happier about this, you get to have what no other person has." Nero looked down at his hands for a moment, then back up at his friend. "thank you" "sure, whatever" Kiran grinned "Now get ready because we have a long day ahead of us." he headed for the door, then stopped "oh, and would you be free for a party tonight?" Nero groaned "I'll think about it." "you better!" Kiran shouted, already disappearing down the hallway. Alone again, Nero stood and stretched, having Kiran know about everything—the dreams, the abilities, all of it—made things easier, he'd been terrified when he first told him freshman year, convinced Kiran would think he was crazy or dangerous or both but instead, Kiran had just asked if Nero could show him the super strength thing and since then, Kiran had been the one person he could talk to about it all, the one person who helped him keep it in check, who reminded him he wasn't losing his mind. Sometimes it felt like Kiran understood these powers better than Nero did, which was saying something considering Nero was the one stuck with them. He caught his reflection in the mirror on his way to the bathroom. At twenty-one, he'd grown into his features—high cheekbones, straight nose, dark hair that fell across his forehead without him having to think about it but it was his eyes people noticed, it was crystalline blue, almost electric against his olive skin and dark hair, they'd always been that color, even before the dreams started. Sometimes he wondered if that should have been his first clue that something about him was different "Not bad," he muttered, then headed for the shower, whatever today brought, at least he'd face it clean.

The commute to campus was a smooth ten-minute drive. Kiran had an Acura Integra that he kept in pristine condition, and he was always the one who drove them both to school. The guy gave off serious rich-kid vibes, which made Nero wonder sometimes why he was even on scholarship but Kiran never talked about money, and Nero never asked, what he did talk about was everything else. Music blasted from the speakers—something upbeat that Nero didn't recognize but didn't mind—and Kiran kept up a steady stream of conversation that somehow always managed to pull Nero out of his usual quiet "so... you coming to the party tonight or what?" Nero had been thinking about it since Kiran first mentioned it, he had his weekly check-in with the Gifted Forum—an online community for people like him, people born with abilities they didn't ask for and needed help controlling, it was one of the few places where he could be honest about what was happening to him "I have to be online for a meeting tonight—" "you can be online at the party," Kiran cut him off without missing a beat "bro, I need you to come party with me." Nero considered it "I don't know, man." "you'd get to meet new people, make some friends, maybe you'll even get a girlfriend." Kiran grinned at him, waggling his eyebrows. They both laughed, then something caught Nero's attention out of the corner of his eye—movement in the distance of a bird taking off, maybe or something else as he turned to look, but whatever it was had already disappeared into the morning sky. When he glanced back, Kiran was looking in the same direction, but his expression was unreadable. They pulled into campus a moment later "See you after lectures?" Kiran asked, already grabbing his bag "sure," Nero said, watching his friend jog off toward the science building, he was about to head to his own class when he noticed a crowd forming near the parking lot entrance. Students were gathering around something, phones out, voices rising in excitement. "Whoa! Who's that?" Nero wasn't really interested—he had Professor Brown in twenty minutes and the man had a thing about punctuality—but the crowd was blocking his path. He'd just wait for them to clear out and then slip past that's when he saw her. ‘Damn’ that was all his brain could manage as a black Maserati MC20 Celio sat gleaming in the morning sun, and climbing out of it was possibly the most striking person Nero had ever seen. Roxy Ravensong moved with the kind of easy confidence that comes from years of knowing exactly how good you look. Her black hair fell in sleek waves that caught purple glints in the light, and she wore dark leather like it was a second skin, her pale complexion made her stand out even more against the darkness of her outfit but it was her eyes that really got him—amber, sharp, scanning the crowd with an expression that said she'd seen all this before and wasn't particularly impressed by any of it. Where Nero had always been the quiet, understated type—good-looking in a way that snuck up on you—Roxy demanded attention and from the looks of it, she always got it. She glanced his way for half a second, and Nero felt his breath catch as Roxy’s amber eyes locked onto his as she approached, and Nero found himself standing a little straighter “You’re blocking my path,” she said, but there was amusement in her voice rather than annoyance “Sorry, I—” Nero stepped aside, then realized she’d stopped walking, she was looking at him with obvious curiosity now “I’m Roxy,” she extended her hand, “Roxy Ravensong.” “Nero,” he took her hand, surprised by the firmness of her grip “just Nero?” she raised an eyebrow, intrigued “just Nero” she studied him for a moment, like she was trying to figure out if he was being mysterious or if that was actually it. “Well, just Nero, you go here?” “Yeah, junior year” “good, then maybe you know where you’re supposed to be tonight” there was something playful in her tone, confident “I’m throwing a party at my family's place, you should come.” Nero hesitated “I’m not really the party type—” “which is exactly why you should come,” Roxy interrupted smoothly. “besides, my parties aren’t like the usual campus garbage, trust me.” She pulled out her phone “give me your number, I’ll send you the address.” they exchanged contacts, and as Nero saved her number, he realized this was the same party Kiran had been pestering him about all morning. He probably should have made that connection sooner—Ravensong wasn’t exactly a common name, and if her family helped found HavenClaw, of course she’d be the one throwing the kind of party everyone talked about “See you tonight, Nero,” Roxy said, already walking toward the main building, her leather jacket catching the sunlight “Yeah,” he called after her “Maybe.” he turned to head to Professor Brown’s lecture, already running the math in his head—if he skipped the Gifted Forum meeting, he could make the party and Kiran would lose his mind. That’s when someone slammed into his shoulder, Nero barely moved—he’d gotten used to that over the years where People bounced off him, stumbled, muttered apologies while rubbing their arms ever since the strength came, his body had been solid in a way that caught people off guard but this person didn’t bounce, didn’t , and didn’t even break stride. The impact was there—Nero felt it, the pressure of a shoulder against his—but it was like the person had the same density he did, the same weight. They just… walked through the collision like it was nothing which was surprising. Nero spun around, his enhanced vision sharpening immediately to see a black , average height, hands shoved deep in pockets. The figure was already disappearing into the flow of students heading toward the quad, moving with unhurried purpose “Hey—” Nero started forward, but a group of freshmen cut across his path, laughing about something, phones out and by the time he stepped around them, the hoodie was gone. He stood there for a long moment, scanning the crowd with eyes that could pick out details from fifty yards away in perfect darkness but there was nothing, no one in a black hoodie, no one who moved like they could match his strength. Nero’s hand drifted to his shoulder where the contact had been and for the first time since the abilities started, someone had touched him and he’d felt… equal.