Chapter Two
844 Words
My eyes snapped open as I struggled for breath, my chest rising and falling violently while sweat clung to my skin.
I could still feel myself falling — the darkness, the screaming, the pit with no bottom.
It felt too real.
"So…" a cold voice drawled from across the room. "Having one of your pathetic nightmares again?"
I flinched, my head snapping toward the sound.
Tala stood by the door with her arms crossed over her chest, staring at me with open disgust. The faint morning light spilling through the window sharpened the hatred in her eyes.
My fingers tightened around the sheets as I stared at her.
"T-Tala…"
She rolled her eyes immediately. "Relax. You look like you've seen a ghost."
My throat felt painfully dry. "You were in my dream again."
"And I care because…?" she interrupted sharply.
The softness I remembered from when we were children had disappeared from her long ago.
She pushed herself off the wall and walked closer to my bed slowly.
"I just came to warn you," she said. "Stay out of my way today."
I frowned weakly.
"It's our first day at the training grounds. I'm finally going to meet the pack properly, and the last thing I need is you embarrassing me."
Her eyes swept over me cruelly.
"And don't go around telling people we're sisters."
That one landed deeper than it should have.
"You don't know me," she continued coldly. "And I definitely don't know you."
"Tala—"
"I mean it, Odina." Her voice hardened.
She never called me Nayeli. Only Tala used that name — like a way of reminding me I didn't belong, not even to myself.
"Stay away from me."
Then she turned and walked out of the room without another glance.
The door slammed shut behind her.
Silence filled the room again.
I stared blankly at the spot where she had been standing moments ago.
A bitter laugh escaped my lips.
What was even the point of going to the training ground?
I didn't belong there.
The Red Moon Pack only took us in because we had nowhere else to go after Father died. Alpha Enoli allowed us to remain under the pack's protection because Father once belonged to the Red Moon Pack before he left years ago.
The training grounds were already alive with noise when I arrived.
Wolves sparred across the large clearing while instructors barked orders from every direction. The smell of dirt, sweat, and pine filled the cold morning air.
I stayed hidden behind one of the large trees near the edge of the field, pulling my hoodie tighter around myself.
"New girl!"
The loud voice cut through the field instantly.
I looked up.
Tala stepped into the center of the sparring ring without hesitation.
Whispers immediately spread around the field.
"She's pretty."
"That's one of Herrick's daughters, right?"
"I heard she's already showing wolf aggression."
"Her aura feels strong…"
Tala ignored all of them.
Confidence radiated from her as she stood tall in black training clothes, her chin lifted proudly like she already owned the entire pack.
An older girl stepped forward across from her with an amused smirk.
"Well," the girl said, cracking her knuckles, "let's see if the new girl can actually fight."
A circle quickly formed around them.
I swallowed nervously.
At first, Tala struggled.
The other girl was faster and stronger, landing hits that forced Tala backward several times. Dirt stained Tala's clothes as the crowd laughed and shouted around them.
Then something shifted in her.
Her movements grew faster, sharper, almost animalistic. Darkness flickered through her eyes, and the air around her felt heavier somehow.
The moment the girl charged at her again, Tala caught her arm mid-attack, twisted violently, and slammed her straight into the ground.
A loud gasp rippled through the crowd as the girl hit the dirt with a painful thud. She groaned, clutching her arm, and I winced instinctively on her behalf.
And that was when I saw him.
Standing near the front of the crowd.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark hair falling carelessly across his forehead — and something in the stillness of him, the way he stood like the noise couldn't quite reach him, that made him impossible to look away from.
Something about him emptied my lungs completely.
My heart slammed against my chest.
The man from my dreams.
The one who held me beneath the moonlight, whose touch I still felt on my skin every morning I woke without him.
Chayton.
He was real.
My breathing turned uneven as I stared at him from behind the tree. As though sensing something, his head suddenly turned in my direction.
A strange feeling slammed into my chest so hard it nearly knocked the breath from me.
His expression changed instantly.
"You—" he started, taking a step forward.
A loud cheer erupted around Tala as the crowd rushed toward the sparring ring.
The distraction broke whatever moment had passed between us.
Before Chayton could move closer, I turned and disappeared deeper into the trees.
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